Relation to the "culture of power"

According to Lisa Delpit who believes that children who are of color are at a disadvantage to the "culture of power" I am at the advantage. I do agree with what Lisa Delpit does argue in Other People's Children I try to think back and remember how everything falls into place. I'm guessing most of it comes from the upbringing of my parents. My home life, and schooling have probably contributed to what I know as the codes of power.

1.Issues of power are enacted in classrooms.
2.There are codes or rules for participating in power, that is, there is a "culture of power."
3.The rules of the culture of power are a relfection of the rules of the culture of those who have power.
4. If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier.
5. Those with power are freqently least aware of-or least willing to acknowledge -its existence. Those with less power are often most of aware of its existence.

I'm from a middle class family. My parents work we live in a nice home I have 3 other siblings and some pets. I went to a good elementary school where state testing scores for the most part were usually really good. At school I always had respect for my teachers because my mother and father always told me all adults should be respected.
My parents have been very strict with me from day one, "Your room is a mess? Well then you're not going outside." or "If your homework is not completed when you get home, no friends over this weekend." It's funny to look back on now because back then I would be so angry with my parents but now I see every rule that was in my home helped me understand what is acceptable in our society and makes me able to function properly in a society. I am forturnate that I graduated in the top of my highschool graduating class and had the oppurtunity to continue on to college, while others don't have the same oppurtunity I have because they don't know the "culture of power" which does exist.

I want to travel all over the world when I'm done my college education. For me to make it in some countries it would be best if I learned what the country was about and their culture, not to forget a little bit of the language. I could offend someone accidently and not even know it because I don't know that countries "culture of power."

Not only do we learn from our own experiences as to what is acceptable, but we learn from others experiences. People talk in our society and thats how we learn different things through our ability to communicate with others. Others who are new to our country may not know the correct way to communicate with Americans and may offend an American but not intentionally mean it.

As for my future I can relate to Delpit's argument. As a teacher I am in charge of the future, well thats how I kind of see it. I will have the power to educate students who are new to the "culture of power" if I work in an inner city classroom. I agree that if we focus too much on standardized testing and skills testing what will become of everyone? Everyone will be the same person if they all had the same skills. Some jobs require different skills than others. Which is why there are so many different jobs out there because some people may never acquire those skills for a certain job. In my classroom I want to be able to teach students to survive in our society and to be demanded in the job market.

In conclusion, its unfortunate that not every student has gets the same experiences to the same set of rules. However, I do believe the skills teachers do teach the classroom do help prepare a person for their future. Standardized testing does however ruin the outlook employers have on a person. I don't think a test should state whether a person is suitable for a job or not. I think my relation to the "culture of power" comes from what I learned from my own experiences with my parents and throughout my years of school.