"Experts" tell us that ebonics is three things: 1) an African language that is genetically passed on among blacks; 2) a vocabulary that has grown out of the encounter of African slaves with Irish immigrants; and 3) a wholly new dialect created since the 1960s by young blacks to separate themselves from whites.
"Ebonics" is not a language from the African continent, nor from anywhere in sub-Saharan Africa, contrary to what the warlords will try to tell you. It has nothing to do with some contrived "encounter" with Irish immigrants. All it is, in the pure and simple form, is black slang. It differs from some other forms of slang, but somewhat closely parallels southern slang. This is because, in many cases, blacks migrated to other parts of the country from the south. All the race warlords and their intellectual footsoldiers are trying to do is to dress up slang and couch it in collegiate psychobabble.
I would strongly suggest that anyone who wants to study the true issues behind this debate take a look at Dr. John McWhorter's "Word on the Street: Debunking the Myth of "Pure" Standard English." McWhorter looks closely at the "ebonics" debate, and the excuses used by the race warlords and black academics who defend this faulty premise. McWhorter also touches on this subject in his more widely read volume, "Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America." In the latter book, McWhorter indicates that reliance upon "ebonics" as a crutch to support the learning of "the Queen's English" is a faulty reliance that does nothing but leave young minds further behind.
Rather than waste time on using slang to teach, all that is needed is for teachers to use standard English, period. Rather than waste time and money on texts written in slang in order to try to "get through" to the kids, how about teaching the kids using standard English. They certainly hear it when they watch television, and go to the movies, and they understand it just fine. The reason that they are having problems in school, is because the educators allow them to - at least in that regard.
My wife and I demand that our children speak to us and to other adults using standard English. We were brought up the same way.
"I don't care what you say around your friends, but when you speak to me or any other adult, you will speak clearly and make yourself understood, do you understand me?" My mother would demand this of me, and many other middle-class black parents did so as well.
This all goes back to the emphasis that is placed (or not placed as the case may be) on education in the black community. It is accepted to perform in a sub-standard fashion, since if you do well, then you are "acting white." The warlords accept this and promote this, albeit in a somewhat covert way. Jesse Jackson promotes this by speaking in rhymes and with slang, and expecting everyone to bend to his whim and will. "If Jesse does it, it must be OK."
By demanding excellence, by demanding acceptable speech, by demanding respect from my children as opposed to "trying to be their friends," my children are succeeding, in spite of the warlords and the sub-standard environments that exist within the schools today.
Ebonics is a pillar of Afrocentrism. It is a movement which, using intimidation, violence and pseudoscholarship, has dumbed down the education of black children beyond recognition, illegally barred whites from teaching black children and deliberately cut poor, black children off from the mainstream of American life.I'll freely admit that I use slang. We all do at varyiing points and to varying degrees. But as a professional, I do not do so within a business setting. I know where I can and cannot do so. It is incumbent upon the educators within our society to teach students where they cannot use that slang. When teachers use "ebonics" as a teaching tool, they are dumbing down the curriculum, and by doing so, they are setting back opportunities for those students across the board.
Afrocentrists such as George Washington University professor Robert Williams, who coined the term "ebonics" in 1973, maintain that it is an act of disrespect for a white teacher to correct a black child. Professor Charles Coleman of the City University of New York's (CUNY's) York College has argued that remedial education is harmful to black students.
Progressive white educators who support Afrocentrists insist that it is wrong to correct students' usage and grammar. Unfortunately, this approach leads teachers to give passing grades on writing-proficiency exams. The CUNY remedial students then are permitted to take college-level classes despite possessing only semiliterate reading abilities.
Many middle-class blacks like to sometimes "go ghetto" and use street slang. But these professionals can speak standard English — in many cases, better than I can — and can always go home. The poor and working-class blacks to whom Afrocentric educators have refused to teach standard English, however, have nowhere to go.
With their continued reliance on this sort of failed teaching method, is there any wonder why the students are not prepared for the standardized examinations that measure whether or not they have learned the necessary skills from grade school? Is there any wonder as to why many black students that do make it to college, spend their freshman year mired in remedial classes, trying to make up the remainder of the skills and knowledge that they should have gotten in high school?
It sounds to me like many of the "educators" need remedial coursework themselves.
Your point about the lack of competence of the teachers is well taken. Although most of us can recall teachers who stood out as excellent, inspiring, and even mentors, most teachers are not recruited from the most talented students in our most competitive colleges and universities. One is reminded of the old saying Those who can, do. Those who cannot do, teach. Although society pays lip service to education, and it is essential to success, it is as if many blacks have taken to heart the old Anglo-Saxon suspicion of those who smell too much of the lamp.
Thanks for the tip; I'll try and get the book.
I don't think that Afrocentric and "progressive" pedagogues push street slang as the language of instruction, and celebrate students' use of it in spite of, but rather because of the failure of this method. They want to enslave poor blacks.