Delpit vs. Gee

What I find interesting of both James Paul Gee  and Lisa Delpit's interpertation of literacy is the intergration of psychological components in their discussion of acquiring discourse. Each hold their own asseration as to how literary discourse is acquired, though both Gee and Delpit's theories can be traced to psychological influence on learning. Learning is highly debated and much reasearch has gone into understanding exactly how humns learn. There are a number of learning theories throughout history that have helped shape the public views on learning and classrooms of today, however Gee and Delpit graso two very differing theories.

Gee maintains that literary discourse is not somehing that can be overtly taught in a classroom setting, it instead is acquired throughout ones life and is greatly influenced by environmental factors such as race, religion and other socioeconomic determinants. Literary discourse is a way of being, a way of talking, moving, dressing and thinking; in essence your culture which greatly influences what one consideres proper social behavior. This makes it almost impossible for minorities and people of low income families to acquire the discourse of the dominant group in society, which Gee appoints white and middle class. This closely relates to the sociocultral theory of personality which emphasize social and cultural determainant such as a families socioeconomic level and size, ethnic identification and your parent's education level.

Delpit's argument against Gee downplays social and cultural influence on learning and instead maintains that literary discourse can be acquired by members of the non-dominant group if they are so willing to learn and have a vaild support system. She chronicals intellectuals of African American decent who have done such and emphasizes the influence their will and the will if their teachers have on their success. This directly related to the Existential-Humanistic personality theories which stress free will. "Humans may be thrown by circumstances beyond their control into certain conditions of life,but how they value, interpret, and respond to those conditions is a matter of personal choice," (Olson & Hergenhahn, 5).

Although their are certain aspects of Gee's theory I do agree with, my thoughts on the acquistion of literary discourse resonates more with Delpit. Though social and cultural determinants have some lever of influence on one's ability to learn and succeed, the greatest influence on such is our will and drive to want to learn and succeed.