FT>  MS>     I notice the student did not have to talk in 
FT>  MS> "Ebonics" to congressmen, probably because he knew it 
FT>  MS> would not impress them _and_ because few of them would 
FT>  MS> understand it if "Ebonics" was indeed a "foreign 
FT>  MS> language" that they never studied.
FT> 
FT> I never said a student needed to talk in Ebonics or any other 
FT> dialect.
FT> I don't believe they should be encouraged to use it but if frustrated 
FT> in younger years it would be far better to feel free to get a 
FT> question 
FT> out than sit mute out of frustration and shame.
    There's a professor who became famous about 10 years ago for his way of 
getting students to learn French fluently.  He took these college students up 
to a small town in Quebec for three weeks (as a summer course), and they 
_had_ to learn French to interact with the locals even to the extent of 
asking where the toilet was or ordering food at the local cafe.  He ran this 
course each summer, and his students got fluent in conversational French in 
three weeks.
    If English-speaking college kids could learn French this way, why not 
take a similar approach with K-12 kids whose native language is "Ebonics" in 
order to get them to learn standard English?
FT> In the case of inner-city kids studying programming I don't think 
FT> it would hurt to lighten the moment *occasionally* by saying 
FT> something 
FT> like raising a chips *CS & *WE means "Heads up dude! You be gettin' 
FT> this". 
    I don't have any problem with that.  But you don't need 
bilingual-education money to do that!
FT> If young children are coming to school with Ebonics as a familiar 
FT> base 
FT> that is even "partially set" it would be far better to deal with it 
FT> as a special ed situation rather than trying to jockey around it out 
FT> of ignorance.  That just creates a stressful situation for the child
    School is stressful for _all_ children, not just those who speak 
"Ebonics".  Ask any kid of any race whether school is stressful just after 
his big math test.
FT> In the medical profession -- have they recognized that a home 
FT> environment setting for birthing is less stressful?  They sure have!
    That has not resulted in most deliveries being at home.
--- Simplex BBS (v1.07.00Beta [DOS])
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