Responding to “The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children”
Understanding
“The Silenced Dialogue . . .” was written by Lisa D. Delpit in 1988. This article examines the culture of power its five key aspects that, “explicitly and implicitly” impact the “educational needs of Black and poor students” in the classrooms (Delpit, 1988, p. 280). The culture of power can be described as the cultural norms and standards in society that come from the individuals in power. This influences our curriculums today (colonial, hidden, and even null). The five ideologies of power brought forward all contribute to “The Silenced Dialogue”. The “Dialogue” refers to what is being taught in the classrooms. The “Silenced” portion is the perspectives that are being left out of the classrooms and lessons, as well as how the marginalized personally need to be educated: “all of the non-White respondents have spoken passionately on being left out of the dialogue about how best to educate children of color” when responding to the article, “‘Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator”’ (Delpit, 1988, pp. 281, 282). This is a serious issue in education as we must be open to listen to our students and be hospitable with them and their needs in the classroom. The first of the five aspects that contributes to silenced voices is, “Issues of power are enacted in classrooms” (Delpit, 1988, p. 282). For example, “the power of the teacher over the students” as in teachers asserting their power when standing in front of the class to teach, or the fact that the “publishers of textbooks and . . . the developers of the curriculum, [alone], determine the [worldview] presented” (Delpit, 1988, p. 283). The second aspect is, “There are codes or rules for participating in power; that is, there is a “culture of power”’ (Delpit, 1988, p. 282). This aspect notes that to be in power, essentially, you must be able to communicate linguistically, and present yourself in a socially understandable way. The third aspect of power is the person in power’s culture is the dominant one in society—this leaves no room for diverse cultures in society. The fourth aspect of power describes how one can communicate the societal norms easily within their culture, but confusion occurs when this information is transmitted across cultures. Finally, the last aspect of power is individuals who hold the power are least likely to recognize the power that exists, whereas “Those with less power are often most aware of its existence” (Delpit, 1988, p. 283). This looks like white people saying that racism doesn’t exist and asking why can’t we just all be equal, whereas non-white peoples are the ones who are feeling the impacts of oppression.
Analysis
This reading is generally aimed at educators, evident from the content in the text. The issue that Delpit describes is educators have continually been teaching with little regard to the black and poor communities’ needs with/from education. She also explains how “teachers must teach all students the explicit and implicit rules of power as a first step toward a more just society” (Delpit, 1988, p. 280). Teachers play a large role here. The purpose behind this reading, and the suggestion towards teachers’ action, is that we challenge and change the typical colonial style of teaching, and to introduce to our students multiple perspectives of global issues.
Application
This reading is relevant to me as a teacher as it brings up concepts that I’ll be dealing with in and out of the classroom. The coloured educators are neglected when they try and teach from their own experiences—from their heart—with the colonial perspectives. A black educator states, “‘If you try to suggest that that’s not quite the way it is, [white people] get defensive . . . then they’ll start reciting research. . . .(Delpit, 1988, p. 281). As the back educator was told her experiences were invalid, it really makes me realize how important it is to teach with the understanding that there are many more views. For example, I can bring in elders or community members to talk about different perspectives that they may have more knowledge in than I do which will truly benefit us all. I can relate to this article in regard to the issue of power that teachers have over their students. Throughout my whole K-12 schooling, the teacher was always the authority figure who had all this power over us. In ECS 101, however, I learned that teaching is really about hospitality and a warm welcoming place/environment for the students. Educators must drop their power to the students level, whilst reming control over the class, and break this hierarchal barrier. This will allow students to have a relationship with the teacher where they can easily come to them for help and support in any way or form.
Synthesis
This reading makes me think of, “Women Talk Too Much” by Janet Holmes. In this reading, Holmes describes how women’s talk is typically considered “noisy” and invaluable (Holmes, 2015, p. 262). She then describes how research and evidence actually proves the opposite that men talk more—it’s really just the sexist prejudice that society believes that men are the ones “who determine when there is too much talk . . . and when it is appropriate” (Holmes, 2015, p. 261). I can connect this concept to “The Silenced Dialogue . . .” in regard to the fact that black and poor individuals aren’t being heard in society—their opinions and needs are neglected and thought to be irrelevant and just noise, if you will. Both Holmes’ and Delpit’s readings bring to my attention that the marginalized and oppressed perspectives are valuable and need to be heard and considered in classrooms and the curriculum. I now consider my role as a teacher and understand the importance of the inclusion and diversity of different perspectives in the classroom so all students feel seen and heard.
Evaluation
I enjoyed this reading. I think there were some very important topics covered in here dealing with the importance of challenging the rules of power; this reading I would therefore recommend to teachers and really everyone in the education system to reflect on what perspective are being seen in the classroom and curriculum. I did find that the reading was quite lengthy, however. Sometimes shorter is better to get across the important information needed! Overall, I really believe I learned a lot from this reading.
References
Delpit, L. D. (1988). The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children. ProQuest Education Journals. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://urcourses.uregina.ca/pluginfile.php/3228123/mod_resource/content/0/The%20silenced%20dialogue.pdf
Goshgarian, G., & Holmes, J. (2015). Women Talk Too Much. In Exploring Language (14th ed., pp. 261–267). essay, Pearson.