So, so then Akil, is there a misconception that parents have to actually be good at math themselves in order to help their children?

I think they have to have a certain confidence in their ability to help their children.

But when we say good at math, I think we have to, we have to qualify what that means because that's, that's very challenging.

That could be challenging also because Like, how do we quantify what it means to be good at math? Like, how much math do you have to, like, how many math problems and of what type of math problems do you have to be able to get right in a given moment or situation to be considered good at math? I think we have to have a baseline of, you know, fluency with arithmetic, right? And we have to be able to we have to be able to learn, you know, like it's similar.

There's a lot of protocols in math.

There's a lot of processes and procedures, but there's also concepts.

And I think we have to understand certain concepts, but be open to learning, because I think some parents may also be under that misconception that, you know, I have to come to the table already having.

So so what does meaningful parental involvement in math education look like to you?

One, how does that make you feel? And two, how do you respond

to that? Well, at this point, it makes me feel inspired.

You know, it makes me feel that this work that I'm doing is very needed and very necessary because a lot of people respond that way or think of mathematics that way because of, usually because of negative experiences in school, in math classes.

And also in school, what often happens is we don't really get the opportunity to learn what math really is and be able to see the beauty of mathematics because it's really problem solving, you know, and a lot of people that say that they're never going to use math.

are actually using math on a daily and regular basis, but they just don't recognize it because they don't know what mathematics actually is.

Anytime you're doing any type of problem solving, you're going through a mathematical process.

Anytime you're in the store shopping and you're trying to figure out if this is a good deal or a bad deal or whatever, You know, or if somebody's lying to you or telling the truth, like you mentioned politics, like there's a whole lot of mathematics in politics.

So in that line, is there a black mathematician that, that you, that you have as a favorite or do you, you don't, you don't really get

What's the anticipation like?

More like, you know, the first game of the season.

You know, more like the first game of the season.

I say like the Super Bowl might be like when standardized testing comes around in the spring.

That's really what A lot of schools, what they're preparing for, you know, all year round, a lot of schools are really like, you know, have a very heavy emphasis and focus on test prep, you know, for the year, which, you know, which really puts an onus on us as a community because if the school is more focused on test prep, then that means the children have to come to school with prerequisite skills already, you know, in their possession.

Because test prep, there may not really be time or the ability to address those learning gaps, especially in mathematics.

So we as a community, one of the things I say consistently is that we as a community have to become the primary math educators of our children.

What about those folks, those people that have math phobia? And do you believe there's such a thing as math phobia?

What did you have going on in Dallas, Texas? Dallas,

Texas.

OK, so I was intentional.

I wore this T-shirt.

This is a T-shirt from the Pan African Connection bookstore.

Actually, it's not just a bookstore.

It's a bookstore.

So talk to me about that, THKind2026.

or

not.

So it's like anytime you make a decision, like, you know, child asks you, can they have some ice cream or can they have some snacks or whatever? Like we calculating in our head, like, okay, should I say yes? Should I say no? What's my rule that I tell them? Like how much have they eaten already? You know, how close is it to bedtime? Like deductive reasoning.

Yeah, we doing all that, but it's innate.

We're just naturally doing it.

We don't like, we're not writing out the equation, but it's in us.

So every decision we make, who we should be friends with, who we should get into relationships with, we're calculating.

If our listeners didn't hear anything else during this conversation, what's three things you would like to leave them with?