ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 22, 1996 TAG: 9612230091
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: OAKLAND, CALIF.
SOURCE: Associated Press
This much is settled - Black English will be recognized as a second language in Oakland schools. Whether it is considered an insult to the students or a helping hand is the subject of hot debate.
Critics said the decision to interpret Black English in class, rather than just calling it ``wrong,'' underestimates black students' learning abilities and could give them the wrong idea about what it takes to succeed.
``This hurts the kids, that's the real tragedy of it,'' said John Fonte, a visiting scholar in education at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. ``The way to learn English is to study English.''
Proponents say the idea is to help students make the transition to standard English by understanding and translating their mother tongue.
``We're not saying [Black English] is wrong, we're saying it's different and not that it has to be abandoned but that something has to be learned,'' said Peter Haberfeld of the Oakland teachers' union, which supports the change. ``It's building on kids' strengths.''
The Oakland School Board voted Wednesday to officially recognize Black English, also known as Ebonics - a term combining ``ebony'' and ``phonics.'
How the new policy will be implemented hasn't been worked out, but possibilities include placing Black English-speaking students in classes that will help them learn standard English. It also creates a program to train teachers to understand Black English.
The American Speech, Language and Hearing Association has classified Black English as a social dialect with its own lexicon and syntax.
For instance, if a student says ``He done did it'' for ``He has done it,'' teachers would translate the phrase to standard English, rather than just correcting the student.
English words in Black English lose a ``d'' following a vowel, so ``good'' becomes ``goo,'' and the final ``th'' is sometimes replaced with ``f,'' so ``with'' becomes ``wif.'' Speakers also can use double or even triple negatives, such as ``I'm not going back there no more.''
School Board members insist their motivation is improving the performance of black students, who make up 53 percent of the 52,000-student district and 71 percent of those enrolled in special education courses.
The decision has provoked strong reactions from black leaders and others across the country. Poet Maya Angelou called the decision a mistake.
``I'm incensed,'' Angelou told The Wichita Eagle. ``The very idea that African-American language is a language separate and apart is very threatening, because it can encourage young men and women not to learn standard English.''
Board member Toni Cook said Saturday that school administrators were working on a statement to clarify the intent of the policy. She said officials want parents to know that ``our goal is to teach our children English. We're not teaching Ebonics at all.''
Some have questioned a paragraph in the resolution referring to ``African Language Systems'' as being ``genetically based and not a dialect of English.'' Cook said the board used ``genetically'' to refer to historic and cultural, not biological, factors.
Black English already has been taught in a number of schools, including Ann Arbor, Mich., where a suit by parents resulted in a court ordering teachers to help Black English-speakers learn standard English without making them give up their mother tongue.
Oakland appears to be the first district to make a system-wide change.
Gary Marx, a spokesman for the National Association of School Administrators, expected debate over the issue to spread.
``School systems across the country will be very interested in seeing how this program plays out - the techniques that are used and what works, what doesn't work, what could be done better,'' he said.
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