With so many countries using English as their first language, it is only to be expected that differing forms of Standard English have emerged. Is Standard British English more correct than Standard American English or Australian English? I will consider this in more depth later on. .
An often used argument in support of teaching Standard English in schools is to provide all children with language tools that they can use in professional and business worlds after they leave school. In the case of the Bullock report in 1975 it was stated that all children should be "sufficiently literate for employment" (p.181) In comparison to past teachings of English, whereby only the elite were awarded a proper education, it can be said the aim of this teaching of Standard English is to provide all pupils with an equal footing on which to begin their post-schooling lives. However the concept of teaching all children the same Standard form of English is challenged when we consider the social and cultural factors affecting language, and the advantage which many pupils have over others. Although in Britain it is .
very rare to find a dialect which is vastly different from Standard English, there will naturally be children who have grown up with this form of language, and those who have not. This could lead to an immediate disadvantage in schools. If a child writes in the style of their variety of English used at home, and this is nonstandard English, then their writing is assumed to be wrong. Not only does this disadvantage children who come from backgrounds where different forms of dialect are used, it may incite a resentment of those who have gone to school already knowing what is viewed as the "proper" language. It is therefore encouraged by many that children learn Standard English in order to complement their own language use rather than replace it. However language is strongly linked with culture and it is argued that children may not be willing to comprise with what is seen as a submission to Standard English and "the loss of identity will be too big a price to pay for the not always apparent benefits of speaking a more prestigious variety" (p.