CI 5481 Discussion Leader Questions

In Lauren Cantent's new film The Class, written and starring François Bégaudeau, an unengaged student named Souleymane is asked to read his "self-portrait" aloud. Confidently he states to the class: "I have nothing to say about me because no one knows me but me."

Besides my obvious plug for this film (which everyone must see), Souleymane reminds me of the child in the Heath piece who tells his teacher: "Ain't nobody can talk about things being about theirselves" (105).

This seemingly simplistic dialog between white teacher and black student speaks volumes about the disconnect Heath sees between the in-group and the out-group.

Once the schools are desegregated (in Trackton—the town Heath researches), black parents complain that the "[white] teachers won't listen" because "nobody play by the rules [the black students] know" (107).

In the film and in the schools Heath visits, the white teachers seem to be merely wanting their students to be mundane "question-answerers" who can spout "formulaic responses to appropriate occasions" (110). Heath notes that often an adult will speak to a child through ruminations, expecting that child to be a "passive listener" giving the adult an excuse to speak to his or herself. While the Heath piece examines parents with their very young, I cannot help but find similarities in the classroom today.

In one room I observe in, the teacher rambles almost the entire hour (to his large 11th grade class), speaking about his childhood, his past, his history. He will throw in generic questions ("and what year was WWI?") to which the students will fill in the blank. He will then move on and cause the room to be one big passive ear.

I DO NOT want to condemn this experienced teacher from whom I am learning volumes, however it is worth noting that in his all-white AP class, there is intense discussion, profound questions ("are you justifying the hijackers of 9/11?") and enormous room for thought and debate. Why can't this same thing be happening in the the large—much more diverse—11th grade class? Aren't those students just as capable as the AP class? Do we—as white teachers—perpetuate the passive listener and ask only the generic questions that can only beg formulaic responses?

How do we remedy the idea of talking "at" students instead of "with" (115)?

If some students are deliberately raised to not share personal information with others (or strangers), how can we expect them to delve into our deeply personal projects (i.e. telling audiences about their community, their families, their lives)?