Delpit really brings up some very good points regarding power, process versus skill approach and the need for code instruction. Having read and debated this article a few years ago, I appreciate again most of what she has to say. I agree that students need to be empowered and made to feel that they have expert knowledge. I agree that the skill and/or process approaches may not be the best manner of instruction for black, white, blue or purple students at any given time (depending, or course, on where they hang their hats at night). I agree that many students need to be taught the codes of our mainstream, middle class society to be "successful" in life (taking care not to impose "traditional",middle class values on them while doing so).
She makes some great points, but I do feel that the animal that is education has evolved greatly over the past 20 years. So many of the situations that she describes still exist, but so do many new situations. Children now, more than ever, are put at the center of the educational process. More teachers are empowering their students and acknowledging the expertise of their knowledge. Many are teaching the codes that students need to be successful; many are teaching them to play the game.
I feel that Delpit really focuses on the Black/White issue, when in actuality, it is a "class issue". Students of a lower class are almost always lesser-equipped than students of a higher class. Students realize this as well. Just yesterday my students and I were talking about social issues for our final persuasive pieces when one brought up racism. We talked about it as a class, and they recognized that being a product of poverty often has more of an effect on one's success than does the color of one's skin.
I look forward to our conversation this afternoon on this article as it always strikes up some great conversation!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
The problem with race is that people too often place emphasis on Black and White thereby marginalizing other races, and they(we) tend to forget the socio-economic reality that pervades our daily lives with the presence of the few "haves" and the many "have-nots". Good Points.
I agree that there is more to the problem of power in the classroom than simply race--though I don't think we can seperate race from the issues we're talking about. As Audre Lorde said, we can never seperate race from class from gender from sex. The complexity of power in the classroom (and in our society) is as complex as we humans are, and I think Delpit approaches this topic from an extremely simplistic viewpoint and falls short in her argument.
Preach on, brutha!
Preach on!
Post a Comment