Bibliography

“Is txt mightier than the word?”. Tuesday, 4 March, 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2814235.stm

Humphries, John.“I h8 txt messages” October 23, 2008. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-483511/I-h8-txt-msgs-How-texting-wrecking-language.html

“SHORTHAND”. October 22, 2008. http://cyberspacei.com/englishwiz/library/stenography/index.htm

“SMS Language” October 23, 2008 http://www.wikipedia.com

The Turn of Modern Language as We Know It

OMG! IDK! These text phrases are examples of a new language that has
become popular in America. Short Message Service or text messaging is a
service provided on cellular phones as another means of communication,
initially aimed to ensure the viability of cell phone usage. Early
model cell phones only allowed 160 characters sparking the need for
users to shorten the messages they sent, which has evolved into a
sub-language. This all seems innocent enough until one factors in the
easily persuadable English language where popular words, phrases, and
jargon are added to the dictionary yearly. As the English language
borrows from many countries and cultures there is no assurance that the
text message language will not become this year's addition to Miriam
Webster's Dictionary.

Short Message Service language, SMS, now has its own grammar, or
language system. According John Humphries in an article titled I h8
txt msgs, "The SMS vandals are doing to our language what Genghis Khan
did to his neighbors eight hundred years ago. They are destroying it:
pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our
vocabulary. And they must be stopped." The system of the SMS language
has crossed over into mainstream English. More than 16,000 words in the
dictionary have changed to become shorter; specifically words that were
traditionally hyphenated are now more concise to feed into the need for
speedy communication. Also apparent is the birth of strings of letters
and numbers together to symbolize phrases of thought, for example "I
only want to be with you" becomes "ionwan2bwu".

Mary had a mobile. She texted day and night, but when it came to her
exams she'd forgotten how to write. In the education system where some
teachers have used rap lyrics to encourage children to read, it has
become increasingly difficult to maintain focus in grammar and reading
classes when technology has bread a new form of attention deficit
disorder. Truth be told we write the way we speak and after the surge
of the SMS language students in the 11-20 age group have begun to talk
text. Seemingly harmless, yes, until we realize the full context of
this cycle. When a 13 year-old Scottish girl handed in an essay written
in text message shorthand, she explained to her teacher that is easier
than Standard English. She wrote: "My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used
2go2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & thr 3 :- kids FTF. ILNY, it's a great plc."
(In translation: "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time.
Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend,
and their three screaming kids face to face. I love New York. It's a
great place.") As she and many students like her grow and become
members of the workforce it can be concluded that society will be
forced to learn a new language, instead of Spanish or French, people
will have to pick up Text.

Ironically, the aim of Short Message Service was to bridge the gaps of
communication by increasing the availability of contact. Instead, a
sub-language has been born with many scary implications. Many teenagers
who are advanced in text talk and may even be cyber junkies have codes
to one another when adults are in the room. Terms such as'POS', means
"parent over shoulder", similarly, 'PIR' means "parent in room," these
phrases can prove to be dangerous as cyber predators increase; another
flaw to text, the traitor of the American language.

It is a cheap fix. A standard messaging rate is on average 10 cent on
most cellular carriers, but is the convenience worth the inconvenience?
There is no emotional context in text lingo. Instead, text receivers
are left with a cold truth that the sender thought about them, but not
enough to actually hear their voice. To that I say, thks but no thks.

Merit based Pay for Teachers

Picture a surgeon receiving pay based upon the speediness of his patient’s recovery, or possibly, a personal trainer receiving a raise if her client can compete in a decathlon. These possibilities may sound silly but, for many careers in today’s world these suggestions are not far fetched. In fact, any lawyer worth their weight in salt wants to be made partner of their firm after winning a number of cases. Business people alike will quickly call for a renegotiation of their salary when they have peaked in performance. It follows that school teachers should do the same. This argument is overtaking the typical water-cooler conversation for educators within many school systems across the nation. Public school administrators in the District of Columbia, Denver, and across the nation plan to reward effective teachers by raising salaries and thereby improving student performance. According to D.C. Chancellor of Schools Michelle Rhee, this is a shot at an incredible pay increase. In fact, Rhee, in her sophomore year as Chancellor, regards this program to be a “no lose situation”.

There is no set formula for the new pay program; it has taken many forms in various states around the nation. In Florida it is geared toward mathematics and science teachers primarily. Students facing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, FCAT, play a significant role in their teachers’ salary because math and science are stressed on the test. Fundamentally, these performance-based pay plans include a broad array of different kinds of efforts, ranging from merit-pay plans for individual teachers to school-based performance award plans that may reward teachers for the overall performance of their schools. Those for this initiative conclude that the bottom line is that it is being implemented in an effort to improve the quality of elementary and secondary school teaching.

There is a catch. Many outlines of this strategy require teachers giving up tenure for one year. Academic tenure is primarily intended to guarantee the right to academic freedom: it protects teachers and researchers when they dissent from prevailing opinion, openly disagree with authorities of any sort, or spend time on unfashionable topics. Absent tenure, professors could be pressured by administrators to issue higher grades for the attracting and keeping a greater number of students. This change would mean that teachers would be required to subject to one year of probation before they could regain tenure. For most educators giving up tenure is a deal breaker.

Many believe power will be given back to the teachers; they further state that teachers should be entitled to negotiate their base rate salary and gain rewards based on student performance and teacher leadership. Many teachers' unions are finally embracing performance pay, despite opposition as the best hope for boosting income.

The ultimate question is whether this reform actually reform education. Many of the school systems we know today have curriculum built for the 1950s. This leaves many American students behind on the global front. This reform aims to increase accountability and would require more frequent evaluations of student performance on tests, and in class assignments.

Teachers may begin to feel pressure to give student easier assignments to boost the underlying score on evaluation sheets versus comprehensively preparing their class for the real world.

The Plight of Equality, Power, and Progress

“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” W.E.B. Du Bois spoke these words almost prophetically spoke these words about the ensuing century. It seems as if he glanced into a crystal ball to proclaim inequalities to come such as the Rwandan Genocide, the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education, and the Tuskegee Experiment to proclaim that a change should occur in years to follow. He had every inclination to make such predictions since the course of the nineteenth century had not offered much promise of equality. Addressed July 25, 1900 his speech to the nations of the world pushed for general morality in the treatment of all African descendants, signed confidently to appeal to the ‘civilized world’ in the name of justice. W.E.B. Du Bois referred to the treatment Negroes and other dark men received. These points fell into three categories; equality, power and progress.

“We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. It would be several years before the constitution, written in 1776, would secure such rights for Black people. It is this realization that charged W.E.B Dubois to speak on their behalf. He pronounced with vigor that the right to pursue happiness should not be robbed of any man simply because of the pre-existing notions of the caste system, privilege, or birth right. In fact, the equality sought by the Black man could become beneficial to a nation, allowing him to develop intellect and reach the truest potential of himself. Du Bois further acknowledges the exploitation of African wealth, using slaves for gold mine excavation and faith, through misguided missionaries. At this point in the speech it seems as though he realized these systems of discrimination robbed African descendants of their fundamental needs. Psychologist Abraham Maslow defined the hierarchy of basic human needs as physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. This hierarchy was structured so that, for example, in order to reach safety needs, physiological needs must first be met. Oppression is a process that takes the sense of safety, belonging, esteem and self-actualization from its victims, a process that Du Bois knew could be broken but with considerable effort.

It is sensible to say that a man who feels unsafe can never experience real power. He cannot demand of the world, his rightful place in it. It follows then that Du Bois’ second aim was to address the issue of power in African nations and in the West Indies. He also challenged Black men not to embrace hatred they had been handed and grow from slavery into manhood. He then aims his message toward the continent of Africa and poses that it becomes a great central Negro state of the world. This statement aims to put the power into the people and a nation. Du Bois knew that the power would be the next step in the emancipation of a slave mentality. Analogous to the hierarchy of basic human needs, Du Bois prescribed the cure to social alienation, and degradation.

W.E.B. Du Bois’ final appeal was to the notion of progress, knowing that without prior conditions being met, progress would become impossibile. He charged that Africans and African descendants should be able to fight to be counted among the brotherhood of mankind. This is the boldest of all requests, yet the simplest in written form. It holds with it the sense of continuance of both equality and power of Africans and African descendants. This calls for modified behaviors on all fronts where ‘respect’ would have to become common place for a race of individuals who had only recently become free.

Infrequent and negligible readings of “To the Nations of the World” do not evoke the emotion and persistence of the message. Preliminary scans of the work may cause its readers to think that its concise nature does not lend itself to delving into the problems of a society of people. The author worked diligently to ensure the need of persons of color to be heard. Conclusively, W.E.B. Du Bois asked that Blacks be given a chance to fail, to succeed, or to enjoy mediocrity but nevertheless a chance. It is with that resolution we take his plight for the education and advancement of colored people to be at the forefront of this speech.