-
Beyond Missionaries or Cannibals: Who Should Teach Mathematics to African American Children?
- The High School Journal
- The University of North Carolina Press
- Volume 91, Number 1, October-November 2007
- pp. 6-28
- 10.1353/hsj.2007.0023
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
Guided by a general critique that asks, Highly qualified for whom?, I problematize recent characterizations of highly qualified mathematics teachers by focusing on the question, Who should teach mathematics to African American children? I discuss how responses to this question in mainstream mathematics education research and policy contexts have drawn on discursive frames that support color-blind racism, that focus only on achievement outcomes, and that propose "missionaries" and "cannibals" as the kinds of teachers most appropriate for African American children. I propose a refocusing of mathematics education research and policy that gives meaningful attention to the ways that African American children experience mathematics in schools and life as African Americans.