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

[Abdiel OAbdiel]

--- davemarc <davemarc at panix.com> wrote:
> 
> I still get the impression that David thinks that
> the so-called Ebonics policy involves teaching
Ebonics while not teaching standard English.  If
> that's what he thinks, he's mistaken.  It involves
> accepting Ebonics while teaching standard English. 
Linguists and educators clearly see the
> advantages of good training in standard English.  In
> fact, many of them are frustrated at how they have
been perceived as feeling otherwise.

Davemark knows what he is talking about. As Robert
notes, this is basic stuff. I'm guessing that both of
these P-listers have some teaching experience. Perhaps
the best, most fitting and proper place to begin
learning this basic stuff is in the classroom. Those
in NYC, not afraid of a person who may be a neurotic
queer can call me (I'm in the book) and I'll get you
into a classroom in the ghetto in a week) or if you
live in any city in America, you can volunteer for the
LVA. What is the LVA? Scoll down to the bottom of this
message. Too busy? No problem. We're all very busy.
But the media is not a good source of information on
this subject. While I commend Davemark for his
selection of links, the internet is not a good source
either. If you have the time, the Linguist List is a
fairly good source, but like the Pynchon List you'll
have to plow through  straw and hay stacks  to get to
the needles. The classroom is the place to go because
it is the words of the students that need to be heard
and read. Of course, it was the words of children that
brought the federal lawsuit in the very important case
(widely misunderstood) of Martin Luther King Junior
Elementary School Chidren V. Ann Arbor School District
Board. This case, in the media, is called the "B;ack
English Case" or the Case for Ebonics." That's like
calling the LA uprising "The Rodney King Riots." You
see, this case was not about "Black English", it was
about Black Children. 

As Judge joiner noted, 

"It is a straightforward effort to require the court
to intervene of the children's behalf to require the
defendent school district board to take appropriate
action to teach them to read in the standard English
of the school, the commercial world, the arts, science
and professions. This action is a cruy for judicial
help in opening the doors to the establishment...It is
an action to keep another generation from becoming
functionally illiterate." 

How did these children get to court? 
How did their essays, their writings, their words, end
up in court? 

As I stated, it was a long struggle. 

Pynchon, with TSI and with his Watts essay and with
GR, recognized that this struggle was significant and
he also recognized that this struggle was one of the
most important struggles in America. 

The kids got a court case because of the 1974 Equal
Educational Opportunity Act. 


Time to Swim. Be back....

http://www.literacyvolunteers.org/home/



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