Blog Post #4- Delpit.

Kate Kernien

In “The Politics of Teaching Literate Discourse,” Lisa Delpit discusses James Paul Gee’s “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction.” Delpit agrees with the majority of the things Gee states, but has two main arguments against Gee. The first argument is with Gee’s statement, “…people who have not been born into dominant discourses will find it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to acquire such a discourse” (546). Gee believes that people can’t rise above the discourse they were born into. He is saying that if you are born into a non-dominant discourse, then you will be most likely stuck in that discourse. Delpit disagrees with this belief of determinism. I agree with Delpit. I think people can work hard to acquire a discourse that wouldn’t normally be attainable to them. I do not have any personal experiences to relate to this, however Delpit shares many examples. Clarence Cunningham and Bill Trent were two of the examples she gave. They both came from families with low education backgrounds, but they both managed to become powerful, wealthy people. Delpit says, “Both attributed their ability to transcend the circumstances into which they were born directly to their teachers” (549). Their teachers were the ones who made it possible for them to succeed in secondary dominant discourses. They taught them the basics and they believed they would make it. Cunningham and Trent did not get that kind of encouragement from those around them; it was only the teachers that believed in them.

The second problem Delpit has with Gee’s writing is the fact that he does not believe that if you have a discourse of one set of values that one can attain another discourse with another set of values easily. “…an individual who is born into one discourse with one set of values may experience major conflicts when attempting to acquire another discourse with another set of values,” (546-7) Delpit states. Gee feels that if you have two discourses of different values then you are not going to be able to be fully part of both of the discourses because the values will conflict and go against the fact that to master a discourse one must truly believe in the values. Delpit thinks differently about this situation, “I also believe there are many individuals who have faced and overcome the problems that such a conflict might cause” (547). I consider Delpit to have a better sense of the complications Gee’s statement brings up. If what Gee says is true than discourses would not have changed as much as they have and women and minorities would not have changed their circumstances as much as they have. Women and minorities have been able to get better jobs and have more opportunities now that it is normal for them to get a higher education. They have been able to get jobs that may think women or minorities are unqualified. Their discourses may have different values, but they still are able to succeed in both discourses.