This author Lisa Delpit argues that the white liberal education system is the uniform structure that teaches a certain formula which is only successful for a particular group of students. She describes a scenario of two different types of lifestyles for two different children and how it translates to learning and succeeding in a classroom setting. Delpit describes one boy being told to get in the tub and another child being posed a question closer to to tune of "are you ready for bed?." She says that these two different ways of being a parent create an authoritative form of direction showing them a passive way of being instructed and a direct way. She claims that this causes the child under the more direct influence of being told what to do as a problem when the liberal form of education that is typically in charge usually asks students to complete tasks or assignments passively. The minority groups do not understand that this is a direction and not a question because it is not how they learned to respect an adult or follow instruction. Delpit also describes the apparent issue of the linguistics of the educational structure by having "one way of reading and writing". She says that students must be taught this way to understand it completely and when they don't it's the fault of the education system and not the student- she says most teachers do not take responsibility for this and they ignore the student who needs help instead of taking initiative and trying to fix the problem at hand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzBbZRtPuUs
After reading this, I think I learned that it really matters to people, especially young students, as to how you give directions. I think it is wrong of people to assume a young student is not following directions when they simply do not know how to respond to the directions they were supposedly given. But going along with that, many students who are not proficient in writing or reading, may have been caused by the education system but it could also be partly their fault for not even trying or knowing what is expected of them (once again, the way they were given directions or even taught). Both parties could be at fault, but it certainly is not acceptable for a student to pass through every grade and no teacher taking the initiative and trying to help the student.
ReplyDeleteNice website! What you wrote about was one of the things I also took from the reading regarding how the two boys were asked in two different ways to do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed hearing Lisa Delpit speak and what she said illustrated in more detail what she wrote in The Silenced Dialogue. Seeing through the eyes of other people and cultures is difficult but really necessary when teaching or interfacing with diverse groups of people.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the statement discussing the flaws in the education system rather than blaming the student for not understanding material. A student's role in the classroom is to learn and when they do not understand something that should be a reflection on how the teacher can improve the lesson overall. It's similar to when you're in a class and the entire class failed a test: it's not the class' fault for not understanding, but maybe it was the teaching style of the educator that was not effective. No, I am not blaming the teacher for doing a horrible job, but I never believe that a student should be given the blame for not understanding material.
ReplyDeleteThe blame should not only be on the teachers. There are multiple factors at fault. Are teachers being properly taught themselves on how to properly teach the different groups of students that they will have in their class. The parents also have to take a more active roll in their child's education. Without everyone working together to fix the educational system, then the problem will never be fixed.
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