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Ebonics in Schools
Many black individuals have played their part in America’s history. Has the Oakland School gone too far by wanting to teach a black slang language in school. In this paper, you will see the peoples, teachers, and the student's opinion as well as the Senate.
A lot of people are speaking out on the subject, especially actors. Arsenio Hall replied to reporters “When I heard somebody from Oakland say the word genetic, on TV, I ran into the kitchen so I didn’t have to be mad at anybody.” James McDaniel of ABC’s NYPD Blue and S. Epatha Merkerson of NBC’s Law and Order described the Oakland School Board’s decision on Ebonics as a distinct genetically based language (Shister, p.1). Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson defended Oakland’s school over a controversial plan to recognize black English in the classroom (N.A., p.1).
On December 18, 1996 the Oakland School Board approved a policy affirming Standard American English language development for all students. This policy covers the effectiveness of the strategies that must be utilized to ensure that every child will achieve English language Proficiency (Hawkins, p.1). This policy is based on the work of a broad-based Task-Force, convened six months ago to review the district-wide achievement data and to make recommendations regarding the effective practices that will enhance the opportunity for all students to successfully achieve the standards of all students. The data shows the low levels of the student performance and lack of students in the Advanced Placement Education Program. These recommendations focus on the unique language stature of the African American Students (Shister, p.2).
One of the programs recommended is the Standard English Proficiency Program, which is a state of California model program. Which promotes English-language development for African-American students. The S.E.P. (Standard English Proficiency) training enables teachers and administrators to respect and acknowledge the history culture, and language that the African American student brings to school (Cambell, p.2).
Recently a “Superliteracy” component was added to ensure the development of high levels of reading, writing, and speaking skills. The policy further requires strengthening pre-school education and parent and community parcipitation in the education process of the District (Hawkins, p.1).
In the following, there are findings on African Americans in school: 53% of the total Oakland School’s enrollment were black, 71% of the students enrolled in the Special Education were black, 37% of the students enrolled in Gate classes were black, and the average Grade Point Average of black’s in school was 1.80, which is the lowest in the District (Hawkins, p.2). Also, 64% of the students held back were African American, 71% of the African American Males attended school on a regular basis, 19% of Senior African Americans did not graduate, and 80% of all students suspended were black (Shister, p.2).
While Ebonics rages as a hot topic in the spotlight of American media, so called Black English has played a quiet role in an Atlanta area school district for more than a decade. About 600 students in the Dekalb School District just east of Atlanta is taking a course known as “bi-dialectal communication.” In Dekalb County Ebonics is not considered a language, but a dialect. Specifically, it’s appropriate for the classroom. The course focuses on more than just the non-standard English of Ebonics. The students learn they must project, enunciate and gesture properly to communicate. This is the 11th year of the federally funded bi-dialectal program. Administrators cite rising test scores in language arts and reading as evidence that it works. Parents also seem to approve. One parent said if they had something like that when she was growing up, she would’ve made it farther (Cambell, p.2). On the Internet, Ebonics isn’t necessarily a black vs. white thing. It’s more a matter of justice vs. joke. Should Ebonics be considered a second language requiring special treatment by school teachers, or is it merely a different form of English, to be corrected but not accommodated. The debate has played out on the editorial pages, TV shows and talk radio across America, but for several reasons, it’s a subject perfectly suited for the Internet. For 1 thing, the Net’s anonymity can cloak your racial background or identity, loosening tight stereotypes. For another, you can find a virtual community that matches your take in the issue. On the World Wide Web, you can read tightly reasoned analyses of black history and listen to people making cruel fun of the whole issue through such rewritten works. Some sites offer to translate e-mail messages into Ebonics. But the liveliest Internet offerings have to do with the back-and-forth discussions, whether via news groups or web chat pages. Sheila Green has cited studies supporting the validity of the schoolboard’s approach in several newsgroup posts. The Ebonics debate has served to highlight a growing number of online services focusing on black cultural prospective (Boyle, p.1).
Oakland’s School Superintendent Carolyn Getridge, School Board President Jean Quan, and board member Toni Cook are going to testify before the Senate. They will speak about the district’s recent decision to recognize Ebonics in the classroom. Other witnesses scheduled to testify at the hearing include Robert Williams, originator of the term Ebonics and Amos Brown of the Civil Rights Commission of the National Baptist Convention (N.A., p.1). The national debate on Ebonics reached Capitol Hill January 23, 1996 as a Senate subcommittee took up the provocative question of whether using African American dialect can help black children learn Standard English, and whether it deserves Federal support. The hearing began on a combative note. Senator Lauch Faircloth denounced Ebonics as absurd and said that the Oakland school board’s decision to have teachers recognize it in classes struck him. But Oakland school officials, joined by Rep. Maxine Waters adamantly defended the Ebonics policy and insisted that it had been misinterpreted as an attempt to lead students away from Standard English. School officials said they simply want Oakland teachers to devote more time to students who rely on black English and help them better understand the difference between their language patterns and standard English. Many other schools are trying to teach Ebonics such as San Diego and Los Angeles, who are considering on creating plans to teach it (Shanchez, p.1).
The controversy is still going on in Capitol Hill and has not been resolved yet. The solution may come soon. Or it may be a long time from now. Either way some people will be upset with the final decision.BACK TO DIRECTORY | BACK TO SUB DIRECTORY: BLACK ISSUES
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