1) One of Delpit's 5 aspects of power is: "If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier". It makes sense that if you know how to behave, the expectations and have ability to understand the people and the environment around you, in any given situation (socially, academically, in the professional world) you are more likely to be successful, or at the very least have an easier time acclimating. When students come to school with an understanding of the dominant culture, it tends to be easier for them to adapt and be successful than those who are not. Delpit mentions a term called "cultural capital", saying that some students come to school with more or less of it. While in education we may be thinking that having the same expectations, treating all students the same for all regardless of their background or culture is being fair and inclusive, it really might not be the most helpful according to Delpit's theory. An example of this, while well intended, is the belief/mode of practice "I just want the same thing for everyone else's children as I want for mine". At surface level, this seems fair and benign, one might think there is no issue with this statement or practice in teaching. Prior to reading this, I would have thought the same. And according to Delpit, this actually is not effective, and if anything it is detrimental to those of the non-dominant culture because it helps to maintain the dominant culture of power and keep it in the hands those that are raised and function within it. She says for parents that are outside of that culture, that it is in fact not what want they want for their children, or at least not only what they want. In schools, they want their children to be taught "discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society". I thought this was a really interesting point, most of us would think that simply offering the same opportunities/education across the board would be the best, most fair - to provide the "same" education to those from the non-dominant culture backgrounds, however, how can it be the same education if these students are coming into the school environment without the prerequisite cultural skills and understanding? It really cannot be, and parents are aware of this. Students from the dominant culture will of course have an easier time learning and thus are more likely to be successful in an environment that was designed around their culture. So education needs to be provided that teaches about the culture as well to students who come from different backgrounds/non-dominant cultures to truly given them equal opportunities.
2) Delpit writes about an experience she had while teaching students studying to be teachers, she had a Native American student who was clearly struggling with technical writing skills, which was quite a concern at this stage of her teaching program. As an educator, Ms. Delpit was concerned that she had made it this point of the program and no other educators had intervened. When discussing the situation and her concerns as well as showing them the student's work with her colleagues, she was very surprised that they seemed to take two different, but troubling viewpoints. One was that the student should have never been admitted to the program to begin with, the other was that Delpit was actually acting as a "gate keeper" and had "actually internalized repressive disempowering forces of the power elite to suggest that something was wrong with a Native American student just because she had another style of writing". Both schools of thought are troublesome, to deny the student entry would essentially be victim blaming because hadn't been provided the proper teaching, but to to accept the student into the program and pass her through with obvious deficits under the guise of that it is the student's culture that causes her to write this way is also wrong. This sets the student up for failure upon graduating and perpetuates racism because, as Delpit writes "a white applicant who exhibits problems immediately becomes representative of her cultural group". Delpit believes that the answer to this conundrum is to accept students, but also take the responsibility to really teach them. In her opinion, "to act as if power doesn't exist is to ensure the status quo stays the same. To imply to children or adults that is doesn't matter how you talk or how you write is to ensure their ultimate failure". It is not that she doesn't believe or want cultural and diversity and change, the goal is encourage society's "gatekeepers" to accept and embrace a variety of styles and codes, but she is realistic about what the current reality is, and believes that truly helping students is ensuring they have the skills to "play the game" and be successful in our current society: "I tell them that their language and culture style is unique and wonderful but that there is a political power game that is also being played, and if they want to be on that game there are certain games that they too must play".
3) "Good liberal intentions are not enough": Delpit mentions a study done in 1975, Racism Without Racists: Institutional Racism in Urban Schools (Massey, Scott, Dornbusch) "found that under the pressures of teaching, and with all intentions of 'being nice', teachers had essentially stopped attempting to teach black children", "we have shown that oppression can arise out of warmth, friendliness, and concern". This reminded me of a Columbia University professor, Dr. John McWhorter, who is often a contributor on national news networks regarding racial relations (for which I have watched some of this segments in the past). I have attached to this post a video of his below in which Dr. McWhorter discusses how "woke" racism may actually be hurting black people, specifically in this video Dr. McWhorter says "those who practice the bigotry of low expectations, demanding and testing and academic standards need to be lowered to accommodate black people, make it appear as if we are incapable of succeeding on the same level as everyone else". Do we think this is unconscious bias or a truly misguided attempt to be "nice"? More toward the beginning of OPC, Delpit writes that several black educators told her that "as much as they would like to believe otherwise, they cannot help but conclude that many of the 'progressive' educational strategies imposed by liberals on 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. Some have added that the liberal educators believe themselves to be operating with good intentions, but that these good intentions are only conscious delusions about their unconscious true motives".
Argument Statement
This author, Lisa Delpit, argues educators need to recognize and understand their own power (by being in the majority/dominant culture), that student's from non-dominant cultures should be taught how to work within the dominant culture (while still embracing their own) while we work to create a more inclusive society and that "appropriate education for poor children and children of color can only be devised in consultation with adults who share their culture".
Connections
This assignment's reading I felt really connected to The 4 I's of Oppression from week 3, specifically "institutional oppression", since schools and the American educational system IS an institution. Teaching for the dominant culture is oppressive and creates power inequities to those of non-dominant cultures. The issues that Delpit discusses in this are excellent examples of institutional oppression.
