The Deterioration of Black Education/Grammar

[Pioneer1 773]

I notice that over the past 20 years the grammar of many Black youth seem to be deteriorating.

Walk past a group of Black youth today and you're liable to hear terms and phrases that used to be outdated, like "red bone" and "what you name iz"

I even notice that the baggy pants many of the boys wear is forcing them to shuffle when they walk like Step'n Fetchit.


Young people in their teens and 20s talking and acting like slaves who just stepped off the plantation!

Where are they learning this?

I think it's a combination of the entertainment industry attempting to establish what we used to be considered country and ignorant in the past,  as "Black culture" today.

Also it seems to me that cutbacks in public education along with pockets of poverty and neglect in many urban areas of America are creating islands of ignorance and violence and reversing the lifestyle of many parts of America.
Even many poor White areas are going backwards with young White men wearing long beards, missing teeth and adopting a redneckish culture similar to Duck Dynasty.




I've talked to many Black people over 60 who told me that although most Black youth in their day may not have actually graduate for one reason or another....of those who DID graduate....their quality of education was far superior to what most children are getting today.

They learned not only how to read, write, and count but also hygiene, home economics, and trade skills.

I'm under 50 and even I remeber that teachers used to correct children in the class if they heard us using improper grammar even during casual conversation....they don't any more.

I remember teachers used to grade students not only on their spelling but their handwritting and neatness, they don't anymore.

It seems like many of the teachers...even the Black teachers....don't care.
They just want to put their time in and go home.

[Cynique 2,306]

Grammar, like cursive writing,  is not even taught in public schools anymore. Forget about black teachers correcting or setting an example for their students. Substitutes and non certified teachers very often don't speak proper grammar, themselves. 

 

It's unforutnate how the descendants of slaves have such a struggle to rise above their humble circumstances, and how those who drag the race down are more successful in doing this than those who try to uplift it. 

 

Is this because, to the extent black citizens have assimilated,  they are still just as much African as they are American and the DNA of their Nigerian motherland with its tribal culture and jungle environment, prevents the psyche of black Americans from totally adjusting to the hostile environment of the white western world??? Have Blacks remained strangers in a strange land???  Why does the downward spiral continue, - the whirl pool of white rejection and black self destruction that victimizes those who for centuries have been trying to conform to their adopted country? The President of the United States must certainly wonder this, himself.   

[Pioneer1 773]

Cynique

 

Grammar, like cursive writing, is not even taught in public schools anymore. Forget about black teachers correcting or setting an example for their students. Substitutes and non certified teachers very often don't speak proper grammar, themselves.
It's unforutnate how the descendants of slaves have such a struggle to rise above their humble circumstances, and how those who drag the race down are more successful in doing this than those who try to uplift it.
Is this because, to the extent black citizens have assimilated, they are still just as much African as they are American and the DNA of their Nigerian motherland with its tribal culture and jungle environment, prevents the psyche of black Americans from totally adjusting to the hostile environment of the white western world???

Have Blacks remained strangers in a strange land??? Why does the downward spiral continue, - the whirl pool of white rejection and black self destruction that victimizes those who for centuries have been trying to conform to their adopted country? The President of the United States must certainly wonder this, himself.

 

Much of what you say are my sentiments also.

I'm not sure if it's the media who celebrates Black people who drag down the race more so than those who uplift it....or is it Black people themselves who seem to embrace them more!

It's known through out psychology, sociology, and history that people with low self esteem tend to gravitate towards underachievers and rebels in society because they feel more comfortable with the lack of competitiveness.
I think much of the way so many of our people speak comes from laziness* and lack of proper education but I'm beginning to believe a great deal of it is also genetic.


You mentioned Ebonics in a different thread.

I believe there is some science behind the concept of Ebonics.

You said we like to use the word "be" but I think it's actually the opposite.
I don't think Black people of West African descent feel comfortable using relatively useless verbs like "be" and "is".  These are words that state that something "exists"....which is obvious.



An example I like to use is.............

A girl walks into a room and seeing her brother sitting on the couch inquires about their mother.



The correct English version would go something like:


Girl: Jason, where is our mother?

Brother: Oh, hey Jan.....mom's gone now.

Girl: Oh?  How long has she been gone?

Brother: She's been gone for quite some time.




The AfroAmerican version goes something like:

Girl: Where mama?
No need call his name or use the term "our" as this is evident.

Brother: She gone
No need to use the word "is" she being gone is also evident.

Girl: How long she been gone?
No need to use the word "has".

Brother: She BEEN gone!
Being an emotional people, how we say a word and how intense we say it can be just as effective a description as using a lot of adjectives.
In the Antwon Fisher story Antwon said his step mother called him and his brothers "nigga" on the regular but they'd all know which one she was talking to by how she said it, lol.

I believe Ebonics is more than just cultural but it has to do with how our brains are wired too.

With our genetic speaking pattern we seem to now like using many unnecessary or redundant words and our highly emotional personalities also come into play....sort of like the Italian language where you use your hands to emphasize some words.






* A lot of our people have a "lazy" attitude.
Even growing up I've heard so many Black people purposely mispronounce words and names because they didn't want to take the time and effort to learn how to properly say it.
It's not that they couldn't physically pronounce it, they just didn't want to take the time to even LEARN how to pronounce it.

I used to go to the laundry mat and see fat women sitting around with their eyes half closed mumbling out words and talking about how "tired" they were.
I heard them make fun of names and words they hadn't heard before instead of saying it right.

For example....
If they were talking about some African immigrants from the Belgian Congo they would say

"Where dem' niggaz from?"
"Ah-owe-know (I don't know)....from the BELCHIN' CONGO or somewhere......"