"Multiplication Is for White People": Raising Expectations for Other People's Children

Written 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 bestselling 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Mar 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781977372833

Lisa Delpit

MacArthur Award winner Lisa Delpit is the retired Felton G. Clark Professor of Education at Southern University. The author of the bestselling Other People’s Children and “Multiplication Is for White People,” co-editor (with Joanne Kilgour Dowdy) of The Skin That We Speak, co-editor (with Theresa Perry) of The Real Ebonics Debate, editor of Teaching When the World Is on Fire, and co-author (with Christopher Emdin) of The Sacred Art of Teaching (all published by The New Press), she lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Reviews for "Multiplication Is for White People"

[Ari Cureton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gained some strategies and information to help improve myself as a professional.

[kaethe_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Well, this is a pisser. To be clear: Delpit is a strong writer covering a topic that's sure to enrage almost everyone: that is, public education in the US. The short version is vast amounts of money from the Gates and Walton foundations (among other sources) haven't helped, except to divert energy and money away from public schools. No Child Left Behind hasn't helped, except to divert billions away from any actual education and into private companies producing the loathed tests and test-prep materials (if I recall correctly, one of the Bush sons is in this racket, although that isn't covered in this book). State efforts to bust unions, depress wages, and transfer employment from career teachers to the well-meaning but inexperienced Teach For America volunteers who mostly quit after their very short (two year) commitment. Most surprising thing I learned: desegregation of public schools meant that experienced teachers of color got fired in favor of inexperienced white teachers in a huge way, and pretty much every reform effort since then has shown the same pattern.

Although the system is a boondoggle, there are still teachers and schools that do manage to teach, but students of color and poor students are getting the worst education. Since 2010 far my state has spent more than $144 million implementing the Common Core standards, and the state legislature has decided they don't like it, and it needs to be changed. Gee, I wonder how much more money they'll spend and to whom they'll give it? What I know is, it isn't going into schools, or teachers, or anything that will actually improve the education of students in this state. Yeah, I'm enraged.

Library copy.

[michellech_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There were some good pieces in her narrative but I was looking for more. I do appreciate that this is a tough subject to tackle and can lead to a whole lot of misunderstandings. However, the reality in some urban areas such as the one I work with, is that the majority of students are minorities and the majority of the teachers/administrators are not. I do believe that this can lead to misunderstandings particularly around parental involvement and procedural school-based issues. I was hoping that Delpit would explore these topics a bit more and provide ideas as to how we can all work together to create a better system.

Her focus is primarily on African American students, which is fine, but I would have liked a meshing with other populations who are part of the growing achievement gap. I do agree with her in that children are all born fundamentally equal in ability and talents; the impact to their future can happen through systemic racism and preconceived notions about what is achievable. I know that many students are discouraged from pursuing AP courses or even college because of what educators think they can do. It is also interesting that of all the professions very little in professional development for educators focuses on urban issues, cultural differences and the impact poverty has on student lives.

I hope that her voice is added to others that standardized assessments are not the only way to value and rank students, and that the education system can return to focusing on content as well as basic skills. Although I had initially been a big fan of Teach for America, Delpit and other education leaders are shedding light for me on how this model may be causing more harm than good.

The best thing to get out of her book is that the Hart-Risely study is really examined. I have been in many meetings where this study is quoted and used as the basis for program development and policy changes. Delpit is the first writer I have read who takes a look at this work and questions its applicability across populations. The study basically states that a child's later abilities and achievement is linked to the number of words they hear in the first three years of life; however the study sample was very small and the link between quantity of words and development cannot be made so neatly.