Assignment #3: "The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children" by Lisa Delpit

This article was a bit more difficult to read through and digest than the previous article on colorblindness and color insight as it relates to the classroom.

Following are the three talking points that I would like to bring to the forefront during our class discussion:

Talking point #1:
     "The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power"(p.25)  This is a powerful statement and one that seems to clearly play out in every life in society.  As an educator, initially my goal was to use the designated curriculum, to teach the grade level at hand. Until I began to take courses to obtain my ESL certification, and ultimately, my M.Ed with a concentration in TESOL, I was never fully aware just how biased our soon to be former (literacy) program is. The assessment tool is blatantly biased against the ELL/Newcomer; it is blatantly biased in favor of the white, middle-class, English speaker.  Those that designed the curriculum intent, how it was to be taught, and WHAT was to be taught, clearly did not have in mind children whose L1 was NOT English.  In addition, the intended population for this curriculum did not take into account that there would be students of color AND students and families who chose to come to the Untied States.   

Talking Point #2: 
     "The teacher can not be the only expert in the classroom.  To deny students their own expert knowledge IS to disempower them"(pgs. 32-33). Early in my teaching career, I WAS the expert in the classroom.  I had worked very hard to earn my BA in Sociology and certification in Early Childhood Education.  As with most things, being young and whet behind the ears, I really did think I was going to be able to bring the best of my education into the classroom. To some extent, I did.  I was the teacher and I was going to do my best to teach and positively affect the education of my students.  My students, by the way, were ALL white children, from middle to upper class, intact, "traditional" families, all of whom spoke English. I was truly the expert in the room.  Not so much today!

Talking Point #3: 
     "Children have a right to their own language, their own culture...children must be allowed to express themselves in their own language style. It is not that they, the children, who must change, but the schools. To push children to do anything else is repressive and reactionary"(p.37).  This has become an area of stress for me.  I hear everyday teachers demanding that their students speak and write in English.  I see every day, teachers recommending students for remedial help, or intervention or being referred to team for special education services because the students are not proficient in the rules of English, and thus are not producing acceptable samples of work.  

Argument Statement:

The author, Lisa Delpit argues that to educate other peoples children, we first must recognize that the influence of race is a factor in how information is delegated by the (white) educator and received by students of color (and other races).