Posted on 08/04/2005 5:06:34 AM PDT by SJackson
A Brooklyn College professor says Ebonics is superior to the tongue of White Devils
--Assistant Professor of Adolescence Education at Brooklyn College
--Teaches that rap music is an effective tool for teaching English literacy to schoolchildren, and that proper English is language of white "oppressors"
--Required students to view Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911
Priya Parmar is an Assistant Professor of Adolescence Education at Brooklyn College's School of Education in New York, where she teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses to aspiring teachers.
Of special interest to Parmar, whose doctoral dissertation is titled "KRS-One Going Against the Grain: A Critical Study of Rap Music as a Postmodern Text," is rap music. No mere enthusiast of the genre, Parmar holds that it is an unappreciated tool for imparting English literacy to young children: A 2003 Brooklyn College faculty newsletter reports that Parmar's scholarly writing "focuses on using hip-hop culture as a tool to increase literacy skills" in elementary and secondary schools.[1]
Those critics who question whether rap music, with its on reliance grammar-averse Ebonics slang, is an effective medium for teaching literacy are dismissed by Parmar as craven apologists for bourgeois hegemony. "Rap music causes moral panic in many because of its 'threat' to existing values and ideologies held by the dominant middle class," asserts Parmar.[2] On the strength of no evidence whatsoever, Parmar also claims that "research has shown that Ebonics is a legitimate systematic language."[3] Nor does Parmar doubt that the explicit lyrics and violent subject matter of rap make perfectly appropriate learning aids for young children:
"From my experience in the classrooms—and that of my students who are practitioners in the field—we've learned that kids—even as young as third grade—are very sophisticated about the homophobic, violent and sexual messages from some mainstream rap artists. If you give students an opportunity to deconstruct the lyrics and then compare them with those of more political and social-consciousness raising artists, such as [rap groups] The Roots and Dead Perez . . . youth are capable of distinguishing between reality and false perceptions and stereotypes perpetuated in commercialized rap."[4]
Rap, Parmar teaches, is more than a means of teaching literacy. It is also a vehicle for social engineering. In addition to teaching children grammar and sentence structure, Parmar maintains, the "critical examination and deconstruction of rap lyrics becomes a method to get students to critically examine such issues as race, class, culture, and identity." Parmar calls this mode of instruction an "an empowering, liberating pedagogy." She notes with approval that one of her former students used rap to "explore economic social and political issues" in a middle school.[5]
Parmar's controversial course at Brooklyn College, "Language Literacy in Secondary Education," typifies the professor's preference for politicized pedagogy. Required of all students who intend to become secondary-school teachers, the course is designed to teach students to draft lesson plans that teach literacy. Parmar's syllabus informs students that the principal focus of these lesson plans must be "social justice."[6]
Another theme animating Parmar's course is her aversion to the proper usage of English. To insist on grammatical English, Parmar believes, is to exhibit an intolerable form of cultural chauvinism—a point reinforced by the a preface to the requirements for her course, which adduces the following quotation from the South African writer, Jamul Ndebele: "The need to maintain control over English by its native speakers has given birth to a policy of manipulative open-mindedness in which it is held that English belongs to all who use it provided that it is used correctly. This is the art of giving away the bride while insisting that she still belongs to you."[7] Students are expected to share Parmar's antipathy toward grammatical rule-based English, as she does not countenance dissent: In December of 2005, for instance, several disaffected Brooklyn College students wrote letters to the dean of the School of Education taking issue with Parmar's hostility toward students who dared voice their support for the correct usage of English.
Nor was this the only confrontation between Parmar and her students. Evan Goldwyn, a Brooklyn College student who took Parmar's course, caused a campus storm when he wrote a lengthy critique of the course detailing his objections to Parmar's teaching methods. Topping Goldwyn's list of grievances were Parmar's pronounced bias against English and her alleged bigotry against white students. "She repeatedly referred to English as a language of oppressors and in particular denounced white people as the oppressors," Goldwyn wrote. "When offended students raised their hands to challenge Professor Parmar's assertion, they were ignored. Those students that disagreed with her were altogether denied the opportunity to speak."[8]
Students also charged that Parmar's insistence on bringing politics into the classroom went beyond issues relating to English literacy. For instance, one week before the 2004 presidential election, Parmar turned over her course to a classroom screening of Michael Moore's polemical anti-President Bush documentary, Fahrenheit 911.[9] Students were allegedly required to attend the screening, even if they had already seen the film. "Most troubling of all," Goldwyn wrote, "she has insinuated that people who disagree with her views on issues such as Ebonics or Fahrenheit 911 should not become teachers."[10]
Parmar, according to Goldwyn, has also retaliated against students who disagreed with her political opinions by lowering their grades. After challenging Parmar about her teaching methods, Goldwyn and another student found themselves accused of plagiarism after the semester had ended. The accusations were reportedly based on the final assignment for Parmar's course, which asked students to devise a special lesson plan for "linguistically and culturally diverse students." Following an informal investigation, conducted, at Parmar's instigation, by the dean of the education school, Goldwyn received a D-minus for the course.[11]
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[1] http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/pubs/fn/fall03/1103.pdf
[2] http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc/pubs/bcmag/spr2004/bcmag.pdf
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] http://www.nysun.com/article/14604
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
In Hasidic (ultra-Orthodox) Jewish communities, there is a common dialect called "Yinglish" -- a mixture of English with Hebrew & Yiddish words. Often Hebrew words are combined with English suffixes (ex: "I'm halashing for a burger; I'm dying for a burger.")
This is a sort of slang shared among the community, and it strengthens ties. It's kind of fun, actually, a sign of inclusion. Maybe other ethnic/religious communities have a similar type of English.
However.
In public, and certainly Jewish schools, standard English is taught and spoken. No one in his right mind would call "Yinglish" superior, or necessary in order to raise student scores.
I don't think he's attacking any group of people other than those elitists--of any colour--who are, in this case, pro-black.
I, too, have acquaintance with a family that constantly makes remarks about "filthy Mexicans" and soul-less whites. (They have explained to me that their definition of "soul" is not religious, so much as an "ability to feel and move to the rhythm of soul music".) This particular family has taught their children and grand children that they are superior to both whites and blacks---and definitely Hispanics and Asians--because of their mixed race heritage. FWIW, the family members all move in prominent social circles in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Pointing out that they are snobs in any culture is not racist.
Whoa! She has some very attrative qualities! Who is she?
I don't know what small percentage your screed is targeting, but it seems you'd like to coat the whole of black people with it and that is plain dumb and wrong. I've had more then a few black friends (as well as indians, iranian, chinese, korean and others) and you are about as far off the mark as it gets.
I've had and have more than a few black friends too...ones that don't drink the blame whitey/I'm forever a victim Koolaid (as well as indians, iranian, chinese, korean and others)...BUT its obvious you have never lived in a large urban area before...he is more on the mark than you think.
Parmar also claims that "research has shown that Ebonics is a legitimate systematic language."[3] Nor does Parmar doubt that the explicit lyrics and violent subject matter of rap make perfectly appropriate learning aids for young children:
great! Lets do an Experiment and Let all the Rappers move to Catalina Island off the calif. Coast. They can set up Businesses and construct an economy and compete with the Mainland and we will see how long it takes for them to all die off. My Money is on about 8 months. thats when they will have killed off all the Goats running around the Island and start to practice Canibalism.
Name one great work of literature in Ebonics.
2 week wonder on the charts doesn't count.
No doubt this woman will be appointed as Secretary of Education when Hillary Clinton becomes president.
Why come dis be such a big story? I knows dat ebonics be da betta languge........yo!
Bad Andy: "If I still lived in Brooklyn (and didn't have a job), I would take her course over the summer. It would be tremendous fun to challenge her every assertion and bigoted remark without fear of retribution. I predict that she would have a mental breakdown within 2 weeks."
I would want to ask her if ebonics is also superior to Spanish, French, German, and Russian. And if it is, does she suggest that the native speakers of those languages abandon their language and learn ebonics? After all, ebonics IS superior to these languages isn't it?
How would she structure ebonics so that ebonics taught on the East Coast would be equal to ebonics taught on the West Coast? What are the "rules" which would ensure that ambiguities can be resolved fairly? Where I am going with this question is the matter of the law. If you read any given contract it is pretty clear what is expected of the parties to that contract. If the contract is poorly written and there is a disagreement, then the matter can be litigated, and a judge or a jury can ultimately decide the case. Can ebonics be structured so that its speakers won't be cheated? Can it be put in "legally enforceable" contracts?
Ebonics would have to have rules, and those rules would have to be learned and practiced to be uniformly understood. Uh, that means the children would have to do homework. Is she positive that the children who would be taught "ebonics" as language and law would be diligent in those studies?
The logical followup question is that if the children could be diligent in studying the rules of a language, why not just stick with the language they were born with?
"Black Americans have been in this country for 400+ years. If English isn't their native language, what the heck is?"
My grandparents all came to America from Italy in the early 1900's and spoke little or no English. Initially they like most of the immigrants segregated into largley Italian neighborhoods, and were discriminated against by all the groups that got here before them. They made no demands for bilingual education, multi-language forms from govt offices, etc. They didn't see proper English as a plot to oppress them (how sick is that). They came to America to become American, and their children all spoke english as a first language and were fully integrated within a generation.
How far would they have gotten if they allowed their kids to speak English like ignorant quinea's from the old country, especially after 3 generations? Ok, I do talk with my hands alot, but that doesn't count.
> A conspiracy theorist might wonder if this is part of a plot to keep American blacks uneducated and unemployable...
Last summer I did a gig in Boston's Medical District, which is on the edge of the city's largest black neighborhood. What I saw was encouraging...many blacks who had found good jobs in the hospitals who had entered the middle class, or were on the verge of entering it, for whom ghetto life was several blocks away. And who could switch between standard English and black English as the situation warrented. The Priya Parmars of this world, who preach that overthrowing the culture of the white "oppressor" is the sole route to "empowerment," are only fooling themselves and their marxist colleagues.
No, these were black africans from central africa. One woman, if I recall correctly, was from Congo.
Just because what passes for enlish amongst the uneducated or under educated rednecks or hispanics (spanglish) hasn't been given "recognition" like Ebonics, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
It's a shame someone that cute would probably turn out to be one of the most depressing experiences of your life if you ever got her into bed.
It would be pretty funny to call her up with a fake Ebonics accent and attempt to engage her in a serious conversation about something, just to see if she walks the walk.
What has that got to do with anything. Half of Africa doesn't speak any form of English, they speak French, Arabic, Portugees, Spanish and German and a host of local languages. N.Africa in particular produced some of the greatest theological and scientific minds in history, which stopped only because of the Islamic invasions. A language has little to do with the creation of genius, the culture has everything to do with it. Language can be independent of culture, especially to those who were either colonized or absorbed into a more dominant cultural/linguistic group.
Ok, I can live with that, yes there are always idjit minorities within any group (I mean by this not ethnic minorities by political views). So just like there are haters inside the Chinese community that live in America and yet dispise everything "white" or none-Chinese about America, but again, they are the minority of the population of American Chinese.
I would love to see a dissertation written in ebonics and see if the author gets the degree.
I've spent most of my life in large urban areas and was also part of the trafficing, er bussing system. Most of the "conspiracy of whity" crowd that I've met were uneducated blacks who were loosers in life and needed someone to blame. Those who were driving to get into the middle class or were in the middle class and even the lower upper class (my family is mostly lower upper class) were predominently Christian, religious and very hard working people who had no time for that idiocy.
Quote: I've been reading some works by the Puritans of the 1600's. Our contemporary English can't hold a candle to the sheer music of their speech.
I've read some letters written by civil war soldiers. Their use of language was incredible and poetic.
Today a soldiers letter would start: Yo, whaaazzz up? It s so hot here by ba**s are dripping gallons.
Trying not to downgrade todays soldiers but just another example of our corsening society.
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