Poshing Up

In some ways think the logic behind teaching children received pronunciation makes sense. I haven't come across many professionals with thick regional accents and certainly not any politicians or similar people with power.

Banning regional accents and slang is completely different to learning how to 'turn it on and off' in different situations. Although the idea that people with standard English accents are more intelligent than people with regional accents is judgemental, a lot of people think it. Companies use this widespread idea to convey a sense of authority, in call centre's for example. One call centre in Newcastle hire the locals to answer the phones because they sound friendly and familiar. If the customer asks to speak to a manager or the phone call has to be escalated it will be transferred to someone with a 'posher' accent often RP. This is a commonly used way to portray authority when you cant see who you're talking to. This shows that in some ways having a RP accent will make you seem more important and you'll be more likely to a get a high ranking manager. But adults with strong regional accents can still be professionals and I think teaching children otherwise could be damaging to their identities as they will start to lose their accents if they are forced to speak otherwise.

I think to say that a 'posher' accent will get you further in life is terribly rude, especially to the poor Brummies who we voted had the ugliest accent. We associate people who speak with a RP accent with power and I think this is highly caused by the media. All the presenters we see on the news speak with RP accents. This makes it seem like no one who's important has a regional accent. We of course know many people with strong accents who are doing well for themselves but their accent is always a key part of them as a person so perhaps telling children that it’s wrong to speak the way they do isn't for the best?

Many schools have reported a halt in decreasing performance after banning the use of ‘damaging’ phrases. I think that being able to swap between an RP accent and your own regional accent should be enforced more than a complete ban on the way these children naturally speak. It would be a loss if we didn't have the wide variety of accents that we do in the UK. The way we speak is personal to each of us and our dialects can differ on so many levels.

Many of us have witnessed someone ‘posh up’ when on the phone to someone important or even done it ourselves (I definitely have) so we already know in some ways how to make ourselves sound more important and I think teaching children that could have many benefits.

In conclusion I think having an RP accent can be beneficial but not necessary to ‘go further’ so children should be taught and given the option to use RP when they see fit.