Ebonics suggested for district

San Bernardino County Sun ^ | 17 July 2005 | Irma Lemus

[45Auto]

Incorporating Ebonics into a new school policy that targets black students, the lowest-achieving group in the San Bernardino City Unified School District, may provide students a more well-rounded curriculum, said a local sociologist.

The goal of the district's policy is to improve black students' academic performance by keeping them interested in school. Compared with other racial groups in the district, black students go to college the least and have the most dropouts and suspensions.

Blacks make up the second largest racial group in the district, trailing Latinos.

A pilot of the policy, known as the Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing Future Accomplishment Initiative, has been implemented at two city schools.

Mary Texeira, a sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, commended the San Bernardino Board of Education for approving the policy in June.

Texeira suggested that including Ebonics in the program would be beneficial for students. Ebonics, a dialect of American English that is spoken by many blacks throughout the country, was recognized as a separate language in 1996 by the Oakland school board.

"Ebonics is a different language, it's not slang as many believe,' Texeira said. "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 said research has shown that students learn better when they fully comprehend the language they are being taught in.

"There are African Americans who do not agree with me. They say that (black students) are lazy and that they need to learn to talk,' Texeira said.

Len Cooper, who is coordinating the pilot program at the two city schools, said San Bernardino district officials do not plan to incorporate Ebonics into the program.

"Because Ebonics can have a negative stigma, we're not focusing on that,' Cooper said. "We are affirming and recognizing Ebonics through supplemental reading books (for students).'

Beginning in the 2005-06 school year, teachers will receive training on black culture and customs. District curriculum will now include information on the historical, cultural and social impact of blacks in society. Although the program is aimed at black students, other students can choose to participate.

The pilot program at Rio Vista Elementary and King Middle schools focuses on second-, fourth- and seventh-grade classes. District officials hope to train teachers from other schools using the program as a model.

Board member Danny Tillman, who pushed for the policy, said that full implementation of the program at all schools may take years, but the pilot program is a beginning.

"At every step we will see positive results,' Tillman said.

Tillman hoped the new policy would increase the number of black students going to college and participating in advanced courses.

Teresa Parra, board vice president, said she worried the new program would have an adverse effect.

"I'm afraid that now that we have this the Hispanic community, our largest population, will say, 'We want something for us.' Next we'll have the Asian community and the Jewish community (asking for their own programs). When will it end?'

Parra said the district should focus on helping all students who are at risk.

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

Tillman disagreed with Parra, saying programs that help Latinos already exist in the district. He cited the district's English- as-a-second-language program.

Texeira urged people not be quick to judge the new program as socially exclusive. She said people need to be open to the program.

"Everybody has prejudices, but we must all learn to control that behavior,' Texeira said. She said a child's self confidence is tied to his or her cultural identity.

She compared the low performance of black students to starvation. "How can you be angry when you feed a family of starving children?'

Ratibu Jacocks, a member of the Westside Action Group, a coalition of black activists, 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,' Jacocks said.

Jacocks said he didn't believe the new policy would create animosity. He said he welcomed the idea of other ethnic groups pushing for their own programs.

"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.'

[Horkster]

Fo' schizzle, my nizzles...

[mhking]

This is insanity. This is laziness cloaked in insanity. This represents the laziness of the instructors who are either unable to teach or who refuse to teach standard English.

When I was a youngster, I certainly used slang outside with my friends and elsewhere, but I didn't use it in the classroom. My teachers -- mind you, I was in predominantly black public schools in Gary, Indiana at the time -- wouldn't stand for it. And I didn't dare use that sort of language in front of my parents or grandparents. I had no desire to taste soap, thank you very much.

My family demanded that we learn and use the Queen's English; my wife's family was much the same. And the two of us demand the same thing from our children.

Do they use slang outside the classroom and with their friends? Sure! They're kids. Kids do that. But we demand that they use respectful proper language, and to use it appropriately.

If that makes me some kind of child abuser (I'd guess that this joke of a sociologist would think so), then so be it. I'll be damned if I allow some pencil-necked, pocket-protector-wearing, bed-wetting, hand-wringing apologist hamstring my children just to bolster their self-esteem and justify their salary.

I wrote a piece for Project 21 a couple of years ago on how insulting this concept is to the intelligence of children, black, white and otherwise across this nation, and I've caught six kinds of hell for it. I've received vindictive e-mails personally, letters have been sent to Project 21, I've caught grief from some interviewers, and callers to liberal talk shows.

But I will demand excellence from my children, and those around me -- in spite of the moonbats.

 

Double-barrelled Mega-PING! to both lists! If you want on, FReepmail me!

[PigRigger]

tis b excent noows; eyes wish dem wel

[hispanarepublicana]

I'm just glad that Jim Robinson acknowledges Texanics with his inclusion of "y'all" in the FReeper spellchecker. Hmmm, haven't checked to see if "fixin'" is in there though, but I'm fixin' to.

[Phantom Lord]

And , oh yeah, they should sport basebal caps on backwards or ski caps even in summer.

No, they should have to wear a dew rage under a ski cap, with a baseball hat on top of both.

[Inwoodian]

I defer to your discriminating (can I say that?) sense of Homeboy Fashion.

[TAquinas]

"succeed"

Succeed?

Why?

[Kokojmudd]

Poor kids not being given a chance to succeed by these pinkos.

[Mike Darancette]

Ww be in DC.

[LTCJ]

Outstanding post.

[WKB]

I can see it now
"The night before the witner festival
De Ebonics Crimmus Pome

Wuz de nite befo Crimmus;
And al ower da hood;
ereybody wuz' sleepin' ;
Dey wuz sleepin' good.

All o' de fambily;
Wuz layin in de beds;
While Ripple and Thunderbird;
Danced thru dey heads.

I passed out inna' flo;
Right nex to Maw;
When I heard sech a fuss;
I thunk: "It mus be de law!!!"

I looked out thru de bars;
What covered my doe;
'spectin de sheriff;
Wif a warrent fo sho.

And what did I see;
I said "Lawd look at dat!!"
Ther' wuz a huge watermellon;
Pulled by giant warf ratts!!

Now ober all de years;
Santa Clause, he be white;
But looks liken us bros;
Gets a black Sanna dis nite.

Faster dan a Po'lees car;
My homeboy he came
He whupped on dem warf rats;
An' called dem by name!

On Leroy, on 'Lonzo;
And on Willie Lee;
On Saphire, on Chenequa;
Dey wuz a site to seez!!

As he landed dat watta' mellon;
Out der in da skreet;
I knowed it was fo' sho' ;
Da damndest site I ebber did seez.

He didn't go down no chimbley'
He picked da' lock on my doe' ;
An' I sez to myself;
"Shit!! He done dis befoe!!!"

He had dis big bag;
Full of prezents I 'xpect;
Wid Air Jordans and fake gold;
To wear roun' my neck.

But he left no prezents;
Jus started stealing my shit;
Got my drugs, got my guns,
Even got my burglar's kit!!!

Wit my stuff in de bag;
Out da window he flewed;
I woudda' tried to catched him;
But he stoled my 'nife too!!!

He jumped on dat wadda' mellon;
An' whipped out a switch;
He wuz gone in a seccon;
Dat son of a bitch!!

Next year I be hoppin' ;
Anutha Sanna we git;
Cuz' diz here Sanna Clause;
Jus' ain't werf sh**!!!

[Yaelle]

I am SORRY. If Ebonics is anything linguistically, it is a DIALECT. There is a fair comparison to it in the world, one with which I am quite familiar, and that is Swiss-German. Swiss-German is a dialect of German, and the various forms of S-G do have instances where they are actually speaking "grammatically incorrect" German. This is why most Germans can't bring themselves to speak it, because it's like "babytalking" their own language. Just as most English speakers can't bring themselves to fully speak Ebonics (unless it makes them really, really rich like Eminem).

In (the German side of) Switzerland, little children grow up only speaking dialect until they are school aged (6). They speak dialect at home. However, the kiddie shows and cartoons are in high German. Once they start school, all instruction is in high German. All books are in high German. They do absolutely FINE speaking dialect all day long, and studying and reading and writing high German. Not only that, but in high school they are expected to study two other languages as well.

Dialects are SPOKEN forms of language. They are not written.

Oh, and as for Jewish Americans asking for special treatment language-wise? We think a little more of our children than that. We fully expect them to speak, read, and WRITE excellent English, and be able to at LEAST read fluently from another language written in another alphabet (Hebrew, of course). And they do! Same with many Asian-American families.

I wish that most black kids came from two-parent families who were focused enough on the kids to expect great things from them, rather than dumb an already dumbed-down system for them. The kids could excel, but not with these low expectations. This really steams me.

[rlmorel]

I agree. Listening to someone like David Robinson was refreshing.

Then you get the Commissioner of Basketball saying that the league has a "hood" reputation, and people had the gall to call his comments racist!

HELLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

As for Charles Barkley, I do not agree with much of what Charles Barkley says, I think he is crude and mean, but I also get the impression he is honest, and well spoken. I loved it when I heard him say "I am not a role model. I am a basketball player." It is nice to have both (in hockey, someone like Raymond Bourque as an example, and there are other atheletes who might qualify) and you wish they would all conduct themselves as role models by default, but that is not the case.

I think he was also a conservative at one point, may still be.

[shuckmaster]

Life Afta' de Leak -TIME visits wid Valerie Plame and Massa' Wilson at deir crib in Wuzhin'ton

Posted by Shermy
On 07/18/2005 12:41:37 PM PDT · 40 replies · 688+ views

Time ^ | July 18, 2005 | Massimo Calabresi
Life Afta' de Leak TIME repo'ta' Massimo Calabresi visits wid Valerie Plame and Massa' Wilson at deir crib in Wuzhin'ton Posted Monday, Jul. 18, 2005 Valerie Plame used t'live hidden in plain sight. Man! De brick crib she and ha' husband, Massa' Wilson, bought in May uh 1998 be on some leafy, Wuzhin'ton, D.C. side-street, some few turns fum de German Embassy, and fits right in wid de oda' well-to-do cribs around it. Man! De jimmey garage doo' displays de common items uh family life, dig dis: bicycles, kids' toys, garbage kins. Wilson's convertible Jaguar sits parked in de rollway. Slap mah fro! A paved walkway. Slap mah fro!..


SUV rams crib; teens charged

Posted by PAR35
On 07/18/2005 12:40:06 PM PDT · 18 replies · 305+ views

Dallas Mo'nin' News ^ | 7/18/05 | Cyndia Vega
PLANO - Dree teenagers gots been arrested afta' de stolen spo'ts utility vehicle dey wuz travelin' in crashed into some Plano crib and seriously hosed some five-year-old boy. Slap mah fro! Honky pigs would not release da damn dojiggers uh de goat and two boys cuz' dey is juveniles, but said all dree is 16 o' yunger. Ah be baaad... Honky pigs said da damn SUV wuz travelin' at some high rate uh speed when it skidded across de front yard uh a crib on Silverstone Doc, belongin' t'Jason and Jennifa' McNeely. Slap mah fro! A family homey who arrived t'de crib Monday mo'nin' t'check on de crib said de...

[rlmorel]

"A pilot of the policy, known as the Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing Future Accomplishment Initiative, has been implemented at two city schools."

This is too pathetic to be real. Please help me with an acronym here:

S.A.N.K. O.F. A. INITIATIVE?

[radiohead]

"working class" would imply actual work. ;)

I suspect that most ebonics practitioners are as unfamiliar with "work" as they are the rest of the English language.

LOL!! How true.

[Fred Hayek]

What you then describe is Ebonics being used to literally "keep them on the plantation".
War is Peace
Ignorance is Strength
Long live Big Mama (Heil Hitliary!)

[Main Street]

More proof that Kalifornia is sinking onto the ocean. And it didn't take an earthquake to do it. It just took some dumbed-downed, new-age, diversity loving, multi-culti promoting, guilt-ridden, democrat voting, liberal victimist educators.

They're drowning, and they're too brainwashed and ignorant to even notice they're over their heads.

[theDentist]

"We have led the way before the civil-rights movement opened the door for women's rights and other movements."

And apparently the "other movements" include "bowel".

[cweese]

Slap mah fro!!! I hope JimRob never converts to this format for FR articles. It'd take days to read through one page of posts.