Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, Updated Edition

Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the ClassroomByLisa Delpit Although Delpit's, Other People's Children can be misconstrued to be text that criticizes white educators, the issues she raises to expose the injustices to our minority/underserved diverse students are note worthy, especially if we, as educators, envision a stronger, impartial, and deserving educational system for all students in our society. I can relate to injustices to English Language Learners (ELL) who come from different countries either as refugees or immigrants to the USA. These children are placed in a class with behavioural problems because there is no other alternative for such children in our schools. Delpit's simple language and empirical experiences make the reading enjoyable and educational. If you are an educator who deals with minority students, this book is a must read.When I consider the origins of my views, I realized that my personal history, by necessity, contributes considerably to my current belief systems. I write from a life lived in many margins, usually while struggling to approach the center of whichever page my life is unfolding at the moment. It has been the struggle to understand and adapt to various contexts that has led me on the personal journey of discovering other realities (Delpit, 1995, p. 73)Delpit's epistemological disposition springs from her own reflection of how African American and other marginalized/underserved groups are treated in our classrooms. Delpit is cognizant of the fact that `progressive' methods that she learned as a student teacher did not convene with her own community of students. She also realized that the yardstick for measuring success is prescribed by the superior white majority in the USA, which is a serious prejudice to minority students because according to Delpit (1995), " I tell them that their language and cultural style is unique and wonderful, but there is a political power game that is also being played, and if they want to be in on that game there are certain games that they too must play (P. 40).Delpit, a black educator exposes the injustices to minority students in classrooms due to power structures and subtle racism in our society. The repercussions of this imbalance are evident in our classrooms because of the hegemonic treatment that minority students receive from their teachers and society. Delpit uses the day-to-day conversions of students, teachers and the parents of children from diverse cultural backgrounds to expose the biases, prejudices, and presumptions conceded by society with regard to the abilities, interests, and academic achievement of disadvantaged children. The common thread that connects the different sections in the book is how power and cultural conflicts in our classrooms spring from our society at large and how teachers seem to be a party to this system due to how, "...educators feel themselves to be victimized by the institutions that seek to educate them" (p. 107).Other People's Children is divided into three parts. Part 1 titled, Controversies Revisited deals with three subtopics. Skills and other Dilemma of a Progressive Black Educator along with The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children discuss the pedagogues of those teachers who consider themselves "advanced". These teachers must re-examine their teaching styles to accommodate students from diverse/low SES backgrounds. It is crucial to explore and examine the teaching practices if the pedagogical practices assist or interfere with the growth of children from low-income families, especially if Standard English is the medium of instruction. Three essays in part one deal with examining why there is an inconsistency in the learning achievements between minority students and their white peers in our classrooms. In part two titled, Lessons from Home and Abroad: Other Cultures and Communities, Delpit expatiates on her own teaching, research, and empirical experiences in Papua New Guinea and Alaska. She further explains how these experiences provided her with a platform to acknowledge the cultural affiliations and its impact on learning, which is neglected in our classrooms. Delpit vouches for emancipation of the underserved students and makes a commitment to work toward helping students of diversity in her own classroom. She further suggests that our schools need to rethink the way we are educating our children including those that represent underserved, diverse, and marginalized through a reformation and restructuring of our schools.Part two reiterates her anxieties and apprehensions about the funds of knowledge and Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) that teachers must impart/tap in students and the improvement is the result of the student's perspective. Learning is the product of students' socio cultural affiliations and not someone else's, especially the teacher's/school's assessment. The final part titled, Looking to the Future: Accommodating Diversity deals with the author's exploration of curricular practices and evaluation, which must acknowledge the diversities and variety of instructive approaches in accommodating all students in our classrooms. Delpit rightly posits thatWe all interpret behaviours, information, and situations through our own cultural lenses; these lenses operate involuntarily, below the level of conscious awareness, making it seem that our view is simply `the way it is [or should be]" (p. 151)Part three offers alternative ways or cautious ways of educating children, especially that they are `other people's children'.Delpits' Other People's Children enabled me to realize that unless we value our student's point of view, approaches to learning, and the necessity to reform our own teaching methodologies/practices, we will continue to make some students left out and hence create a society that victimizes minority. Teaching like doctoring is a noble profession, and hence we teachers need to re-think our teaching practices so no student is treated differently or given untoward importance because of the class they represent. Educational institutions must strive to provide equal opportunities to all students for common good.

Lisa Delpit's novel, "Other People's Children" is an insightful read about the cultural differences that exist in our society today. For some background information, Lisa Delpit is an African American who at a young age was forced into an integrated school district. She has written "Other People's Children" to share her beliefs on racism, mistreatment, and ignorance of our culture today. The book is divided into three sections, each consuming of a plan of action to create a more culture friendly society for teachers, students, and administration. Delpit's suggestion about her non-traditional approach to teaching is extremely insightful. Delpit focuses on teaching children of color, but her strategies and advice can be used to benefit all types of students. The first section of the book, "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator" discusses the ins and outs of our societies idea of a "language progressive" ideology. Here, and through out her entire novel, Delpit shares stories that have actually occurred in her life. For example, she talks about the idea of "black vs. standard English." Throughout her childhood, many would try and correct her grammar. This did not sit well with Delpit due to the fact that she believed she should write as she would talk. To keep from correcting her own students as she once was, she created a strategy to improve her students writing skills. She developed the idea of a "fast write" and "golden lines" which were to be done in a group process. This strategic plan helped students write freely, and focused their energy on fluency over correctness. The next section of the book is titled, "Lessons from Home and Abroad: Other Cultures and Communities," These stories piece together the importance of culture acceptance. Delpit expresses that idea that education meets its maximized success when cultures of people are integrated. We can assume that by integrating our society, all will understand different perspectives of life. Delpit shared an incredible story about the Papua New Guinea in this section. Papua New Guinea is a county of only three million citizens who actually speak 700 different languages. They had to figure out how to teach all their citizens in "Standard English." After numerous failed attempts, a new reform labeled "Vilis Tokples Pri-Skul" was created. From the ages 10 to 15 students would learn English. This allowed the English language to reform in their society, while still allowing the people of Papua New Guinea to remain true to their culture. This example helped Delpit prove that the mixture of language and culture is your key to success in education. The final section focuses completely on Delpits ideas for education reform, and goals that need to occur to provide equality for all children in the education atmosphere. Delpit goes into great detail discussing traditional style of teaching, and the negativity about teacher assessment tests. Delpit believes that teachers are overwhelmed with teacher assessment tests. However, these tests do not always determine the success of them. The tests have been consider to be the reason why their has been a significant decline in new professionals entering the teaching field. Furthermore, effects urban areas where minorities are a concern. At the end of her book, Delpit shares recommendations. Her first recommendation is to teachers and family interaction. She believes that for a teacher to be successful, they must connect with their student's families inside and outside of the classroom. This helps teacher further their understanding of each individual student. She also recommends a more diverse teaching force. If you are a teacher and have a clear understand of what's going on in your student's lives, it will be much easier for them to trust you, and you to trust them. The last suggestion is the dismissal of Eurocentric curriculum. This segregated, race particular way of teaching needs to be reformed into a way to learn and teach about people of all backgrounds. This will provide our future with a more positive understanding of the world around us, and our place in it.Delpit is successful in her attempts to inform readers about the difficulties our children face every day of their lives. Something she is a bit crucial, but her way of writing helps ones understand the importance of her beliefs. Delpits insightful stories, interviews, and beliefs create a story that gives future educators, like myself, a sense of hope to create change in the education world.

In her book, Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom, Lisa Delpit provides readers with evidence that cultural issues are still very much present in schools today. She discusses hot button issues such as race, gender, social class, and other prejudices with in the educational system.Lisa Delpit uses first hand evidence to support her claims. In the beginning of the book she explains how she felt when considering the way she spoke compared to how she was expected to speak. She states that upon returning to school an African American boy asked her why she was trying to speak "white." This situation could easily be turned around and a teacher could chastise a student for speaking the way he or she was taught at home, but what is noticeably not correct English. This is obviously still a hot issue today. Should teachers forcefully correct a student's bad grammar, or accept it as part of their culture. Because these lines are so thin it's hard to decide which is the best course of action. This book helps readers explore these type situations and gives them ideas as to better handle them.Other People's Children is a great tool in the educators arsenal. Lisa Delpit sheds light on what it means to be an educator of diverse learners thus this book should be widely read. It helps show how stereotypes can be hurtful not only to the person stereotyped against, but also to the learning process of that particular person. If more people understood diversity in the classroom perhaps graduation rates would be higher than they are.