Black English As A Dangerous Language By Richard Rodriguez

Discussion 6. I do not find the analogy “Just as Spanish would have been a dangerous language for me to have used at the start of my education, so black English would be a dangerous language to use in the schooling of teenagers for whom it reinforces feelings of public separateness” convincing. The reason is that Rodriguez’s personal experience does not apply to all the non English speakers, and not everyone has a feeling of pubic separateness when non native speakers are speaking their own languages. In other words, Rodriguez’s own opinions cannot represent everyone’s idea, and they are not reasons that are convincing enough to make the conclusion that black English, or even Spanish, can be dangerous languages for students to start their education.

Rhetoric 8. Rodriguez presents his most straightforward argument in

One of the major counterarguments Rodriguez addresses is that non native speaker may lose the intimacy and close connection in their family when they do not speak their mother language with each other. He presents this counterargument by emphasizing the connections and closeness his family lost when they all try to only speak English at home. In paragraph 35, he states that “the special feeling of closeness at home was diminished by then” in his family. He responds this counter argument by saying that “intimacy is not created by a particular language; it is created by intimates” through the example that he can still feel the love of his mother when she smiles at him as he is doing homework nearby her. He also mentions that diversity and individuality may be lost if there is only one “public culture” that is promoted. In paragraph 43, he states that “children will lose a degree of “individuality” if they become assimilated into public society” and do not have a bilingual education. He also responds this counter argument with his own experience that he feels more comfortable to express himself when he “think himself as an American”(page