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Amy Tan's essay is definitely an effective and powerful statement not only on variations of English and her exposure to the same but also on class and cultural discrimination that people encounter because of their inability to use proper standardized English. While the author has refused to focus on discrimination aspect in detail, she has effectively drawn our attention to this side of the issue. There is some underlying tension that one feels when reading the essay that directs our attention to the discriminatory attitude of people towards immigrants on account of their limited English. The essay also reveals the truth about cultural identity that immigrants have been forced to develop and adhere to because of stereotypical expectations and images harbored by Americans. The immigrant community has often suffered from stereotyping and has been forced to take up certain careers since that's what people expect them to do. However the essay clearly shows that immigrant community is no longer willing from suffer from such restricted expectations of them. They want to explore career choices like any other person would want to. The essay also effectively points out the biased attitude of people in the workplace while it subtly but purposefully attacks achievement tests.
While I certainly agree with her on other issues, I don't think achievement tests' example was really relevant. This is because achievement tests are meant to assess your understanding on English language and its complex structure, so I don't feel they are biased or they try to undermine the significance of variations of Englishes. They are definitely incapable of capturing the richness of different forms of English but they...
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