Talking point 3

Dennis Carlson - Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community

This article was similiar to many of the articles we have read for this course, with many parallels between what the other authors have written. In this article Carlson frequently speaks of a dominant, "normalizing communtiy", which is very similiar to what Delpit called "culture of power". While I am not sure if some of the information in this article is current and applies today, there were a lot of interesting points raised in this piece.

"Normalizing texts systematically exclude and neglect the culture of those outside the norm for the purpose of ratifying or legitimatizing the dominant culture as the only significant culture worth studying"
A common theme that is beginning to emerge to me throughout all of the readings we have done is that the culture of power consistently reinforces it's power, not in outright ways, but by the exclusion of all else. The culture of power does not come outright and say it is preferable to be White, Male, Middle-class, Heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied, etc. because that would be unacceptable today, however it constantly reinforces these unspoken beliefs by exclusion of others.

"I have no comment, I'm not even going to get into this discussion. I'm going to keep my opinion to myself"
When a teacher uses this statement regarding gay issues in her classroom, it shows that gayness, as a cultural minority, still has a long way to go in this country. While I believe any teacher would feel comfortable discussing her personal viewpoints regarding race, gender, etc. the subject of homosexuality is still taboo in many ways, and unfortunately teachers are probably afraid to discuss the issue for fear of repercussions from the administrators, community, or parents.

"up to one-third of all adolescent suicide victims are gay"
This quote really shows how these adolescents are isolated and tortured by their peers because of their sexual orientation. Teenage years can be difficult enough for someone who belongs to the culture of power, but add confusion, humiliation, low self-confidence, and many other issues that are brought to many lgbtq teenagers these days and the poor kids don't stand a chance.