Journalism has been on the decline for a long while now. The use of the determiner, "an" has become almost extinct. Over the last couple of years, I've noticed that writing has fallen to poor levels and I think that part of the reason is because of our leadership. The media was all more than ready and willing to make fun of Bush and his "Bushisms", but have they berated our current leader because of some of his ghetto speak?? Of course not. That would be considered, "racist". Come on, "I'd like to give a shout out to...." Seriously ?!?!?!? Is that how a world leader addresses a nation?? My writing skills could most certainly use some improvement. At least I don't speak to people like they're idiots or I'm fresh out of the ghetto.
Dear Mr. Thor,
I began to notice when my kids went to public schools in the 1980's for 2 of them in a big city that their teachers then were difficult to understand. Both White and black teachers spoke some kind of Jive Shit.
There were less then 50 white kids in a school of 300, my kids got along with everyone no problem there, soon they came home talking Ghetto talk. No problem for the rest of the family, we just laughed and asked them to say whatever in English.
For teachers no matter how well educated, they have to communicate in the language of the student. The language they hear every day at home and on the streets, in Church and among their friends.
Example ----My son in first grade in a California school system was placed in speech therapy. Hubby stopped in the school to question why the therapy was needed and was told his son had a big problem pronouncing some words.
Our boy sounded OK to us I was concerned but our thinking at the time was that his teachers had college educations to teach them to pick up on stuff we as parents may have missed.
I finally got a meeting with his speech therapist a couple months later and when I opened my mouth the poor woman stared at me, for months she had been trying to change a child's speech when the rest of his family, except the father had a regional ACCENT.
After 2 years of coming home I still had a bit of the southern ACCENT that came from all the years I spent in the south. Still had the speech patterns of the south and the slang.
Somehow this is wired into the brain, when I go south after 2 days or so without my noticing, the southern ACCENT, the slang comes back.
OBAMA's speech patterens just show who and where he has been around for years.
One thing is for sure, he has not spent much time around his mothers people.