Learning from our elders

I shouted, “Amen!” when I read those words. Sadly, but predictably, the predominantly white educational system has rejected Delpit’s idea.

The wisdom and teaching traditions honed by black educators who worked mostly in southern rural schools continue to be marginalized — and even denigrated — by the broader educational community. But we can draw at least three lessons from those traditions, including instructional techniques, community partnerships, and teacher expectations, that rural and urban American schools could adopt today to support black student learning.

In the early 1960s, the elementary teachers and principals in my newly integrated neighborhood on Detroit’s west side were mostly black teachers from the rural south. They had arrived in Detroit after losing their jobs through the infamous massive resistance campaign of Southern states to forestall school desegregation. Their distinctive approach to teaching and learning included a heavy reliance on speaking and listening. As a 6th grader, for example, I was expected to stand on the school auditorium stage and recite a number of items as well as answer impromptu questions from my teachers before I could earn promotion to junior high.