Brown v Board of Ed and the current state of black education

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Well then I think we agree that a blanket curriculum is a bad idea. There should be regional approaches.

I'm of the opinion that a teacher should be adaptable, and understanding, but that doesn't mean they should learn to talk like their students. Just because you speak slang, or what some consider broken english, doesn't mean you don't understand proper english. Most slang is just style. Sure it takes more then saying "you're smart, you're smart" to get students to operate on an intelligent level, but I do think respect is a huge motivator. The only difference between people is exposure, and that's an troubling issue wether you live in Thousand Oaks or the South Bronx. See, I wouldn't want a teacher to chastise a kid for speaking slang, but they sure as hell shouldn't make the slang a proper part of their curriculum. You wouldn't go into Special Ed. and teach kids how to be dissabled, or whatever won them "special" status. Why would you think kids can't distinguish proper english they're learning, from whatever they're speaking at home?

With that said, I know there are programs that teach math problems through rhyming, and they have huge success. That's genius compared to a teacher who's added the word "fittin'" to their classroom lexicon.

I think what's going on with ESL students might be a different conversation.