After reading Should Writers Use Their Own English my initial reaction was to be taken aback by Vershawn Young’s language. In Should Writers Use Their Own English , Young writes in a way that is unusual compared to academic writing we are usually assigned to read. That is because Young uses a version of English that is his own and mostly used outside of academic spaces like at home or on the street. Furthermore after watching 3 Ways to Speak English my initial reaction to Jamila Lyscotts spoken word was that I was very intrigued by her argument of being trilingual because she could speak English in 3 different “tongues’ ‘. One tongue being her Jamaican accent , the second tongue being English she uses on the street , and the third tongue being what society considers to be standard and proper english. When comparing both texts , I noticed that one ideology both Young and Lyscott share is that just because they are not speaking what is considered standard English , does not mean they are any less articulate or intelligent than someone who is using standard english. Both Young and Lyscott make the arguments that being articulate should not be defined by the versions of English they are using. One excerpt from Should Writers Use Their Own English that particularly stood out to me was “standard language ideology insists that minority people will never become an Ivy League English department chair or president of Harvard University if they don’t perfect their mastery of standard English ” (Young , 113). This quote from Young’s text stood out to me because I had never viewed language as a form of oppression , until recently. The idea that defining anything but standard English as “broken” or “improper” plays into a larger system of oppression and racial caste. Personally it makes sense that someone considered a minority’s inability to master standard English , can be considered inarticulate , illegitimate , and ultimately unfit to hold academic positions even if the content of what they’re saying is significant. Therefore , young people emphasize how academia specifically marginalizes people who cannot speak standard English (usually minorities or people of color) even if what they are saying holds more substance than what someone who can speak proper English is saying.