6/16 Teach Out Summaries

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

 Lisa Delpit's "The Silenced Dialogue" discusses the implicit dialogue that occurs between white middle-class school teachers and white students. Children from marginalized and underrepresented communities who do not live in the culture of power will not have those unspoken codes automatically transmitted to them. They will be at a disadvantage and will have to work twice as hard at everything to achieve success. Delpit also discussed how communication styles differ by class, direct and indirect approaches when issuing directives. Middle-class mothers ask more questions, whereas working-class mothers are more direct . Clear communication creates a more equitable learning environment.

Armstrong and Wildman, "Colorblindness is the New Racism."

Armstrong and Wildman's "Colorblindness" discusses the privilege of white individuals not noticing that they have privilege; they benefit from a world built to make them comfortable. Color insight is a step towards white individuals recognizing and being aware of the privileges that people of color do not have. "The white person had an everyday option not to think of herself in racial terms at all."(Flagg,1993, p. 969)This is a luxury that people of color do not share. Armstrong and Wild discussed the notion of a "post-racial" society, which, since we had a president who was a person of color, was supposed to mean that racism was over, which is not the case. It unearthed old racial issues and brought them to the surface again.