Argues that corporations use Standard English as a means of domination, that English teachers primarily promote corporate aims, and that it is a bad joke to pretend that teachers are really in charge in their classrooms. (JK)

Standard written English is defined by those in power as a classless and unchanging grapholect, a public idiom in worldwide use that is presently the unofficial official language. However, true standard English is not changeless, but represents a product in constant process, existing though there is conflict and variation within both the norm and…

Standard English has not disappeared, but merely changed as it "must" change when the dominant class setting the standard undergoes change. If teachers are to succeed in persuading pupils to change their language, they must know and teach the standard as it is, not as it used to be, while still implanting in the minds of some students…

Applies a brief history of standard English usage in America to take issue with the College Board's pronouncements on basic academic competencies. Points out the underlying injustice to demand a mastery of standard English from students who, through no fault of their own, have had no chance to master it. (JK)

Part 1 of this casebook on dictionary study contains articles written over the last 200 years by seven eminent lexicographers, including Samuel Johnson and Noah Webster, on the history, nature, and purposes of the English dictionary. Part 2 contains 62 chronologically arranged readings published between September, 1961, and May, 1962, on…

Defends the policy statement published in the 1970s by the Conference on College Composition and Communication of the National Council of Teachers of English for its recognition of students' needs and goals in learning to write and read. Questions the motivations and purposes underlying the recent emphasis on teaching all students to write…