It is obvious from the tenor of this section that we believe traditional
research into the relationships among language, class and education has only
scratched the surface. Moreover, we require the type of conceptual framework
proposed by Ryan et al. (1982) to make comparative statements about
different educational problems in different speech communities and societies.
Hence, we are extremely reluctant to list priorities now, on the basis
of what are insufficient and sometimes non-existent data. This is, of course,
of little comfort to children who come from lower-class backgrounds, and who speak a non-standard dialect (or to their teachers). What we can
propose must therefore be very modest. However, we make no apologies for
this especially since, in the current economic/political climate, many researchers
are induced to become prematurely applied and policy-orientated.