Admission to Pittsburgh's charters and magnets becomes more difficult... (Reading: public schools, university)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by wpipkins

Most black professionals in this country can go from black accent to standard / white english in a new york minute. I read an article years ago concerning middle class black women. The have dual languages......Once used for work and the other used at home, church, and in the community. Its like a split personality....

That's an excellent example of my point----the ability to switch dialects is important. People should be teaching their children how to do it at a young age.

[steindle]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I've learned that "pandering" is the best strategy to be loved by few, hated by few, but liked by pretty darn near everyone.

I don't know that I agree. Insincerely/inaccurately affecting someone's accent is also a very quick and easy way to be seen as a disingenuous outsider. In my experience working with largely marginalized populations in both Pittsburgh and the south, I think that people appreciate genuineness more than pandering -- i.e., there are few things that make me bristle more than a well-to-do (and even well-meaning) suburbanite attempting "urban" slang in the course of an AmeriCorps job, or a recent transplant painstakingly inserting an extraneous "yinz" into a sentence. I would much rather someone own up to who they are, than make an insulting attempt to imitate me.

I would distinguish that sort of "pandering" from legitimate code-switching.

[sparrowmint]

Originally Posted by eschaton

We really have very little control over what we end up sounding like as an adult.

This depends on the person, I think, or maybe it depends on the type of accent. I don't know. I very consciously know I sound a lot different here than when I am back home. I am very aware of the fact that I lapse into a rural Ottawa Valley accent [small regional dialect] when I am there and have spent a couple days around others that talk like that, but I sound a lot different when I am back here in Pennsylvania.

In general, I think it'd be great if everyone could avoid judging or jumping to conclusions about how people talk. It's ridiculously arbitrary.

[Evergrey]

Originally Posted by steindle

or a recent transplant painstakingly inserting an extraneous "yinz" into a sentence.
.

I have never heard of such a thing.

[steindle]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

I have never heard of such a thing.

I wouldn't have arbitrarily come up with this example if I hadn't heard it with my own ears a few times.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It's for reasons like this that I think Hopes shouldn't necessarily encourage other parents to discourage usage of improper English (i.e. "Pittsburghese")...

I'm not saying to discourage improper English. I'm saying it's important to provide a strong foundation for proper English at an early age. The OP's daughter is super young and only knows one way of speaking because he's not teaching her proper English.

[Mr. Mon]

The school issue is the subject of talk among my friends and neighbors. We all want to continue living in the City, but none of use want to have our children be martyrs for the current deplorable conditions in the neighborhood schools in the east. At the same time, most of us are from surrounding suburbs and other states, so the idea of paying for private school seems ridiculous as we all pay a god bit in property and income taxes to PPS. The availability of the charter programs is the only reason many of us not pulling to the Phillips Academies out there have stayed in the City. It's my opinion that PPS's inability to anticipate and keep up with demand, while at the same time shuttering school buildings is going to be the #1 hindrance to rebuilding the population of young families in the City.

Originally Posted by Hopes

That's an excellent example of my point----the ability to switch dialects is important. People should be teaching their children how to do it at a young age.

It's called code switching. My sister-in-law is a language specialist and claims that it's a real thing in her profession . It's not really anything that's formally taught so much as it usually comes from either achieving a higher education and/or operating in a professional culture that has a different language/dialect/accent than a person was raised. I apparently do it a lot and have been humorously called out for it by colleagues.

[wpipkins]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I never said it was a disadvantage to speak multiple dialects. I'm saying it's a disadvantage to not know how to speak proper English at all.

Oh OK i get it...... I agree with Bill Cosby 100%. I do nopt think he would disagree with anything that I have said. Im just being honest.

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by Mr. Mon

The school issue is the subject of talk among my friends and neighbors. We all want to continue living in the City, but none of use want to have our children be martyrs for the current deplorable conditions in the neighborhood schools in the east. At the same time, most of us are from surrounding suburbs and other states, so the idea of paying for private school seems ridiculous as we all pay a god bit in property and income taxes to PPS. The availability of the charter programs is the only reason many of us not pulling to the Phillips Academies out there have stayed in the City. It's my opinion that PPS's inability to anticipate and keep up with demand, while at the same time shuttering school buildings is going to be the #1 hindrance to rebuilding the population of young families in the City.

Do not buy into the Ponzi-scheme suburban school district hype. People (some not all) justify living in an area they would prefer not to, enduring commutes they hate all on the mistaken belief that they are making these sacrifices for their kid's education. "Deplorable conditions" suggests that you may already have fallen for the group think. (BTW, don't believe me, look into it yourself).

As has been stated many times, by far the most important factor in your child's education is you, your socio-economic level and educational achievement. Suburban schools appear better because many advantaged kids go there. Inputs dictate the outputs and it's unlikely that your children will be harmed by attending a City school.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by wpipkins

Oh OK i get it...... I agree with Bill Cosby 100%. I do nopt think he would disagree with anything that I have said. Im just being honest.

I think we're more on the same page than we realize. As for Bill Cosby, I meant how he feels about the importance of speaking proper English.

Google | Bill Cosby Proper English