Prompt 4: DELPIT

When I was younger I was always well behaved and respectful in school. I always did my homework, assignments and always got along with all my teachers and classmates. I was always taught, by my parents, that there was no other way to act. I was brought up so well because I have two fantastic parents who care so much about me. They still get on me about things every day. Even though I hate when they tell me these things, I appreciate it so much because they still care about me so much and want the best for me. I always assumed that everyone was brought up like I was because all of my cousins behaved the same way. As I grew up and experienced more, I realized other people were brought up the wrong way. This is what I thought when other kids did not act the way I was. They had to be wrong because they were acting differently than I was. I realize now that everyone is brought up differently, but I still strongly believe that children should always be well behaved and should always do what they are suppose to in school. In my service learning class, this was not the case.
Students in this class were not always respectful and well behaved. One time the students were doing a partner assignment and one girl punched another girl in the face for being wrong. There were some students who were well behaved and did as they were told, but others did not fit into that category too well. There were some students who seemed to never do what they were supposed to. There was one student who was seated all by himself. He always seemed to be off in another world. He never did his assignments or paid any attention. The teacher always had to get on him to do his work or to pay attention. One day the teacher assigned me to “John duty” as she called it. It was my job to make sure he stayed on task and paid attention.
John was not necessarily a bad student; he just always needed someone to be watching over him. Towards the beginning of my tutoring the teacher was telling me about John. She said he was having problems all year. She said she met with him mom, who had sole custody over John, and she was tough to talk to. She did not seem very concerned with her son’s well-being. One day when I was working with him while the other students were having snack. He did not come in with his homework done so he was not allowed to have snack. I sat down with him, away from everyone else, and we worked on his homework. Before we started I asked him why he did not do his homework. He got really upset when I asked him this. He turned to me and told me that he was having trouble with it so he asked his mom for help. Then I saw tears started to come to his eyes. The he said, “And Mommy yelled ‘I do not have time for you John. Go do your homework by yourself.’” I almost cried hearing him say this. He then put his head down. I could not believe a mother could tell her child that she did not have time for them. My parents were always there for me. Whenever I needed something they did it for me, even if they could not do it right away, they found time. If I brought home school work, they were always willing to help. In Mrs. Ma’am’s class there were a lot of take home assignments that the students were suppose to do with their parents. This could pose a problem if parents are not willing to be a part of their child’s education. If the parents are not willing to help their children, the teacher is going to be the one spending extra time working with these students because she wants the best for them. Luckily enough for Mrs. Ma’am I was in the class and always willing to help, otherwise she would not accomplish much if she had to worry about individuals as opposed to a whole class.
Lisa Delpit talked about veiled author in her article. I was always brought up believing that everyone needed to be well behaved and do what they were suppose to. I thought that was the only way. In this classroom I discovered that everyone is raised differently. I was quick to judge some students in this classroom including John. I thought he was a bad kid who just refused to do what he was suppose to. I quickly found out that he was raised differently. Being in such a diverse classroom, the teacher always needs to be open minded and not base everything on what she was taught. Everyone has different backgrounds and as a teacher we need to welcome them with open arms, but we can still use what we have learned to change things that are not acceptable by many.