Cobb

I thought the whole idea of Ebonics in schools, at least the first time it came around, was to use it as a tool for getting to Standard English more reliably. That is, Ebonics, or AAVE, or whatever people call it these days, is a dialect of English with grammatical rules that aren't all that far off from Standard. If you can teach a kid who speaks AAVE fluently and accurately, but Standard with difficulty (a) how to name the grammatical rules he's successfully following in AAVE, so that he's got a conscious conception of the grammar rather than simply using it unconsciously as a native speaker does, and then (b) how to translate from the grammar of the dialect he's fluent in, to the corresponding grammatical rules in Standard, which he's less fluent in, that seems as if it could be a profitable way of teaching Standard English.

I don't think anyone's ever seriously advocated teaching in AAVE only, but it's kind of a shame that people stomp on the idea of using it formally as a route to Standard English. I don't know that it would work better than what schools do now, but it's the kind of idea that seems as if it might have potential.

The word "Ebonics" is now too politically charged--better strike it like the n-word.

I know the folks at the San Bernardino School Board, and they are simply trying to help improve the academic performance of students who need extra help. I'm happy they are targeting black students and spending the dollars.

Ironically, hip hop is the trojan horse of ebonics, so white kids are also growing up in households where ebonics is spoken.

your greatest hip hop artists generally use standard english in discussing the issues nearest and dearest to their heart...i have a bit of an old school slant here, but i believe the notable exception would be 'the r' (rakim)...but others like krs, chuck-d, kool moe dee, tupac, nas, black thought, common, talib, mos def, etc...these folks are all world-class word-smiths with extensive vocabularies...hip-hop is also full of folks with limited skills, but at the top, most of these folks are conversant in both ebony phonetics and SE...folk like tupac and krs and will smith were excellent students in the classroom and their facility with LANGUAGE is evident in their emergence in a field where skilz are defined as mental-verbal dexterity_under pressure...the same applies to biggie smalls and kool moe dee. you can't win a battle without a vocabulary...you can't use the same lines in a battle that you use on wax...everyone's heard 'em already...if you can't flex and use different styles and innovate - you cannot win. studio rappers are a different breed, but when you listen to folks with established battle reps, you know they're on a different level. moreover, compare hip hop lyrics to those of rock n'roll or r&b songs...it's like comparing a dissertation to a policy brief. hip hop artists write so much more that repitition plays a necessarily limited role in the artistry and the pressure to innovate is tremendous - not so in rock n'roll or r&b. hip-hops beats and 'nihilism' may have become repititive, but to the extent that this is true, mediocrity has come to define a larger part of the genre.

as to the teaching of ebony phonetics in schools - there are two principle issues: 1) the education is intended to emphasize phonics which leads to much greater long-term reading comprehension and literacy than whole language; 2) the education incorporates the term "ebony" (a marketing tool to reflect a west african linguistic phenomenon) as a means of teaching that ebonics has rules for grammar and syntax that are derived from a specific/shared cultural legacy. the point is not to teach children who already know ebonics how to speak it...this argument was crafted to undermine the approach. the intent of ebonics education was to use phonics - and lessons on grammar, syntax and vocabulary to teach reading and writing. Phonetic readers, in the short term don't read as quickly as whole language readers, but they build larger vocabularies, and read advanced materials with greater comprehension...this also translates to better writing skills...

oh, by the way, the classical body of literature in ebonics??? or more accurately, "writing in dialect" (like Shakespeare)?

paul laurence dunbar is the place to start.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0195122917/002-8048280-4025650?v=glance

cobb...while i'm not a literary dude, i think you're barking up the wrong tree on this one...it seems that the body of work is quite extensive and moreover, that this literary debate in the 1920's is precisely the type of cultural "borrowing/appropriation" war that was repeated with jazz, blues, rock, r&b, and hip-hop...and in the films of quentin tarantino.

i could be argued that the overwhelming majority of america's classical narratives are the products of ebony phonetics...it is difficult, if not impossible, to authentically understand america outside of the context of black folk and our language...so, the value of it is clear - if that entails a reading of folks like stein, eliot and conrad or hurston and dunbar or even developing sensibilities to understand the transformation of sacred rituals (ring shout, praise songs, work songs, etc.)...the cultural cupboard is far from bare.

this is precisely the intellectual, operational disconnect that so troubled harold cruse in "crisis".

by the way, the last two presidents of the united states speak with fairly recognizable accents...maybe it's not the barrier you imagine...while academic studies paint one picture, the white house and the american electorate are painting quite another.