Faldage, thanks for the explanation. Sadly, I suspect important aspects of the original are very commonly left out in the most vigorous public debates. What's that old saying about 'Don't let the facts get in the way of a good argument'???

Also, just to clarify, I didn't mean in any way to suggest that pointing out differences was a bad thing in itself. Simply that in both links I found some idea (not necessarily supported by the main point of view, but in there to be addressed) that 'different' implied 'inferior'. An idea I am passionately against!

And I'm 100% with you on letting kids (anyone, for that matter!) know that a particular set of rules may or may not help achieve a particular purpose as much as another set of rules. That was one of the interesting bits tucked away in my link: "African American college students in Chicago who received instruction concerning the contrasts between AAE and Standard English grammar showed improved Standard English writing skills as compared to a control group(9). And in Oakland itself it was found nearly 25 years ago that teachers who condemned AAE pronunciations and interpreted them as reading errors got the worst results in teaching black children to read, while teachers who used AAE creatively in the classroom got the best results(10)."