FENN'S IN MEDIA'S RACE

"METE IT IS I SET IT DOWN"
by JOHN FENN

Since the first cave person drew those exquisite bison on the walls, human beings have been possessed by a raging urge to set down their visions, thoughts, ideas and dreams. All of us, since that time, have delighted in viewing what someone else has set down in art or word.

The primary mission of an English "teacher"(or instructor in any other language, for that matter) is to encourage, increase and expand these natural inclinations to respond to Hamlet's need when he said, "Mete it is I set it down."

Good writing is writing which communicates, clearly concisely and, perhaps, artfully the feelings and ideas of the writer.

OK. So much for the Dick, Jane and Spot of the dilemma.

Where things begin to get problematic is that for the phenomena of "effective communication" to occur, both the reader and the writer must share linguistic and, to some extent, value, systems. Suddenly we are in an arena where two very subjective elements, individual enculturation and taste, become determiners.

Nevertheless, the English teacher dutifully gives firm instruction instructing the students in "good" writing and assigning "good literature." This can mean material which is created in the dialect called Standard Written English. No problem for the Teacher, because that is approximately the language system he/she has been raised with, and is spoken by most of their peers.

However, integration, the new sensitivity and respect for diversity as well as the need to communicate with minorities we have shunned so long, has made us realize that SWE (Standard White English) may not be the Divinely Established Sole and Only Repository for "good" or "proper" of "correct" expression. It is quite possible for excellent writing ... very effective and artful expression of ideas and emotions ... to occur in all dialects of the American tapestry of language.

August Wilson (compared to Eugene O'neill by the New York Times for his poetic use of language) often writes in Ebonics ... or some variation of same.

We have an obligation, as "Teachers" to separate training in a specific linguistic system from encouraging effective writing ... irrespective of the linguistic system used.

I do not mean to say that we do not have an obligation to encourage and teach our students to have facility in SWE ... quite the contrary. We are all aware of the phenomena of being instantly stereotyped for class, power and even intelligence by the linguistic system we use.

However, the first order of business is to release the student to experience the joys of writing ... "setting it down" ... and reading as an emotional, intellectual and social ecstasy, and then we should develop in our students a broad linguistic palette of communication.

The enlightened human being must have freedom and facility to use a number of different linguistic systems effectively and well in different settings. Language systems, like skin color, are never "good" or "bad" ... they are simply different. We can never learn if we are force fed a moral value system by the use of words like "good" and "bad" when applied to language systems.