It doesn't insult anyone. Again there are two types of immigrants. Voluntary immigration, and those that come from cultures conquered, colonized or enslaved. That being said there is no reason why everyone can't learn standard English Dialect, but there is a different set of issues that need to be addressed in order to teach them standard academic English. The goal is not to replace that with Ebonics, contrary to some people's opinion.
I think we all agree more than we disagree. We all agree that ALL STUDENTS need to learn standardized academic English, including those that hear and use only ebonics in the home or away from school. I think the only disagreement came as to what exactly Ebonics is and isn't. Andy - In California If Ebonics is designated as its own language then that would mandate that all students who live in homes where Ebonics are spoken would be tested. The students would then be placed at an ELD level, and unless they tested fluent in English already the state would mandate ELD time for those students. No student regardless of home language is ever excused from learning academic English. I don't feel placing these children in ELD would exactly be the best way to help them, but correct ELD procedure used throughout the day would be beneficial.
But Gullah and ebonics are not the same, either, and that is the connection you are making. Gullah is a mixture of French, tribal forms of West Africa, and English. A gullah person can go to West Africa and understand and communicate fully with West Africans. Ebonics comes out of a further dilution that has been passed down culturally, but not really linguistically. When I was trying to define it earlier and used the term slang I did not mean it as others in this thread have (krunk or word, etc.). Anyway, my point to all of this, as I stated previously, is that teachers should definitely have and understanding of ebonics (as you do) when they are in certain areas so they can better instruct towards proper, academic English, but I am not so sure about labeling it a foreign language and promoting it in such a way. That only causes more separation, frustration, and resentment by others.
I agree that it isn't a language of itself, just that it has its own linguistic structure, which should be taken into account when assessing students in other areas, and helping to teach the students academic English. I think we agree. I misunderstood your use of slang. I did think you meant it as different words or hip-hop/pop vocabulary used in a classroom setting.
I think some of you are misunderstanding the point of the program. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I garnered from FB's responses is that the classes would teach the student standard English by familiarizing him first with ebonics, which in this case is serving as his primary language also reinforced at home. I think all of you saying that noone who speaks ebonics will succeed in a professional atmosphere are completely missing the boat. The goal of the program, if I understood, is to phase out the ebonics slowly. Kind of like when you take Spanish 1, you start out learning the course in 99% English and 1% Spanish as they slowly introduce the language. As you move on to higher levels of the language, like FB said, it increases to 20/80, 40/60, and eventually until the student is completely fluent. I guess the point here is that if ebonics is what is reinforced and spoken at home, the student will have an easier time picking up standard English if it is introduced to him in his native tongue (so to speak in this case). i guess in my above example, it would be like trying to learn spanish from the beginning completely in spanish, when it is not what is being reinforced at home. again, this is not about promoting ebonics, but rather strengthening the learning of standard English through it's use. i also have to take issue with those of you who say that the parents of these kids are simply too lazy to teach their kids proper english. as FB stated, it's still very recent that blacks in this country have been given equal educational opportunities. it's easy to simply dismiss this as laziness, but the program is not promoting the use of ebonics, but trying to find a solution to eradicate the problem. it's not like im in favor of the program, i'm just clarifying what i think might be some misconceptions. personally, i'm on the fence. on the one hand, i think learning through familiarity could be a good idea. on the other hand though, why would you want to reinforce something (in this case ebonics) through repetition in the classroom which you are supposedly trying to phase out? also, it's not like standard english is a completely foreign language to these children as i am sure they can still watch tv. in this case, it's not about standard english being foreign, but just the comfort level of using ebonics as opposed to the former. also, i think though that the immigrant argument has some validity. asian immigrants pick up the language fine and have absolutely zero prior exposure to standard english in ANY form outside of the classroom. so i would have to say i am against this type of program but i think some of you are misunderstanding the reasoning behind it.
