Friday, March 20, 2009

assumptions of stupidity: talking down a ten-foot pole

I didn’t question it the first time I was told to talk to adults at a fifth grade level. That was in the advanced speech class that I took in undergraduate school. The class was designed as a preparation for our future preaching or teaching ministry. The professor told us to speak at a fifth grade level, especially in the area of vocabulary. The rationalization was that most people have about a fifth grade vocabulary and prefer to hear simple speech. He also suggested that we repeat our points a few times because, in our modern culture, people have short attention spans because they are used to copious stimulation and television. His description of the people we would be speaking to gave me the mental picture of a bunch of poorly educated people with severe ADHD who spend the week watching sitcoms and trying not to think too much.


I’d never heard anyone speak that way until I went to a church where the pastor repeated absolutely everything he said three times. I know I wasn’t the only one who found that a little annoying. He was a good speaker, though.


Then at work, one of our managers gave me some simple instructions, but instead of saying them once, he said them three times, very slowly. I stood there with a blank look on my face, not because I was mentally handicapped, but because I had understood the instructions the first time he said them, and they were so simple that I definitely wouldn’t have forgotten them. Finally he gave the customary, “Ooookaayyyy?” I walked off in a daze, frantically worrying that I must look autistic or somehow extremely slow and stupid. I felt a little better after someone else told me that the same manager treats her the same way. In fact, we were both glad that we weren’t the only ones treated like mentally handicapped people.


I started to wonder if the managers were I work are taught to talk to us as if we have the brains of children just like my speech class professor taught us to preach or teach as if everyone in the congregation had the education and mental capacity of a fifth grader. Wouldn’t it be better to assume that people are at least reasonably intelligent instead of automatically talking down to them? After all, I don’t know of anyone other than slightly autistic children or mentally handicapped adults who would need a simple instruction repeated three times, very slowly. And many people who go to church are educated and intelligent enough to at least take a few high-school level vocabulary words and to hear what the pastor said the first time (or maybe the second time if they are extremely fatigued or stressed). After all, it’s insulting to be talked down to, and I think that something is wrong with assuming that other people are so much stupider than you that you have to talk down to them.

5 comments:

  1. Is the manager autistic? he he he

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  2. This is a good post.

    This is a good post.

    This is a good post.

    Okaaaaay?????

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  3. lol, i like this post, Esther! I notice my mind begins to wander after i heard a point repeated two times. In Kalanguya, we call people like that 'nalopti.' It literally means 'turned inside out.' You can deduce the figurative meaning. :)

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  4. Anonymous10:46 PM

    I know that when I give a task to my work study student, I repeat myself. Not because I think she's stupid, for I have very high regard for her. I repeat myself because I haven't thought through what I want to say. So I have to clarify what I said. Often my Dean will do the same to me for the same reason. And some people because of their personality repeat themselves. So sometimes it's not the result of talking down to someone.

    I think it's ok to repeat ourselves, but it's not ok to talk down to others. The two are not always synonymous. And a 5th grade level is rather ridiculous. Some preachers what to impress people with their knowledge. Perhaps your professor was responding to this. Or maybe he just had a very low opinion of church people.

    I guess I have never experienced someone talking down to me. Though it wouldn't particularly bother me because I'm confident in myself and don't need approval as such. I like it but don't need it. Dad

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  5. Dad,

    Thanks for your comment. Yes, I think it's obvious when a person is still thinking and repeats himself/herself. I'm sure I've done it myself. In this case, he said EXACTLY the same thing three times, very slowly, and those were instructions given to him by another manager. I don't need others approval, either, but of course that doesn't excuse that type of behavior. And it can be very irritating even when it doesn't bother the self-esteem or the ego.

    And with my professor, he explained that the reason we should talk at a 5th grade level and repeat things is because that is what people prefer because most people only have about a 5th grade vocabulary and are used to so much stimulation that they can't pay attention very well, which seems like a low opinion to me. I believed it at the time, but realized later that many people who go to church are very intelligent. (He also said that simple sentences and short words are easier to listen to, and I think that that is okay.) He addressed the issue of using religious jargon separately.

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