Blog 2 The Culture of Power, The Silenced Dialogue

Argument

In this weeks blog, our focus is on the ideas of Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit. She talks about how the culture of power in the classroom is important in more ways than just one. Throughout the reading, there were numerous quotes that really stuck out to me. The Culture of Power seems to have a very strong impact in the classroom. It’s important for students at a young age to become aware of the culture of power. As they become aware, they can use it to their advantage much earlier on in their lives, rather than subconsciously being quieted by their peers or superiors, or becoming stuck in their own biases due to history and societal norms. Teaching them about the five proposed aspects found on page 24, could help enable that. As teachers, we need to be advocates to students of different cultures to help promote awareness of the proposed aspects of the culture of power. “The teacher cannot be the only expert in the classroom. To deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower them.” (p.32) Only sharing our educated side from our own experiences is not enough. We need to be able to listen to them and not just nod our head in agreement with them and actually speak up about what they’re saying if needed. As a white male in society, I've never been a position where I had to be worried about my future in relation to others who are experiencing current events due other white males of actual power or being judged because of the way i speak. During the online narration on the book called Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, I feel as if using the analogies from it could help us as a society break the views of one culture in comparison to another, in term geographical heritage or physical differences. 

Reflection/Comment 

Providing a safe place in the classroom for students of any background helps promote a better future for society. On pages 42 and 43, a black teacher provokes their black student, Joey, to give thought to a book they just read in terms of how it was written. The book was written as if it had a southern accent in comparison to being written in a formal fashion. Joey thinks if the person speaking can clearly get their point across to the listener/reader, points should not be written off. Making the student think for themselves allows them to share their organic thoughts with their reasons why. I'll include a link on The Breakdown on Black English.