Johnson (or anti-Johnson): Johnson states that it is important to speak explicitly about race, gender, sexuality, and ultimately about privilege, power and differences in society. I also think this is important, because if we are not able to discuss these topics, people will never be comfortable with them and future generations will never learn and be able to think out of the box. I had an incident in my seventh grader's History class when the children were debating whether a word being used was "racist" or not. The teacher told them to "stop using that word; I don't want to hear anymore of this 'racist' stuff." This shut down a potentially informative conversation and told children that they could not explicitly talk about race/racism.
Delpit: Delpit believes that it is important for educators to state clearly what the rules and codes of power are. This is critical for a person's success in society. My student's science teacher is great at this; she tells students "we are not talking right now. We are writing outlines." or "you are not supposed to be standing. You need to sit down." She is clear and explicit with what she wants her students to do.
August: August says that marginalized students need to feel included and "normalized" within schools. We do this by preventing them from feeling erased and invisible. I see this a lot when teachers and students alike openly greet my student with warmth, and don't treat her differently despite her blindness. Students are quick to invite her to work in groups with them and are very friendly.
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