TEACHING PROPER ENGLISH IS A GOOD GOAL

Until just a few weeks ago, most of the world had never heard of Ebonics. But once a few columnists got hold of a decision by the Oakland, Calif., school board's decision to seek federal funding for programs to deal with how English is spoken by many blacks, the lid blew off.

Unfortunately, few of the pundits or other national leaders who jumped into the Ebonics fray did much legwork of their own to find out what going on in Oakland. They were mostly content to quote the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who himself had little firsthand information. After visiting Oakland, he toned down his rhetoric rather drastically.

Ebonics should never have been a national issue. Oakland wanted to spend funds to train teachers to deal with Ebonics (a word coined from two other words, ebony and phonics) so they could, in turn, teach standard English. Somehow this was warped into the idea that Oakland wanted federal funds to teach Ebonics as a second language.

This is an example of how many issues get contorted in the media mill -- aided and abetted all the while by politicians and bureaucrats who join the battle armed with virtually nothing.

Hats off to the columnists, the Rev. Mr. Jackson and Oakland school officials who have now sorted out the Ebonics stir. Efforts to teach young blacks to speak standard English should be applauded.