Learning to speak the language of success

--- by Ron Dupuis:
If you were from out of state and you visited my high school, you would have felt that you had been dropped into some sort of linguistic twilight zone. It was the late fifties and despite every effort imaginable put forth by the nuns in charge, most of us could not speak in a legitimate dialect that was understandable to anyone but ourselves. “Yes Sister” or “No Sister” became “Yes Sta” and “No Sta”, “Did you” was cut to simply “Chew” and “do you want to” became “Dwanna.” Matters were complicated when a group of us, in order to feel intellectually superior, started speaking “Pig Latin.” It drove the good Sisters absolutely insane.
Last month the San Bernardino Board of Education approved a pilot program that would teach “Ebonics” in two of its schools. The program is called Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing Future Accomplishment Initiative. Proponents feel that Ebonics is a dialect of American English spoken by many blacks throughout the country and has been recognized as a second language by other school districts such as Oakland California in 1996. They also feel that black students should be taught like any other students who speak a foreign language.

IVEGAY EMAY A REAKBAY!!! (For those of you that are linguistically challenged when it comes to pig Latin, that’s “GIVE ME A BREAK.”

I’ve spent hours on the internet searching for a country that has Ebonics as their official language. I failed to find any. I spent hours searching for a country that uses Ebonics as a secondary language. None. I searched all the African countries to see if Ebonics was used as some sort of tribal or village dialect. Not one. Swahili in some areas, and special dialects in others, however nothing, and I mean nothing even remotely resembling Ebonics.

As far as I can determine the only place in the world where Ebonics is spoken is here in this countries urban ghettos where struggling young African Americans are experiencing a high school drop out rate sometimes as high as 70%.

Now, because some pin head educrats feel children learn better when they are taught in a language they understand, Ebonics will be taught. Children do learn better when taught in a language they understand. That’s not the problem. The problem is that Ebonics is not a language. It is an urban street slang used by uneducated young African Americans. It’s an urban street slang that will keep young African Americans in the ghetto unless they learn to communicate properly.

It is a simple plain fact that the minorities who have made it in this country are the ones who learn to speak English. Vietnamese and Chinese speaking students, hoping to become doctors and nurses don’t get into Harvard or Yale by conversing with admission deans in their native tongue. They speak English. Latinos hoping to become Lawyers and businessmen will not enter Wharton Business School or Boston College Law by speaking Spanish. They will speak English. Young engineering hopefuls from India will not enter MIT or Georgia Tech by speaking whatever they speak in India. They will speak English.
Conversely, young African Americans who wish to break the shackles of bondage and advance to a better life will not enter any collage in the country by speaking Ebonics. They must speak English. Otherwise they will be destined to use such phrases as “You be having fries with that” for their entire lives.

Pig Latin did not help me. It was fun and amusing for a brief period in my youth; however, it never assisted me in graduating from high school or getting accepted to college. It never assisted me in getting a good job or achieving the American dream of purchasing my own home and raising a family.

Teaching Ebonics in school will do nothing for our Americas black youth, except keep them tied to a life of ghetto slang and ignorance.

Ron Dupuis is a long time New Hampshire resident, a freelance writer, and former State Representative. He can be reached by e-mail at (drcdupuis@comcast.net)