Why Jose Doesn’t Want to Learn to Write

The comment made by James Knapton infuriated me. I think it highlights a serious deficiency in the adaptability of educators across America. He refers to kids talking and rapping with each other, devaluing the literacy mechanisms and word usage skills involved in modern rap. While I’ll admit that some of the club songs are horrible dribble of language, rap is an art form in synchronization and language. Also, I googled an image of the late professor and he appeared to be your stereotypical white English professor. He probably wore patches on the sleeves of his blazers. The face of education has changed drastically in the past 60 years. More students are entering Universities and attending public schools than ever before. More pressures are always being put on to graduate more students. The schools are under-funded and growing. The sea of students facing teachers is more multi-cultural and linguistic than previous generations. Shouldn’t the material offered to students for reading reflect those changes? Shouldn’t other cultures and values be upheld within the classroom? What does a student from Bolivia, South Africa or Mexico have in common with the teaching of a dead white man from a small Island across an ocean thousand of miles away? I’m not saying that Shakespeare was not brilliant. But I am saying that he is the white man’s pedestal of linguistic capabilities who doesn’t appeal to young learners. I can hear the groans echoing from my high school days when students would pul out their Shakespeare homework. Learning to write should stem from loving and enjoying to read. The more you read, the more you will want to write your own ideas down. But if the material offered to read isn’t ever reflexive of your understood background or personal history, why would you want to read it?