Lisa Delpit The Silenced Dialogue — ARGUMENT
Lisa states two systems of thought that echo through all educational institutions, the silenced dialogue and the rules of power. When these ideologies are understood and challenged by educators, their students gain more autonomy and knowledge. The students then go forward equipped with tools to beat a system that wasn't designed with them in mind.
The silenced dialogue is explained as non white voices being ignored or underrepresented in the educational sphere. While white voices are being heard and understood, POC find frustration in the lack of support and are made fiercely aware of their non-whiteness. This shows up in the amplification of white history, in the suppression of non western conquests and rewriting of that history. Delpit says that when a white person makes a mistake it only reflects on them as an individual however when POC are operating in mainly white systems they take on the responsibility of their whole ethnicity due to white centered confirmation bias on stereotypes.
Another structure that exists in education is the rules of power. These rules are dominated by the culture who retains the most power and influence. Delpits main argument for educations is not to change the system on some grand scale, rather to implicitly demonstrate the rules. Delpit notes that educators from different walks of life use a vastly opposed turns of phrase. Mainly white teachers using leading questions i.e “Is that what we are supposed to be doing right now” and black teachers use more clean directions “stop doing that, we are doing this” Although seemingly similar for a child who grew up only hearing directions from one culture this disparity could be increasing frustrating. This is why as educators its extremely important to understand the rules and conduct of power and how you play a role in its felicitation.
While reflecting back on this reading I felt the raw emotions of a child who didn’t understand, or felt entirely misunderstood. It is isolating having no power or say in major part of your life. That is why as teachers we work hard to be the shepherds to our learning populations. We need to bestow our best upon them and give the students the benefit of the doubt.
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