I do not believe I had a problem with English after kindergarten. I could switch from Spanglish to Street to English at will. I read. I didn't fear writing. I could mimic the prestige dialect--both the spoken and the written. I could even add 'however' to essays on the basis of sound, although not often on the basis of sense. I was, however, apparently unable to mimic the school's way of viewing the world, the ways reflected in rhetorical patterns. The literacy we (Puerto Ricans) acquire tends to be of the wrong sort, even when the dialect is right. Basic literacy yields little power.

    by V. Villanueva     in A Rhetorically Critical Literacy, 1988 in S. Harman and Carole Edelsky, 1989