NP Ebonics (was It ain't only Rock & Roll, it's Jazz too)

[davemarc]

From: David Morris <fqmorris at yahoo.com>

> > > Amen!  Talk about enslavement.  Too many poor inner city black
children
> already face a tough uphill battle to be educated out of their "cultural"
> legacies: illiterate parents and peers who place little value on
education.
> They don't need to be taught ghetto-talk.  They already know it by heart.
And
> to suggest that it be embraced as a standard is absurd.
>
I previously responded to this by saying "There might be a big straw man
here."   To clarify:

David seems to presume that Ebonics policies (such as the ones outlined and
clarified in the links I provided) have to do with teaching something called
"ghetto talk."  (I don't really feel comfortable with that term.)  The
policies actually have to do
with recognizing the legitimacy of home language (i.e. AAVE) in order to be
more effective and more respectful in teaching standard English.

So in this case, the big straw man might be David's misrepresentation of the
policies, which I imagine stems from many inaccurate descriptions that have
circulated in the media for years.   I have taken the time to offer the list
links to reputable linguistic sources to clarify what the policies really
are.

To, uh, harp on the musical comparison, it's like teaching classical music
to jazz musicians
without disparaging jazz.

d.