Book Review: "Multiplication is for white people"
Right away the title of the book captured my attention. This book goes in depth about the modern education practices that truly dehumanize students, especially African Americans. It is no coincidence that African Americans suffer through poverty, poor education, and a lack of resources. It is the low expectations that are given to them entering school.
Have you ever felt a teacher judge you or make you feel like you couldn’t do something? Crazy to think that some educators are the ones who actually limit us. If a teacher puts you on the spot in class and you do not know the answer then we should not be ashamed to admit that we simply do not know! Lisa Delpit mentions how teachers should not identify what the students do not know but celebrate what they do know (Delpit 70). I feel this is why as you get older students are no longer excited to participate in class anymore. Students are SO unbelievably shy to get the wrong answer which leads to them not even trying. We need to consider their upbringing and be nonjudgemental in order to have them feel more confident in class and in life.
random but interesting Fact from the book:
- “A child from a professional family would hear 11 million words during a year while a child in a welfare family would hear just 3 million. Thus, a child from a professional family could start kindergarten having heard 32 million more words than their poorer classmates.” The solution for this is to have parents and child-care workers to talk more to children of poverty." (Delpit 31)
The Urban Prep Academy for Young Men
One of the coolest things I read from the book was how they mentioned amazing resources such as The Urban Prep Academy for Young Men is located in Chicago founded by Tim King.