Other People's Children

Other People’s Children 

Cultural Conflict in the Classroom 

Lisa Delpit 

 

Talking Points: 

1. “All of the nonwhite respondents have spoken passionately on being left out of the dialogue about how best to educate children of color”. Black educators and parents feel that their opinions are not heard. The white educators do not considert the experiences that are being shared with them, so they stop trying to explain. The author gives several examples of this.  

2. “I want the same thing for everyone else’s children as I want for mine” This is a comment from liberal educators who don’t have the same view as nonwhite educators and parents. “Parents who don’t function in that culture want something else....they want something more, they want to ensure that the school provides their children with discourse patters, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society”. 

3. “To act as if power does not exist is to ensure that the power status quo remains the same” .

The author talks about power several times in the article. This statement is clear but honestly some of her arguments were confusing to me.

    The author argues that education models must be constructed utilizing the input from people who are from the student’s culture. The author also suggests, “students must be taught the codes needed to participate fully in the mainstream of American life, not by being forced to attend to hollow, inane, decontextualized sub skills, but rather within the context of meaningful communicative culture”.