Defending Access

by Mike Rose
These are notes I took while reading

Key Ideas
Deficit Theories- Basic Writers were lacking something
Initiation Theories- Basic Writers are Trying to Join a New Community and Learn a New Discourse

-African American literacy in the past was explicitly political. The fact that it was illegal proves it.
-Basic Writing should be seen as acts that negotiate the situations that students of color face in majority dominated institutions.
-He is arguing in favor of pluralistic standards, standards which empower, rather than gatekeep.
-He talks about students from oppositional cultures, those that define themselves as against majority culture. (I personally think religious students are from oppositional cultures.)
-"clash of cultural styles" as a possible cause of poor performance
- The clash of cultural styles theory in an educational context suggests that "misunderstandings" among well-meaning teachers and students cause poor performance in schools.
-It is hard to explain why some minority cultures thrive academically under this theory.
-It seems that the way cultures view school has a big impact, perhaps more than features of linguistic use.