April's Blog #3 The Silenced Dialogue:

 Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other Peoples Children by Lisa Delpit

 

I must admit that reading articles like this gives me a certain level of anxiety. For me, articles like Delpit's reminds me of the countless conversations with colleagues or community members who have a hard time seeing their privilege and understanding their power and bias. Nevertheless, I digress. Delpit starts off by sharing a story about a black male graduate student who gets frustrated when the  conversation comes up in white spaces about the "black issues." He states, "I'm tired of arguing with those white people because they wont listen."  I have heard this statement made a million times and have at some point said it myself. But when I read it, it hit me differently. I felt validated and was compelled to read this article twice.

Point 1 - Page 23

After reading the three scenarios, Delpit shared this was her motivation for the first half of the title. "The Silenced Dialogue." It made sense but what proceeded after that was a wow moment for me.  She stated, " One of the tragedies in this field of education is that scenarios such as these are enacted daily around the country. The saddest element is that the individuals that the black and Native Alaskan educators speak of in these statements are seldom aware that the dialogue has been silenced. Most likely the white educators believe that their colleagues of color did, in the end, agree with their logic. Afterall, they stopped disagreeing, didn't they?" That was deep for me. It reminded me of the word CAUDACITY.  Its a made up word  deriving from the words Caucasian and audacity. My daughter uses this in her circle of friends when a white person makes an ill advised statement. 

Point 2 - Page 31

When Delpit talked about ensuring that each classroom incorporate strategies appropriate for all the children in its confines, it reminded me of the class discussion we had on the thanksgiving activity. I will always say and believe apart of having shared cultural power lies within the ability of the teacher to SEE her students, not fix them or judge them. Just like Delpit, I have heard those with power say things like, "those parents don't care or are uncaring," because they don't respond or react in a way schools think they should. She (Delpit) sums this up by stating, "what school personnel fail to understand is that if parents were members of the culture of power and lived by its rules and codes, then they would transmit those codes to their children ."

Point 3 - Page 35

Controversy revisited. In Ways with Words, Shirley Brice Heath quotes and compares the directives given by a middle class "townspeople" teacher. -" Is this where the scissors belong?" and that of many black teachers: - "Put those scissors on the that shelf." Delpit asks the question, "is one oral style more authoritarian than another?" This made me think of the teaching style I have and ponder of what I would have said. This difference in speech that is being highlighted are both still commands but are perceived differently in classrooms of color. It reminds me of my 8th graders who, if a teacher came into the classroom giving them a perceived option by asking a question, will more than likely challenge that teacher. And then the question is asked about who has the cultural power now. Food for thought.

Argument Statement: The Author, Lisa Delpit, argues that to act as if power does not exist is to ensure that the power status quo remains the same. (pg. 39)