2. Acceptance alone is, unfortunately, unrealistic

According to Delpit, the language of power is formal English. Language standards, though arbitrary, are “politically charged,” (Delpit, pg 499) and an understanding of formal English provides children with their best champion for the political arena. Unfortunately, bigotry and stereotypes still run abound in this country, and because of this, educating children on acceptance is simply not good enough. Individuals can be classified unnecessarily as stupid just by the way they talk; and when society already carries around certain stereotypes, those people labeled as stupid have an even larger hurdle to jump just to prove to others that they are not. Teaching acceptance by itself becomes virtually unrealistic. It must be earned. And this is unfortunate. Understanding how to write and speak formally gives people the chance to show their arguments articulately and intellectually. This power of language can help break the preconceived notions of superiority that many people (often subconsciously) hold to everyday. Acceptance can become more of a reality when the stereotypes are disproved. This is an incredibly difficult feat, which is all the more reason why people must be given the tools to prove themselves in a society already set against them. Language provides those tools.