Reading Response 21 (Delpit)

Delpit – “The Politics of Teaching Literary Discourse”

Summary
In her article, “The Politics of Teaching Literary Discourse,” Delpit attempts to show how Gee’s theories on Discourse can severely hinder minorities who aren’t born in a dominant Discourse. She asserts that, unlike Gee’s statements, teachers can have a large impact on a poor or minority student and help them to achieve economic success by teaching them ways around their difference from the dominant Discourse.

Synthesis

This piece is a lot like the Devitt et al piece, because it takes an old concept of discourse community and updates it for the more modern age, adds on to it. She addresses all of the flaws that she notices in Gee’s articles and addresses the problems, and then states her own experiences and her own spin on the idea.

QD

3. I agree with what Delpit is arguing, because it makes sense for the identity of the minorities to remain intact, because Gee himself emphasizes how important a person’s identity is to a person’s Discourse. The effective parts are her examples of success stories because they show that it isn’t as impossible as Gee makes it out to be. Her weaknesses stem from an oversight that she refers to a majority of the people as minorities, when in fact it’s not just the minorities and poor that have these problems.

4. Teachers can “acknowledge and validate students’ home language without using it to limit students’ potential.” They must also be aware of the conflict between home and school discourse and try to reduce the perceived difference.

Thoughts

This piece was interesting, and addresses a couple of holes in Gee’s theory that I had noticed when we first read it. Her solution is the common compromise style, which removes a little of the complexity, but is in itself very workable. A good piece with an interesting thesis.