Rationale
In class we studied a few texts about talking about Ebonics which is linguistic term for Black English, while studying part 1 of the course we also investigated the history of Ebonics and how the history and culture of black people has shaped the language. The articles discussed the history and the status of Ebonics around the world. Out of the many articles the one I found very intriguing was about a controversy of teaching Ebonics to black children in a school from Oakland California. After a few arguments and pressures the school ended up demolishing the idea, which is exactly why I intend to compose a formal letter for the Oakland School, taking on a persona of a black teenager during the 1990’s. In my letter I attempt to inform the school board how their approach to teach Ebonics to black children can prove to be beneficial to me and other kids my age. I plan to give evidences such as statistics and interviews of people that support my approach of persuading the board. My letter will relate to the following learning outcome from part 1 which is to” Demonstrate an awareness of how culture and content shape the language and meaning”. In order to compose the letter from the context of the black teenager I will have to research the typical life of a black teenager during that time, also just for the emphasis I intent to add some AAVE (African American Vernacular English) words, which is another word for Black English. I will also make sure to use typical conventions of a letter such as; addresses, date, salutations and conclusions.
The Essay on Ebonics And The English Language
In December of 1996 a national controversy erupted when the Oakland school district suggested that “ebonics,” which is also known as Black English, was a genetically based second language. Since Oakland California’s decision to allow the teaching of ebonics in its school system, ebonics has become a national issue and has sparked a heated debate form coast to coast. A large part ...
Written Task.
Shattuck Avenue
Oakland
California- United States of America.
Board of Oakland unified school district
35th Avenue.
Oakland
California- United States of America.
January 13, 1997.
Dear Board,
I am a student, from Castle Mont high school Oakland. I am a hard working student, but I still cannot manage to compete with the other white students in my grade, the teacher thinks I am illiterate, but its not my fault that I am a black teenager and can only understand AAVE (African American Vernacular English).
Recently while going through the news, trying to get more familiar with Standard English I came across an article that really intrigued me. It was about the controversy of your board accepting and teaching Ebonics (which my teacher told me was ebony+ phonics, and was another word for AAVE or Black English) as language for the African American students population around your schools. This is why I decided to write you this letter in order to inform you how much I agree with you on this topic and how as a black teenager it could help me.
Separation through language has caused numerous matters for African American students in Oakland a large proportion of African American students take part in special aid classes (these are classes for illiterate students that are either mentally disabled or need special/extra help in order to learn).
Black students are forced into these classes because the teachers just simply think they do not get it or are unable to compete with the white student population just because they are unable to overcome a language barrier, and were never taught how to do so. According to statistics by the university of Illinois, about the Oakland area suggest that 64% of students that retained or were forced to repeat were African American, 67% of Black American students were classified as truants, another 80% of children suspended from school were Black American Children. This is a huge issue it self because no one would prefer being kicked out of school and live the life of shame just because a language barrier prevents them from achieving success.
The Term Paper on African American Students Black Group
Contents of Curriculum Unit 96. 03. 05: Narrative Lesson Plan Lesson Plan Lesson Plan Notes Films Television Shows Children's Reading List Teachers Bibliography To Guide Entry The practice of racial stereotyping through the use of media has been used throughout contemporary history by various factions in American society to attain various goals. The practice is used most by the dominant culture in ...
One of the points in the amended resolution of the board was that the standardized scores of African American students in subjects such as reading, language skills in English are substantially below state and national norms. It also claims that the Ebonics application program that the board proposes to offer could be the remedy to the failing test grades of the African American students in Oakland. This is one of the main reasons why I support this approach of your board, because black students in Oakland score an overall grade point of 1.8 on a scale of 4 according to the university of Illinois, which is the lowest grade point on average for any ethnic or racial group in the district. In my personal opinion this could have crucial long-term impacts on the future of us African American children and our future generations.
Even though the according to the resolution the Board of Education officially recognizes the existence of the West and Niger-Congo African Language Systems (The West and Niger–Congo language systems constitute one of the world’s major language families, It’s a language system with its own syntax, grammar and other language features and it is widely spoken in Africa) and each language as the primary language of many African American students making their spoken language different from a dialect of English; however there are still critics that disagree with the resolution. Jesses Jackson an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister calls Ebonics “slang talk” and calling it an independent language a disgrace. His point of view holds a lot of importance in this issue, not because he is a civil right activist, but because he is an African American him self and also used to work along side Mr. Martin Luther King. However it is compelling to me that a person like Jesse Jackson, who went through a similar lifestyle of typical African American he still wishes to stand against a decision that could prove to be good for his own people.
The Term Paper on American Sign Language Asl Deaf English
What would life be like with a severe disability Physical disabilities seem to be very stressful because many of them develop overtime, but the majority of them do not affect ones communication. The thought of being deaf seems to be far fetched to me, however it could occur under certain circumstances and like other people, I would have to adjust accordingly. Although being deaf is a disability in ...
After coming across some of Mr. Robert McNeil’s interview with three black American men who studied the Martin Luther King Jr elementary school 8 years ago. They talk about how they were discriminated because they spoke Ebonics, they also mention how no teacher understood their matter, nor did they anything to help them rather than sending them to special aid classes. An encounter with this interview allowed me to understand more about the concept of how Black American students are not given the same opportunities as white students in the school and how the teacher due to one language barrier classify those African American student as illiterate or mentally disabled. This is another reason why I personally support the amended resolution of the board, because I my self don’t wish to become one of the 19% high school Black Americans that the University of Illinois records to be the number of percentage of failing African Americans seniors in Oakland California, the remaining 81% of those students are both African American and white students, but what makes them different from the 19% that fail, is their ability of speaking and understanding standardized English.
I agree that the program to teach African American students Ebonics cannot be dramatically implemented in the currents systems of schools, but a slow approach to gradually use this program could change the lives of many African American students including my self, for whom Standard English is a linguistic barrier, a barrier that’s stands between us and success.
I hope that by writing this letter I have informed about the problems African Americans face for not speaking Standard English and how your approach could improve the life of many.
Kind regards,
Cameron B.
SECONDARY SOURCES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWIbIA9BltQ ( Robert McNeil Interview )
The Essay on Native American Vs African American Trickster Tales
Beep BeepVRRROOOOMMMMand the Roadrunner speeds away from the deceitful Coyote as Coyote falls over a Cliff with his Acme dynamite still in hand. The tale of the trickster is known and shared all around the world. It is an age old story that has many different versions and is culturally diverse. Almost every culture has some version of the trickster tale; from the early West African people and ...
http://linguistlist.org/topics/ebonics/ebonics-res2.html ( primary source )
http://www.english.illinois.edu/-people-
/faculty/debaron/403/403%20mne/ebonics.pdf ( University of Illinois )
http://articles.latimes.com/1996-12-23/news/mn-11966_1_oakland-school ( Jessie Jackson biography )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger%E2%80%93Congo_languages ( west and niger congo language systems )
