In some areas of our nation, Ebonics is considered an independent and natural language, and thus, English is taught in those schools as a second language to students who spoke Ebonics as their "first language." However, some educators consider Ebonics as substandard English, not even a dialect, and therefore, were not willing to teach it as a legitimate "first language" nor provide funds for ESL to be taught to those students. To make things more controversial, Bill Cosby blamed the parents for speech like "why you ain't" and "where you is"... He further slammed the liberal educators for this accommodation: "Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads.... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!"
What do you think? Should Ebonics be taught as the legitimate first language? Why?
Personally I don't think Ebonics should be taught as the legitimate first language. Other languages aren't necessarily taught as a legitimate language. I think every one however has an option of choosing what they want to be their primarily language. But a lot of individuals discriminate when it comes to a job opportunity especially, although employers aren't suppose to discriminate this does happen. if a job was between a person who didn't speak how an employer though he should and was who spoke professional, the employer is more likely to hire the more professional one. So learning how to speak the proper English would be ideal when looking for better opportunities in life.
ReplyDeleteEbonics necessarily isn't even a language it is more so a style of talking among people from "the ghetto" or the "the hood". Being from an urban area or some people here might actually consider where i come from the ghetto and majority of the people from my community speak Ebonics. Its not because they choose to do it it is because it is a way of life to us it gives us individuality from people that aren't from where we are from or that are looking from the outside in so to speak. Just because a person speaks Ebonics does not mean they do not know how to be professional when the time is necessary, prime example I will use my self people here at this school look at me funny sometimes when I speak in a professional manor like its not normal for a person like my self dressing the way I do to speak proper. The so called language of Ebonics is some that keeps people culturally tied to each other and a way for them to communicate with each other.
ReplyDeletea lot of the schools are teaching ebonics now. And the school boards are allowing it. I think that it is a language in in itself. The education counsel wouldn't allow it to be taught in schools otherwise. And as one of the students said last week in class, it's like a dialect of english... just as people from the south have a way of speaking, so do people in the bigger cities with ebonics.
ReplyDelete