Book Review: The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom
Abstract
URBAN EDUCATION / MARCH 2005BOOK REVIEW Book Review The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom, edited by Lisa Delpit and Joanne Kilgour-Dowdy. New York: The New Press, 2002, 229 pp., $16.95 (paper). In their book The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom, Delpit and Kilgour-Dowdy have compiled a compelling series of perspectives from voices in the field of urban education who embracethe role of language diversity in a multicultural approach to teaching. The timeliness of this book could not be more appropriate considering the basic education principles in the No Child Left Behind Act that was passed by Con- gress in January 2002. Among these principles are expanded op- tions for parents and an emphasis on teaching methods that have been proven to work. Equally important, the contributors in this book reiterate the importance and understanding of issues pertain- ing to equality and equity in education. Because 2004 is the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, in which the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court took scientific research into account in issuing its landmark ruling, it would seem appropriate that this book be used