Summary Of Lisa Delpit's Culture Of Power

Mongroo 2 Lisa Delpit brings the phrase “culture of power” to our attention; she suggests that schools across America are caught in this tug of war of not knowing how to educate children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Delpit goes on to say that a “culture of power “exists in our school system which tunes it out or what she refers to as the “silenced dialogue”. She states in her book that educators are only concerned how white teachers can educate children of color more specifically Black and Native Americans (Delpit, pg 23) and not on how they can educate all students to create a utopian society where everyone belongs.
The” culture of power” according to Lisa Delpit comprises of five aspects the first’ is issues
Lisa Delpit says that for students to be successful in school and eventually the workplace, they have to acculturate into the culture of those in power and doing that they lose who they are, their identity(Delpit, pg 25).. She talks about children who are economically better off than students who come from lower income homes, that opportunity and acceptance is better, but children of color are left to fend for themselves. I agree with Delpit because too often teachers are constantly telling students how to speak, read, and write they forget that children have lives outside of school and what may be their norm and what they expect, is different in their student’s lives.
The fourth aspect to delpit’s “culture of power is if you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes the acquiring power easier. I think that delpit is suggesting that it is easier to work, comprehend and adjust to society if we know something about it,
Mongroo
She suggests that the teachers need to acknowledge their students and not assume they are “slow” or “ignorant”. Delpit also states that teachers should not think that they and only they have knowledge; they need to work with their students in order to create an effective classroom.
Another valid argument that Delpit brings up in her book is that white teachers assume that black teachers are the “authoritarian” type and that students of color only respond to those teachers, because they are alike. She suggests that in order to help create a synonymous school environment, teachers need to work together with their fellow teachers to learn about similarities and differences to help all their students (Delpit, pg 35).
Lisa Delpit continues to refer to the “culture of power” throughout her book; I believe her point is to make us the readers aware of class, race, and language differences even in today’s classrooms. I think she is truly passionate about finding a common ground so that every child is successful in the classroom. She also wants us to understand that the “culture of power” does exists and we need to see that as it is,
Mongroo