These girls want to talk, and they need a learning culture that encourages them to talk as part of building community in the classroom or school.12 They must be allowed to ask questions, to respectfully offer their opinion (even if it differs from the instructor’s opinion), and to learn through an extended epistemology that honors their multiple ways of knowing and learning. Stripping Black girls of the ability to ask questions and process information through dialogue is culturally incompetent and antithetical to their development as critical thinkers. It reflects a reduced expectation for
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