Lisa Delpit’s Objections to Gee
- Delpit’s first objection to Gee is that, “people who have not been born into dominant discourses will find it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to acquire such a discourse”. What Delpit is explaining is that a dominant discourse can be learned unlike the belief of Gee. Delpit shares stories of people successfully learning dominant discourses and says, “These are stories of commitment and transformation. They show how people, given the proper support, can “make it” in culturally alien environments”. Delpit clearly states that in order to master a different dominant discourse people have to work hard, but it is very possible. Jordan would agree that dominant discourses can be learned in fact, she proved it in her classroom, “I wanted not to make then self-conscious about their own spoken language – not while they clearly felt it was ‘wrong’”. In Jordans classroom, all of the students had mastered the dominant discourse of White English. When they were shown Black English in Writing, they thought it was wrong, even though that is how they speak. This is very strong evidence that they was adopted White English. Delpit would use this example to explain to Gee that is is very possible to learn a discourse that you aren’t born with.
- Delpit’s second objective is that when people adopt a new discourse they, “may be faced with adopting values that deny their primary identities”. In other words, Delpit disagrees with Gee’s claim that one can’t have two discourses with differing values because it will cause tension. Delpit provides an important point of view/strategy that proves Gee wong, “individuals have the ability to transform dominant discourses for laboratory purposes – to engage in what Henry Louis Gates called “changing the joke and slipping the yoke” that is, using European philosophical and critical standards areas to challenge the tenets of European belief systems”. Delpit says that you can use a dominant discourse against those who were born with it but using it to push your beliefs and values. Jordan takes this concept in the classroom with the message written in Black english about Willie Jordan and his brothers murder. This message was declined by every news source. Jordan’s class realized that they couldn’t fight for their cause using Black English, “Everyone in the room realized that out decision in favor of Black English had doomed our writings, even as the distinctive reality of our Black lives always always has doomed our efforts to “be who we been” in this country”. In response to Delpit’s second objective Gee could use this instance of Black English failing to support its values, while Delpit could then further the argument by explaining the impact of Willie Jordan’s argument when written in White English.
