Ah, Rose and remediation. While the title of this post is a (not very) witty pun on the author's surname, it does relate to his subject matter as well. Much like our class discussion regarding medical metaphors in educational settings (e.g. diagnostic essays), the power of naming people, groups, and patterns of behavior is one of those common sense ideological enforcements that slips by unnoticed; it has a disturbing amount of impact on both the object of the label and the labeler (libeler?). "Tag some group illiterate, and you've gone beyond letters; you've judged their moral and their minds." (VV 561) Sticks and stones, no? It just fits with so many other examples of hidden connotative meaning we've already run up against like so-called "bad grammar" especially when that term is applied to something that might be better understood as differing dialect or rhetorical uses for ones writing based on audience. Standard Written English is not the only forum which people write in. Perhaps recognition of this oft overlooked detailed will make it easier to empower, rather than belittle, basic writers.
I just realized that while I did read the "Narrowing the Mind" Rose piece, the above post is on the second (read "wrong") one -- The Language of Exclusion.
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