English Grammar Should Be Taught

Now that most of the polemics have died down about the proposed teaching of Ebonics in our schools, I would like to throw in my two cents. I am a teacher, black and most definitely against the use of Ebonics in any school system. I have been living in Europe for the past 10 years and could never imagine the English teaching other English through the use of Cockney, or the French through Titi Parisian.

One thing that they do do in Europe, that we don’t, is teach grammar. I know many Americans would say that is not true, but until tenses are taught to every student in the United States, there will always be confusion as to what to do with the English language. I myself was adrift in this matter until I was confronted with having to teach English as a foreign language, and had to learn.

It has always been perplexing to me that this idea is never even mentioned in the average school curriculum. It is taught to every native speaker in every country that I’ve been to, and that is a few. So could someone tell me, why is America so special that we can forgo this little detail that is the base of every language?

ROBERT C. ROBERSON

Los Angeles