I imagined being a teacher in such a school. On the first day of class, I would have each of the students recite their first name and would then Anglicize it (or convert it to whatever comes close to being an actual name). I would tell them this is their grown-up name that will get them through life, get them a real job and keep them out of prison. Of course, I’d be fired and accused of being racist for doing nothing more than trying to help improve the students. If we had teachers actually willing to do that, it would go a long way into rescuing a culture set adrift to the lowest common denominator.
Just like a foreign language class.
“This class is taught in American English. I will assign a grownup, American English name for each of you. You may or may not use it outside of this class if you wish. Let me offer a bit of advice, though - if you use this grownup name in daily life, you will have a much higher likelihood of being a live, healthy, productive citizen in America.”
Yes, there's nothing racist at all about wanting to give black kids more white sounding names. I mean if Toby was good enough for their ancestors it should be good enough for them. :facepalm:
In reverse, look what happens when an inner city teacher subs at a mostly white school: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7FixvoKBw