Per our classroom discussion today: The future of SAE. Is it just a prescription?

In response to the question “Is it good for everyone to speak in Standard American English”
I think that this is a very pressing question. In today’s world, there are thousands of spoken languages, and almost as many written ones. What is gained by everyone speaking the same language? What is lost?
Dan brought up the point that Standard American English is a prescriptive treatment to a larger problem. While as it pertains to children in the United States speaking an easily understood dialect, I’m not sure that’s entirely true. The world is moving towards universal communication—from the internet to worldwide cell phone coverage to SAE being taught in schools all around the world, the notion that someone from Singapore, Russia, China, America, and Brazil all being able to communicate with each other is a very real possibility. The world is becoming global, and in many respects SAE is a necessary vehicle of that change.
However, there’s also a definite loss with SAE, if it becomes the focus beyond what it is meant to do. While SAE is useful as a bridge between cultures, it mustn’t be mistaken for a culture in its own right. Outside of no one other than a CBS Broadcaster speaking SAE, it is inherently limiting. When speaking, one must obey all the rules of the language without flexibility; to take the broadcasting school notion further, the notion is that no one can tell where you are from; in essence to make your speech cultureless. Our speech influences how we think. There are certain thoughts which are in a native language which will not be in another. The bilingual advantage is a very real phenomenon which should not be ignored when considering the ramifications of global communication. While Babblefish may translate from any language we choose, it doesn’t capture the full meaning of what was said, the idioms passed on from century to century, the escape from being trapped in a single one dimensional common usage of a word.
Even if these reasons fall short, I think that there is one which must remain. Art. While much art may be appreciated regardless of the language spoken, literature in particular is something which can often only be appreciated in its natural state. My favorite example of this is Dante’s Divine Comedy; while we can learn about the form and structure, we can’t really appreciate the oral aspects, the depth of its natural Italian. The natural benefits of the language would not, could not be realized in SAE. Not every street dialect has such a commendable notion. But to say that children must learn SAE, particularly when a comment is made that it should be learn at the expense of the local dialect or language, should be viewed as an obvious stab at the local culture. As in Hawaii where the pidgin English was attacked, it was a battle of cultural hegemony which took place in the educational sphere. While SAE represents something more than a prescriptive fix, I think it must in the end be viewed as an expedient to global communication, never an end to exist in a vacuum.