Delphit

I firmly agreed with Delphit's criticism of Gee's theory of Discourse. Her initial criticism was of Gee's idea that "...people who have not been born into dominant Discourses will find it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible to acquire such a Discourse," further explaining that "...if you're not already in, don't expect to get in." (p. 546) This notion is extremely dangerous for teachers to adopt, because it makes teachers feel as if there is no hope for their non-dominant students to acquire traditionally dominant knowledge and skill. This may lead to teachers having a "why even bother?" attitude towards their non-dominant students, which is an obvious and detrimental problem.

Delphit also disagrees with Gee's suggestion "...that 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." (p. 547) Again, if this philosophy was adopted by a teacher, her students with minority primary Discourses would get left behind. Furthermore, I strongly believe that individuals can acquire multi-cultural, multi-class, and differentiated Discourses throughout their lives. Determining an individuals potential in the world based off of which Discourse they were born into is not only a stupid idea; it is dangerous.

I was born into a dominant Discourse. I've never experienced an educational discrimination personally, but I (unfortunately) have witnessed the type of dangerous determinism in a classroom. My high school chemistry teacher was an extremely racist, sexist, homophobic man. He only called on white boys to answer questions or participate in demonstrations. His favorite white boys were those who were overtly Christian. He was the worst teacher I have ever had, because of his (and Gee's) perception that the dominant Discourses are those with the greatest importance, and all other Discourses don't really have a chance at competing, so why even try?

Why even try? Because I truly believe that it IS possible to acquire a new Discourse with different sets of values than one's own primary Discourse. My mother is my proof. She was an English as a second language teacher for 10 years. Her job was to teach non-dominant students a dominant Discourse, including both language and culture, which she did successfully. She herself took an interest in learning about other languages and cultures. She speaks fluent English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Hmong, as well as basic Mandarin, Swahili, and Russian. Growing up, she taught my sister and I French, and she taught us to value diversity and to seek acquisition of multi-cultural Discourses. She travels 80% of the year for her IT job, and has spent up to 7 months as a time in Paris, and in Sydney. She married a French-Algerian man who speaks no English, and the majority of her friends are not American. She has successfully adapted to both French and Australian ways of life, without losing any of her Americanism along the way. She was born in Beaver Dam, WI to English-speaking Jahovah's Witnesses and has since then transformed into a multi-lingual, multi-cultural Buddhist, who has crossed in and out of various classes and Discourses along the way. She refers to herself as a "citizen of the world," and I couldn't agree more.