From the perspective of a teacher in educating a diverse classroom: 

  • Who are my students and how does their culture affect their learning?

 

Delpit explains the need for teachers to examine who their students are and what communities they come from.  The focus should not only be on what method (skill-based or progressive) to use in teaching our children but also in understanding the knowledge of the culture each child brings to the classroom.   Teachers should be aware of how these cultures may have shaped their students’ process in learning and seek out methods of integrating these learning processes into their classrooms.  In order to utilize the cultural knowledge of the students, teachers need to maintain a connection with the community they are teaching.  Only in actively listening to the alternative perspectives of parents and teachers of color can teachers build on their knowledge of culture and effectively employ this knowledge to educate a diverse student population.

 

  • What difficulties do my students face and how do I integrate these issues into my classroom?

 

Teachers need to address issues that concern social disparities such as culture of power and dominant discourse in their classrooms.  The first step in creating a place of authentic learning is in recognizing the disparities and injustices that occur in our society.  Delpit believes students should be taught explicitly the codes of the culture of power or dominant discourse.  The solution is not to replace the students’ culture with the dominant but to integrate it into their own culture.  Delpit illustrates this in explaining the education that the natives of North Solomon in New Guinea created for their children, “that prepared them to live within two cultural worlds.”  (Delpit, 2006, p. 87)

 

From the perspective of a teacher educator:

  • How do I encourage minority participation in the profession of teaching?

 

In the study of pedagogy Delpit applies the same rules as she indicated in the classroom.  The concept of what constitutes good teaching must be examined through cultural context.  Minority students of pedagogy must be encouraged to voice their perspectives on their own culture. Teacher training must not include practices of isolation and the knowledge of culture that these pre-service teachers possess respected.  Delpit quotes John Dewey, “failure to allow students to explore their past experiences in light of theoretical constructs will produce only a mindless imitation of others’ practice rather than a reflection on teaching as an interactive process.”  (Delpit, 2006, p. 125)  Also, she stresses the significance of creating a fair assessment method in teacher evaluations to account for cultural differences.  Misinterpretation in the assessment process becomes a common threat in alienating minority teachers.  “I was concerned that the ‘one right way’ philosophy would jeopardize the chances of teachers of color, or teachers of any ethnicity, who did not work in the settings the assessors were familiar with.”   (Delpit, 2006, p. 132)

 

From the perspective of the education system:

  • How do we educate “other people’s children”?

 

Through the example of the school system in Papua New Guinea, Delpit illustrates how communities of people who speak twenty-one different languages have successfully developed an education system for their children.   Inclusion of culture by first allowing their children to learn their native language as a foundation was the solution.  The school system then built on this knowledge to include English.  She also examines the importance of “connections and context”.  (Delpit, 2006, p. 91)  Education without making connections with the community it serves and without the context of culture cannot be effective.  When culture is introduced into the class, learning becomes “social and moral education – the education that trains youngsters to become good people, participate in, and are proud of their communities.”  (Delpit, 2006, p. 89)  Cultural communities need to be allowed in creating and modifying educational policies that effect their children’s education.  “Given the opportunity, a people has every desire and capacity to participate in the planning of its future…but when policy reflects the goals of the people…, and when it reaffirms rather than negates a people’s knowledge of its culture and heritage, then there is no better prospect for success.”  (Delpit, 2006, p. 90)