handlin our bidness

               OK so I would just like to preface this with my opinion that this is a ridiculous reason for educational reform.  If someone is unable to speak proper English then they should be taught how.  Maybe I am not seeing the whole picture but I am fairly certain that an individual applying for a job at some large corporation would get turned down soon after they said anything along the lines of “handlin our bidness”.  Sure I agree that just because someone speaks like that does not mean that they are unintelligent but it is still unprofessional and I would rather see them educated in the proper use of English.

               Now that I have said my piece we can move on to the real blog entry about Smitherman.  Her account seems fairly straight forward; she had a problem with the perceived language barrier which she eventually overcame.  Once she had accomplished that she decided that she wanted to ensure no one else would have to go through the same issue.  First step was obtaining her teaching certificate and attempting to teach the kids that it was ok.  While she may have saved a few in this manner it did not have nearly the impact necessary for real change.  What she needed was more authority.  For that she joined a couple of educational committees which enabled her to more effectively bring about the changes she thought were necessary such as the end of the oppressive speech tests and the introduction of African American literature.  When Smitherman said “Few, if any, teachers now subscribe to the 1960”s Bereiter-Engelmann doctrine of Black English as evidence of the cognitive deficiency and genetic inferiority of Blacks”, I knew for sure that her educational reforms had a positive effect. 

               As she says though this does not mean that the problem is fixed and we should continue to advocate for linguistic diversity.  This story is very similar to the movie.  There is a problem with the education system which a few have recognized and sought to fix.  They are only going to be able to do this if they put themselves in a position in which the changes can be brought about.  Just talking about it doesn’t really help especially if you have to positional authority.  That is what is shown in the movie, whether it was Mrs. Rhee or Jeff, they both put themselves in a position that enabled them to fix the problem.