Texas: The flipper baby of our educational system

[migopod]

In all of those articles the stated goal was to use African American vernacular English / Ebonics in instruction of standard American English in schools with high proportions of African American kids. How is that more or less politically correct than really any other ESL program that uses an existing spoken language variant to teach a different one?

Just curious.

[melensdad]

In all of those articles the stated goal was to use African American vernacular English / Ebonics in instruction of standard American English in schools with high proportions of African American kids. How is that more or less politically correct than really any other ESL program that uses an existing spoken language variant to teach a different one?

Just curious.

I don't believe it is any more/less politically correct than other similar mistakes. One error does not justify another.

As a former large employer (now retired) it was difficult to promote people into jobs (sales, customer relations, etc) when they could not say the word "ask" but instead used "axe" and similar mistakes. Worse yet, the writing skills of these same folks was often far lower than others who did not learn ebonics. I have two blacks in my employ now, one is my personal assistant, she will rail against anyone who want to argue that ebonics (or similar educational programs) make any sense. Both of my current black employees are very anti-ebonics for the reason that teaching it to help teach proper English simply doesn't work in their real life experiences.

[migopod]

I don't believe it is any more/less politically correct than other similar mistakes. One error does not justify another.

As a former large employer (now retired) it was difficult to promote people into jobs (sales, customer relations, etc) when they could not say the word "ask" but instead used "axe" and similar mistakes. Worse yet, the writing skills of these same folks was often far lower than others who did not learn ebonics. I have two blacks in my employ now, one is my personal assistant, she will rail against anyone who want to argue that ebonics (or similar educational programs) make any sense. Both of my current black employees are very anti-ebonics for the reason that teaching it to help teach proper English simply doesn't work in their real life experiences.

The articles were about teaching Ebonics to teachers in order to better instruct kids in standard English, not teaching it to kids as part of an educational curriculum. Teaching kids who already have a good understanding of conventional English how to speak Ebonics would be pretty silly, but that's not what the articles are talking about.

Hell, some people elected a guy who couldn't pronounce "Nuclear" to be president for 8 years.

[Purple Fencer]

The articles were about teaching Ebonics to teachers in order to better instruct kids in standard English,

"Excuse me, stewardess....I speak Jive..."

[migopod]

Airplane! rep deserved. Let's see if I'm able...

[Inquartata]

In all of those articles the stated goal was to use African American vernacular English / Ebonics in instruction of standard American English in schools with high proportions of African American kids. How is that more or less politically correct than really any other ESL program that uses an existing spoken language variant to teach a different one?

Just curious.

OK, so how about

http://www.tusd1.org/contents/depart...anam/index.asp

which maybe isn't quite as unobjectionable as they make it sound:


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...sm-in-arizona/

An excerpt:

"...the program was using textbooks such as "Oppressed America," which quotes a Hispanic activist saying that Chicanos should "kill the gringo." Another textbook, "The Mexican American Heritage," he said, promotes the idea of Aztlan, the five Southwestern states that activists say should be returned to Mexican control.

...

As for the controversial ethnic studies textbooks, Mr. Romero said they're not incorrect, they just present a different perspective. "There are some people who are going to be opposed to reformist history, but we think of it as inclusive history," he said. "

Doesn't sound much different from what is alleged to be going on in "flipper baby" Texas, does it? Only the "perspective" being pushed differs...

[RebelFencer]

OK, so how about

http://www.tusd1.org/contents/depart...anam/index.asp

which maybe isn't quite as unobjectionable as they make it sound:


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...sm-in-arizona/

An excerpt:

"...the program was using textbooks such as "Oppressed America," which quotes a Hispanic activist saying that Chicanos should "kill the gringo." Another textbook, "The Mexican American Heritage," he said, promotes the idea of Aztlan, the five Southwestern states that activists say should be returned to Mexican control.

...

As for the controversial ethnic studies textbooks, Mr. Romero said they're not incorrect, they just present a different perspective. "There are some people who are going to be opposed to reformist history, but we think of it as inclusive history," he said. "

Doesn't sound much different from what is alleged to be going on in "flipper baby" Texas, does it? Only the "perspective" being pushed differs...

Stupid is universal and not just limited to the right wing.

[migopod]

Stupid is universal and not just limited to the right wing.

Yep.

This would qualify as ridiculous PCism in education. I still contend that the Ebonics programs do not.

Also @Inq, I noticed the date of the article was from last July. Do you know if the policies have since changed? It sounded like there was a likelihood that they might be dropping at least parts of the program. I'm curious about where that ended up, but in a rush to get to bouncing practice so lacking time to google it for myself.

[Inquartata]

I don't know, but I suspect that any substantive change would have been widely trumpeted as a victory by the state's Superintendant of Education, who's been trying to quash that program, or by newspaper columnists who have been inveighing against it for years. And I don't recall reading any editorials to that effect...

[KidLazy]

Cynthia Dunbar, a lawyer from Richmond who is a strict constitutionalist and thinks the nation was founded on Christian beliefs, managed to cut Thomas Jefferson from a list of figures whose writings inspired revolutions in the late 18th century and 19th century, replacing him with St. Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and William Blackstone.

Why would a group of people, who everyday screaming about people must uphold our Founding Fathers' wishes, disrespect a Founding Father like this? What writing is more about revolution than Declaration of Independence?

[jeff]

Because they're ideologues who don't really respect the principles of the Founding Fathers or the Constitution except where it supports their narrow worldview.

[jeff]

Texas Explains Decision on History Textbooks
Official Statement from Texas State Board of Education
AUSTIN, TX (The Borowitz Report) – Attempting to explain its controversial decision to revamp its history textbooks, The Texas State Board of Education issued an official statement today.

The one-sentence statement reads as follows: “If you were the state responsible for George W. Bush being elected President, you’d throw out your history books, too.”

In other news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it had been difficult to get Republicans to vote for health care because of a “tactical error” by President Obama: “He should have called it ‘gun care.’”

Elsewhere, employment numbers were up, largely due to the government’s decision to start counting people working on Farmville.

[Purple Fencer]

Because they're ideologues who don't really respect the principles of the Founding Fathers or the Constitution except where it supports their narrow worldview.

Someone rep him for me, please??

[PretAllez]

Someone rep him for me, please??

Done,

[RebelFencer]

Texas Explains Decision on History Textbooks
Official Statement from Texas State Board of Education
AUSTIN, TX (The Borowitz Report) – Attempting to explain its controversial decision to revamp its history textbooks, The Texas State Board of Education issued an official statement today.

The one-sentence statement reads as follows: “If you were the state responsible for George W. Bush being elected President, you’d throw out your history books, too.”

In other news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it had been difficult to get Republicans to vote for health care because of a “tactical error” by President Obama: “He should have called it ‘gun care.’”

Elsewhere, employment numbers were up, largely due to the government’s decision to start counting people working on Farmville.

The onion?

[erooMynohtnA]

I don't think so, too direct, too discursive.

[jeff]

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

I'm on a humor mailing list and occasionally get one of 'em.

[KidLazy]

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."
---Mark Twain