Ebonics

During 1996 a school in Oakland was facing difficulties with African-American students. The slang spoken by the students, labeled Ebonics, was causing problems with teaching standard English courses. The teachers compared it to immigrants learning language and went to the school board asking to recognize Ebonics as a language. They asked for this because than they could recognize English as a second language and provide better help for the students. When others heard the school was recognizing Ebonics as a language, they assumed it was becoming a taught class. Controversy ensued, not only for the incorrect assumptions but the fact young blacks were being treated as non-Americans. Many civil rights leaders became upset about the incident while others praised the school for striving to help the students and giving them and ethnic identity.
"Ebonics controversy." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .