Eboincs

4. People’s thoughts about Ebonics

5. How does it effect black students

a. Ebony-black, Phonics-speech/dialect

E. How does it effect black students

1. Treatment by teachers and other students

2. Help that is provided for black students

A. African Americans need to leave Ebonics at home. Like it or not, this is America. The official language is English. There are

What has been done to acknowledge Ebonics? Two issues have caused educators, parents, and teachers to look at Ebonics seriously. First, in 1979 a group of African American students took Ann Arbor School District to court claming discrimination because of their use of Ebonics. These students were placed in special education classes for speaking non-standard English. The federal court ruled in favor of the students and ordered the district to train teachers to recognize Black English and provide necessary tools for students to learn Standard English (Sneider 1+). Second, throughout this nation, Ebonics has interfered with Black student’s success in school. Oakland, California has done a great deal to increase the awareness and understanding of Ebonics. Since 1989, the federal government and the state of California have funded research on Ebonics to show it is a real problem and to help Black students to succeed (Templeton A1). The Oakland School Board is the first in the nation to declare that African Americans speak a language that is distinct from English. This move means that teachers must acknowledge certain phrases “Mom be working” or “I axed (asked) to leave the room” while being ready to teach Standard English as the opportunity presents itself. On December 18, 1996 the Oakland School Board approved a resolution that declared Black English a second language. Many Black leaders spoke out against Oakland School Board’s genetically based plan. Mfume, President of the NAACP, said their resolution was a “Cruel joke.” Jesse Jackson said, “this is an unacceptable surrender borderlining on disgrace.” Jackson declared the Oakland resolution would do nothing for black achievement (Dryman npg). Maya Angelou disagreed with the decision. She said, “I’m incensed…The very idea that African American language is a language separate and apart is very threatening, because it can encourage young men and women not to learn standard English”(Considered 12). The public worried that the Oakland School Board policy stated that the Oakland School Board was going to teach Ebonics instead of English. Many disagreed with the classification of Ebonics (Black English) students as bilingual. Many argued that the school district was attempting to get federal and state funding, by condoning slang. The Oakland School Board appeared to want a system of perverse incentives that reward failure and lower standards. As a result, Black students would be further separated from an already divided school district. The Oakland Board had to delete the phrase “genetically based” from its policy. The Oakland policy does not insist that schools teach Ebonics or Black English. However, the policy insists that teachers understand Ebonics and use it to help black students learn Standard English. The policy will provide teachers and parents with the tools to address diverse languages that are brought to the classroom. They want to build on language skills brought to the classroom without devaluing the student and there diversity. The Board hopes to connect English language proficiency to student achievement. The term “genetically based “synonymous with gensis In the clause, African Language systems are genetically based and not a dialect of English, the term genetically based is used according to the dictionary definition of “ has origins in. It is not used to refer to human biology.”(Fillmore npg). People have reason to be upset when the wrong facts are presented. The Linguists are happy to see the issue being discussed, but are upset that we ignore the linguistic research. The Study of Black English has provided information on how other languages change and develop (Gibbs 26). The linguist has a few points on Black English: Ebonics is not slang. Slang is short lived and replaces word s in a function. Groovy is slang; he done gone is not slang. It is systematic as any dialect. Wolfram said that maybe Englis

Some topics in this essay:
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