The Silenced Dialogue from Other People's Children: Argument

In the Silenced Dialogue from Other people's Children, Deiplt (1995) argues that the significance of teaching the non-participants the codes and rules of the culture explicitly.

Deplit(1995) begins her discussion by describing the conflict between white and black teachers in educating poor children and children of color, revealing black teacher's frustration at not being fully understood and not being heard by whites. She identifies the fact that teachers of color have basically resigned themselves to the intractable discussion, resulting in (without their awareness) virtually agreeing with whites, as a problem. She attempts to seek the answer for how to empower students of color through an underlying issue, the debate on skills vs. process approach, which she claims that "the debate is fallacious; the dichotomy is false" (Delpit 1995, p.46). She believes the issue is related to what she calls "the culture of power", and in her explanation she discusses the importance of teaching the non-participants the codes and rules of the culture explicitly, which is not practiced in classroom therefore, causing the non-participants to have difficulty in learning.

Providing some examples of how the process approach upsets students and describing some of black teachers' conclusion of the progress strategies as the liberals' scheme promising only their children succeed in society, Delpit maintains the value of the skill approach that empowers students of color to acquire the skills necessary to be heard by participants of the culture of power. she introduces the findings of a research by Siddle concluding that including direct instruction produces "the most positive changes in the students' writing"(Delpit 1995, p.33). Moreover, Delpit asserts that "commands are commands" whether they are directive or veiled, and indirect instructions "only makes it more difficult for some children to respond appropriately" (Delpit 1995, p.35).

Delpit also presents her response to the notion of simply celebrating diverse culture in attempting "to be nice" in education that in reality neglects teachers' duty to teach students necessary skills to succeed in society. she urges that assisting students needing some support is to help them realize the value of acquiring rules to be heard and to teach them explicit rules while accepting their cultures. In conclusion, she proposes what need to be done in order to improve the conditions of poor children and children of color. She asserts that the debate of skills vs. process approach does not provide any solutions, but having true dialogue while recognizing how power of culture exist does.