The Power Language versus the Acceptance of All

The question of teaching the power language is rather startling in my opinion. The power language is really the language of the minority seeing as the majority of the American population does not have access to it. As an idealist, I hope that one day acceptance and equity will be the fundamental ideas of society. The reality at this point, however, is that the power language controls the fundamental institutions of society, and if we refuse to instruct students in the language of power, the education system is denying them fundamental tools necessary to succeed. I believe that there are ways that classroom instruction, as Delpit's article describes, can honor and recognize all manners of communication. This instruction facilitate acceptance while providing every student with an equal opportunity to access and master the language of power. If the ideal is to work towards acceptance, minority languages must gain power and work to deconstruct the prejudices towards language present in society. The irony here is that this level of power is only attainable through the utilization of the power language; thus, providing instruction in the power language should be mandatory.