Empowerment Starts Here
This site is dedicated to the professional and academic work of Dr. Angela Dye.
The Case of Rejecting the Middle (Ep40)
Empowerment Starts Here with Ben Doxtdator (click here to listen).
Scroll down to access links and other resources mentioned in Episode 40- “The Case of Rejecting the Middle.”
As discussed in a piece I wrote and published in my hometown paper, entitled “To Talk or Not to Talk,” I talked about the chasm between my social science classroom experiences versus my education classroom experiences in undergraduate school. There I described my classmates in each of those disciplines to be different. In my social science classes, my classmates came to class open; came to class curious; came to class seeking. As social scientists in training, we were hungry to explore the world and learn about the experiences of others all while properly recognizing and treating our own biases in the process. Yet, in my education classes, my classmates treated education as a mission that positioned their students as the other all while positioning themselves as part of a universal standard. When you have positioned yourself as part of a universal standard, you tend to impose you world view onto others; you tend to think in terms of one right—one right way of knowing, one right way of seeing, and one right of being; and you tend to have a single mindset and believe that it is the only mindset that is right. When we empower, a critical mind is a must!
This chasm between the social sciences and education that existed back then, and still exists today, is what has me excited about this case with Ben Doxtdator. In rejecting the middle, Ben identifies the ways that educators can think responsibly about their mission to promote student growth all while de-centering themselves from a universal standard of rightness.
In this conversation, you will hear us talk about individualism versus collectivism (in terms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness); about traditionalism versus innovation (in terms of critical pedagogy and rejecting the middle as the naming of the case); and about the English language as a power tool of culture and privilege (in terms of intrapersonal power as culpable in creating a dominant mindset and universal standard in education).
Are you struggling with power dynamics at your job, school or home? Know that a life coach can help you problem solve!! Please contact me if you want to learn more.
Key Points Discussed:
- Intersectional feminism and always asking the next question
- Student power, critical pedagogy and culturally relevant teaching
- Traditional and critical literacies
- Power-over versus power-with
- Theory and theory of practice
- The privilege of the English language
Notable Names Mentioned:
- Sherri Spelic
- Gloria Ladson Billings
- Lisa Delpit
- Marva Collins
- Paulo Freire
- Kimberle Crenshaw
- Melissa Harris Perry
- bell hooks
Resources and Links Mentioned in this Episode:
- Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women in America by Melissa Harris Perry
- The Pragmatic Progress by Angela Dye
- The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children by Lisa Delpit
- Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Other ESHpodcast Episodes Mentioned
Ep09- The Case of Gradelessness (with the informant Peter Anderson)
Ep10- The Case of Critical Literacy (with the informant Paul Thomas)
Ep21- The Case of Family Secrets (with the informant Val Brown)
Ep27- The Case of the Black Female Educator (with the informant Nyia Dykes)
Ep29- The Case of Student Power ( with the host Angela Dye)
Ep34- The Case of Self and Resistance
Ep41- The Case of Standardized Tests (with the informant Dr. Roxana Marachi)
Ep44- The Case of the Awkward White Feminist (with the informant Jenn Bennis)
Terms and Concepts Mentioned
- Critical Pedagogy; Theory of Practice; Culturally Relevant Instruction; Student Power; Critical Literacy; Intersectional Feminism
Mistakes/Corrections:
Please feel free to let me if you catch mistake. Thanks!!
The Full Link for the Episode…
http://eshpodcast.libsyn.com/ep40-the-case-of-rejecting-the-middle
Please visit our Episodes at a Glance page to get a full episode list for Seasons 1 and 2.
