THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997 TAG: 9701140222
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: 51 lines
It's time we weigh in on ebonics, don't you think?
The jargon - merging ebony and phonics - has been a barrier itself for some to gain a quick grasp of problems confronting many black schoolchildren.
It could have been called black lingo, for instance, but that wouldn't be comprehensive enough to suit the Oakland school board, which sought to have black English taught as a second language.
Black leaders, notably NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and Jesse Jackson, the nation's most eloquent political voice, said that sanctifying black English as a legitimate language would only hurt youths.
To progress, black students need to know the basics of ordinary, standard American English, just as it is wise for anybody to be dressed neatly in seeking a job.
Before criticizing the language of black youths, we should recall that until the mid-1950s they were given third-rate schooling, if any, over the centuries.
In the era of segregated schools, the South's policy of separate but equal schools was a cruel mockery. Most schools were decidedly unequal, with blacks receiving markedly inferior instruction.
The correctness of a person's speech never concerns me. A multitude pollutes the English language, especially on television.
One way to upgrade American discourse would be to drill TV pitchmen and newscasters in a crash course in basic English.
Before we diss anybody's speech, we'd better consider whether we offer to ``loan'' money rather than ``lend'' it and whether we know when to use ``I'' or ``me.''
The talk of the unlettered has a freshness that can be edifying. They sometimes treat the language as being a free-form medium.
A teacher with whom I was in touch 48 years would come home enthralled with words from the mouths of babes. She was delighted when a sixth-grader, turning on a classmate pestering her, protested: ``Don't pluck my nerves!''
And on a chill morning a friend summed it up when he said the weather was ``airish.'' Shakespeare would have cherished it.
The American language is a mighty Mississippi rolling along, fed by hundreds of tributaries. In itself it is free-form, and among its richness sources is the ghetto.
Some whites, baffled at first by being told they have ``dissed'' someone, came to use that shorthand among blacks as being more expressive than the root word ``disrespect.''
For teachers who have the task of shaping, lovingly, the values and discourse of polyglot pupils, we should lend a hand by assuring them higher pay and smaller classes.