re Re: SLSL language

[Malignd]

<<I don't agree that there is any significant
difference between the regional variations in
African-American English and the regional variations
in so-called standard American English, or of any
other language for that matter. This issue of what is
the "dominant" variety of a language depends very much
on where you situate your lens, as does the notion of
what's "standard" and what isn't.>>

But, again, the argument is not that African-American
English should be taught instead of the more white
bread varieties of English which African Americans and
other language minority students need to master.>> 

A couple of things.  When one continues to use
"dominant" and "white bread," etc. as adjectives in
this discussion, one is begging a very large question;
i.e., that these questions about the efficacy of
Ebonics vis-a-vis standard English is all about
keeping the black man down, showing him to be inferior
and stupid, etc.  Such thinking exists, certainly, but
the insistence on talking about this only in these
neo-colonial terms locks the conversation onto tracks
that become obvious, tired, and old very quickly.

Also, "standard English" is not no more than a
catch-all, with no more real meaning than "where one
points one's lens."  You're being willfully
disingenuous.   

<<Point is, culturally-inclusive programs already 
exist in many places in the U.S., and did not so long
ago in several others, and these initiatives are and
were cost-effective. Expenditure on successful
education programs actually results in manifold
economic and social benefits in the long-term. >>

I wonder what you're using to measure the long-term
benefits of such programs or their relative cost
effectiveness. Cite?  Terrance/Abdiel/Sybil noted the
New York Public School system as one where Ebonics is
practiced.  I might note it also as a pedagogical
Waterloo.



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