I think we should be teaching all the current dialects of English that we can.]
There are many people who would agree with you, musick. And probably as many who would vehemently disagree. A while back there was a popular movement directed at teaching "black English" in the US public schools. For a while, as I recall, it was labeled Ebonics (for ebony, I assume). I was teaching in a public school at the time, and I recall a conversation with a colleague who happened to be black. Her comment was, "When my child is taught English, I will make it my business to insist that he is taught the kind of English that will get him into college and a meaningful career."
Most of us have multiple dialects, if that is the right term As youngsters we learn to use one type of language in the schoolroom, another with our parents, still another when we're out with our buddies. Then, of course, there are the more pronounced regional and ethnic dialects, involving vocabulary and pronunciation. If by teaching we mean including many or all of these in the public-school curriculum, we're in for a real challenge. I'd be interested in how others perceive this issue.
