Teach Effectively!

Ebonics may be back on the stage. In an article called “Who needs that pesky English language anyway?” on LAVoice.org, Lee Watters criticizes an effort to provide materials using ebonics. He wrote, “In a stunning and inexplicable move, the San Bernardino School District has launched a pilot program in two schools that uses the slanguage of Ebonics in the classroom.” Mr. Watters has little patience with the effort and, especially the comments of a professor championing the effort.

I don’t know what to say. My father was active in the civil rights movement. He spent time in jail for it. But that battle was about fighting for equality that should never have been in question. About giving all Americans the same basic rights to level the playing field. But San Bernardino’s special brand of idiocy does exactly the opposite of opening doors.

To me, the call for use of ebonics appears to be yet another example of people seeking some simple, nearly magical solution for education problems. Those who seek such solutions are likely to be disappointed. Our students—both those with and without disabilities—need their teachers and schools to use those educational practices and approaches that have been documented to provide benefits.

Link to Mr. Watters’ story, which includes a link to a newspaper article on the effort.