Sherpa Amanda 2/14

First of all, I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day!
This week’s class was an eye-opening and mind-expanding experience. The readings allowed for some great discussion and debate. After reading the articles, I thought I had a pretty god idea of where I stood. However, after listening to everyone’s experiences, opinions, and some great points, it has become infinitely more complicated and thought-provoking.

P.J. Finn’s article, Literacy with Attitude, brought up several points that were discussed in class. Arguably the most important part was the implicit vs. explicit language. Implicit language is defined as shared information and shared feelings. Finn delegates this type of language to the “working class,” while explicit language is typically used by the “middle class.” Finn argues that because explicit language is typically used in schools, middle class students automatically have a greater advantage.
The issue of stereotyping was brought up quite a bit in class. Who is Finn to say that all middle-class people use explicit language? That was definitely my feeling after reading this. However, after listening to what everyone had to say, I don’t think that Finn was saying that. It is necessary, sometimes, to group people together in order to prove a point. Of course there will always be families and statistics that go against the general grouping, but as a whole, Finn is merely trying to make a point, and not trying to generalize or stereotype.

The Delpit article was also somewhat controversial. The main point throughout this article focused on the “culture of power.” Delpit asserts that those with power are not aware of it and those without power are all too aware of it, leaving them with feelings of hopelessness. This raised some controversy; maybe those with power really are in dark rooms with cigars and elaborate plots! I think that both sides of the argument have their merits, and it is hard to tell which one is right.

In addition to discussing the articles in class, we focused on discourse. We defined discourse as “beliefs, attitudes, values, habits, ways you conduct yourself, the talk, and what role you have in life.” I think most of us agreed that in schools, “professional” discourse is necessary. However, many of us also pointed out that if a student does not have that type of discourse, we (as teachers) should not lead them to believe that theirs is “wrong” or “bad.” I am of the belief that professional discourse is necessary for success in school and in life beyond school, and I am pretty sure that most everyone agreed. Please let me know if there were points that I missed there!

The question that was on my mind after leaving class was if there really was such thing as a “culture of power.” Everyone had great points on Thursday, but there was a lot of difference among them and I am still not sure what I think about it. I tend to be skeptical of it; however, many of the arguments made in class and in the Delpit article lead me to believe otherwise.

I would like to nominate Richie to be next week’s Sherpa. :)