FYI.
To: aaascommunity who-is-at uclink4.berkeley.edu
>From: Phil Nash <pnash who-is-at sciencewriters.com>
Subject: AAASCommunity: the real Ebonics debate
Dear Colleagues,
Please be sure to check out the latest issue of Rethinking Schools, either
by going to their website (www.rethinkingschools.org) or by ordering
multiple copies and sharing them with friends. This issue is especially
important, given the importance of the Ebonics debate in education and race
theory discussions. Many of the comments about language, culture, power,
and community control are extremely relevant for Asian Pacific Americans as
we struggle with debates around English Only laws and bilingual/bicultural
education.
Please call me at 703-352-5168 if you have any questions or comments. And
please be sure to check out Rethinking Columbus, Rethinking Our Classrooms,
and other vital resources from this leading provider of activist education
materials.
Phil
Phil Tajitsu Nash
Asian American Studies
University of Maryland
703-352-5168
703-218-0323 (fax)
**************************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Special Edition of Rethinking Schools Presents "The Real Ebonics Debate"
When the Oakland, California school board formally recognized Ebonics as the
"primary language" of many African-American students, a firestorm of
criticism followed. Critics of the board ran the political and cultural gamut
from Rush Limbaugh and California Governor Pete Wilson to Maya Angelou and
the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Amid the controversy, the facts about Ebonics - and the Oakland school
board's reasons for recognizing it - were all but ignored. Now, a special
issue of Rethinking Schools helps set the record straight.
"The Real Ebonics Debate: Power, Language, and the Education of
African-American Children," takes an in-depth look at Ebonics, the Oakland
Ebonics resolution, and the larger issues of culture, identity, power, and
control being played out in America's schools. It explains not only the
legitimacy of Black English - whether it is called a dialect, Ebonics, or
African-American vernacular - but underscores that African-American children
must be taught standard English if they are to succeed in school.
As guest-editor Lisa Delpit writes, "I can be neither for or against Ebonics
any more than I can be for or against air. It exists. It is the language
spoken by many of our African-American children. It is the language they
heard as their mothers nursed them and changed their diapers and played
peek-a-boo with them. It is the language through which they first encountered
love, nurturance, and joy."
Authors in "The Real Ebonics Debate" range from Wayne O'Neil, head of the
department of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, to the late James Baldwin; Geneva Smitherman, professor of
English and director of the African American Language and Literacy Program at
Michigan State University; Oakland School Board member Toni Cooke; and Carrie
Secret, a fifth grade classroom teacher in Oakland.
For the first time in the history of Rethinking Schools, guest editors
solicited the articles and oversaw editorial content. In their introduction
to the 36-page special issue, the Rethinking Schools editors explained,
"Perhaps more than any other debate in education, the study of language
grapples with questions of power and identity. We believe it is especially
important that African-American educators take the lead in defining the
discussion around Ebonics."
The guest editors of the issue are:
x Theresa Perry, an associate professor of education at Wheelock College in
Boston and the school's vice president for community relations. She is the
author of Teaching Malcolm X and a co-author, with James Fraser, of Freedom's
Plow: Teaching in the Multicultural Classroom.
x Lisa Delpit, a former MacArthur Fellow who is currently holder of the
Benjamin E. Mays Chair of Urban Educational Excellence at Georgia State
University in Atlanta and author of Other People's Children: Cultural
Conflict in the Classroom.
"The Real Ebonics Debate" is divided into five sections.
1. "From the Guest Editors" - Articles by Theresa Perry and Lisa Delpit.
2. "What is Ebonics?" - Detailed explanations by linguists and educators of
what Ebonics is and what issues were raised by the Oakland case.
3. "Classroom Implications" - Ways in which Ebonics can influence classroom
practices.
4. "The Oakland Resolution" - An in-depth look at the Oakland school board's
resolution, including its exact wording, and other key documents, as well as
additional commentary by educators and policymakers in Oakland.
5. "Personal Essays" - Writings by two women on how language and education
issues have affected their lives.
Selected articles from this issue will be available on the Rethinking Schools
Online Web site (www.rethinkingschools.org) after October 6.
Individual copies of this issue are available from Rethinking Schools for
$3.50. Substantially discounted bulk rates are also for available for
organizations, unions, schools, school districts, and universities. The bulk
rates are as follows: .
Single copy - $3.50
2 - 10 $2 each
11 - 49 $1.50 each
50 - 99 1.00 each
100 + 75 cents each
Master Card and Visa orders are accepted over the phone. Call Toll free:
800-669-4192.
Founded by classroom teachers and political activists, Rethinking Schools
Ltd. is an independent, nonprofit publisher of educational materials,
including the quarterly journal Rethinking Schools. The editors, staff and
contributors advocate the reform of elementary and secondary public schools,
with an emphasis on urban schools and issues of equity and social justice.
***
Contact: Barbara Miner, Managing Editor
Rethinking Schools
1001 E. Keefe Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53212
(414) 964-9646
FAX: (414) 964-7220
RSBusiness who-is-at AOL.com
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