Reading Response 21 Delpit

 Summary

 In her article “The Politics of Teaching Literate Discourse” Lisa Delpit argues that it is possible to join a secondary Discourse through schooling.  James Paul Gee wrote that it is only possible to join a Discourse through assimilation and Delpit is rejecting this theory.  She details many instances of poor, uneducated, black students who become successful and able to write well through the classroom.  She argues that since school is how these people joined an academic Discourse it must be possible for school to let someone join a Discourse

Synthesis

This article obviously relates to James Paul Gee’s writing because it is arguing against his ideas.  James Paul Gee writes that you can only join a Discourse through assimilation; interacting with people in the Discourse and adopting the identity of someone in the Discourse.  Delpit writes that it is possible to join a Discourse through studying it.  I think that there is a middle ground between these two authors.  When in school you are interacting with your teachers and classmates who have joined the Discourse, so you are actually assimilating into the classroom and therefore the Discourse.  Smitherman argues for a different way for black students who speak differently (what she calls Black English) to be successful.  She believes that rather than learn how to speak “properly” it is fine for people to maintain their current dialect.

Review

I found this to be more interesting than most pieces.  It was also easier for me to understand than most articles that we have read.  I agree with what she is saying, about how studying and good teachers can make you successful.

QD

3.  I agree with Delpit’s argument.  I have personally known people who came from poor uneducated families (not inner-city kids though) and worked extra hard in school and became very literate and successful.  She is very effective when she gives examples of students that came from parents that didn’t even graduate from high school and became very successful through hard work.  She does not include any counter examples to her argument, such as people in such bad locations that they have not opportunity to join a dominant Discourse, which are sure to exist. 

4.  To help students master dominant Discourses teachers should first “acknowledge and validate students’ home language without using it to limit students’ potential”(186).  They should next figure out