Is It So Wrong? Prejudice and learning Spanish

This was her town. Her people. Was it so wrong to want to be among them? Was it so wrong to want to work with them? Was it so wrong to refuse to learn a new language?

Terrence McCoy, “White, and in the minority”

My amiga Heather Giles recently posted an article that really opened my eyes to a different perspective on language learning. Prior to reading “White, and in the minority,” I could barely conceive of any real reasons for not learning a language existing–other than time or laziness. But reading about Heaven Engle’s factory experiences and how they shaped not just her resistance but her resentment, I could suddenly empathize.

She felt more alone than she’d ever thought possible. Alone when a worker slipped in front of her, and she wanted to ask if he was okay, but didn’t know how. Alone when she once went to the break room, saw the tables filled with people speaking Spanish, and swore that she’d never be back. 

Terrence McCoy, “White, and in the minority”

Now maybe it wasn’t language that isolated us, but I suspect everyone who has ever entered the teenage years–and many who haven’t yet–has felt that sense of alienation. It might have been tied to appearances or personal beliefs, or just a plain old feeling that you couldn’t shake. Those lines, though, conveyed to me how language has the power to separate us, to make us feel cut off and less than. And I can very easily see that being the case in any situation where you don’t speak the language you just overhear.

There’s the sense that you are being rejected for your differences, and I can think of no feeling more universal.

She had taken some Spanish in high school, but had dropped it, not because she had any animosity toward the language or the people who spoke it, but because that just wasn’t her 

Terrence McCoy, “White, and in the minority”

I had a hard time wrapping my mind around this attitude, until I read the next passage:

Heaven watched Salvador coming, annoyed. Why couldn’t she learn English? Why was it up to Heaven to change? Salvador was the newcomer, not her.

Terrence McCoy, “White, and in the minority”

I mean, I have heard almost these exact words before. But in the context of this young woman associating not just the other language but the need for the other language with someone else’s identity, and THEN feeling backed into changing that identity or suffering? I could very easily see why that would cause anger, fear, and very real pain.

What was this job doing to her? She’d never thought of herself as prejudiced — and still didn’t — but there were increasingly times when she felt so far on the outside, so little understood, that her alienation was hardening into something closer to anger, and possibly worse.

Terrence McCoy, “White, and in the minority”

Maybe I handle my fears poorly, too, but it makes perfect sense to me to start corralling the source of your pain and assigning blame for it outside yourself. I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with the connections Heaven appears to be making through self-reflection: not a lot of young people–or old–can or are willing to do that, to question themselves and their perspectives.

I think that’s where we language teachers come in.

But what do we do about it?

Can some Tim McGraw and vlogger videos prevent this ugly attitude shift? I think having students on Day One write or talk through how they imagine the inner monologue of the man in Juliet Lyan’s video going, they might start off in the right mindset.

I think it’s important, too, to think through some of the points, maybe “Unpack the Invisible Knapsack” with a questionnaire adapted for language or discuss “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and how it connects to Heaven’s factory job, and what role language plays there. We need to name those creeping feelings and fears that reinforce the isolation and separation, look them in the eye, and decide for ourselves if they are really enough to keep us from appreciating each other.

And we need to address how learning this language affects students’ identities. We need to acknowledge that, yes, learning a language does tend to change who they are and how they see the world. But it’s not because they’re deficient to begin with, but rather because we all are in a constant state of growth–although sometimes in directions that are dangerous, if we’re not careful.

I think the point of learning another language is that it really is often easier to be around people with shared backgrounds, and we all deserve a chance to relax in that sense at least sometimes. But what I want students to see through interacting with people who speak Spanish (just because that’s the language I’m tasked with teaching them), is that there is ALWAYS something we share with each human being we meet, and if we can’t talk to them, how will we ever know?

And if we never know, aren’t we stuck feeling as alone as Heaven?