"Is Ignorance Truly Bliss? Heritage in Education"
by Selwyn Hernandez
Introduction:
Introduction by Larah McElroy (click above)
The United States has been called “The melting pot of the Western World” by many scholars and individuals. This is because it is seen as one of the most diverse countries in the world today, with so many ethnic groups that reside here because of migration or ancestral history. However, some people do not like to refer the US as very “diverse” because it does not live up to its reputation. Vershawn Young, for example, believes that old linguists and educators prefer education to be more driven towards “Standard English” (Young, 63), yet he argues that regional dialects are just as important. Daniel Villa believes that Spanish and other heritage languages are not being accepted into the system because they are inferior languages and English is the preferred language for students in the US yet he believes that bilinguality improves the writing techniques of students of different backgrounds in different languages (Villa, 86). But how can someone provide a solution of some sorts to address this problem. Well, by interpreting the arguments of Vershawn Young along with those of Daniel Villa, I argue that heritage languages should play an important part in the American education system since they provide several significant advantages to writers and educators and it can help stop the overemphasis of English. Heritage languages give writers and students greater mobility in topics and it also encourages them to explore and enjoy other cultures and languages. I intend to present it in terms of scientific and social information on multilingualism from the blog post of Rajit Bhandari, the exploration of Spanish as a whole in the US, and the exploration of Spanish as an individual journey with information from my interview.
Lake Atitlan and its three volcanoes. Guatemala. By Stefano Ravalli (click above)
The Goods of Multilingualism:
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To begin, let us start with a small but significant exploration into the mental and social benefits on the incorporation of multilingual aspects into the education system. The two authors do not have much focus or say in the matter of psychological effects of multilingualism (Villa has some information on pg. 86), yet Rajit Bhandari wrote a blog post on the subject matter that I wanted to incorporate into my argument. The article that is the basis of Rajit’s post (“Benefits of Multilingualism” from Northwestern University) provides interesting scientific support and statistics about the population of America compared to others. The post refers to the fact that multilingualism has the power to “increases your cognitive abilities such as problem-solving, creativity, and memory”, meaning that learning different languages and cultures can improve skills of the brain in terms of critical thinking, writing and other aspects (Villa also alludes to this on page 91). Another effect is the ability for people to become more social and accepting of multiple cultures that people encounter, giving people a better chance to communicate with other people outside of his or her original language. To add more detail, several statistics are provided to give even more interesting flavor to the argument. 66% of the world’s population are able to speak at least one more languages, yet only 17% of Americans can speak a second language. To get even more specific, 35% of Canadians and 56% of Europeans are proficient in a second language, so what is the reason for the United States to be low in the list? To get an idea on where Americans stand on this issue, let us move on to the diversity that defines the United States.
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"Agreed" by Michael Coghlan (click above)
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Spanish as a Whole:
Spain - 2015 Trip! by TuRbO_J (click above)
For this portion of my argument, I want to provide a broad view of how Spanish is perceived in the United States as a whole and how it relates to both arguments of Young and Villa. To put things into perspective, Villa strongly believes that people who do not originally speak English are “begin harassed” by the system and that many states have “English legislation” and there are people who describe multilingualism as a “global plague” (Villa, 86). By “global plague”, he means that there are individuals who believe that other languages should be inferior to English. Also, multilingualism is an infection, which is something that takes time way from learning better English. An example of this is how Spanish is viewed in the United States. According to Villa, Spanish has become one of the largest minority languages in the United States, with a current population of 50 million people of Hispanic ancestry. And yet, there are policies and ideas that are against this huge growth of Spanish influence. An interesting example Villa uses is on page 86, which is about an issue from Vanity Fair written by Dame Edna that contains negative views of the importance of learning Spanish and stereotypes about Spanish-speakers.
Young does not focus his argument on dialects, but what he says about the negative views of regional English dialects can be attributed to Villa’s points. Young, on page 63, explicitly says that Standard English and dialect English should not be viewed as different entities but as one common language with differences. He also firmly believes that the current view of English, which is that English should be a perfect model for communication, is too outdated and ignorant to other dialects and languages (Young, 62). So what does all this information mean? It means that the current system is being ignorant to the multilingualism and heritages that also share the Unites States. The primary target at the moment is Spanish because of its incredible presence in the States and its continuing growth. These ideas are trying to prevent Spanish from gaining popularity and to maintain English as the dominant language within the United States. And even though Young has ideas on dialects and Villa has ideas in languages, both do agree that English is put so high up on a pedestal that all other languages and dialects are viewed as unimportant and primitive to new Standard English.
Young does not focus his argument on dialects, but what he says about the negative views of regional English dialects can be attributed to Villa’s points. Young, on page 63, explicitly says that Standard English and dialect English should not be viewed as different entities but as one common language with differences. He also firmly believes that the current view of English, which is that English should be a perfect model for communication, is too outdated and ignorant to other dialects and languages (Young, 62). So what does all this information mean? It means that the current system is being ignorant to the multilingualism and heritages that also share the Unites States. The primary target at the moment is Spanish because of its incredible presence in the States and its continuing growth. These ideas are trying to prevent Spanish from gaining popularity and to maintain English as the dominant language within the United States. And even though Young has ideas on dialects and Villa has ideas in languages, both do agree that English is put so high up on a pedestal that all other languages and dialects are viewed as unimportant and primitive to new Standard English.
Spanish in a Part:
Mapa de América Latina (map of Latin America) by Douglas (click above)
Young’s theme that is prevalent in his essay is the issue of Black English and its huge numbers in the US and how people should be encouraged to write in the English they feel most comfortable writing in. It is clear that Villa does the exact thing by focusing on the journey of one language to give him argument both relative and personal meaning. The influence of Spanish in the United States has been growing at an alarming rate due to an increase of immigrate movements to the US for a new start. According to the census in 2011, over 50 million people in the US were of Hispanic descent and over 37 million of those people spoke Spanish and little or some English. This is a staggering number and Villa uses this to his advantage to show his readers that the Unites States has done little to acknowledge this huge increase of Spanish that continues to grow to this day and there are even instances where the educational system fights back at this growing non-English population.
So here, in sync with Villa from pages 88-89, I choose to use an interview that was conducted about myself and my experiences in the United States as a “native Spanish speaker” trying to learn an alien language. In my interview, I describe my story in sort of chronological and reflective manner, remembering how I came to learn the English language. My story has very similar points made by Luz, one of the students Villa chose to write about. She and I both began as Spanish speakers until were entered elementary school and English began to literally take over as the dominate language that I spoke. From the interview, I said that it was my father that gave me the reason to continue on Spanish while having English alongside it. From my experience and from Luz’s experience, it can be clear that even though English is a very difficult language, if a person is introduced and bombarded by it in school, it is easily engraved in one’s brain. That is how schools across the country and curricular tend to function: quickly teaching kids English so that is engraved from a very early age. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes a person a bit more shut off to other cultures and languages that the come across in their lives. But it can be very hard to change that of a person, since it is deeply engraved.
So here, in sync with Villa from pages 88-89, I choose to use an interview that was conducted about myself and my experiences in the United States as a “native Spanish speaker” trying to learn an alien language. In my interview, I describe my story in sort of chronological and reflective manner, remembering how I came to learn the English language. My story has very similar points made by Luz, one of the students Villa chose to write about. She and I both began as Spanish speakers until were entered elementary school and English began to literally take over as the dominate language that I spoke. From the interview, I said that it was my father that gave me the reason to continue on Spanish while having English alongside it. From my experience and from Luz’s experience, it can be clear that even though English is a very difficult language, if a person is introduced and bombarded by it in school, it is easily engraved in one’s brain. That is how schools across the country and curricular tend to function: quickly teaching kids English so that is engraved from a very early age. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes a person a bit more shut off to other cultures and languages that the come across in their lives. But it can be very hard to change that of a person, since it is deeply engraved.
The "Lost Generations":
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As a side note to the previous paragraph, Villa mentions an interesting phrase called the “lost generation” (85). This is referred to the younger generation of heritage speakers who learn one language over their native tongue. This has become a major issue because students of these cultures find it difficult to converse with their older family members since they do not understand the language their younger relatives know, in this case English. This is a side effect of the methods used to teach students English in a rapid sort of way. The heritage bond is broken between generations and communication becomes difficult. Without better emphasis on the important of heritage, these students could left in the dark from their relatives, as will their children once English becomes so engraved into their normal lives. With incorporation of different languages can help combat it or at least give students a motive to continue exploring.
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Lost! by Brent Danley (click above)
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The Counter Points:
¡Libro nuevo! / New book! by Lisérgico (click above)
As powerful and logical as the arguments made by Young and Villa are, there are a few issues that neither decide to tackle or consider that do play an important part my argument. To start, neither really offer a real reason as to why this has because such a problem. Young does, though, mention the decisions of older, white males that choose to prefer a more proper model of the English language, and Villa does mention that government agencies are at fault. But these do not effectively answer why this happens. A big reason is patriotism, or a strong love for one’s country. If there is one country that has extreme loyalty from is citizen, it is America. And because of this extreme love for our nation, lawmakers will try to make policies that benefit those of “true American culture”. This culture is defined as those who speak English and are descendants of White Western and/or Northern Europeans. So it is no doubt that the American education system followed in the same route. So one cannot simply change the entire curriculum, but one can keep those patriotic ideologies while incorporating multicultural teaching since this system will be based on the choices that students make.
Another interesting point to consider is that why is English so elevated in terms of educators and politicians themselves. Young points this out early that linguists and educators see English very valuable and important to know yet does not really explain why he does not. The reason for this and the other counterclaim to both authors along with what I say in my interview is that English in fact the most important language for international communications. Knowing and understanding English is vital for people to learn because the international community knows this language. Businesses, governments and citizens know how much of an impact that English has had in history and is now the lingua franca of the modern world. Not knowing it puts one at a limitation to the global system. It is clear that Young and Villa and even I understand that English is extremely useful now, yet the way it is viewed and taught in American is what needs to change. This bloated view of English should be reduced to welcome the influences of other cultures and languages, and Rajit even points this out in his blog in terms of the great benefits of multilingualism.
Another interesting point to consider is that why is English so elevated in terms of educators and politicians themselves. Young points this out early that linguists and educators see English very valuable and important to know yet does not really explain why he does not. The reason for this and the other counterclaim to both authors along with what I say in my interview is that English in fact the most important language for international communications. Knowing and understanding English is vital for people to learn because the international community knows this language. Businesses, governments and citizens know how much of an impact that English has had in history and is now the lingua franca of the modern world. Not knowing it puts one at a limitation to the global system. It is clear that Young and Villa and even I understand that English is extremely useful now, yet the way it is viewed and taught in American is what needs to change. This bloated view of English should be reduced to welcome the influences of other cultures and languages, and Rajit even points this out in his blog in terms of the great benefits of multilingualism.
Conclusion:
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In hindsight, this proposal a new view on how the US really views heritage and multilingualism. By blatantly ignoring the rest of the cultures that exist within these borders, we are seen as hypocrites to our title as “melting pot”. Even though there is scientific and social proof that multilingualism and multiculturalism within the education system would considerably beneficial to the American public, we are too stubborn to try to work with and embrace our next door neighbors. So what is left to consider it this: will the system get better or at least more modernized? How will class continue to be a contributing factor to multilingualism? How diverse will America be in 10 or 20 years? And will there be a time when we finally realize that not everything we say or do is the right way?
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Hispanic Heritage 2012 by [The] Texas Military Forces (click above)
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Work Cited
Villa, Daniel. "No Nos Dejaremos: Writing in Spanish as an Act of Resistance."Latino/a Discourses: On Language, Identity & Literacy Education. Ed. Michelle Kells, Valerie Balester, and Victor Villanueva. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, 2004. 85-95. Print.
Young, Vershawn A. "Should Writers Use They Own English?." Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies 12 (2010): 110-117.
Young, Vershawn A. "Should Writers Use They Own English?." Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies 12 (2010): 110-117.