The Role of Higher Education

"It is criminal to graduate African American students who cannot speak and write standard English," says Orlando L. Taylor, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Howard University. "If we do, we are setting them up for failure. We, in higher education, must find a way to effectively teach Black children and then, we must prepare a teaching force to do it."

The lack of understanding about the language systems of African Americans is, in Taylor's mind, something that can be remedied by a greater focus of attention on the issue by higher education institutions.

"Most colleges and universities claim to have three roles in society: research, teaching, and service," Taylor says, adding that higher education institutions can do more in each of these areas when it comes to fields of research concerning African Americans.

"There is an incomplete body of research on the many ways that African Americans communicate," he says. "Another thing I think the academic community needs to do is help inform the public better.

"The public has been manipulated by not having the full benefit of thoughtful information on these topics. I think colleges and universities can do a better job of articulating -- not just about the language of African Americans, but about how language operates in general."

Taylor adds that scholars can help explain how communication, though related to language, is different. They also can remind people about the rich linguistic heritages of the United States, and about the survival of other languages in present day American English. Institutions can achieve this by using campus radio stations, sending faculty members out into the community to speak to civic groups about the nature of language, and engaging the media on the subject.

"The rhetoric has got to be lowered and thoughtful conversation has got to emerge," Taylor says.

On the subject of teaching, the dean says there are materials available that help teachers learn how to "bridge" students from a command of their home language to a command of English, but that these materials should be more widely distributed.