The Real Ebonics Debate: Power, Language, and the Education of African-American Children

Rating:
Summary: Shedding light on an important educational issue.
Review: ... As one who has actually read the book, ... I highly recommend it.

Contrary to media frenzy and popular belief, the Oakland school board did not pass a resolution in 1996 requiring that Ebonics, or Black English, be taught in place of Standard English. It did, however, pass a resolution recognizing what linguists had known for years: that Ebonics, like Spanish or German, is not defective English but a valid linguistic system following precise rules of grammar.

It also recognized that while students speaking Ebonics need to learn Standard English to attain success in mainstream American society, to do so they must be treated with the same respect as any student who enters the classroom speaking a different language or dialect. (English as a Second Language) Instead, they are often dismissed as lazy or stupid.

This collection is a common-sense look at the the issue, and a must-read for anyone who loves language.

Rating:
Summary: A multifaceted analysis of the Ebonics question
Review: I am writing this review for two reasons. The first is to praise this book for approaching the question of Ebonics and education from so many different perspectives. The second is to refute the racist diatribe in one of the previous reviews in which the reviewer criticizes Ebonics as being substandard. As a Ph.D. in linguistics, I can assure you that Ebonics is as rich and creative as any other language on earth. It is a language with a structure and a history going back centuries. The reviewer who criticized Ebonics does not understand how human language functions. It is not a question for debate. Ebonics is a language that is not inherently better or worse than any other human language. To allow speakers of Ebonics to discover this fact and to take pride in the rich history of their language can only be seen in a positive light, as far as I can tell. This book allows the reader to hear from teachers, linguists, and administrators who are experts in their fields. It should be required reading for everyone, but sadly it alone cannot overcome the prejudices held by some less enlightened members of society, as shown by one of the previous reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Trying to legitamize ignorance, ZERO stars.
Review: It is ridiculous to me that there even is a debate on this subject, yet here we are. What was once amusing, I now find quite appalling, in that educated people are actually attempting to add legitimacy to this abomination. Operating under the guise that 'ebonics' should be treated much the same ways that say Spanish-speaking students are taught is folly. If a community chooses not to speak the proper language, which is English, then that is a choice they are making. If they choose to accept 'ebonics' as some sort of pride issue, then that again is their choice. But if they expect the rest of this country to accept 'ebonics' as anything other than the lowest denominator of the English language, then they are simply out of their minds. It used to be, if there was a problem, then you fixed it your self. But in contemporary society, we're expected to suffer for the shortcomings of others. Is that fair?

Then there is the other question of teaching African-American (another aphorism that is pointless) children. Or as I like to call them, children. As if they require a different education from any other children, which to me sounds dangerously like segregation. It amuses me to think back to my travels through Africa, specifically Ghana. I was particularly amazed at how native children there were able to speak the English language far better than most children in the United States. Seems to me that this 'ebonics' rubbish is the fault of the American education system, which in turn is all our faults, because we have not given educators the tools they require to complete what has to be the most important task in this country. Education.
NO STARS for this lump of rhetorical excrement. It is an exercise in exclusionist politics, and is best left ignored, much as it has been already. If by chance you have trouble reading this, I suggest picking up a thesaurus.