"Multiplication Is for White People"

Raising Expectations for Other People's Children

By: Lisa Delpit

Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts

As MacArthur award-winning educator Lisa Delpit reminds us - and as all research shows - there is no achievement gap at birth. In her long-awaited second book, Delpit presents a striking picture of the elements of contemporary public education that conspire against the prospects for poor children of color, creating a persistent gap in achievement during the school years that has eluded several decades of reform.

Delpit's best-selling and paradigm-shifting first book, Other People's Children, focused on cultural slippage in the classroom between white teachers and students of color. Now, in "Multiplication Is for White People", Delpit reflects on two decades of reform efforts - including No Child Left Behind, standardized testing, the creation of alternative teacher certification paths, and the charter school movement - that have still left a generation of poor children of color feeling that higher educational achievement isn't for them.

In chapters covering primary, middle, and high school, as well as college, Delpit concludes that it's not that difficult to explain the persistence of the achievement gap.

©2012 Lisa Delpit (P)2018 Tantor

A must read for all educators, thought provoking.

A hard look at education and the discussions that need to take place through out the land.

A must read for math teachers

The narrator captures the passion, pain and possibilities behind Delpit's words. Truly important work.

Largely nonessential for practicing teachers.

As a 22 year high school teaching veteran, I wanted to find strategies for supporting urban youth; I searched high and low (rather, listened with open ears) for anything to make teaching urban youth less stressful. I have listened to this, twice, now and am still searching. If you think the subtitle of this text (Raising expectations for other people's children) applies, then move on. Much of the author's discussion and advice could be gleamed from a 300 word executive summary. In fact, for me this text is more of a memoir than a support manual or a how-to. The author concisely describes her past 10-20 years in education; yet, there is not much in that context that we can immediately use or have not already tried and seen fail. T_T

It is clear the author has worked in many challenging environments, schools, and contexts. She boasts at several points about how she has been invited to speak at national conferences and has meetings with reformed Education Secretaries. Sadly, however, none of this translates to solidly helping a majority-white teaching force (at least in the U.S.) dealing with stress and challenges of educating, and under-educating, urban youth.