The readings and videos for this week focused on the inequalities within the current educational system. Dr. Delpit starts her lecture by recounting events that had partaken during that year and the years passed. About 5 minutes into the lecture, she mentions a couple of things that we as educators should do for our students:
- We need to build relationships/create a sense of belonging
- Identify and appreciate children's brilliance and their special gifts, and help them realize and develop their own brilliance and gifts
- We need to connect content to who they are and what they care about
Personally, I believe that those first two points are good ones to follow. Establishing a good relationship with our students is something that we must work to achieve. In regard to the third point, I think that it's a much more difficult one to achieve. I believe that we need to teach our students the best material in the most effective manner possible. I don't know if connect all of our lessons to our students would help with that, but I can't say for sure.
Dr. Delpit also mentioned something about black individuals being less likely to receive a callback for job interviews/offers. This has some serious truth behind it. I actually remember seeing an article a couple of years ago (see below) of a black individual who conducted a private study for personal purposes. He applied to jobs with a stereotypical black name, and did the same with a white name. If you read the article, he provides all the statistics as to how many callbacks he got for each. The basic breakdown was that he received many more calls using the white name than when he used the black name.
There is something to be said about this. How can someone, be that a private company or other organization, dismiss someone without even speaking with them? It's certainly a question that I'd ask to all of you to think about going forward.
Here's the previously mentioned article:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/us/dwight-jackson-employment-discrimination-lawsuit-reaj/index.html#:~:text=Dwight%20Jackson%20filed%20the%20lawsuit,Elliott%20Larsen%20Civil%20Rights%20Act.%E2%80%9D
Hi Matthew, I like how you summarized the points from the lecture and the article I think those are the essential ideas that we should take away from these readings/ videos. I also agree it is very important to connect to the students and what they care about. Great read!
ReplyDeleteHi Matt. I found the three point Delpit very influential. And when she was talking about job callbacks, it made think back in my early 20s, I interviewed at local transportation companies and when I arrived at some of their facilities, all of the employees were white. The transportation industry itself is quite diverse. I didn't even give it a thought at the time. I was unaware at the time that some of these companies could possibly be denying applicants just because their name.
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