2. Acceptance alone is, unfortunately, unrealistic

According to Delpit, the language of power is formal English. Language standards, though arbitrary, are “politically charged,” (Delpit, pg 499) and an understanding of formal English provides children with their best champion for the political arena. Unfortunately, bigotry and stereotypes still run abound in this country, and because of this, educating children on acceptance is simply not good enough. Individuals can be classified unnecessarily as stupid just by the way they talk; and when society already carries around certain stereotypes, those people labeled as stupid have an even larger hurdle to jump just to prove to others that they are not. Teaching acceptance by itself becomes virtually unrealistic. It must be earned. And this is unfortunate. Understanding how to write and speak formally gives people the chance to show their arguments articulately and intellectually. This power of language can help break the preconceived notions of superiority that many people (often subconsciously) hold to everyday. Acceptance can become more of a reality when the stereotypes are disproved. This is an incredibly difficult feat, which is all the more reason why people must be given the tools to prove themselves in a society already set against them. Language provides those tools.

Kristin's Response to Delpit

1.

I am preparing to be a high school teacher in Oregon after I graduate from graduate school in the next three years. As a teacher, I know that no two students are alike. This means that I will be teaching classrooms full of young adults who all learn and process information in different ways. After reading Delpit’s article, I will always be aware of the fact that some of my students will be totally unaware of the linguistic codes of power. For example, if I assign homework in a passive way and say, “ I would like for you to turn in the homework no later than tomorrow morning,” the students who think that I would literally just like them to turn it in and no actually require them to turn it in probably won’t turn in the homework. I need to be assertive and direct as a teacher in order for all of my students to be relieved from confusion.

4. Different Cultures Collide

4.  Lisa Delpit explained how children come from different cultures at home. Delpit explains that at home children from non-middle class families are taught a culture different from the “culture of power” that middle and upper class families teach their children. The culture that is taught in the non middle class families, helps them to survive in their own community, but doesn’t prepare them to succeed in the culture of power.

This difference in culture is something I have personally experienced, but with a twist from what Delpit was explaining. In my 8^th grade language arts class, I was the only white middle-class student. Everyone else, including the teacher, was either Black or Hispanic, and the majority of them were from a lower socio-economic class. Opposite of what Delpit discusses in her article, I was the one who felt out of place and confused. The lingo was different, the mannerisms were different, the expectations of classroom behavior were different. For the first half of the year instead of trying to learn the culture I retreated in the back corner of the room in silence. The only time I would speak was when the teacher was teaching this “culture of power” with grammar and reading lessons. I felt comfortable in this area unlike the rest of the class that would grow quieter.

Although my experience is not exactly what Delpit was talking about, I can empathize with her argument and feel like the difference needs to be taken into account.

Delpit Assignment

Your assignment is to respond to one of the following questions related to Lisa Delpit’s “The Silenced Dialogue.” Aim for about 100-150 words, and post it to your team blog. Please follow the following guidelines: 1. Identify your entry with a title that suggests the content.
2. Single space. You may respond to other people’s posts through the comment feature. You may also read the blogs of the other groups by going to: http://writingcommonsone.blogspot.com/ http://writingcommonstwo.blogspot.com/ etc. through http://writingcommonssix.blogspot.com/ You can add a comment to other blogs by using the comment feature. You can only post to your own blog.

Questions (choose one):
1. If you are preparing to teach, what are you taking away from Delpit’s article regarding language and power that might help you as a teacher, and how could you apply these ideas to your proposed level of teaching?

2. One student asked, “Why do we have to discuss teaching minority children the language of power? Why not just teach everyone acceptance?” Respond.

3. For one of Delpit’s specific proposals (refer to the article), discuss the challenges of implementation. How could these challenges be addressed?

4. Your own topic.

Luke's belated cinquain

Procastinating
Then
Without fail
With conviction
To do what is asked
Because the night is young