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Originally Posted by scaeagles
I sure hope that isn't an implication of racism.
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Not at all. I actually don't know any white creole speakers. (I know there are lots of them, I just don't know any.) That's actually why I was making that analogy. Creole has gained more legitimacy through time, whereas Ebonics is a more recent phenomenon.
Again - if the idea is to replace standard English-speaking courses, then boo hiss on them.
If the idea is to add an elective lit course looking at literature written in Ebonics/Creole/Pig Latin/Valley Girl/etc... with the hope that it would spark student interest that would hopefully spill over into their traditional courses? Why not? Will it work? No idea!
I have *NO* idea what the financial status of that district is. Ours was well off. As a senior in high school I took Honors Classic Romances. We read Frankenstein, The Red and the Black, Eugene Onegin, and other things I can't remember the names of. Hardly a "required" course (except in the sense that we were required to take an English class that semester.) They also had a "mysteries" course (not honors). And others. I practiced all the same techniques in that class as in the others -- read the book, do the analysis, write the paper. Rinse, repeat. I just did it in a subject area that interested me.
Now, if our district was terribly impoverished and the choice was between English electives or replacing the 20 year old science text books, well, then everyone takes standard English classes. Case closed.
If the district had to choose between marching band and English electives and more people wanted English electives, then English electives it is.
Like I said -- I don't know what the specific district status is, or what their specific intended implementation is.
But I'm not prepared to say that objectively there is never any reason to include Ebonics as any part of any school curriculum anywhere ever.