{"id":1629,"date":"2019-08-05T13:26:26","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T13:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/?p=1629"},"modified":"2019-08-05T13:57:50","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T13:57:50","slug":"keisha-thompson-the-binary-brainwash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/2019\/08\/05\/keisha-thompson-the-binary-brainwash\/","title":{"rendered":"Keisha Thompson: The Binary Brainwash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Binary. It basically means one thing or the other, right? But if you trace the word back it actually stems from the Latin word bini<\/em> meaning \u2018two together\u2019. So when first appropriated into the English language its meaning was closer to that of ‘duality\u2019 as opposed to the idea of mutual exclusivity we\u2019ve become familiar with. For us, binary is now also linked to mathematics. It is zeroes and ones. Numbers.<\/p>\n

Young people are so often taught to think in binary terms: you\u2019re either one thing or the other<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I started that paragraph talking about language. A great love of mine. But I ended up talking about numbers. Another great love of mine. For some, this would be a contradiction. How can you love language and numbers? How can you be a poet and a mathematician? Young people are so often taught to think in binary terms: you\u2019re either one thing or the other. You\u2019re good at Mathematics or you\u2019re good at English. Girls are better at this. Boys are better at that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m grateful to say that I managed to swerve the binary brainwash. I was introduced to a range of subjects and activities before I even got to school. I loved writing poetry. I loved Maths. I loved football. I loved ballet. I loved baking. I loved kick-boxing. I loved trying everything. And there were no binaries to be seen. Furthermore, when I got to high school age I chose to go to a girls\u2019 school so once again the idea of binaries went out the window. I was exposed to all types of people in that environment. It just so happened that we all identified as female.<\/p>\n

\"\"
MissEducation (Lunar) \u2013 Keisha Thompson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The binaries we often experience when it comes to subjects such as Maths and English are so often associated with another one \u2013 the gender binary. Copious studies have told us that girls are not pursuing careers in the fields of science and mathematics. Schemes like STEM<\/strong> have been set up to tackle this problem. In principle I am happy that STEM exists. However, in both intention and application it adheres to the same binary that it attempts to solve.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Girls are bad at mathematics<\/li>\n
  2. Boys are good at mathematics<\/li>\n
  3. Girls needs schemes to help them get better careers<\/li>\n
  4. Boys do not need schemes to help them get better careers<\/li>\n
  5. STEM subjects are more important than other subjects<\/li>\n
  6. We need more girls in those topics to boost the economy (as opposed to considering how those fields will actually benefit from having more diverse contributions)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In my view, we need to change the approach if we want to see real change.<\/p>\n

    the gender gap for attainment is non-existent in terms of actual abilities being gendered<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    A recent article by Katherine Wu<\/strong> at NOVA<\/strong>\u00b9 stated that results of research into subject attainment and the gender gap are reported in a way that\u2019s misleading. In actual fact, the results from over 60 countries around the world show that the difference between male and female mathematics attainment is pretty insignificant. Furthermore, since girls are \u2018seen\u2019 to excel in more verbal and language-based subjects at an earlier age, they are led to believe that, in comparison or simply by assumption, they are bad<\/em> at mathematics. The binary brainwash.<\/p>\n

    Wu\u2019s article was a pleasure to read because it said all the stuff that I have found to be true from my experience of training as a mathematics teacher (shout out to my boss, Suzie, for sending it to me). It essentially concludes that the gender gap for attainment is non-existent in terms of actual abilities being gendered. Instead, the gap we see is a product of poor socialization, poor confidence and misinterpreted statistics!<\/p>\n

    I want to deliver fun creative maths lessons that feel like poetry workshops<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    I\u2019ll always remember when I was in a primary school in Levenshulme as part of my teacher training. During a lesson I was astounded by the way that socialization and gendered expectation had, at such a young age, already made a mark on the students\u2019 learning. As girls we are taught to be vulnerable and express our feelings. Many boys are taught to be confident and not show signs of weakness. I went around the classroom helping the students with their fractions. All of the girls who were struggling were happy to say, \u201cMiss I\u2019m struggling.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t understand it.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m not sure if I\u2019ve got the right answer.\u201d Immediately I was able to help. They got the answer and moved onto the next activity. All of the boys who were struggling didn\u2019t tell me. I could see that they didn\u2019t have a clue. However, when I asked them if they needed help the response was, \u201cNah Miss I\u2019m good at this.\u201d \u201cI know what I\u2019m doing.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ve got the answer.\u201d Even after I had explained that they hadn\u2019t. It broke my heart that these 7-year-old boys already felt that they needed to perform this false sense of security, and that it was having a detrimental effect on their learning. They didn\u2019t know the answer. They couldn\u2019t move on.<\/p>\n

    as<\/strong>\u00a0all\u00a0boys\u00a0did so I tried to do
    \n<\/strong>Inspired by Roger Robinson\u2019s As All Boys Did<\/em><\/p>\n

    headers
    \ngrey Filas
    \ngalt
    \non slugs
    \nRen and Stimpy
    \nprotests in McDonalds
    \nwhen they gave me
    \nBarbie
    \ninstead of a car
    \nscars upon scars
    \non corduroy knees
    \nrunning face first to the wind
    \nto win the playground race
    \nChinese burns and head locks<\/p>\n

    until I was asked to \u00a0– show ’em my privates<\/em>
    \npretence deciphered
    \nnot one of them
    \ndon’t let them see my
    \nchurch dresses
    \nand butterfly wings<\/p>\n

    singing football chants
    \nlouder than the next lad
    \nTekken and Need for Speed
    \na fist to the screen then
    \na stern look from my mother<\/p>\n

    …No more Playstation till you learn<\/em>
    \nto calm your temper<\/p>\n

    I was an open-mouthed breather<\/p>\n

    flipping collectable coins
    \nplaying to the binary of biology, this species
    \nbird faeces on the shoulder is a good sign
    \nI’ve been stabbing trees
    \ncutting the doll’s hair off
    \nkickboxing and blue socks
    \nwrestling and mud and mud and throwing rocks
    \nin the park instead of bread<\/p>\n

    straddling the shed
    \ncoming to the edge like Evel Knievel
    \nready to break bones
    \nhoping I will crack myself open
    \nshow them the rotting spice
    \neverything nice and pink
    \nlike blood curdled with piss
    \nthis is what I am made of<\/p>\n

    With all this in mind, for the past two years I have been developing an idea for a project called DeCipher, sharing how I merge mathematics with poetry. So far I\u2019ve had the pleasure of working with school groups and young people with the help of Manchester Science Festival<\/a><\/strong> and Africa Writes<\/a><\/strong>. In the full version of the project I want to merge my artistic practices with Realistic Mathematics Education<\/strong> theory. Basically I want to deliver fun creative maths lessons that feel like poetry workshops or dance classes or baking parties. I want to teach people from a range of ages, backgrounds, genders. Hopefully I can do something to guide us back towards the original meaning of binary \u2013 \u2018two together\u2019. Things do not have to be one or the other, or should that be one or zero?<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Keisha Thompson\u00a0is a Manchester-based writer, performance artist and producer. Find out more about her work at keishathompson.com<\/a>\u00a0or follow her on Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n

    1.\u00a0https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/nova\/article\/gender-gap-math-comparative-advantage\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Binary. It basically means one thing or the other, right? But if you trace the word back it actually stems from the Latin word bini meaning \u2018two together\u2019. So when first appropriated into the English language its meaning was closer to that of ‘duality\u2019 as opposed to the idea of mutual exclusivity we\u2019ve become familiar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Writer, performance artist, and producer Keisha Thompson interrogates the binary brainwash in relation to poetry, mathematics, and gender.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_surecart_dashboard_logo_width":"180px","_surecart_dashboard_show_logo":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_orders":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_invoices":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_subscriptions":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_downloads":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_billing":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_account":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19],"tags":[],"article_type":[9],"class_list":["post-1629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-poetry","article_type-read"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":18,"label":"Education"},{"value":19,"label":"Poetry"}],"article_type":[{"value":9,"label":"Read"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/MOTM-show-image-2b-1024x795.jpg",1024,795,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Alice Frecknall","author_link":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/author\/alice\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":18,"name":"Education","slug":"education","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":18,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":2,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":18,"category_count":2,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Education","category_nicename":"education","category_parent":0},{"term_id":19,"name":"Poetry","slug":"poetry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":19,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","cat_ID":19,"category_count":4,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Poetry","category_nicename":"poetry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1629"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/applesandsnakes.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=1629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}