Silent Dialogue

      Lisa Delpit’s The Silent Dialogue discusses culture conflict in the classroom, concerning communication blocks between parties that believe they have the same aim. While reading this article, several statements Delpit wrote stood out to me.

      

      The first statement is “success in institutions – schools, workplaces, and so on – is predicted upon acquisition of the culture of those who are in power”. Delpit uses an example that middle-class children tend to do better than children who are not middle-class, simply because the culture of the school is based on that of the upper and middle-classes. The Guardian, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, claims middle-class students do better because parents and schools put more effort into their education. Parents are more likely to push their child to do better, which can have an influence on the school’s effort. "The parents' background also increases the school's effort, which increases the school achievement. Why schools work harder where parents are from a more privileged background we do not know. It might be because middle-class parents are more vocal in demanding that the school work hard. Influencing parental effort is certainly something that is much easier than modifying their social background." (http://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/oct/29/middle-class-children-better-school) I firmly believe that students have the ability to push themselves to do their best, but they will ultimately be more successful if they have support from their school and family. I’m not saying students who are not in the middle-class don’t get support, but I can’t help but wonder how this support may or may not differ from the middle-class.

       Another statement that stood out to me was the suggestion that “each classroom incorporate strategies appropriate for all the children in its confines”. When teaching a class of 23 children, one needs to present information and knowledge to them in a way everyone can understand. This relates to my father, a former elementary music teacher. When teaching a new concept, he would present something to the students in three different ways, ensuring that everyone understood.

       A third statement that stood out was “to deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower them”. Similar to the Lake reading, teachers need to accept the different experiences each student goes through. By doing so, teachers can even turn to the students to teach through their own knowledge. One never knows what a student can bring to the class until they are able to express their own culture.

       Teaching will never be an easy job, but as long as students are able to embrace where they come from and get support for it, then the job can be an experience unlike any other.