Delpit Blog Post

I have said this before, but the biggest problem that I had with Gee was him saying that it was close to impossible if not so for someone of a non-dominant Discourse to effective learn and live in a dominant Discourse. I was very concerned with this statement because of the fact that I want to go into Teaching. And more specifically I want to teach English. So how am I supposed to effective reach out to my students and teach them when in the end I am doing a fools errand? Like Delpit said it, a “teacher feeling powerless to effect change” may just give up because of what Gee is saying (546). From Rodriguez’s example, I was confused. If he was successful in attaining a new Discourse from school, then how is Gee correct in what he is saying?
That’s why I was so happy to have read this article to make sure that teachers and schooling do in fact make a difference. I was extremely pleased to have read all the examples of minorities coming from some of the worst backgrounds that anyone can go through to eventually rise to the top. All of those examples had a teacher behind them that was always pushing them for greater things no matter who they were. “They set high standards” and the students wanted to live up to those standards (549). If you set low standards for any student no matter what age or background the student is, that student is going to be bound for disaster. The teacher has to respect the student no matter who they are, and push them for greater things. Nothing in life worth having is easy. You have to work for it, and I do not know when this article was written, but it makes me kind of optimistic to see people are striving for a better future in our children (cause Lord knows we need one).
The other part that I really enjoyed with Delpit’s article was the idea of a good teacher “cheating” the system for his or her students. The idea of “to cheat is to learn the discourse which would otherwise be used to exclude them from participating in and transforming the mainstream” (554). I don’t think I could even comprehend how great that one statement makes me feel that I am going into English Teaching. The whole reason why I decided to become a teacher was to try and make a difference in someone’s life. Whether it’s through handing a student a book that will change how they see certain things in life, or even better now to help them achieve a better life. To help them use the system that so widely holds them down to rise above it makes me more than glad that I am becoming a teacher. And we all know that especially now that teachers to be need a big motivator like this.