The Joy of Regional Accents!


The Joy of Regional Accents!

Should we really be teaching children to lose their accents?

Be whoever you want to be! Don’t care about what other people think! Follow your dreams! These are just some of the things we tell our children as they’re growing up. You can do whatever you want to do! There’s another. And so, our children walk into school on that fateful first day with their heads held high, just ready to achieve their goals, while their proud parents look on and weep – when suddenly, BAM! School bans them from their own identity almost as soon as they step in the doors.

Yeah kids, be whoever you want to be – if that person has an RP accent.

Your accent is a part of who you are. It is a mark of your identity, just as your skin colour is, and you should be proud of it. We want our children to be proud of who they are – but how can they, when schools are banning their accents? Take the primary school in the West Midlands, for example, who have banned students from speaking Black Country dialect – such as ‘cor do that’ – and have told them to speak ‘proper’ English instead. I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous! What even is ‘proper’ English, anyway? Is there even such a thing as a right or wrong way to talk? I think not – everyone speaks differently with their own unique accents, and that is something that makes the English language so beautiful.

Understandably, parents were outraged, saying the move was snobbish, which I must agree with – how is telling a child that their accent is uneducated not snobbish? They want children to speak ‘proper’ English because it makes them seem higher prestige, because apparently, their regional accents are too lower prestige – that’s all there is to it.  The school stated they wanted the children to have the best start in life – but if they truly meant that, they would be teaching children to be proud of their accents.  

A popular argument is that children should be taught to speak Standard English with a Received Pronunciation (RP) accent to get on in life, as it is viewed as the most intelligent. I find this disgusting. If we do this, we are teaching our children to be ashamed of a part of who they are, and teaching them that their self-worth is measured by how intelligent they are. If people really need an RP accent to do well in life, then it just shows the flaws that remain in our society. Prejudice against someone because of their race is unacceptable, so why is prejudice against someone’s accent okay? It’s not that different – it’s still prejudice against someone’s identity.  And anyway, RP accents have been proved to be the least trustworthy – does anyone truly want to go through life not being trusted?

Overall, the main reason why banning regional accents is ridiculous is because it just wont work, especially in small communities where everyone has the same accent. Sure, they may seem to be higher prestige at school, but as soon as they get home they will fall back into their regional dialect.

So, kids, be exactly who you want to be – accent and all!  

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