Book Review: Lisa Delpit’s Other People’s Children

Lisa Delpit’s Other People’s Children is certainly capable of evoking a visceral reaction.  The text speaks to the power differential between middle-class white teachers and their often poor African American students.  Delpit believes that African American students are at an unfair disadvantage because they are not a part of the “culture of power”.  Subtleties in the dominant culture are not known to these culturally diverse students, and it is therefore more difficult for them to succeed. 

            As a white teacher at a school with an entirely low-income student body, it was at first difficult to accept Delpit’s scathing criticisms.  She writes, for example, of a black teacher describing her white counterparts:

They won’t listen; white folks are going to do what they want to do anyway… so I just try to shut them out so I can hold my temper… If I try to stop arguing with them I can’t help myself from getting angry.  Then I end up walking around praying all day “Please Lord, remove the bile I feel for these people so I can sleep tonight. (p. 21-22)

            Quotes like this are a disservice to Delpit’s message.  I can’t support an us-against-them platform.  I do, however, respect her comments on what African American students need from their public educators. 

            Delpit contends that African American students do not come to school with the tools that the “culture of power” provides.  She writes, “I suggest that schools must provide these children the content that other families from a different cultural orientation provide at home” (p. 30).  An application might be explicitly teaching children academic grammar structure.  These students would then be fluent in the language of academia in addition to their own cultural vernacular.  There is an important distinction to be made here.  Delpit does not argue that culturally diverse students should be held to lower standards than white students.  Undoubtedly, Black and Hispanic students are no less capable.  Instead, she asserts that we should arm them with skills before moving to a process approach.  We should even the playing field before our low-income students fall behind.   

            Another point Delpit stresses is that “appropriate education for poor children and children of color can only be devised in consultation with adults who share their culture” (p. 45).  Schools in low-income neighborhoods often have little parent or community involvement.  Delpit argues that it is the duty of the school to actively pursue this participation.  

            In many schools, the obvious arena for shared decision making is the Collaborative Decision Making team.  I think Delpit would argue that declaring this vehicle open to willing participants is a far cry from a legitimate attempt to involve parents.  In some schools, the notion that “our parents don’t care” is so ingrained, parents end up being completely excluded.  If parents and community members are not showing up at 3:00 on Wednesday afternoons, perhaps the school should work harder to solicit collaboration.  If we relentlessly and genuinely seek input – at students’ homes and on parents’ terms, perhaps we could build a true alliance. 

            For some neighborhoods, the public school is the pillar of the community.  It might be the only place in which students are teamed with children from different backgrounds and cultures.  Public schools are often the agar of diversity awareness.  Social lessons learned in fourth grade shape a child forever.  The work we do in exposing children to different cultures rivals the work we do in reading and writing.

            The union of the school and the family is infinitely important.  If public schools fail to welcome minority and low-income communities, there is much to be lost.  When we fail to support a population which is already ill-supported, we contribute to the division in our society.  When we include some families and exclude others, our efforts are reflected in our achievement gaps.  When we speak a different language, literally or figuratively, we can’t be disappointed when we get no response.   

References:Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children.