Commentary based on Frank Riessman's book "The Inner-City Child." Concludes that whatever is done to build on the strengths that inner-city children bring to school will be done by individual school people who find the personal and professional strength to do it. (Author/IRT)

The recent discussions about the teaching of Black English, known as Ebonics, in the Oakland (California) school district have highlighted concerns about the right way to educate African American children. The authors of essays in this collection offer background history that explores the race and power dynamics surrounding the development of…

Nonstandard English can assist rather than hinder the inner-city teacher. Once he is convinced that nonstandard English has a legitimate place in his classroom, he is on his own to devise various creative ways to employ the expressive and highly verbal language of his students. A method whereby nonstandard English can be employed to assist in the…

This paper discusses and compares bidialectalism and various types of bilingualism, and the educational considerations presented by each. Stable bilingualism can result when each language is used by most, if not all, members of the community for different purposes. In a bilingual situation, societal factors are frequently such that no agreement…