Language is Power: The Story of Standard English and its Enemies

The current liberal orthodoxy in the United Kingdom, the United States, and elsewhere in the English-speaking world, is against imposing Standard English on school students. But does this truly protect the underprivileged, or has it inflicted lasting educational damage on a generation of children? This study argues that Standard English is not merely one variety among many, but is a much more important and valuable variety than other, non-standard dialects. The author, who also wrote "Does Accent Matter?", discusses whether the worldwide teaching of Standard English amounts to "linguistic imperialism", and examines whether British English will inevitably be superseded by American English.