Originally posted by SoulzofAW3
2. Even the blacks that do speak slang or Ebonics are not all ignorant. Slang is just a way for people to communicate with each other in a way that's comfortable to us. Just because I speak slang dosen't mean that I have a gun in my jacket and I'm ready to rob someone. Think about it, most of you guys speak slang also. Ex, "I just HO'd a noob over HQ". That's slang also. Does that mean you're a street person or ignorant? Not at all. It's just our way of communicating with each other when flying. Think about that the next time you're ready to label someone because of the way that they speak.
I agree with most of your post, but would like to point out a few things about the part I'm quoting here.
while not all who speak that way are ignorant, they sound that way, communicate that way and might as well be ignorant. if you can't share your ideas with the world in an intelligent fashion they do you no good. you could be Albert Einstein on the inside, but if you can't get your ideas out, then for all practical purposes you are a dumb-ass.
as far as the rest of it. sure there is nothing wrong with slang in a certain context. I use slang in flight-sim, where everyone knows what I'm talking about, I use another 'slang' at work, we have terms for tools and procedures that would get a blank look from anyone not in the industry.
here's the big difference- I don't use my work 'slang' when off work or away from my co-workers, I don't use flight-sim slang when away from my PC or other flight simmers. and above all I can speak English clearly when I'm in a setting where it is appropriate.
I have no problem with kids speaking slang when hanging out with their friends, or even in music (fact is if it where limited to that I'd have never heard it anyway). but it's all over the schools and many young kids come to work speaking like that. it gets them labeled as a dumb-ass right away and it effects the opportunities they are given.
IMO the inability (or unwillingness) to speak clearly holds young black kids back much more than the color of their skin. it holds some white kids back too but they don't have the luxury of blaming it on skin color.
we get new apprentices fairly regularly and I generally get to pick which ones I want to work with. since I often do more detailed work with a much higher opportunity for an apprentice to learn. many who don't get picked by me (or others who do similar work) end up spending the majority of their day doing manual labor, with very little to learn or advance themselves.
I don't let the color of a mans skin effect who I choose, but I will not pick someone who gives the appearance of stupidity, or chooses to be difficult to communicate with. I say chooses, because I will and have taken apprentices who are deaf, or new to the country and still working on their English, but by the time a man reaches 20yrs old in this country, and gone through a school system that I've paid for, if he still can't speak this language clearly then I'll take the easy route, slap a dumb-ass label on him and forget about him. maybe you're right, maybe down deep he's a genius, you dig for it, I don't have the time.
