Proofs and Refutations: The Truth About Black Children and Mathematics

1. Proofs and Refutations:The Truth About Black Children and Mathematics Danny Bernard Martin University of Illinois at Chicago iMathination 2013 Conference Q Center, St. Charles, IL January 26

2. 09-23-2009 Axiom I: Black children are brilliant.

3. a turning point • Danny Martin: Black children are brilliant. • Response: Prove it!

4. the making of children in mathematics the exception the rule

5. my arguments today • In the logic models of mainstream mathematics education research, policy, and practice, the brilliance of Black children has never been axiomatic. • The prevailing narratives about Black children are vested in foregrounding mathematical illiteracy and inferiority as the primary identities of these children. • Instances of Black children’s brilliance, no matter how many are offered, will always be framed as exceptions to a general rule. • The logic models of mainstream research, policy, and practice operate efficiently and convincingly to prove that Black children are not brilliant. We must deconstruct and disrupt these logic models, even if this means, for example, unsettling the sensibilities of teachers.

6. axiom An axiom is a logical statement that is assumed to be true. Axioms are not proven or demonstrated, but considered to be self-evident. Axioms serve as starting points for deducing and inferring other truths.

7. conjecture A conjecture is a proposition that is unproven but is thought to be true and has not been disproven.

8. counterexample A counterexample is an exception to a proposed general rule. Counterexamples are used to show that certain conjectures are false.

9. Why do conservatives, neoconservatives, and members of the right wing seem to control the debate on important social issues, to the degree that their opponentswillingly vote against their own interests? Speech 101: Frame the issue on your terms, stick to those terms, and utilize a logic that your opponents cannot escape. Turn your arguments and talking points into common sense.

10. burden of proof Prevailing Conjecture: Black children are mathematically illiterate and intellectually inferior to White and Asian children. • Knowledge production: Focused on the accumulation of evidence to support and prove this conjecture. Unreasonable challenge: To prove that Black children are not mathematically illiterate and intellectually inferior to White and Asian children. • Knowledge production: Remains grounded in the language and ideology of inferiority.

11. burden of proof Alternative Conjecture: Black children are brilliant. • Knowledge production: focused on the accumulation of evidence and examples to support and prove the conjecture that Black children are brilliant (and not mathematically illiterate in relation to White and Asian children). Unreasonable challenge: Prove that Black children are not brilliant. • Knowledge production: Returns to the status quo, de facto constructions of Black children.

12. language and logic games • If all Black children are brilliant, then no Black children are brilliant… • If some Black children are brilliant, then… • If some Black children are not brilliant, then… • Some Black children don’t want to be seen as brilliant or smart because… • Saying Black children are brilliant doesn’t make it so… • All children are brilliant, why focus on Black children…

13. damaging effects Research and Policy: The conversations about Black children in mainstream mathematics education research, policy, and practice contexts are often conversations about how they differ from “white” children, “Asian” children, and “middle-class” children.

14. the making of children in mathematics Most U.S. children enter school with mathematics abilities that provide a strong base for formal instruction….A number of children, however, enter school with specific gaps in their mathematical proficiency….Overall, the research shows that poor and minority children entering school do possess some informal mathematical abilities but many of these abilities have developed at a slower rate than middle-class children. This immaturity of their mathematical development may account for the problems poor and minority children have understanding the basis for simple arithmetic and solving word problems. (Adding It Up, 2005, p. 172-173, in section titled Equity and Remediation)

15. damaging effects Practice: It is becoming increasingly rare to find folks in school contexts who truly believe in the brilliance of Black children. The logic that often flows through school discourse and school practices speaks to this disbelief.

16. a high-stakes test • Question 1: How many of you have heard of the racial achievement gap? • Question 2: How many of you have, or plan to, devote some aspect of your teaching practice, research, or policy-oriented efforts to help close the racial achievement gap? • Question 3: How many of you truly believe in the brilliance of Black children?

17. where go we go from here? • We must accept, and insist on, the brilliance of Black children as axiomatic. • We must avoid the trap of having to prove that Black children are brilliant. • We must avoid generating arguments, logic models, and counternarratives requiring proof that Black children are not brilliant.

18. ubiquity of brilliance • Seeing brilliance in the ordinary, everyday lives of Black children and not seeing brilliance as the exception or counterexample. • Studying and building on the mathematical lives of Black children in the places where they live, learn, and grow. • Studying and teaching Black children as Black children andas children of the world who develop multiple and complex identities, including identities as doers of mathematics.

19. Thank you!