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
of power are enacted in classrooms’ what this means is that there is a struggle among the teacher in the classroom on how to teach students of color. There is power in choosing the right textbook so that students can understand it, creating the right curriculum, the power over students on whether they are “intelligent or normal”, and their socio economic status and with that schools automatically believe that children of color bring with them that baggage, and cannot be taught to succeed beyond their economic status. I believe that schools should be accountable and they need to meet the needs of their students, if they want their students to be successful. Delpit states this in her book:
These issues include: the power of the teachers over the students; the power of the publishers of textbooks and of the developers of the curriculum to determine the view of the world presented” (Delpit, pg 24).
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The second aspect that Lisa Delpit talks about in her book is the codes or rules for participating in power; that is there is a “culture of power” meaning how one speaks, writes, and dresses will determine how well they perform in school. Delpit I believe states that when teachers and other professionals take away what students of color know, like how they speak, interact with each other and their culture that are turning them away from what they know and taken away their sense of self.
The third aspect according to Delpit is “The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power.
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,
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4 think about traveling to a new country, where people live differently than we do in the United States, we will have to adjust to their way of life.
I contend that it is much the same for anyone seeking to learn the rules of the culture of power. Unless one has the leisure of a lifetime of “immersion” to learn them, explicit presentation makes learning immeasurably easier (Delpit, pg 26).
The fifth aspect of Lisa Delpit’s “culture of power” is those with power are frequently least aware of – or least willing to acknowledge- its existence. Those will less power are often the most aware of its existence. To this she means that white teachers hold the power on their hands and the students of color do not, the white teachers do not even see it as that , because it was always there, whereas the students of color see it as black versus white and hence feel that they do not exist in that environment. I think that Delpit also refers to teachers of color as well; she says that these teachers relate to students of color, because they understand them and know what they bring to the classroom.
The main argument of this book is to show readers how children from cultural and linguistic backgrounds are excluded from mainstream Americans schools , because they do not stand up to a certain criteria. According to Delpit, white teachers believe that students of color cannot learn they do not know the basics of writing, literacy, and grammar. They make these assumptions based on color not on skills or what she calls “product”. I think that Lisa Delpit really gets her point across; she offers valid
Mongroo 5 research and examples from her many trips to Native Alaska and city schools where African American students attend. She is very passionate about helping teachers and students find their niche to become successful in the world. However, in order to be successful, white teachers need to understand that children from varying cultural and linguistic backgrounds need to feel safe; they should have a right to their own language, and culture. These teachers should come out of their comfort zone and get to know their students by learning who they are and what how their unique cultures can create a culture rich classroom.. I agree with Delpit that teachers especially white teachers need to learn the culture of their students if they are to teach them become successful individuals. They should not assume they cannot learn taking away their students culture is taking away their identity. I also think that Lisa Delpit does not expect schools to drop everything and cater to only the poor children, but she wants them to acknowledge them. I also firmly believe that Delpit wants school professionals to understand that children of color should be given the same opportunities as their white middle classmates. She also states in her book that in teachers need to really correspond with their students, if they want their students to succeed.

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Teachers do students no service to suggest, even implicitly, that “product” is not important. In this country, students will be judged on their product regardless of the process they utilized to achieve it (Delpit, pg 31).
I also believe that Lisa Delpit has a valid point when she says that students often feel shut off by their teachers, especially when the teacher’s voice is the only one in the classroom.
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,
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7 and trying to hide it or sweep it under the rug is a disservice to our students. It is a blindness I believe that teachers have, when they ignore the disservice they are doing to their students by not showing empathy.
I further believe that to act as if power does not exist is to ensure that the power status quo remains the same (Delpit, pg 39).
To summarize Lisa Delpit’s “culture of power” I believe that she does have an abundance of valid points and ideas for not only first year teachers, but veteran teachers as well. We as teachers need to understand that there is no “one size fits all” student profile. Students do not fit into pretty packages and are not made a certain way. They come from all varying backgrounds and situations, we need to find their spark and use it to help them succeed. We need to show them that their uniqueness is what makes them special, they can teach us as well. As teachers we are continuously learning and having students from cultural and linguistic backgrounds can help us accomplish that. She suggests that student learning can only be done if teachers respect and allow their students to have a voice in the classroom.