Talkin the Talk: An Examination of Black English in the American Education System :: Free Essays Online

Talkin the Talk An Examination of Black English in the American Education System How many people here accept that schools should require the use of standard English at all generation? That schools should compliments all languages? How many people believe that Ebonics is a authorized language that should not be compargond to standard English? Most of you are probably wondering why I am interested in Ebonics. Obviously Im not dour. But, that does not mean that I cant take an interest in the success of my friends and classmates. I attended Amherst Regional High School in Amherst, Massachusetts. My town is supposedly a liberal, open-minded place. But I always wondered why thither were very few black assimilators in my advanced-level classes and how come round of the black friends I had in the beginning of the year were no longer just about at the end. I talked to one of my friends about this once. She told me that many black students in our school had moved from a nearby city and that they were not use to the academic standards of the school. Many of them became discouraged due to the lack of support of the teachers and some students even dropped out. This is a problem. In my opinion, many teachers do not respect students cultures if they are not a part of the mainstream, white culture. Although language is moreover one part of this respect, it is a large part of every students culture. Even though there has been a movement to change inner-city schools and increase the success of black students, these programs would benefit any school somewhat the country.Although the debate over the legitimacy of Ebonics as a language had been impetuous out, the Oakland school board decision in 1996 re-sparked this debate. Every marking period, in the Oakland school district, many African-American students brought home report cards singed with big(a) grades. In a school district where 53% of the student tribe is African-American, what concerned the school board was t hat these black students accounted for 71 percent of spare needs students and received an average GPA of 1.8, compared to the average of 2.4 for all former(a) students (Perry xi). It was time to correct that problem. The school board of Oakland, California organized a task force to do just this. The Ebonics Resolution, as the plan was called, recognize Ebonics as a legitimate language that deserved respect at bottom the classroom.