Reflecting on "The Silenced Dialogue"!

               The text that we have been reading next is called The Silenced Dialogue and the author is Lisa Delpit. This author whose lovely photo is to the left, Lisa Delpit, argues in her article that white educators in schools today believe that they know more about what students of color should be learning since they base it off of all of the research they have done. Although some studies that this author has done prove that some white teachers' programs for teaching these students is not as progressive and effective as a program that colored teachers have used is, the white teachers will still not really listen to them and have been stubborn in believing their way is the best way.

              Lisa Delpit shows throughout her text that she has done her research and I never knew before reading her words that a lot of education systems are so split up like this. The ways of teaching that colored educators use, that Delpit has spoken of, seem to be more interesting and useful for not just students of color, for all students in the school system.


    "How can such complete communication blocks exist when both parties truly believe they have the same aims?" (page 23). 
                    -This quote in the text is referring to all of Delpit's responses to her previous article she had written before she used any proof of her own research. It basically means that white teachers and colored teachers had both responded completely differently but yet both groups are supposed to be reaching toward the same goal. The issue is somehow becoming about which group is right instead of what the best way to teach children of color is.

    "The teacher can not be the only expert in the classroom. To deny students their own expert knowledge is to dis-empower them." (page 33).
                    -  In this quote, Lisa Delpit was trying to explain that a teacher can not just display her own knowledge in the class but using large vocabulary and expect the student can eventually catch up. You do not need to dumb things down either, but making a lesson plan for students that is more interesting and fun while building up from what they already know can be most successful!

    "A white applicant who exhibits problems is an individual with problems. A person of color who exhibits problems immediately becomes a representative of her cultural group." (page 38).
                    -This quote is referring to students in college that have poor writing skills. It is suggesting that if a white student is having difficulty with writing then she is just a slow learner who will need more help in that area. But a student of color would be basically a lost cause and automatically added to the number of other colored students who had trouble with writing when they could have just used some help too.


    I definitely don't disagree with everything that Lisa Delpit has said in The Silenced Dialogue BUT my topic for discussion is the question, Why did she need to separate everyone into separate groups? Racism is clearly still an issue, but the way I look at it is: A student is a student and a teacher is a teacher. They have all done the same things to get them where they are today so why do the groups need to feel so different?

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