Lisa Delpit's The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children

Delpit qualifies those who are most skillful at educating black and poor children as those who “understand the need for both approaches [‘skills’ and ‘process’], the need to help students establish their own voices, and to coach those voices to produce notes that will be clearly heard in a larger society.” I would argue this is more good teaching, than good teaching of black and poor children.   I felt this way about many things in this article.  Delpit suggest we need to ensure “that each classroom incorporates strategies appropriate for all children in its confines.”  As educators, we need to take in to account all students’ differing backgrounds, as well as learning abilities, personal situations and other aspects that determine what they need in the classroom.   

While I feel some of the article refers to good teaching practices for all students, Delpit does raise some interesting points about cultural difference.  We should consider that “some children come to school with more accoutrements of the culture of power…some with less.”(29).   Those that have not yet “internalized the culture of power” need to be explicitly taught it.  We cannot expect students who are not part of the “culture of power” to simply figure it out.  

Students bring their own expertise in different areas. “To deny student their own expert knowledge is to disempower them”(33).   Appreciating these in the classroom helps students feel connected to their own lives, and helps them appreciate their differences.  Martha Demietieff uses the contrast between eating at a picnic and a formal diner to mirror the contrast between the students informal/Heritage English and formal English.  This suggests there is a place for both, and doesn’t dismiss one as not as important or as correct as the other.

I am reminded of an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which Will claims he would be doing well in history if they studied any black history.  He felt the curriculum drove the “view of the world presented” (24) and it had nothing to do with him.  In search for the clip I came across the end of the episode.  Will and Carlton came from different homes with different cultures, thus they have differing perspectives and areas of expert knowledge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StY05g5Abrw

 I agree that the parents of these students and educators who share their culture must be allowed into the conversation.  Delpit calls on those with the most power to take the most responsibility in initiating this conversation.  Much like Johnson, she explains the importance of a conscious awareness of privilege and a lack of this will “ensure that the power status quo remains the same” (39).   Both Johnson and Delpit acknowledge that there is a need to recognize our own lens if we are to engagein  the dialogue to work towards the solution.  Delpit asserts “we must keep the perspective that people are experts on their own lives”- but she includes many black teachers’ conclusion that “many of the ‘progressive’ educational strategies imposed by liberals upon black and poor children could only be based on a desire to ensure that liberals’ children get sole access to the dwindling pool of American jobs” and that their good intentions are merely delusions of their true motives.  This came under the larger discussion that I want the same thing for everyone else’s students as I want for mine means I want the same schooling.  Is it possible that this statement refers to the desire for all students to have an education that meets their needs, and teaches them to appreciate their own culture, while also giving them the tools they need to be successful in their lives?  Delpit later states “Both sides need to be able to listen”(46).