[CreepingDeth]

San Bernardino County Sun

SAN BERNARDINO 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.'

Wow…fo real, dat's a stereotypical way to look at da av'rage black man's behavior. Ebonics is fo da people that don wonna speak real English. It's a lurned thing that kids see on TV and such. It ain't real!
*Que Ebonics Language Lesson Video*

[jasonsRX7]

The neat thing about ebonics is that as soon as white people start using a particular ebonics word, it gets phased out of the ebonics "language". So it's always refreshing itself, so to speak.

[nredman]

[CreepingDeth]

Why learn 'Ebonics' when you can learn to speak like a real-life educated human. I don't see the advantage. Come on, 85%+ of the people who are said to use 'Ebonics' live in the suburbs where their parents own their house, they have a decent school, and there are no dealers on the street corners. It' stupid enough when you live in a city and use it, but when you live the average life outside the city and you talk like you're some gangsta, then you're dumb. Enunciate words, people.

[BlueSky]

Give up. We'll all be speaking Englatino soon enough.

[CreepingDeth]

Huh?

[jcadam]

Speak to me using Ebonics and I will immediately lose respect for you.

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by CreepingDeth

Huh?

Give up. We'll all be speaking Englatino soon enough.

[nforcer]

More evidence that being well-rounded is not the way to go.

[E's Lil Theorem]

Originally Posted by Bluesky

Give up. We'll all be speaking Englatino soon enough.

You know it! The revolution is near

[CreepingDeth]

I love it when comedians speak in Ebonics as part of a joke, and some group or person deemed an authority on 'blackness' calls the performer racist. It could be Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or even BET. Then they turn around and talk about the 'hip-hop culture' and feature those same stereotypes in their shows. Brilliant.

[RAILhead]

[boardsurfer]

No

"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.'

Yes

They say that (black students) are lazy and that they need to learn to talk,'

English mother****er, do you speak it!?!

[Captain Obvious]

I am sure that will go a long way in helping those students be marketable in the job sector.
I hear fluency in eubonics is rated second among most sought after qualities by Fortune 500 company recruiters, right behind an MBA.

That Texeira chick needs to be taken out back and stoned to death for her stupidity. And Ratibu should be put on medication for his delusional impression that this is akin to the civil rights movement.

[nonhuman]

Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing Future Accomplishment Initiative... SANKOFAI... Ebonics acronym for sanctify?

"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.'

No no no no no no no. Ebonics is not a different language, it is simply a different dialect. It is still (relatively) intelligible to speakers of 'standard' English and therefore is not a different language. And even if it was, it's certainly not a foreign language.

[nonhuman]

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.

So why don't they just have the ebonics-speaking students take ESL along with the spanish-speaking ones?

[ReggieX]

Originally Posted by nonhuman

So why don't they just have the ebonics-speaking students take ESL along with the spanish-speaking ones?

Because that would be the logical thing to do, if Ebonics were in fact a foreign language and not a dialect like we both agree.

What utter bollocks. I'm sure these folks can read standard English just fine.

[budster101]

Ebonics, is that still around?

Is that like speaking jive? ...

> Cue scene from "Airplane"

---

http://www.starterupsteve.com/flash/...s_lesson.shtml

http://f0rked.com/core/flash/v=delta...ics+commercial

[ManOfSteal]

[suvsr4terrorists]

Anyone who actually speaks ebonics on a regular basis is a total ****ing moron and deserves death.

[budster101]

Why all da hostility muh ma ****in nigga? You seem uh bit tense lately, iz
dere anythin' I can do ta he`p? all ye damn hood ratz..


From this original:

Why all the hostility my friend? You seem a bit tense lately, is
there anything I can do to help?

--

You may have a point there...

Translated into the new foreign language of the United States of Black People:

ya may gots uh point dere. Jus' like Orenthawl James.

[deej5871]

Just wait. Soon they'll have Southern dialects and British dialects referred to as foreign languages. That'll mean I can say I natively speak 4 foreign languages! YES! That'll look so good on my resume.

[JoshuaZ]

Wow. I'll start caring about it when you can fill out a driver license form in ebonics. Until then, its just a stupid made up language that only a small group cares about. I don't see anyone making a case for Klingon being taught in schools.

[budster101]

Klock po tahhhhk toh!

http://www.kli.org/tlh/phrases.html

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Wow. I'll start caring about it when you can fill out a driver license form in ebonics. Until then, its just a stupid made up language that only a small group cares about. I don't see anyone making a case for Klingon being taught in schools.

It's not made up any more than standard American English is. Both are simply evolutions of the English language from one form to another. In that respect, supporters of Ebonics have a point.

Where their arguments fail is when they try and call Ebonics a new language rather than a new dialect. It's no different than other dialects of English like Australian or Singaporean English. The difference is that it's considered a 'black' language and as we all know the solution to all the problems in the black community is to coddle them like retarded children and do absolutely everything we can to try and accommodate their 'differences' rather than solve their problems. So Ebonics turns in to this huge political issue where to not include it in schools is to marginalize black people, even though we don't do that with any other dialect group or even language group.

[budster101]

I have yet to see anyone of intelligence speak ebonics. It's usually an immature idiot punk with little or no values. How would they even compare to any other dialect mentioned? Every single person tha speaks ebonics solely is a moron.

They do NOT have any valid points. I'll accomodate those that may be reading this thread that only understand ebonics.

---

I gots yet ta see anyone o' intelligence speak ebonix. It's
usually an immature idiot punk wiff little or nahh values. How
would dey even compare ta any other dialect mentioned? Every
single person tha speaks ebonix solely iz uh moron.

They do NOT gots any valid points. I'll accomodate those dat
may be reading dis here thread dat only dig' ebonix. peep this shi t

[jasonsRX7]

Old, but appropriate.
Delta ebonics

[budster101]

Scroll up. <insert> timeline </insert>

[Cubeoid]

[budster101]

What a fine looking locking device you have there.

--

What uh tight lock dat iz. what 'chew trippin foo'

[Sandkat]

Those kids will be in for a shock when they go to college and everything is in English, and no trace of Ebonics to be found. Wait..what am I saying?

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by budster101

I have yet to see anyone of intelligence speak ebonics. It's usually an immature idiot punk with little or no values. How would they even compare to any other dialect mentioned? Every single person tha speaks ebonics solely is a moron.

They do NOT have any valid points. I'll accomodate those that may be reading this thread that only understand ebonics.

They do have valid points, and Ebonics is a result of naturally occurring linguistic processes that happen every day. It's the same phenomenon that causes American English to be different from British English or Australian English. The only difference is that it's more recent than that and it's pretty much restricted to a single group within a the larger American English speaking population. A similar thing is going on among the latino population where there are a large number of kids who are growing up speaking English in an otherwise Spanish culture. Ebonics is not an isolated phenomenon and it's not going to go away just because you or anyone else things it's stupid.

Yes people are stupid to claim that Ebonics is a foreign language, and yes way people cling to Ebonics and hold it up like some sort of proof that they're oppressed is moronic. But Ebonics is a valid dialect of English despite the fact that it is spoken by a group of people that is typically poorer and has more crime than the general population.

[budster101]

It's not the same. Not at all.

[nonhuman]

Originally Posted by budster101

It's not the same. Not at all.

It is, you just don't want it to be.

[budster101]

Is not. Infinity.

[Cubeoid]

This thread is now about baseball dads.

[jasonsRX7]

Originally Posted by budster101

Scroll up. <insert> timeline </insert>

Zoinks

[boardsurfer]

"we be flyin all over dis bitch"

[Warung]

Originally Posted by budster101

It's not the same. Not at all.

How so?

[Cubeoid]

wooooooooooooooooooeeee

[Captain Obvious]

Originally Posted by Cubeoid

This thread is now about baseball dads.

No, its not. Now shut up.

Originally Posted by nonhuman

A similar thing is going on among the latino population where there are a large number of kids who are growing up speaking English in an otherwise Spanish culture. Ebonics is not an isolated phenomenon and it's not going to go away just because you or anyone else things it's stupid.

I would not call it similar. The difference being that one is the infusion of two different languages into a broken dialect as one group tries to assimilate into an entirely foreign culture. There is a more logical pattern to the substitution of nouns, verbs, and even the phonetics in Spanglish. While it may take a couple generations and some elements of the phenomenon may stay with mainstream English forever (like some Yiddish, French and even native American words have remained from other previously assimilated populations) Spanglish will go away on its own.

Ebonics is hardly that. It is a bastardized version of English stemming from purposeful changing of the language. It is not just an evolved slang. It has become common because of an effort to distort the language for the sake of glorifying the small subculture that it first stemmed from. It grew not because the majority in those communities did not know the correct usage of the words or their spelling but because they elevated and mimicked the few who didn't. Its part of the ghettoizing of America where negative and poorly educated elements of our society are embraced by popular culture and coddled by the politically correct who want to make excuses for its existence.
If schools and educators just said to hell with your supposed "fragile cultural identity" and just abided by existing phonetics and language rules everything would be fine. Here is the set of rules by which the American English language is spoken. The word is fifty not fitty. You can keep on using it but don't expect anyone to validate its usage or take your dumbass seriously.
You get an “F” for F*cking moron.

[nforcer]

Originally Posted by Captain Obvious

Ebonics is hardly that. It is a bastardized version of English stemming from purposeful changing of the language. It is not just an evolved slang. It has become common because of an effort to distort the language for the sake of glorifying the small subculture that it first stemmed from. It grew not because the majority in those communities did not know the correct usage of the words or their spelling but because they elevated and mimicked the few who didn't. Its part of the ghettoizing of America where negative and poorly educated elements of our society are embraced by popular culture and coddled by the politically correct who want to make excuses for its existence.
If schools and educators just said to hell with your supposed "fragile cultural identity" and just abided by existing phonetics and language rules everything would be fine. Here is the set of rules by which the American English language is spoken. The word is fifty not fitty. You can keep on using it but don't expect anyone to validate its usage or take your dumbass seriously.
You get an “F” for F*cking moron.

+5 insightful. I second this.

[Warung]

Just in case anybody cares what "Ebonics" really is all about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonics

Quoted for emphasis:

African American Vernacular English (AAVE), known colloquially as Ebonics, also called Black English, Black Vernacular or Black English Vernacular, is a dialect and ethnolect of American English.

[Cubeoid]

Don't hate the playa, hate the game. </mrfox>

Originally Posted by nforcer

+5 insightful. I second this.

I third it.

I can't believe a school board would think, "Gee. Our black students are dropping out of school and not learning anything. I know! Let's talk like their gangsta rap idols and then they'll succeed!".

What I find scary is that there are Ebonics books already published (as mentioned in the article). WTF? Do they re-release older books with the language changed ("The Mutha-Fukin' Mayor of Casterbridge") or is this new material?

I'm so far on the left liberal, it ain't funny and I can tell that this PC initiative is utter crap and another ringing endorsement of how stupid liberals can be.

[memento]

This is, quite unfortunately, nothing new. I've seen this years ago and almost yearly since. I know teachers in schools where this dialect is prevalent. They are forced to go to seminars on this stuff where people are always pushing to be PC about it and have those who speak in this dialect to be admitted into the ESL program and they are always denied. I've seen the seminar handouts and it's actually sad. Ebonics is a dialect just like any other dialect. It is not another language. Are southerners allowed to take ESL if they move to upstate NY? nope. And they don't need to. Just because they say y'all, doesn't mean that they can't read and write proper american english. Poor test scores from the group that speaks ebonics are being blamed on the fact that they "don't speak english at home, they speak ebonics". It doesn't matter that they have no family life, don't study, and that their parent does drugs. oh no. It's all because they don't speak the same language as the rest of the country.

As screamingFit very well said, "this PC initiative is utter crap". nuts.

[RAILhead]

Our office has people that may as well speak Ebonics because their grammar is so horrific. The two that really piss me off are our Accounting Clerk and the girl at the front desk. They both use DON'T GOT all the freaking time and it literally turns my stomach when I hear them. I swear, I almost lost it on the front desk girl last week when I heard her say something along the lines of "we don't got any of those..."

Sweet Mother of Mercy, she's lucky I'm not her boss...

And I can't even stand to think of the times our accounting clerk has said "don't got" to one of our multi-million dollar customers. We do our best to avoid her ever having to talk to any of them, but sometimes she has to.

Neither girl is stupid, and both do an excellent job -- but they sound like freaking idiots and I'd fire them both if I could for that reason alone. With the way the world's going though, everyone will be talking like an utter idiot while a few of us remain, speaking Good English And Grammar to one another, hiding in the woods with Guy Montag...

Maury

[ReggieX]

First Jive Dude: **** man, that honky mus' be messin' my old lady... got to be runnin' cold upside down his head. You know?
Second Jive Dude: Hey home, I can dig it. You know he ain't gonna lay no mo' big rap up on you man.
First Jive Dude: I say hey sky, s'other s'ay I wan say?
Second Jive Dude: UH...
First Jive Dude: Pray to J I get the same ol' same ol'.
Second Jive Dude: Eh. Yo knock yourself a pro slick, gray matter live performas down now take TCB'in man.
First Jive Dude: Hey, you know what they say... See a broad, to get that booty yak 'em.
First Jive Dude, Second Jive Dude: Leg 'er down 'n smack 'em yak 'em
First Jive Dude: Cold got to be. You know? Shiiiiit.

[budster101]

Go to Wallmart, Bes Buy, or Kmart sometime if you want an education in idiocy and show your kids where they will be working for a long time if they don't learn to speak properly. People do judge you on the words you use, and that my friends is a fact of life.

[Zimphire]