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Black English

NPR's Elaine Korry reports that the Oakland, California school district has declared "Ebonics" or black English to be a second language as a way of addressing the low performance of some black students. The school district says the move is intended to help black students the same way that English as a second language programs help new immigrants. But opponents of the idea say calling black English a distinct language simply validates bad grammar and won't help black students succeed.

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