Ebonics

WASHINGTON -- I am an old man, and I sit on my porch watching the world go by. Watching the world go by became a major pastime again after the enactment in 2020 of the Communications Sweetness and Light Act, which built upon the Communications Decency Act of 1996, the Communications Wholesomeness Act of 2000 and the Communications Purity of Spirit Act of 2008, which pretty much finished off what there was worth watching on the tube.I smoke my pipe. Well, not ''smoke,'' exactly, and not ''pipe,'' really.

More home work needed to reform city schoolsHoward Bluth of Baltimore, in his Jan. 6 letter, clearly cites the pessimism of Donald F. Norris that more money in aid to Baltimore's schools will do little to improve student outcomes and that the overwhelming obstacle to be faced is poverty rather than educational opportunities.However bad the poverty problem may be, as in the case of underdeveloped countries, students from those difficult circumstances nevertheless still succeed.More money in taxes from more affluent parents would not necessarily go to education in this city or state.

Collective bargaining good for workersSo the Greater Baltimore Committee, Greater Washington Board of Trade and Maryland Chamber of Commerce are willing to spend several hundred thousands of dollars suing the governor over collective bargaining for state employees.Is this an example of creativity, which the private sector always claims as its own? Is this an example of leadership?What the business community really hates about collective bargaining for state employees is the idea that the employees might enjoy good pay, good benefits and good working conditions.

IN OUR NEVER-ENDING search for villains in the Littleton, Colo., shooting spree that left 15 people, including the alleged gunmen, dead, we have trotted out the usual suspects. Liberals have targeted the National Rifle Association and too many guns, conservatives have blamed violent movies, video games and music.How could we leave out TV? Don Sachs has another suspect that hasn't been trotted out, one whom teens -- in Baltimore at least -- can watch five days a week: Jerry Springer. Well, not so much Springer as his so-called "talk" show that stinks up the airwaves coast-to-coast on Monday through Friday.

A FEW MONTHS ago, we considered reading by 9 months. How about reading by 19 years?That's the daunting task facing middle and high school teachers who increasingly encounter illiterate teen-agers.It's not exclusively a city problem. "Today's high school teacher sees lots of kids who can't read," says Allan Starkey, coordinator of language arts in Howard County.If a 15-year-old can't spell or add, that can be overlooked. Cash registers at McDonald's were manufactured for the numerically challenged.

MAKE BALTIMORE'S school curriculum Afrocentric, some folks said in light of the recent revelation about the performance of city students on functional math and reading tests, and our youngsters will fare much better. Yesirree, just make the subjects black enough and black students, simply by virtue of being black, will snuggle right up to them. Their interest will be piqued, and they will settle down and study as they've never done before. The proposal assumes, as such things do, certain facts not in evidence and poses questions that have gone unanswered.

"AFROCENTRICITY is the belief in the centrality of Africans in post modern history.''So saying, Molefi Kete Asante, Ph.D, proceeds to redefine the world. ''Afrocentricity'' is a book, written by Dr. Asante in 1980 to continue Cheikh Anta Diop's challenge to the European-centered description of the world extant since the 19th century, but it is also a mindset. Dr. Asante, chairman of the Department of African American Studies at Temple University, wants nothing less than a complete reordering of American race relations.

After a year's hiatus, Center Stage's Off Center Festival will return for two weekends this fall with a three-show lineup that includes two solo shows and the high jinks of the Flying Karamazov Brothers."

WASHINGTON -- John Thompson III has lived with the questions and comparisons for a long time. He fully embraced them when he took on the task of reviving the Georgetown program that his father put on the basketball map. "I'm my father's child all my life," Thompson said. "He has been a public figure most of that time, and it's something I'm used to. A lot of the questions I get now, I got when I was a player in high school, a player in college, and throughout my [coaching] career. That's the nature of my job, particularly now."

NATIONAL Kerik withdraws his name Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, President Bush's choice to be homeland security secretary, has withdrawn his name from consideration, the White House announced late yesterday. Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan said Kerik withdrew "for personal reasons." [Page 1a Army negotiating for more armor The Army entered negotiations with an armor manufacturer yesterday in an effort to speed up production of armored Humvees and get them to the troops more quickly, Army and company officials said.