‘Outlawing slang won’t work’
READERS have given their verdict on a Sheffield school barring slang and local dialect in the classroom.
Springs Academy in Arbourthorne says children need good communication skills to succeed during tough working conditions.
The topic has sparked healthy debate among parents and fans of The Star on Facebook have joined the discussions.
Ray Jackson said: “Every area has its own slang and the north has its own particular type.
“It’s blatant snobbery trying to stop it and it won’t work at all, they tried this in school when I was a kid in the 1960s and it didn’t stop or suppress one single word.”
Common Sheffield dialect words like ‘abaat’ and ‘reight’ are said to be top offenders at the school.
But support for the stance has also been forthcoming.
Liam Ashton said: “Pointless to ban it in schools because they will just continue to use slang at home and with friends out of school. Especially if parents and friends use strong slang.
“They do have a point though, it’s better to speak and pronounce words properly.”
What do you think? Email news@thestar.co.uk
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Comments
There are 19 comments to this article
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diΞsΞł 簡 dΦｇｇ
Friday, February 24, 2012 at 09:54 AMReight whats all this abaat? To be fair it has a bad effect on spelling if the children dont actually know what word they are suppose to be saying.
Reason
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 12:01 PMBanning is not the answer, educating is.
Woodseats Sammy
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 01:32 PMBan slang? Yes - ridiculous American expressions.
iamchrissy
Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 09:56 AMA sensible conversation. Unusual but good. I was brought up on the Manor Estate, and all my friends spoke in a strong Sheffield accent But my Dad wouldn't allow us kids to talk any slang at home. We couldn't "thee and thou" or any slang words, only the proper English as my Dad called it. I still live in Sheffield, and lots of people ask where I come from, cos I speak "nice". I can speak the Sheffield talk anytime, and do adjust the way I speak to the company I am in. That is what children need to learn, and schools should only accept the Queens English in school worl.
swfc
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 08:08 PMthe missing point is, you send a cv into a company 9 times out of 10 the only jobs you don't are the jobs that don't mind how you speak, as long as you can do the job, and if you have a good cv then the fact of how you speak would be changed to that situation, and any company that said they could not give me a job because of my Sheffield accent or the way I talked I would then go to the dole and claim disability allowance for I have speech impediment that's preventing me from getting a job, and I would sue the company for prejudice , I would be more worried about the reason why kids now can tell you about Ehid and the Quran but don't know about may day or John the baptist or the difference between the old testament and the new testament, kick out this rubbish and teach kids about local business as this is the city we live in, a lot of talented Yorkshire folk are even commentators on the tv and radio, Michelle plain , vaughn ex England cricket captain parkinson
PaulSheffield
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 07:06 PMOld Man of The Sea your names not Chris M is it ?
bigshaun
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 06:48 PMo reight thi mite av a point..........
Proud2B-British
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 06:28 PMIt's a form of discrimination, will they also be banning ethnic minorities speaking in their mother tongue?
KelvinFlats
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 03:43 PMenglish language is like fasion these days....changes all the time...its part of what we are....but i do agree proper english should be taught as it is more readable and pronouncable than slang to the vast majority...slang is for mates...proper english is what the world understands. Schools SHOULD be hardcore disciplne...its the lack of discipline & LOVE thats the problem here
stevee
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 02:49 PMA lot of teenagers I speak to speak very lazily and I can't undersand them. There's nothing wrong with a school trying to give the kids their best chance of making it in the world and learning how to speak properly when necessary is a useful lesson. I've always told my kids to speak respectfully to me, old people, teachers and others in authority and younger children but when they're with their friends they can speak how they choose. Do we really want to live in a world where text message speak becomes normal?
isme
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 02:38 PMPathetic.
nannydb
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12:30 PMI suspect that most of use use slang at sometime or another. However, the important thing is to know the difference. Children cannot grow up thinking that "street" is the correct way to speak and, worse still, write. I cringe when I see the way that some kids write messages via Facebook and other sites as I'm sure they don't even realise it's not good English and will get them precisely nowhere if they ever want a decent job. It strikes me that if schools don't make the effort to ensure that children learn the "correct" use of language then no-one will. That's why we have schools, to educate.
joseramirez
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 11:44 AMWha' gwan? All de comments here sound proper! Irie man. It makes a lovely change to have sensible comments across the piece. So far!?
HideTheCretinsForTheGoodOfSheffield
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 11:35 AM100% correct move. Anyone who speaks like an idiot is judged as an idiot and usually as scum. Get real if you want to work - which idiots and scum don't of course.
Old Man of the Sea
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 11:30 AMI was born in Sheffield and lived there for my first 17 years and then I joined the Navy. Mixing with people from all over the country nobody would have understood a Sheffield accent so I moderated it a bit and during my 30 years at sea I picked up bits of language and dialect from all over the world. Now, living in Devon, I speak decent English but I also use a bit of Devon slang, naval slang, some Yorkshire and some pure Sheffield.
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