Changing one’s way of speaking, not just the vocabulary one uses, but the very “accent” one has, in order to fit into the university seems extreme, but there are students who have indeed done just that.
Mollie Donihe of Roanoke, Virginia, for instance, told Fox, “If I’m in certain situations, such as an academic setting, I’ve taught myself to speak with a more standard English dialect.”
Students told Fox News that they have worked to be rid of their southern accents in order to “fit in”.
The study found that strong southern accents have affected the way in which students participate in class and activities.
In other words, students may shy away from speaking out in class and might curtail what could be a more involved rate of participation in class because they have faced ridicule over their accents. That ridicule, the researchers said, sometimes ends up causing students to doubt their own intelligence, which in turn can cause them to hold back, putting a crimp in their developing education.
It seems that students may not speak out in class due to perceived mockery over their accents. Researchers state that students may even doubt their own intelligence and therefore hold back.
It seems that plenty of men and women from the south have done very well in higher education and therefore this study, though interesting may be making victims out of southern speakers. Who knows what good or unintended harm will come from this kind of research.
Read more of the story here at Breitbart.
WHY would anyone study people with a southern accent. Just to make trouble, that’s why.
ask me do I give a dam
David Colbertsaid a swear word, @[1295100599:2048:Becky Swanson Jordan]! I am telling! These southerners! I’ll tell you!
Its true. I didn’t get a job once because the Illinois interviewer mentioned my southern accent. My accent is not heavy at all. But it was a problem for him. He mentioned it several times. He said that I spoke to slowly. I spoke better English than he did. The jerk said that he was having trouble understanding what I said. I walked out of that interview and never looked back.