From Voices of the Self [1991]

With a rap or two of the magistrate's gavel punctuating my junior high school experience, I reached new sociolinguistic heights. I had successfully wielded language as an instrument of power in the often-intimidating world of the legal system. This tactical success gave me greater confidence than ever in my ability to manage impression in novel situations, using language as the primary device, and it also served as dramatic notice of a truth I was well aware of by then: inadequate language skills (because I had adequate ones) would not be my downfall. By the close of eighth grade, with my reading level at a solid 12.2 according to my performance on the Metropolitan Achievement Exam and with a healthy 86 percentile ranking on the Iowa Test of Educational Development, I had moved far beyond any barrier constructed solely with Standard English. ¹ A major purpose of this book has been to describe this movement, yet this book is not simply about positive accomplishments. Contrary to what some might have anticipated, mastery of the standard dialect did not in and of itself lead to outstanding formal academic progress and, as the narrative indicates, I foundered badly.