karlunity Posted July 21, 2005 Report Share Posted July 21, 2005 I was just reading that the San Bernardino School system is introducing "Ebonics" as a means of "reaching" their students. It seems that their test scores are down and large amounts of federal money are at stake. This annoys me. Learning is very hard work. It is hard for the student and for the teacher, if he is doing his job. But it is not complex. The profession requires that the teacher know his or her subject or subjects and be able to transmit that knowledge to the student. This takes work. The teacher has to read and grade papers, keep order in the class room and deal with the parents. The Student has to do the work and when required be corrected. The teacher is NOT a pal of the student. That is part of the progressive lie. The students are not fools. Pals don't make pals do homework. When you lie or try to fool the student, you lose that respect that the procress of teaching requires. This problem is not new nor is it limited to Ebonics. Ebonics is just one more in a long line of educational fads going back to "Summerhill" in the late 50's. There is NO easy FUN way to learn. The very idea that school should be fun is a damn lie. Many of us may enjoy learning some things at some time but few if any humans enjoy learning all we must know. How many adults enjoy learning a new skill or new method at work? So we lie to the students by telling them that school is fun..lie to the new teachers by telling them students should enjoy class and education which is by its nature a discipline down the tubes. I have been teaching 7th grade for 18 years often with 28 to 34 students no aide. They may not all make the honorroll, many do, but all of them can read, write and understand some history before they go on in school. To waste class time with this is foolish or even bad and harmful to the student. Many of the socalled "Third Wave" jobs are going over seas. The factories that many of our parents worked in are long gone. The student is coming into a world where he or she will have to be able to compete not only with the kid in the next desk, but with the kid in Japan or England, Germany or China. Someone should be fired. How long will we remain a Republic of freemen, if we have the education of serfs? Kar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roscoedoh Posted July 22, 2005 Report Share Posted July 22, 2005 This is a racist and discriminant policy. Last I recall, California did away with bilingual education for the flood of Mexicans immigrating from Mexico. If this is the case, how is it then that it right/moral/legal to treat little black kids differently? Don't Mexicans have the same rights? Ebonics is neither a form of English nor a new dialect - it is a form of slang. Slang is improper English and this school system is therefore cheating the children from recieving the best education available. If this school system is introducing slang as a way to "get through" to the children, I think the school systems here aught to "tawlk lieke I do" so they can get through to the children here. Funny though, as thick as my drawl is, I have never had trouble communicating to those around me. Ebonics speakers included... Ebonics is yet another form of reverse discrimination and I consider it stepping down to someone else's level and I reject this change. I sincerely hope none of these publicly trained ebonics speakers ever have business with me as I most certainly will not be speaking any ebonics during the exchange. Education is not fun. It is a lot of work. But then, life is a lot of work. And frankly, I see work spent on education as being proportional to the pay-off at the end. The sooner the youngsters of this country realize this, the better off we will be. Half-assing public school should not be rewarded. Karl, you sir are to be rewarded! Good teachers are damn hard to find these days. "Education is not the filling of a pale, but the lighting of a fire." Truer words have never been spoken... Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_TYRVR Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 ...."From the deepest part of the ghetto comes the sound of the drums and the sacred chant of the Ebon tribe........MUDDA-FUGGAH, MUDDA-FUGGAH," Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
911rat Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 ...."From the deepest part of the ghetto comes the sound of the drums and the sacred chant of the Ebon tribe........MUDDA-FUGGAH, MUDDA-FUGGAH," FO-SHIZZLE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlunity Posted July 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 ghetto. We don't have ghettos in America. In the Middle Ages a ghetto was a walled off part of a city where non-Christians lived. In Poland from about 1940 till 1942 a ghetto was a walled off part of Warsaw where the SS kept the Jews. Any Jew outside of it without papers could be shot. Last time I looked there was no barbedwire or men with guns and dogs patroling Watts or Harlem. Since the Civil Rights act passed in 1964, 41years ago, Anyone can live any place they damn well please as long as they can afford it. So if you want a better life in America, take advantage of the FREE Education, learn, make yourself of value to the nation, work hard and "move on up". There will always be people who hate, fear or dislike others over race, religion, politics, grender or any thing that comes to mind. That is human nature, but America is big enough and grand enough to give a free life to all who work for it. Anyone who lives in a slum, in most cases, have only themself to blame. TYRVR, this is not a flame aimed at you old fella. I just hate the misuse of the word "ghetto" as people use it as an excuse and I see it as an insult to the Ideal that is America. Karl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_TYRVR Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 Karl...I know the origin of the word "ghetto" I also know the meaning of the word "flame" but I will refrain from giving you a long dissertation about the original meaning of the word........as I should not wish to appear condescending. BTR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlunity Posted July 23, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 TYRVR. Sir, I am sure that you do know the meaning of the word and its proper use. But a great many people do not. I have had to sit in, perhaps endure, would be the better word, many professional "inservices" as well as semiars where the word is tossed about by folk who "should" know better. They have since stopped inviting me to such "learned symposia" as for some reason they feel that my views transgress what is considered the proper limits of orthodoxy in the Groves. As I said my post was not aimed at you as, judging by your posts, you often have a greater command of the King's English than I do. So as I have respect for your views, and as it appears that I have offended you, please accept this as an apology. Karl the penitent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest_TYRVR Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 Karl: never apologise....it's a sign of weakness....and besides.....I was just picking at you, I detected from your reply that the term was a hot button issue with you and just wanted to tug on your chain a little, I'm sure our language no longer bears resemblance to "The Kings English" ...that is unless the king you are referring to is M.L.King. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emul8 Posted July 23, 2005 Report Share Posted July 23, 2005 I'm sorry (that's an apology, and a sign of my weakness), but TYRVR's comment about our language no longer resembling the King's English, unless it's M. L. King was great! Thanks for the education around the word "ghetto", Karlunity, I have never had occasion to find out it's origin, so your brief lesson was most welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sphingta Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 Dam i thought I was only 39 since i was born in 1965, but now i'm turning 51. Great post Otherwise. I wish I took much more time to speak and write properly, but alas I'm just to dam lazy. If I were required to speak for a living or be a writer I would dam sure try a lot harder though. This would include being a teacher and refusing to teach ebonics irregardless of how much the mudda-fuggah's in the ghetto need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlunity Posted July 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 Thank you sir, for proofreading, I have corrected my numbers. Now as to your other point: "This would include being a teacher and refusing to teach ebonics" sphingta The kids don't need ebonics or any more educational fads...feel good tricks to please the muddle headed. Sure they make make the parents feel "special" and a few education profs will write books and "share the experience". The NEED for ebonics justifies the low test scores and keeps the federal edo-bucks rolling in. Without some excuse...the bucks might stop..horrors. What makes you think that people born in America cannot learn English? What is going to happen to the students when they go for their first job if they cannot speak, read or write correctly? I will tell you. The interviewer will take the form make nice sounds and NEVER CALL BACK. If that boy or girl is smart or lucky, they will comprehend what the problem is and spend years in night school fixing it. But what the hell, by that time the "Ebonics" professional will be retired, the next edu-fad will be taking the campus by storm and we will have created jobs for night school teachers. Everybodywins!!!!!! Except the poor sob of a student. Karl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sphingta Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 I'm sure california is the same as new jersey. Get as many kids listed as special needs as you can, and i'm sure teaching ebonics will certainly help that along. This should keep the state dollars rolling in. Too many of my co-workers have to fight to get their kids removed because the teachers/administrators fear losing money. Just about anything can get you listed as special needs. One of my friends parents died and this really affected the their child so the school seeing an extra opening for money convinced them to have their child listed as special needs. Obviosly time heals wounds or at least most of the time. They didn't want their child being picked up by the liitle yellow bus any more and the school fought tooth and nail for it not to happen. Best interest of the child my ass, it all boiled down to losing a couple of bucks but amazingly the school gave in at the end of the year after the state budget passed for the next year and the money for the extra special needs child was already approved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr.Hess Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 This past year or so, Arkansas noticed that all of a sudden their "special needs" children count shot through the roof. Obviously the local schools were playing the same game. Dr.Hess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doble Troble Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 There is an autism epidemic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swamp_thing Posted July 26, 2005 Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 A few years back I was enlisted to be on an advisery committee for one of the public school systems in Nebraska. I was approached for this position because I was the department head for a drafting department at the company I worked for. When enlisted for the position it was under the pretense that the school board wished to know what could be done to improve the graduating students performance in college level computer drafting and design classes and ultimately in their careers. After a short time it became very apparent that there was no real interest in what people in the field had to say about what was best for the students. It did however look good for the schools administration to be able to say they were taking these steps. As with many things, the ultimate goal revolved around politics and as already stated by others here, how to best keep the extra funds rolling in. Ultimately not only the students but the country suffer the consequences. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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