Disscuss OPC Part I

Select a quote from one of the essays in Part I and discuss how it was personally meaningful to you.

"If such explicitness is not provided to students, what it feels like to people who are old enough to judge is that there are secrets being kept, that time is being wasted, that the teacher is abdicating his or her duty to teach."

About 10 years ago I started a PhD program. I succeeded in completing the classwork, writing a prospectus, completing the QE's, but I did not finish my dissertation because by that time, I had become so disappointed and demoralized by academia that I decided to close that chapter of my life and try something else. Reading this section of Other People's Children crystallized for me the concerns I raised with my professors and mentors over and over again. They expected me to know things I didn't and do things I didn't understand, and if I succeeded in any measure it was because I found a really good therapist who specialized in cultural issues who guided me through the program. This quote and this section of the book have helped me realize my experience was not mine alone, and my instincts about how to teach specific skills have not been misguided or antiquated.

What do you feel the author wants us to think about, consider?

She wants upper and middle class white readers to realize they have power and when they pretend they don't they cause more harm than good. She also wants them to hear what people in poverty and minorities say and not dismiss them just because they can't ground it in theory or research. If in fact they want to share power and not continue with the status quo, then they need to make changes, they're going to have to "push and agitate from the top down." The author wants upper and middle class white readers to consider that their experience cannot be normalized for everyone.

Would anything from what you've currently read influence your future teaching? Discuss.

I already do many things Delpit recommends, but now I have some research to back up my hunches. The last chapter on language diversity will be particularly useful to me in the Dual-Immersion classroom. What I have seen happen is that all students are taught Standard Spanish which the white middle class kids learn, but the Latino children who already speak Spanish feel alienated by this formal use of their language. They make the erroneous assumption that it's yet another situation where as immigrants they're not allowed access. They interact with their English speaking classmates in Spanish, give them practice with grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, etc., but leave school thinking that the Spanish they speak is less than the Spanish their classmates speak. This disconnection with language leaves them insecure with school in general. They participate less in class, produce lackluster work and get praised anyway, and finally when testing time comes their parents are shocked that they fail. The third chapter had some great ideas about how to honor the culture and language the students already have while providing them with the formal language they'll need to make their way outside their community. I hope there's more of these lessons down the road.