The Silenced Dialogue

 In the text, Delpit argues that there is a “culture of power.” She describes this in five steps. The theme of these five steps are that the rules of culture and power stay with those who have the power, and people with power often don’t realize they are in possession of power while people who don’t possess power are more aware that they don’t. Delpit applies this to education, where she argues that there are two main ways of teaching. One of the methods is Distar, which is being direct with students and being explicit when instructing. The other method is using indirect ways of communication, such as asking questions and implying directions. Delpit also discusses the value of different learning styles for students of different racial and cultural backgrounds. One of the biggest things she points out is how the system is designed for students who come from middle and upper-class families and have already been exposed to power and the codes/rules that come with it. She says how students who come from a family that is not in this power structure have difficulty interpreting the non-verbal cues from society. In addition to learning academics, people outside of the power structure have to learn all of the cues and non-verbal actions given by people of power. Delpit suggests that students be taught these codes during their time in school in order to function in mainstream American society.

In my time in school, this was never something that I thought about. I never thought about the certain social cues that we learned and where we learned them from. I always assumed that everyone could understand them like I did and I never put any thought into what they are and how I learned them. I also never realized how the system was set up for me, personally, to succeed, coming from a white middle-class family.