The power within

Power, when I say the word to myself and think about the Boys of Baraka, I think about power in a few different ways. I think about the power structures within the public schools and their neighborhood. When the boys are told that 3/4 of them would never graduate, it seemed hopeless and you could see the morale drop to the ground. Many of the boys were aware of their situations and how they would have to fight to break the norms. They also had the powers of their environment at home and in the community working against them. After the boys were emerged into the Baraka school, they were given freedoms with an understanding that if they were to fight with one another or take advantage of those freedoms they would be kicked out and sent home. This was something brand new to most of these boys, they were given freedom while they were expected to uphold high standards and work hard. The community of teachers got to know these children both one on one and and in the classroom setting. They also provided a very regimented formal curriculum and the boys worked hard. I felt like this was what Delpit was trying to convey in Other peoples children. She expressed that there is a great need for some form of formal education to break through the power structure and to succeed. The reason I also think this worked was because they all became a community which worked to help each other out and build each other up. Instead of teaching to the deficit and teaching less, the curriculum was hard and for the boys to be able to master a subject was just like conquering that mountain, it gave them a sense of ownership and power.

It is often that we find, especially in the world of education, the word power to have a negative connotation coupled with some oppressing force. Yet when you educate and build up a child to work cohesively amongst a community of their peers, in essence you are empowering them and helping them to break through and tap into the codes of power.