Response to E on Yagelskis's work

I think the discussion we had in class because of this text says it all. There definitely are language, power, and race relations that are constantly working within the texts we read and the words we write. Unfortunately the standard has made us believe there is one “real” or “right” way to write and I think we’ve all found it hard to distinguish what should be accepted and what shouldn’t be. It’s a really, really hard line to discern and I think that’s what makes us question different forms of discourse in reading and writing. We had a whole discussion about Celina’s work in class, whether or not it worked for the point she was trying to get across, whether it was effective and I think as teachers we’re going to need to make these distinctions. However, I think, based on the way teaching is going right now it’s hard to completely “understand” and “analyze” students text. If you have thirty to forty students in your class you’re not going to really be able to understand that “Larry’s” writing reflects an angry voice because of his “self-esteem” issues. And because of the standards placed on schools how is Celina’s voice truly going to be heard when she has to write it in a standardized testing prompt? Even if they asked for her voice, her opinion, her thoughts, there still would absolutely be a discrepancy between what “her voice” really is and what it “appears to be” based on what she has been conditioned to write to be a “successful” and “intelligent” student who can pass these exams and even be an integral and acceptable part of larger society and unfortunately I don’t see that changing anytime soon.