First and foremost, I have to say that I think a larger portion of society is recognizing that the playing field is not equal. It is harder to admit the level of power able-bodied white men have over the rest of society. Don't we all want to pretend we've earned everything we have?
Immediately I become defensive. Immediately I notice "hers or his" instead of "his or hers" and have to reread it. Immediately I recognize myself as the person nodding and quoting research from other white people.
But that recognition, that self-awareness, is what will progress us. Not in the same way that Delpit is talking about with instructional education, but as a society, which I am interpreting to be Delpit's goal. Frankly, I am confused by the education approaches discussed by Delpit though. It seems as though she is claiming that children of color learn differently than white children? I hope I am misinterpreting that. Perhaps she is claiming that the textbooks need to be more historically accurate (absolutely) and less aimed at always making white people the hero (absolutely)? What I hope she is trying to highlight is the educational differences and steep resource differences between largely affluent white neighborhoods and poorer neighborhoods of mostly people of color.
To be honest, I don't even feel right commenting on any of this. I have no place to speak.
The only thing I can speak to is that my mother, who I informed the class dropped out of high school, came from a poor neighborhood in Denver. When her family moved to Boulder, a rich white town, as she entered high school, she found she was behind the other students. At least, for their curriculum, she was behind. They ended up placing her in remedial education classes with mentally disabled students. My mother is not highly educated but she is sharp as a whip. Placing her in those classes made her despondent, angry, and disenchanted with education altogether. She came from a neighborhood which didn't have the money to provide the local public schools with the same resources that the rich white kids in Boulder were getting. But it wasn't just the resources, it was the subject matter. It wasn't just about being on a different curriculum, it was a wage gap. I can't imagine being placed in special education (pc?) classes because I came from a different neighborhood. I probably would've said ef this too.
Your mother's story definitely highlights how the issue of class is implicated in education, and that's really important. I wonder if you think that the five principles of the "culture of power" in Delpit apply to your mother's experience? Or is your sense that Delpit's argument is largely about race?
ReplyDeleteI don't think she is arguing that children of color "learn differently," but that that they respond differently to instructional techniques. Black kids seem to appreciate explicit instruction rather than indirect instruction. This is, of course, a debatable proposition, but her anecdotal evidence is pretty compelling.
Hi Lukas, thanks for your post. I, too, felt uneasy commenting on this reading and also didn't feel like it was my place to speak. Perhaps that's an issue? Because of this, I tried to keep my response fairly neutral and discussed my understanding and previous experiences of being introduced and exploring issues of power and privilege. Perhaps I should have dug deeper. Even though there is discomfort, I certainly don't refuse to be enlightened, and wish to be educated in all possible ways which may abate my ignorance to such issues.
DeleteProfessor Ballenger,
DeleteI suppose that's why I brought up my mother's story. It seemed applicable and yet didn't directly relate to race. Perhaps all children respond better to direct communication and this is more about culture than race? Where white people are raised to constantly be looking at passive possibilities where black people are raised differently? I don't know. The separation of race is what makes me uncomfortable. I want to keep going back to culture instead of race.
Jeff,
I also want to be enlightened, but I can't help but overanalyze everything. Especially as it pertains to race. I can't justify in my head this idea of separation of education. I can't imagine skin color dictates learning patterns.