Veershawn Young Analysis

Review of Vershawn Young Discussion

After reading “Vershawn Ashanti Young: Should Writers Use They Own English?” against Rebecca Wheeler’s “Code-Switch to Teach Standard English (Young 111. Wheeler 108)”. Each paper expresses a different opinion regarding the teaching of English in the classrooms. Each author writes with different agendas, different tones, and different purposes. Each acts upon their beliefs as they perceive them, and as a result are poles apart. Mr. Young is passionate about his belief that teaching US Standard English as an anchor is a threat to people who he refers to as “multiculturals” (Young 111). It is interesting to observe that he uses his first vernacular to express himself, but uses the rules of US Standard English to write it with. This use of his preferred language made the article difficult to read, and understand unless the reader was very familiar with that dialect. His dedication to his opinion came across to this reader as extremely aggressive in tone. Had this not been required reading, I would not have read past the first few lines. Ms. Wheeler’s writing was more technical in nature. She uses US Standard English, to explain her work with student’s explaining how she decodes her students work looking for differences are in their first vernacular from the US Standard English, and discusses

Young’s work missed its mark with me. Unfamiliar with his dialect, I had difficulty understanding what he was trying to communicate. His personal attacks on Mr. Stanley Fish, President Obama, and Mr. Grassley left me disenchanted with his work. I thought I was reading a glorified blog. Even after several readings, my comprehension did not match that of our instructor. My purpose for attending this class was to improve my US Standard English, to allow me the tools to effectively compete in the Information Technology job market. This does not translate into anything that would encourage me to support either Mr. Young or Ms.