In some ways think the logic behind teaching children received pronunciation makes sense. I haven't come across many professionals with thick regional accents and certainly not any politicians or similar people with power. Banning regional accents and slang is completely different to learning how to 'turn it on and off' in different situations. Although the idea that people with standard English accents are more intelligent than people with regional accents is judgemental, a lot of people think it. Companies use this widespread idea to convey a sense of authority, in call centre's for example. One call centre in Newcastle hire the locals to answer the phones because they sound friendly and familiar. If the customer asks to speak to a manager or the phone call has to be escalated it will be transferred to someone with a 'posher' accent often RP. This is a commonly used way to portray authority when you cant see who you're talking to. This shows that in s...