But do try to tell the difference. Teachers on the front lines, however, have different responsibilities. I am not talking about splitting infinitives or beginning sentences with conjunctions. Having spent12 years answering calls on the Grammar Hotline, four of them on a nationwide 800 number, I can say with certainty that the general public does not accept the view that grammar does not matter. Thirty to 60 phone calls and e-mail messages per day and 360,000 hits a month on my Web site represent more linguistic insecurity than I have invented with my extremist views.
People know there is a right way and a wrong way to say and write things, and they want to be right.
A child who comes to school not speaking standard English has no means to learn it in such an environment and has drastically narrowed career choices as a result. It is the school's responsibility to prepare students for life after school. Standard English is merely one of the tools. Without it, people communicate messages different from those they mean to send. I ain't got no job.