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5/21 Assignment A - Delpit

“The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children”

Talking Points
1. "If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier." I found this quote to be powerful and relatable to general teaching best practices. In order for our students to do well on assignments, it is better to explicitly tell them the expectations and model effective responses. For students to be successful in our society, we must name the power systems around them so they can gain access to that power.

2."People of color are, in general, skeptical of research as a determiner of our fates. Academic research has, after all, found us genetically inferior, culturally deprived, and verbally deficient." In today's education system, supports and resources are typically allocated when the proper data and research has been produced. How can we use the tools that have disadvantaged POC in order to bring positive changes to these social issues?


3. Delpit discusses the idea that educating our students about these power systems is not meant to erase their culture and language and experience, but to speak power to "how they are". This is an idea that I look forward to implementing in my classroom discussions and curriculum as I progress as a teacher.

Argument Statement

Delpit argues that white educators who teach their students as they would their own children are working to ensure the maintenance of the inequitable status quo.

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