A very thoughtful response Jim, and I love your use of "nay"! > My students, at a two-year commuter regional campus of a major state > university, want and overtly ask for such a coherent presentation. We > often discuss, and they indeed recognize and understand, that their personal > language use is acceptable (and "correct") for them at home, among their > friends and family. But they also know that such language use, particularly > if they come from a home or environment that values and carries on rich > ethnic and racial traditions, won't help them pay the rent as effectively as > other language uses. They want to learn the language of the group Terry > refers to as the "ruling class." I work to help them learn it and use it > effectively. > > I suppose we could work with them to subtly overthrow the "ruling class," > but what would take its place? Certainly another ruling class. One need > only look at the many political experiments with Marxism and Communism in > this century alone to see that the classes that do the replacing are often, > nay usually, more oppressive than the ones they replaced. . . . > What is our job? Is it, as Johanna says, to make good citizens? If so, > those citizens should learn to understand the workings of our country and > its many different peoples, all of whom strive to be one people. Sooner or > later, in that striving, there needs to be some sort of agreed upon standard > that is used for common practices of "doing business." > > Jim Dubinsky > Visiting Instructor > Miami University > [log in to unmask] > http://miavx1.muohio.edu/~jdubinsky > H: (513) 887-6719/ W: (513) 785-3142 >