Reflection - Delpit: "Other People's Children"

The purpose of “The Silenced Dialogue” is to highlight statements made by non-White students and educators and provide a new perspective into how the current American educational climate has been consistently placing non-White students and educators at a disadvantage. At the same time, Delpit aims to address responses to the article that was created from these statements (“Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator”) and urge educators to think about how different perspectives on educational approaches can alienate and “silence dialogue” (24).

It seems that one of the most prevalent issues in the world of education, according to Delpit, is that schools with predominantly white instructors will not organize their teaching structure to best serve students of color. Delpit starts the chapter “The Silenced Dialogue” by having a graduate student and a female teacher, both persons of color, recount their experiences with predominantly white education. What both of them have in common is that, essentially, they’re talking to brick walls; white educators will more often than not argue against reforming education to best serve students of color, often citing “If it’s worked for this long, why should we change it?” The teacher’s experience brings out a notable point regarding her experiences in that while the white educators listened to her, they didn’t hear her: “They just don’t listen well. No, they listen, but they don’t hear—you know how your mama used to say you listen to the radio, but you hear your mother? Well they don’t hear me” (21). Her peers truly didn’t try to understand what she was saying, they didn’t try and see things from her perspective; it was almost as if they were just waiting for her to finish so they could continue on with their day, ultimately not changing a single thing with how their respective school’s curriculum was structured.

In her analysis of issues with education, she writes about what she has called the “culture of power,” which involves 5 premises: the power of the teacher over the students; the rules and presentations of self that coincide with the rules for participating in power, which are a reflection of those who have power; knowing explicitly what rules are in place for this “culture of power” makes it easier to be a part of the culture; and that those who have power are either unaware of its existence or are least willing to acknowledge its existence. The last premise made me reflect on my previous educational experiences; as a white student, I inherently knew that there was a power dynamic between teacher and student, but I wasn’t aware of how similar power dynamics could effect teacher-to-teacher relationships, how non-white educators and students viewed this power dynamic.