The Gypsies rightly contend that one is never obliged to speak the truth except in one’s own language; in the enemy’s language the lie must reign.
-Guy Debord p. 9 Panegyric (2004)
Many of my students come to the school with a language, even when they speak English, which is different than that which is spoken in the classroom (Heath 1984). Additionally the language, or discourse, that is dominant among the school administration and state mandated TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) is more often than not disconnected from the language of the students’ discourse community, as well as that of the classroom. I am conflicted over the importance of either the students’ own language or the importance of “helping” students into the discourse of the dominant language community. Lately I have been thinking that the focus of my class should be on language, as in rhetoric, as perhaps the key, since whatever discourse a student comes from, or whatever discourse is applied upon them by we patronizing school officials, using the tools of the language of rhetoric would allow the student to analyze both their own language and the language of power. Perhaps. Or maybe it would simply indoctrinate them into a different (not synonymous with better) discourse community.
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