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Conversational English Fluency Should It Determine Employment? Essay

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Conversational English Fluency…Should It Determine Employment? Society is so used to hearing the phrase, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” In reality, this is just a metaphor for how people actually judge each other based on a first impression or how someone speaks. Certain individuals are judged because of their accent, the way they speak, how much English they truly know, or on their ability to speak a different language. As a result, they are often denied jobs when applying because of that specific language barrier. Often times, if certain human beings have broken English, they are thought less of, and have a harder time fitting in because they are judged. Employers need to realize that minorities who speak broken English, are faced with certain disadvantages, and have a harder time fitting into society’s norms. Throughout The Help by Kathryn Stockett, the reader can see that Aibileen’s speaking voice is much different than the other ladies’ in the novel. Therefore, she was not only judged for the color of her skin, but also for her capability to speak English. Of course since she was dark-skinned, she was seen as less than the white women, but her speaking a southern black dialect made her more detached from society. While interviewing Aibileen for the book, Skeeter asks her, “Did you…ever have dreams of being something else?” (144). Aibileen replies by saying no. This quotation really just goes to show that all Aibileen could ever work as is a maid. She can not be

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