Policymakers must be informed about patois

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Dear Editor,

There have been some interesting and instructive discussions related to patois and its relationship to education. In recent weeks we have seen a very serious turn in the debate. All of a sudden there is the shout that patois must not be taught in school. This idea has not been in the heart of the patois and education debate. This is indeed a mix of dishonesty and refusal to treat patois as an official language. The core of the patois debate is rooted in the idea that patois-speaking students, especially those in early childhood, basic and primary schools should be taught English language with the recognition that the students' mother tongue is patois. To teach those students under the assumption that they speak English is incorrect. If you speak to the related teachers and counsellors they will confirm that most students from the groups identified speak patois.

This idea of mother tongue recognition is important. I know a Spanish-speaking boy. His age is somewhere at the basic school level. I talk to him in the little Spanish I know when I see him. Sometimes I ask him questions in Spanish. His father has instructed him to answer in English. One day I asked him, "What is your cellphone number?" He tried three times; each time he tried to give his number he said "27". He asked his father to remind him. He tried again in English but he could not go further than "27". So I said, "En Español", and he rapidly gave me the number in Spanish.

His inability to give it at that time in English was not any indication of his lack of knowledge of the phone number. The knowledge was stored in his mother tongue. I thought about this little interaction and said this is so similar to the experience of the patois-speaking students in our schools. This is not a new problem. In the past, children had to read more and by doing so they increased their knowledge of English. In today's world the mass culture crisis makes this problem worse. Both adults and children, by and large, hardly read. It is important for policymakers to consult persons who are best qualified in this area of specialisation in order to respond to this crisis.

Louis EA Moyston

Kingston 8