Ebonics

WESTERN Maryland College was named for a railroad, so perhaps it's appropriate that the Westminster institution of higher learning should insist that the completion of a $40 million fund drive be right on time -- to the second.That second will be the last one of the 20th century, Dec. 31, 1999, at 11: 59: 59 p.m. "As midnight tolls on Dec. 31, 1999, we will welcome the beginning of the New Year, too, but we also will toast the success of our campaign," said the Western Maryland president, Robert H. Chambers.

PITTSBURGH -- The NAACP voted yesterday to oppose school voucher plans and state takeovers of poorly performing school districts, but it stopped short of condemning charter schools.The 88th annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been marked by frustration with the continuing gap in achievement between white and black students, but also by suspicion of education reform efforts.A proposed resolution to oppose voucher plans and charter schools provoked a spirited debate on the convention floor.

Auto blue laws: What became of family values?News that Anne Arundel County Executive John Gary will seek to repeal his county's blue laws is another tragic reminder that capitalism, at any price, has become our culture's dominant religion. And what is the price of, in this example, allowing automobile mega-lots to operate on Sundays?Let's ask the families of those workers required to report on Sunday morning instead of spending time with their families.Oh, they'll be given time off during the week, but if their children and spouse are absent, what quality is there to their own or their families' lives?

Before members of the Former Students of Robert Moton School paid their annual tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. yesterday, they honored Daisy E. Harris, a teacher whose words still echo in their minds.The group, formed at a 1972 retirement dinner for Harris, takes its inspiration from the woman whose dedication still motivates the students she taught for more than 35 years at what was once Carroll County's only high school for African-Americans. After Robert Moton High School closed in 1965, Harris, who died in August, taught English at Westminster High School until her retirement.

ANY PROPOSITION, no matter how reasonable it sounds, ought to be reconsidered after enough politicians have paid lip service to it. So it is with the idea that "race" is the biggest issue the country faces.Restated in various ways, this idea has become such a standard of political speeches, it is barely noticed.Bill Clinton worked it into the conclusion of both his second inaugural and State of the Union speeches. "The issue of race," along with drugs and ignorance, figured prominently in Newt Gingrich's speech after being re-elected House speaker.

STANFORD, Calif. - Did anyone ever call Franklin D. Roosevelt a "Dutch American" or Dwight Eisenhower a "German American"? It would have been resented, not only by them and their supporters, but by Americans in general. These men were Americans - not hyphenated Americans or half Americans. Most black families in the United States today have been here longer than most white families. No one except the American Indians can claim to have been on American soil longer. Why then call blacks in the United States "African-Americans" when not even their great-great-great-grandparents ever laid eyes on Africa?

"Don't player-hate on me" is the mantra for an entire generation of aspiring playboys claiming an unwritten right to sow their royal oats. Revered and detested by peers, the player is sure he's just a decent guy with a commitment problem. Or at least that's what Bill Bellamy thinks in the new urban comedy "How to Be a Player."Although "How to Be a Player" frequently refers to the 1973 blaxploitation classic "The Mack," the new Bellamy film is more along the lines of such recent urban comedies as Ice Cube's "Friday," palpably low-budget, peppered with sardonic one-line witticisms and quite often hilarious.

I hadn't been on a basketball court in a while, at least not with anyone old enough to shave. My knees barked to remind me the absence had been at least a few years, but it seemed even longer than that after one of the 30-something crowd with whom I was playing dribbled the ball off his foot and out of bounds."

SAN FRANCISCO -- Confronted by hundreds of angry students, teachers and parents demanding that the school curriculum be diversified, the school board voted unanimously to require that nonwhite authors be taught in the city's high schools."

Our future calls for education standardsI am very disappointed to hear that President Clinton will not motivate states to adopt education standards. The future competitiveness of our society depends increasingly on families led by highly-specialized, high-tech and mobile workers.When they move, children in these families should not be forced to suffer education setbacks because the public schools near the parent's new and old employers have radically different standards and curricula. And parents should be able to easily access comparative information about the performance of public schools in regions to which they are considering moving.