People think of black English as ungrammatical, but it bears the same relationship to standard English as contemporary Hebrew does to ancient Hebrew.
John McwhorterRead
It would be good if teachers could genuinely understand that black English is not mistakes, it's just different English, and that what you want to do is add an additional dialect to black students' repertoire rather than teaching them out of what's thought of as a bad habit, like sloppy posture or chewing with your mouth open.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Black English is a valid dialect, not a series of mistakes.
In this quote, John McWhorter emphasizes the importance of recognizing Black English as a legitimate form of communication rather than treating it as incorrect or inferior. He advocates for an educational approach that enriches students' linguistic skills by adding to their existing dialects instead of trying to eradicate them, thereby promoting linguistic diversity and cultural understanding.
Themes
Black EnglishDialectEducationLanguageCultural Understanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture about linguistic diversity, you might say, 'As John McWhorter explained, understanding Black English enriches our approach to education.'
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