an actual language.However, The American Speech, Language and Hearing Association classifies ebonics as a dialect of English and this includes all the grammatical variations that go with it. For example, "he ain't here or he on up in that car" is now part of the English language (Zeis. 1997. P1). Now, ebonics or the African-American Language System is sees as the "primary language of blacks of many inner city, urban, rural and suburbs. (Cuckler. 1997. P. 1)." However, there are those who laugh at the idea of ebonics even being a dialect much less a language. According to Zeis (1997), American English and British English are two different dialects but they both have grammar structures that is correct. Since, ebonics lack this structure, it cannot be considered a dialect but it can be considered a form of improper English, slang or jive. According to Zeis (1997), when high school students who speak ebonics go to college, they will have to take English 101 because they are classified as foreign speaking students whose first language is something other than English.Black English is a representation of the culture of many African American students and teachers must recognize this use of language and in doing so, they also acknowledge the rich culture of the students that has been marginalized for years. Educators in California believe that these students can only learn through their roots and that the only way they can get African American students to learn Standard English is by using Ebonics as bridge. According to Wasserman (1997), this concept is ludicrous. It seems like educators are turning to desperate measures to improve the "chronic gap in academic achievement between black and white students (Sanchez. 1997. P. A1)." In addition, Wasserman (1997), believes that such an act will only shortchange the students in the long run. According to Woodall (1997), if these students want to work in the future, they will have to le...
