I am all for the "open-classroom" teaching style. It seems that when Delpit tried this way of teaching in 1970's was fairly new compared to the way her and other older black educators were taught. The traditional style of "...students practiced handwriting; I wrote on the board; I got some tables to replace some of the thrown-out desks." was what seemed to work with black students more because it was the way they could relate their own language to that of Standard English. Maybe black students we'rent giving enough attention or maybe Standard English wasn't as prevelant in their home as with white students, so it made it harders for them to jump to "writing creatively". But I do admire Delpit trying the change the rules even when in the long run she had to abandon her views.
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Let's get into Delpit a bit more here. She was clearly attracted to the open classroom model through her studies. But she continued to run into problems when it came to how the "open classroom" played out in her courses. How does she discuss these problems?
It would be easy for some people to conclude that White students and Black students simply learn differently. Someone might conclude that this is a "natural" difference. Yet Delpit does not go in this direction. As a matter of fact, she seems to be resisting "easy answers." Where does she come down on the issue of "skills" and how does she show us the conflicts that arise?
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