Twice as less

Can Black English stand between black students and success in math and science? In this groundbreaking study, Eleanor Wilson Orr argues that the performance of black students in math and science is crippled not by lack of intelligence or diligence but by linguistic interference. Using student work from an experimental program she helped establish in the District of Columbia, Orr traces specific ways that nonstandard English usage can lead to misunderstanding and misrepresentation in the classroom. This controversial book challenges classroom teachers, school administrators, and citizens in general to rethink their views on how to improve the performance of minority youth in American schools. In a new introduction for this 1997 edition, Orr takes on the latest widespread debate over "Ebonics" and the role Ebonics-based programs might play in American education.

First sentence: THE HAWTHORNE SCHOOL, an independent coeducational high school, was founded in the District of Columbia in 1956, not as an "escape" from the public schools, nor as what people in the sixties called "an alternative to the public schools.

Year

1987

Language

English

Publisher

W W Norton & Co Inc

Editions

1

Pages

252

ISBN

9780393305852

Data source: Wikidata