Lisa Delpit, The author of the book Other People’s Children is one of the leading educators on the subject of culturally relevant methods to educating students of color. Most of her essays, some of which are included in this book, question the validity of popular teaching strategies for African-American students. In her two articles, "Skills and Other Dilemmas of a Progressive Black Educator" and "The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children,” Delpit tries to figure out how teachers provide minority students' access to the "Standard" English, which mainstream society and institutions have greatly invested in. She reveals her thoughts through the use of conversations with teachers, students, and parents of diverse cultural backgrounds from which Delpit shows how everyday interactions are full assumptions made by educators and mainstream society about the potential, enthusiasm, motivation, and integrity of children of color.
A recurring theme in this book is the imbalance of power. According to Delpit, it is obvious that power imbalances exist in the American classroom, mainly in the urban public schools, which have become increasingly diverse. Though it may not be acknowledged many times it becomes quite apparent that Blacks and other people of color often get the ‘short end of the stick’ when it comes to exercising power in educational settings. Cultural conflicts within classrooms arise from a larger society that:
nurtures and maintains stereotypes. . . . [For example], we are constantly told of the one out of four black men who is involved with the prison system — but what about the three out of four who are not? . . . When do we see their lives portrayed on the six o'clock news? (p. xii). . . .
Indeed, in the educational institutions of this country, the possibilities for poor people and for people of color to define themselves, to determine the self each should be, involve a power that lies outside of the self. It is others who determine how they should act, how they are to be judged. When one "we" gets to determine standards for all "wes," then some "wes" are in trouble! (p. xv)
The fact that people concentrate on that one man of color who gets involved with prison life reveals the racist nature of society. Though racism plays a significant part in the situation, it is not the only reason that causes this power imbalance to exist. One of the main reasons is the unwillingness of people, especially those with power, "…to perceive those different from themselves except through their own culturally clouded vision" (p. xiv). This proves to be harmful in the classroom where teachers view minority children as "other" and "see damaged and dangerous caricatures of the vulnerable and impressionable beings before them" (p. xiii).
One interesting feature of the book was how Delpit skillfully connected her personal experiences with that of teaching. She reveals to the reader that teaching is tied to her identity as an African American, member of a subjugated and dominated group. She says:
When I consider the origins of my views, I realize that my personal history, by necessity, contributes considerably to my current belief systems. I write from a life lived in many margins, usually while struggling to approach the center of whichever page of my life is unfolding at the moment. It has been that struggle to understand and adapt to various contexts that has led me on the personal journey of discovering other realities. (p. 73)
In here, she talks about how experiences lead to the reorganizing and discovery of new things that were left out in education. She reflects on her thoughts about the failure of writing process approaches, which were meant to provide minority students with access to the "codes of power" of "Standard" English that emerged from her experiences as a classroom teacher dedicated to ensuring the success of African American children. Her progressive methods that she brought from her teacher education preparation were not working with her African American students. She recalls:
It hurt that I was moving away from what I had learned [process approaches]. It hurt even more that I had failed in the task that was most important to me — teaching black children and teaching them well. I could not talk about my failure then. It is difficult even now. At least I did not fall into the trap of talking about the parents' failures. (p. 14)
To her knowledge, one issue that often causes concern was that minority groups such as African Americans and Native Alaskans are often oppressed by the objectives, goals, and views of White institutions controlled by the middle class. Another issue of concern is that schools place curricula before students instead of creating a relationship with the students; they “tolerate” diversity instead of embracing it; and they deem some children as "our children" and the great majority as "other people's children."
At one point, Delpit talks about the need to transform the “mainstream,” where she suggests denouncing the institutionalized faction that endorse the oppression of non-Whites and not the White middle-class culture itself. According to her, the relationship that existed between Europeans and “others” influence circumstances today. The relationship between Europeans and African American, Native Americans, and Asian American was the relationship of an oppressor and the oppressed due to the practices of colonization and domination carried out by Europeans throughout history. The result of this is that prejudice remains in American society till today; that racial discrimination has not disappeared completely; and these different racial groups continue to work in hierarchical terms. As a solution to this problem, Delpit suggests the importance of recognizing teaching as a profession where it is essential to identify and overcome the “…power differential, the stereotypes, and the other barriers which prevent us from seeing each other. Those efforts must drive our teacher education, our curriculum development, our instructional strategies, and every aspect of the educational enterprise" (p. 134).
At first reading this book seemed irrelevant to the modern era and the society that we live in today. The reason for this is that I have always been blinded by the idea that America is a place of freedom and equality. My idea was that if there were any presence of power struggles, racism, and prejudices it does not exist with the same effectiveness in the present because it was taken care of long ago. However, this does not mean that it does not exist at all. Though I was aware of this and the existence of power imbalances, I was reluctant to believe that it existed in the educational system, which was meant to enlighten future citizens, make them aware about what is right, and take them out of the imprudent ideas of intolerance that will lead the way to a society that is more flourishing than the one in place. However, pretending that this does not exist in the educational sphere does not make it disappear. Delpit makes it very clear how political teaching really is that has everything to do with the issues of liberation and injustice. She implies that the way out of this is when classroom teachers will offer diverse groups the chance to learn about each other. It will help create citizens who will help in eradicating oppression from daily interactions, which will remove cultural boundaries that obstruct people from seeing all children as “our children.”
