Language Arts Journal of Michigan Volume 32 Article 3 Issue 2 Race, Language, & Privilege 5-2017 Raciolinguistics, “Mis-Education,” and Language Arts Teaching in the 21st Century Geneva Smitherman Michigan State University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/lajm Recommended Citation Smitherman, Geneva (2017) "Raciolinguistics, “Mis-Education,” and Language Arts Teaching in the 21st Century," Language Arts Journal of Michigan: Vol. 32: Iss. 2, Article 3. Available at: https://doi.org/10.9707/2168-149X.2164 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Language Arts Journal of Michigan by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Critical Pedagogy Raciolinguistics, “Mis-Education,” and Language Arts Teaching in the 21st Century GENEVA SMITHERMAN “English Teacher, Why You Be Doing the Thangs member in what was then the Department of “AfroAmeri- You Don’t Do?” can” Studies ) was that EJ was “nervous” about publishing my strong rebuke of English teachers. Now I didn’t have any & then it was hip–it was hip empirical data to support that vibe from Harvard yard, but it to walk, talk & act a certain did take two years for my article to be published.2 neighborhoodway, In that piece, I merely challenged (okay, I assailed) we wore 24 hr sunglasses & called our those elementary and secondary language arts teachers who woman baby, our woman, dismiss student essays if they don’t reflect the grammar and syntax of the Language of Wider Communication (LWC; we wished her something else, aka, “Dominant English,” “Standardized English,” “Ameri- & she became that wish.