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

Quotes

Quote #1

“they listen, but they don’t hear” (Delpit, 2006. P.21)

The beginning of the article shares accounts by educated blacks of their experiences with white people. The quote explains how blacks feel their voices are not being heard by whites, and are merely given lip service. It was very disheartening to read how many of the black people mentioned in the article had even given up voicing their opinions for lack of being ‘really’ heard. The other thing that bothered me was that the black people described in the beginning of the article were stereotyping white people when in my experience we have to be open-minded and treat people as individuals, not by the color of their skin. I also noticed that the black people in this article referred to white people as “they” which felt like a derogatory term.

Quote #2

“The teacher cannot be the only expert in the classroom. To deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower them” (Delpit, 2006. P.32-33)

This quote reminds us as educational professionals that we do not hold all the power in the classroom and that learning should be collaborative, where both students and teachers can bring their experiences and knowledge into the classroom. A superb example of this collaborative learning is explained directly after the quote. It describes how black high school students analyzed rap songs and then taught the teacher how to create a new rap song. In turn, the teacher used her new knowledge to explain to her students the structure of grammar and connected both of these pieces of knowledge to some of Shakespeare’s works. The teacher and students shared their schema with each other to create new knowledge. This shared expertise was a very powerful way to bridge the differences of race, age, and experience.

Quote #3

‘the verbal directives given by the middle-class ‘townspeople’ teachers:

- “Is this where the scissors belong?”

- “You want to do your best work today.”

By contrast, many black teachers are more likely to say:

- “Put those scissors on the shelf.

"p " Put your name on the papers and make sure to get the right answer to each question.”

Is one style more authoritarian than another?’ (Delpit, 2006. P.33-34)

The directives given in the first example emanate the verbal style middle-class parents use with their children at home. The directive may be in the form of a question but culturally, all parties involved know there is no choice and that it is still a directive. Whereas in the second example, the directives are very clear and are not offering an alternative. The article reminds us that as educators, we need to understand children’s cultural backgrounds and how confusing our language will be to a child if directives are not stated clearly. It could result in disobedience from lack of understanding. Lastly, I think we also need to consider teaching style. I know plenty of white teachers who give clear verbal directives because they are cognizant of their audience and have had good training. The language used in ‘Responsive Classroom’ aligns with giving clear commands/directives; not phrasing directives as questions.