Reading Response: TSIS 115-32

I was very fortunate to have had the luck to stumble across this reading; this reading connects really well with my thesis proposal, "Informal Writing/Different Writing style." In Chapter 9, "Ain't So/Is Not" Graff and Bikenstein discuss in depth how students can "blend" their everyday language with Standard English, "Because there are so many options in writing, you should never feel limited in your choices of words, as if such choices are set in stone. You can always play with your language and improve it. You can always dress it up, dress it down, or some combination of both" (Graff and Birkenstein 121). Well said! Students should not have to feel like their work must sound "academic"; i am guilty of this to, i feel like what i have to say is limited because i do not do a very good job at expressing myself using Standard English; i feel like i have to use big words to sound "smart" for crying out loud, I AM AN ENGLISH MAJOR! I cant even imagine what other students who are not English majors (go through) when asked to write an essay, these students probably feel like they are being tortured. Every teacher is different, some will not allow their students to write using non standard English, and other teachers will tolerate it, and this is where the education system does the students injustice, all of the rules should be the same across the curriculum. I am all for Standard English, but i feel that students need to be taught how to convert their every day use of language into Standard English; it is not that difficult, it just takes a lot of effort on the teachers part. Tying is Aristotle's topoi, i would say this reading was HIGH ADVANTAGEOUS, and WORTHY!