beyond the pail

[Mai Kuha]

Neither one--that's the point. I'm sorry I didn't make that clearer.
mk

> What is nonstandard in this instance: pail or bucket? I don't quite get it.
>
> sally
>
>
>
> Mai Kuha wrote:
>
>> Today a student in my class mentioned that her children lose points on
>> schoolwork because one vocabulary item that keeps coming up on tests and in
>> other teaching materials is "pail", and the word the children know,
>> "bucket", is marked as wrong. Of course we are all aware that it's been
>> established that the educational system's reaction to nonstandard linguistic
>> features sometimes doesn't fit the stated goals of testing, but this is the
>> first time I've heard of discrimination on the basis of *regional* features.
>> Does this happen often? If so, should we (or someone else) try to do
>> something about it?
>>
>> -Mai (in Muncie, IN)
>