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daFatman is speechless..

 

kL

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Monday, July 18, 2005

BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS

District to 'affirm' Ebonics

'It should be considered a foreign language'

 

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Posted: July 18, 2005

8:26 p.m. Eastern

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

 

A school district in Southern California approved the "affirmation and recognition" of Ebonics into its curriculum as a way to help black students improve academic performance.

 

The San Bernardino Board of Education says a pilot of the policy, known as the Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing Future Accomplishment Initiative, has been implemented at two city schools, according to the daily San Bernardino Sun.

 

 

Ebonics, a dialect of American English spoken by many blacks, was recognized as a separate language by the Oakland, Calif., school board in 1996.

 

Mary Texeira, a sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, believes the program will be beneficial to students.

 

"Ebonics is a different language, it's not slang as many believe,' Texeira told the Sun. "For many of these students Ebonics is their language, and it should be considered a foreign language. These students should be taught like other students who speak a foreign language."

 

Texeira acknowledged there are African Americans who disagree with her.

 

"They say that [black students] are lazy and that they need to learn to talk," she said.

 

The program, which will be implemented gradually, begins this fall when teachers receive training on black culture and customs. The district curriculum will include information on the historical, cultural and social impact of blacks in society.

 

Len Cooper, coordinator of the pilot program at the two city schools, said Ebonics won't actually be incorporated into the program, because of its "stigma."

 

"We are affirming and recognizing Ebonics through supplemental reading books for students," he explained.

 

Although the program is aimed at black students, other students can choose to participate, the Sun reported.

 

Board member Danny Tillman told the paper he pushed for the policy because he hoped it would increase the number of black students going to college and participating in advanced courses.

 

But Teresa Parra, board vice president, worries other minority groups, including Hispanics, will want their own programs.

 

"I've always thought that we should provide students support based on their needs and not on their race," she said.

 

 

Ratibu Jacocks, a member of a coalition of black activists – the Westside Action Group – said they are working with the district to ensure the policy is implemented appropriately.

 

"This isn't a feel-good policy. This is the real thing," said Jacocks.

 

He welcomes the idea of other ethnic groups lobbying for their own program.

 

"When you are doing what's right, others will follow,' Jacocks said. "We have led the way before the civil-rights movement opened the door for women's rights and other movements."

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Wow,

 

While they're at it they might as well include creationism in the curriculum and ensure that they really go through life with no education.

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Is youz pokin funs at me, Ahm gonna com kik yo assssss!

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Gul·lah

n.

1. One of a group of people of African ancestry inhabiting the Sea Islands and coastal areas of South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida.

2. The creolized language of the Gullahs, based on English but including vocabulary elements and grammatical features from several African languages and spoken in isolated communities from Georgetown in eastern South Carolina to northern Florida.

 

I'm of two minds on the question of Ebonics. On one hand I'm a snob when it comes to good English usage, and I bemoan the increasing laxness occuring within our language. On the other hand, I have to recognize all language as "living" and reflecting numerous aspects of change within the macro- and micro-cultures.

 

The above entry from Dictionary.com may illustrate what can happen to language when a community of people are isolated. No matter the strides in integration, isn't it undeniable that the (intentional?) "ghettoization" of great numbers of American black folk could be a major factor in the development of Ebonics?

 

Add to this that the language of Gulla is mostly considered quaint and in need of protection by many of the same people who recoil at the acceptance of Ebonics.

 

It's a sticky and fraught issue, and I think its implications are much larger than mere considerations of proper English.

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Honestly, they don't seem to realize how utterly rediculous a person sounds when he's speaking in Ebonics. To me, at least, it shows a lack of education and/or proper lingustic skills.

 

If you ever met a succesful or wealthy person who WORKED for thier money, notice they tend to have a good command of the english language; how many of them speak in ebonics, or any other sub-dialect? (excluding rappers and such, but thats a different story)

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How do they communicate effectively?  How do they help the child overcome the language obstacle that they have through no fault of their own?  As you pointed out, you have never met a successful person who did not have a good command of the english language.  So how does a child who hears nothing but Ebonics spoken in the home and community ever get a chance to learn correct English and get an opportunity to become a successful person. 

 

I have no problems with dialects. They are a legitimate form of expression that exist by the hundreds, and maybe thousands in western Europe alone. The problem with teaching in Ebonics (did I understand that correctly?) is that the cycle of poverty you mentioned is only going to be bolstered. Who will hire such a graduate? What college will this person be qualified to enter?

 

Teach it as a dialect. Praise it for its creativity. Don't teach in it.

 

You ask how does a child who hears it at home get a chance to learn proper English? In school. We have their attention for 12 years supposedly. It shouldn't take that many to properly learn English. Teaching in it is only throwing in the towel.

 

Just one man's opinion.

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O.o if they are gonna do this, that means they HAVE to teach leet speak (IMO). c4u53 1337 5p3k i5 d4 b0/\/\b y0! d0wn w17h 7h4 g0v3rn/\/\3n7!!! (j/k j/k) :)

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The English language we speak today isn't the same "proper English" used hundreds of years ago. Look at Shakespearian period English. It's almost unrecognizable from today's dialect. This begs the question, is "correct English" truly correct English? Or is its interpretation a matter of what time period and which part of the world it's spoken. Why is "Ebonics" less correct than any other dialect when the English language is constantly changing?

 

People say they malign Ebonics because the upper-class, the educated or businessmen speak in what's concidered correct English. But why do we automatically say it's correct? Is it because those in power, the wealthy or white people speak a certain way so we assume because they're in power, they also determine how language is spoken? White people speak in different dialects also but they're not called uneducated or "lazy" for doing so. But black people historically haven't had much power so anything we've done is frowned upon as "lower-class" behavior because people feel by emulating us, they would somehow turn into us and thereby inherit our powerlessness.

 

I agree that we should be educated in what is concidered "proper" English so we can be understood in the corporate world but I don't think the way black people speak is this horrible desecration of language that everyone else thinks it is. Why? Because I grew up in a household that utilized "Ebonics" but we knew other ways of speaking in addition to appreciating other languages in our home. The problem is not the ebonics itself, it's that it's the only dialect some have been exposed to. I think kids should not only be introduced to other ways English is spoken as they are when reading Shakespeare, Homer or Mark Twain, or taught about how British, Australian and South African people use English words differently from Americans. They should also learn other languages when they're young to broaden their world.

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"We are affirming and recognizing Ebonics through supplemental reading books for students," he explained.

 

Too bad those learning Ebonics won't understand this sentence.

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I hate the fuckin' the english language. I don't speak english btw I speak Hiberno-English which is more than a dialet. We took (were forced to take) the english mix it with our own and produced a much more rich, complicated and beautiful way of speaking.

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In writing, I love slang as a method of peppering up an otherwise grammatically pristine sentence. However, slang of any sort being "taught" is ridiculous and contrary to it's nature as a form of rebellion and creativity. There are no rules to teach, and Ebonics is no more culturally valid than Redneck or any other variation of English. Teach them all or teach none. I'm for the latter.

 

Or, in other words:

 

Yo buss dis. In writing, I love slang as a method uh bustin' cap in an otherwise grammatically thumpin rhyme. Howevuh, slang uh any sort bein "taught" be frontin' an' contrary to it's natua as a form uh rebellion an' creativity, an shit. Dere be no rules to teach. Sheeit!

 

Did I get an A+?

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Precisely- it does sound ridiculous.  It is not a separate language, so much a as a bastardidation of English.

 

1. The english you are speaking now is a bastardization of older english. Older english is a bastardization of several languages, including latin, german, french, anglo saxon, etc. Language is fluid. It changes.

 

2. Ebonics does have grammatical rules, just like any pidgin or creole. In fact, ebonics and tok pisin have several startling grammatical similarities, showing language development and a logical, clear, and cohesive way of communicating.

 

3. Studies have proven that the use of ebonics as a teaching tool increases the ability of black students to learn what society calls "proper English", not decreases it.

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In writing, I love slang as a method of peppering up an otherwise grammatically pristine sentence.  However, slang of any sort being "taught" is ridiculous and contrary to it's nature as a form of rebellion and creativity.  There are no rules to teach, and Ebonics is no more culturally valid than Redneck or any other variation of English.  Teach them all or teach none.  I'm for the latter.

 

Or, in other words:

 

Yo buss dis. In writing, I love slang as a method uh bustin' cap in an otherwise grammatically thumpin rhyme. Howevuh, slang uh any sort bein "taught" be frontin' an' contrary to it's natua as a form uh rebellion an' creativity, an shit. Dere be no rules to teach. Sheeit!

 

Did I get an A+?

 

 

F - I'm afraid. You get a big red "X" for this statement:

 

"Dere be no rules to teach"

 

I love my big red pen. All my students shall feel the wrath of it one day. :HaHa:

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Or, in other words:

 

Yo buss dis. In writing, I love slang as a method uh bustin' cap in an otherwise grammatically thumpin rhyme. Howevuh, slang uh any sort bein "taught" be frontin' an' contrary to it's natua as a form uh rebellion an' creativity, an shit. Dere be no rules to teach. Sheeit!

 

Did I get an A+?

 

(You know I kain't juss let dis fly. :HaHa: )

 

Yo yo, Shaddy-G, I hear what you be sayin'.

I'm all wit dat. You know what I'm sayin'?

Juss cuz dem crackuzz ain't down wit dis shit,

don't mean they gots'ta be dissin'niss mess. :mellow:

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Hus yo' rackit chillun, before I'se whup yo' ass.

 

Sheeit, sistuh Swees, I ain't be sweatin'natt. :mellow:

 

I don't be packin'niss 9 fo nuthin'.

 

You whup my ass, I bust a cap'n yo's. :mellow:

 

 

:twitch:

:HaHa:

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Sidenote: Anybody here ever read Sozaboy by Ken Saro-Wiwa?

 

An entire novel made of broken English, pidgin English, and standard English. A literary masterpiece.

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Sidenote:  Anybody here ever read Sozaboy by Ken Saro-Wiwa?

 

An entire novel made of broken English, pidgin English, and standard English.  A literary masterpiece.

 

I ain't nevah read dat shit. :shrug:

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Dat cuz yousa po' foo.  :HaHa:

 

Dis po' foo can make it through da night inna streets.

 

Kenyew say'da same?

 

Das what I thought. :mellow:

 

:HaHa:

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I can get lost at 3 in the morning in downtown Buffalo and only have one nervous breakdown though. :grin:

 

Da streets no place fo' dis heah gul. Ise need ta be inna houze.

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I can get lost at 3 in the morning in downtown Buffalo and only have one nervous breakdown though.  :grin:
Just one?

 

Not bad. Not bad at all. :HaHa:

 

Da streets no place fo' dis heah gul.  Ise need ta be inna houze.

 

An you da one callin' me a po' foo...

 

Whassup wit dat?

 

You ain't nothin' but some chee-ick'n. (buh-kaaaw!)

 

:lmao:

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I read the article differently I think.  I thought they were teaching them in the same way they teach spanish speaking students, so that they can communicate with them and get them fluent in English.

 

Possibly I misunderstood. If the end result is a group of high school graduates who speak proper English in the end, I have no qualms with the method they used to get them there.

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