Ebonics in Schools?

There is no doubt in my mind that it is everyone’s responsibility—including the dominant bloc—to assist a struggling part of society with a transition towards getting a good command of Standard American English. If this means, teaching Black English in the schools so be it.

The community that speaks Black English does not know any other language when they go to school. It is their language in which they were raised, with which they identify; thus, it is how they communicate and make sense of the world once they reach school years. How they got to that point does not really matter. Finding the reasons would only open up a complete different discussion, which to a certain degree would prove that historically, white Americans share the responsibility.

What matters now is that we are faced with a gap in education and performance. A nation has the obligation is to provide its citizens with services necessary to improve their quality of life, especially in terms of education. The end result will benefit all of us, not only the Black English speaking community.

Jairo Toro