quote:
Originally posted by cannon_fodder
Horrible.
Slang has a place in the world. But generally one would wish a child or other illiterate would learn to use proper English and maybe even grammar before endeavoring to supplant slang into their vernacular. Why would you want to start out speaking poorly and later try to correct it?
Why not: "Yo you be readin" or any other improper slang that part of our society would be comfortable with? Is redneck or souther drawl now the official language of Oklahoma?
Clearly it is not the end of the world, but to promote literacy with poor English is just a bad decision. If that is the level of literacy we're shooting for it's no wonder our education continues to lag.
Of course, if I thought for a second that the posters would get even a small percentage of people to read I'd be OK with it - but they wont. No one is going to enter a literacy program because Toby Keith says "Ya'll" on a poster.
Step back and think. Who is the target for this campaign? Probably not TU educated attorneys or masters degree city planners. Ever heard of "when talking to a farmer...talk like a farmer"? Ignore the slang, colloquialism, drawl, whatever and see what they are trying to do by using a successful entertainer to encourage reading. Will Rogers spoke like an Okie but had a keen intellect and sharp wit. He didn't speak any better than Toby Keith most of the time.
