FO SHIZZLE

Okay - the news on the radio and tv today was that the Rochester City Schools have been urged to use and teach Ebonics (a combo of Ebony and phonics) to students system-wide. Here is what I read:

" In a newsletter to staff, Rochester City School District officials say it is OK for students and teachers to speak Ebonics in class.
The newsletter, Diversity Dialogue, suggests teachers use BEV to communicate with students. It says teachers can:
• “Switch into BEV in specific situations or informal discussion.”
• "Translate common phrases in Standard English into BEV.”
• “Read and retell stories in both BEV and Standard English.”
“We need to embrace the diversity they bring into our schools,” said the district’s Chief of Diversity and Leadership, Michele Hancock.
Hancock and Tyra Webb-Johnson, Director of Coaching and Leadership, wrote the newsletter. They are both former elementary school principals.
“We want (teachers) to have a better understanding of what BEV is so they can incorporate it into their teaching. That way, they're not alienating the students who are speaking the vernacular and degrading them,” Webb-Johnson said."

As someone who loves the English language this is Bad News Indeed.

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SCENE: A sophomore English class somewhere in the Rochester city schools:

TEACHER: "You got fitty to sit your bootys down. We be talkin bout HAMLET today..."

STUDENT: " Yo - sku me? Nah. That's wack. I be chillin in my crib with my homeys last night." .....ad nauseum...

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Here is an attempt that will succeed in (a) finding the lowest common denominator and (b) ensuring that black students NEVER get a great education and a good job. Unless of course, they rise to the top of drug world or become a rapper. Most of the Ebonics language (if we could call it that) is totally disrepectful to authority and to women. So I say - WAY TO GO ROCHESTER...let's bring "diversity" into the classroom. That's a GREAT idea!