Other People’s Children:
Cultural Conflict in the
Classroom
by
Lisa Delpit
Mark Hartman
11.131
2/12/09
Overview
• Nature of the problem in cultural conflict
• Big theme I: The Culture of Power
– Define
– Examples
– Solutions
• Big theme II: Failure to listen and give
validation to others’ experience
– Define
– Examples
– Solutions
• Case studies
The Problem
• Each cultural group has different “codes and
rules for discourse”
• Interaction between people from different
cultural groups is hampered by the
differences in these codes.
– Marti example (169)
• At home, students from different cultures do
not gain facility with the “culture of power”
typically present in schools.
– The “home rules” are still of value
– From a black parent: “My kid knows how to be
black--you all teach them to be successful in the
white man’s world.”
The Problem
• Only becoming more important:
– “Minority majority” schools in 23 of 25
largest cities
– Nationally, up to 40% non-white children in
classroom
– 10% non-white teachers
The Solution
• The “culture of power” must be…
– explicit in the classroom
– experienced as useful in the wider world.
• Students choose when to use a particular “culture,”
but are lost without the choice
– “…pretending that gatekeeping points don’t exist is to ensure
that many students will not pass through them.”
• Resolution found not through big reform movements,
but “in some basic understandings of who we are and
how we are connected and disconnected from one
another.”
Big Idea I:
The Culture of Power
• 5 Aspects of power
– Issues of power are enacted in classrooms.
– There are codes or rules for participating in power;
that is, there is a “culture of power.”
– The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of
the rules of the culture of those who have power.
– If you are not already a participant in the culture of
power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture
makes acquiring power easier.
– Those with power are frequently least aware of--or
least willing to acknowledge--its existence. Those
with less power are often most aware of its
existence.
Culture of Power: Example
• “Process vs. skills” in literacy:
– Progressive white teachers: “Let me help you find
your voice. I promise not to criticize one note as
you search for your own song.”
• Explicit expectations are oppressive
– Black teachers: “I’ve heard your song loud and
clear. Now, I want to teach you to harmonize with
the rest of the world.”
Culture of Power: Examples
• East Indian job interview candidate (27)
• Oral interactions
– Middle-class “townspeople”
• Is this where the scissors belong?
• You want to do your best work today.
– Black teachers
• Put those scissors on that shelf.
• Put your name on the papers and make sure to
get the right answer for each question.
Culture of Power: Example
• Derivation of authority
– Blacks: “the authoritative person gets to
be a teacher because she is authoritative.”
– Non-black, middle class: “the teacher is
the authority because she is the teacher.”
A reverence for
“Decontexutalized text”
• Culture of power:
– Words in written form are most important to us.
– Include ALL relevant information to make yourself
understood. (Especially in science and math!)
• Other cultures:
– Context (“with” text) is at LEAST as important if
not more.
– Others assume a shared background so you can
understand and make connections yourself.
Decontextualized text:
Example
• Anglo teachers: Attend to what is SAID.
• Native American teachers: Back up
what is said with physical actions
– Smacks of Fred Jones (98)
– Role call
Decontextualized text:
Example
• Study of Japanese college students in
university speech class (Yan)
– Rude to be explicit in developing an
argument that includes information already
known to the audience. (145)
Decontextualized text:
Example
• Native American frustration with
explaining how you solve a problem,
once it’s already done! (99)
Decontextualized text:
Example
• Athabaskan way of teaching (101)
• “The purpose of education is to learn to
die satiated with life.” -Kwageley, Yupik
Eskimo scientist
Culture of power: Problem
• Primary goal of education?
– For children to become autonomous,
develop who they are without arbitrary
standards forced on them.
– For parents of color: That PLUS help them
learn the rules to be successful.
– “But that’s the school’s job” = poor parents
uncaring?
Culture of power: Solutions
• From literacy
– Each speaker makes OWN decision in the
real world
– Provide exposure to alternate forms
– Allow practice “in contexts that are
nonthreatening, have a real purpose, and
are intrinsically enjoyable.”
– Example (68)
Culture of power: Solutions
• Vilis Tokples Pri-Skul of Papua New
Guinea
– 30-40% speak English
– Tok Pisin more universal, but limited
grammatical structure and colonial racist
overtones
– Tok Ples of limited use due to geography
– Which do we choose? (87)
Culture of Power: Solutions
– You must consistently prove the characteristics that give you
authority:
•
•
•
•
•
Exhibition of personal power
Respectful interpersonal relationships
Strong belief that all can learn
Push students to achieve standards
Hold attention with interactional features of cultural
communicative style
– Different attitudes about which characteristics make for a
good teacher
• Seek advice of adults (teachers and parents) from the same
culture.
– THUS, It is impossible to create a model for the good
teacher without taking issues of culture and community
context into account.
Culture of power: Solutions
• Be explicit in expectations and examples
– In US, we are judged on product
– Saphier & Gower: not only rubrics, but exemplars
• Connect to “real life” instead of
decontextualized problems
– Fix a toy
– Milk cans for farmer
– Names in word problems
Big theme II: Failure to listen
and validate others’
experiences
• The “silenced dialogue” with teachers (21)
• “Most black and Native teachers interviewed
believe accounts of their own experiences are
not validated in teacher education programs
or in their subsequent teaching lives.”
• To address the problem, we must give
credibility to educators’ perceptions of the
problems.
Failure to listen: Example
• Dewey: Education students should
bring personal experience to bear on
ideas to be brought into the classroom.
(125)
Failure to listen: Solutions
• Teachers should get in touch with their
“independent intelligence” beyond
experts.
• Teacher trainees observe students in
culturally diverse groups, so each can
provide a unique perspective on what
happens in the classroom.
My reaction
• I will be straightforward about WHY I think
this is valuable and how to succeed.
• I won’t ask you to do things that you have to
guess at what I want.
• I will also to listen to what YOU have to say
about it and why YOU are not getting it, but
you must think hard yourself to identify why
you’re not getting it.
Case Study
• A female black student says “Doing this
project is pointless, and besides, only
the white kids in this class end up
getting real help so they can get good
grades.”
– What questions do you ask yourself?
– How do you respond?
Case Study
• You call the parent of a Latino student who
has been very disruptive during group work
on practice problems.
• The parent responds, “He says you don’t
teach him, and instead make him sit in a
group with other students who also don’t get
it. So, it sounds like it’s your problem.”
– What questions do you ask yourself?
– How do you respond?
Case Study
• All the black students in your class
consistently sit together and work in lab
groups together.
– What questions do you ask yourself?
– How do you respond?