The Language of Authority

Lisa Delpit does a lot of work that focuses on education and race. In her book, Other People's Children (1995), there is a specific chapter called "The Silenced Dialogue", which focuses on the debate that  African American children in the USA , though it can be expanded to almost any race, should be taught differently than white, middle-class children. This is not Delpit's own view exactly but she does try to highlight  how this legitimate debate has been silenced without resolution.  I was under the impression that in most cases the brain functions the same, independent of race. While that is probably true, Delpit highlights specific methods that are more effective based on race. While I agree with the validity of the cry for different educational methods for African American children, I reject the idea that it is race that is the dividing factor. Instead it seems to me that different cultural upbringings make different educations methods more effective in one culture versus another. 


Delpit brings up the idea of authority and how it is portrayed in different cultures. Specifically, she focused on how authoritative figures, like teachers, speak depending on the culture they associate with. She introduces a dialogue where the first two sentences are from a middle-class "townspeople" teacher and the second are said by an African American teacher.

- "Is this where the scissors belong?"

- "You want to do your best work today."

- "Put those scissors on that shelf."

- "Put your name on the papers and make sure to get the right answer for each question."


The difference here stems from the use of direct and indirect forms of commands. The first set of commands use the indirect form but because they are said by a teacher they still hold authority, at least to me they do. Growing up in a middle-class, white family this indirect form of speech still gives me the sense of a command. What Delpit illustrates here that I and almost any other middle-class, white student would interpret the first two statements as a command because of the culture we developed in. While the second set of command could seem too direct, even abrasive to us, the first set of commands to someone from the African American culture could convey a lack of authority. Within the classroom if a student is unaware that the indirect commands hold just as much authority in the teacher's eyes as direct commands, often time the student will blatantly ignore the indirect commands. This can be perceived as a blatant disregard of the rules, when instead it is actually a cultural and lingual misunderstanding. This presents an interesting conundrum: How does a teacher address a culturally diverse classroom?


These difference that appear while both teachers are using English. In this case language does not divide the views. However, because there is so much culture attached to different languages, even more differences will come up as one studies how authority figures address others in different languages. These differences, if not understood, can be extremely detrimental to anyone trying to assimilate into a new culture while learning a new language.