Jefferson’s Blog
Some election issues are timeless.
Thomas Jefferson writes on the issues of his day, and ours.
July 26, 2012
Should schools discourage new slang?
“Dictionaries are but the depositories of words already legitimated by usage. Society is the workshop in which new ones are elaborated.”
–Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1820
iCitizenForum
Marcy says:
OMG, really? Schools may discourage all they like, but unless the slang threatens or bullies someone, there’s no way administrators can prohibit its use. I’m sure Jefferson would be appalled at our language today, but stop slang in schools–ain’t gonna happen!
Joe says:
Shakespeare wrote “Macbeth” in 1611, four years after settlers first landed in Jamestown. If you think language doesn’t change naturally, read that play and then speak the most proper modern English you can muster. Call it slang or call it evolution, but language is a living tool. It works for us, we don’t work for it.
Bubba Greene says:
Trends, change and evolution. All things. Progressive or degenerative? Fostering better understanding and greater communication OR selectively creating isoluation. A mask for people to employ. Pig latin. Fleeting no matter what and soon passing. Ebonics, for example. No place for slang in serious education. Set a standard. Follow it. Enforce it.