Quotes

"When acknowledging and expressing power, one tends towards explicitness (as in yelling at your ten-year-old, "Turn that radio down!"). When deemphasizing power, there is a move toward indirect communication. "

"Turn down that radio" is a direct phrase, which is used in my third grade classroom. Delpit writes about teachers of different race addressing their students in different ways. A white teacher is more likely to turn the statement into a question when giving a direction for example "Is this where the scissors belong?" As opposed to a black teacher saying "Put the scissors on the self." The teacher in my classroom will directly tell the students what they should and should not be doing. She is not a white teacher, but she is also not a black teacher. She is teaching in a school heavily affected by poverty and bilingual students. Like Delpit also addresses, the teacher has accepted her students and taken responsibility to teach them, and will press the students and push them to their limits. All while not taking away from any chance for them to learn and grow in the culture of power.