What Lens are You Looking Through?

 

The Privilege of Speaking, Reading, and Writing the English Language (excerpt)

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Being an English speaker in the United States means:

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1.  I can be confident that people will understand me wherever I go in the United States, and if they don't they will be seen as deficient,              not me.

2.  My language will be considered the essential, legal, primary, best, official, legitimate, or only way of communicating.

3.  I can survive, even thrive, in my country without learning a second language.

4.  I can negotiate pretty well in most places in the world with English, at least in the industrialized world, without ever learning a second            language.

5.  I will not be patronized because of my native language.

6.  I will not be ignored or talked about as if I am not present because of my native language. 

7.  I will not be asked, told, or required by law or the ignorance of others to speak a language that is not native to me in the place I call              home. 

8.  I will not suffer persecution or discrimination because my native language is other than English. 

9.  I will not have to worry about whether my accent will cause people to think I don't have command of English, even though I may have            perfect command of English.  

10. I need never become exhausted from the rigors of trying to communicate in a language that is foreign to me. 

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Scott, A. (1999). The Privilege of Speaking, Reading, and Writing The English Language. In The Light in Their Eyes (pp. 134-136). New York , NY: Teachers College Press.