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March 04, 2004
how do you even the playing field?
At dinner tonight, i had a great discussion with a friend about how to even playing fields. The premise of our conversation was her frustration that money was being poured into helping inner-city youth paint murals instead of giving them additional education that would help push them into higher ranks in society. She believed that focus should be placed on relieving systemic problems and i argued that if you didn't also provide emotional support, having increased access is often wasted. (I agreed that emotional support alone was not enough.) In other words, giving people access to the tools necessary to succeed does not eliminate the cultural and social factors that make them feel like outsiders and thus demotivate participation. There is great value in feeling validated culturally. In particular, in an education environment where you are being pushed to your limits, it is crucial to feel like you're being pushed to help you succeed, not to push you away.
So, i have a question for Misbehaving readers... What tactics do you think are effective in leveling the playing field? Do you think that our assumption that educational access is crucial is problematic? Are different approaches necessary for different marginalized groups? What other questions must be considered?
Posted by zephoria at 04:28 AM | Permalink
Comments
well, i hope this (NY Times article; registration required) isn't the way we're going to go -- at least not with public funding.
before i answer, let me give some personal info: i'm a black woman who grew up in a working-to-middle class/income black and latino neighborhood. i went to a predominantly white university. my experience definitely shapes my views on this subject.
i think you got it right danah: feeling like The Other takes its toll. being in an environment where everyone looks like you is underrated as a factor in academic success. shoot, being The Black Point of View or The Black Student (professors always knew my name after the first class) gets stressful after awhile :-).
i'm sure this will cause a hubub, but i think a big part of leveling the playing field actually involves (privately funded) segregation. segregated environments function a bit like built-in support networks. when you're not being defined as Other, you can focus on being You. several studies have shown as much. you can even see how it functions with the Good Ol' Boys Club.
yeah access is what gets you there. but support is what keeps you there.
Posted by: tiffany at Mar 4, 2004 12:55:37 PM
I think the notion that a playing field must be level in order for anyone to be successful is itself problematic. Namely, there's the question of levelling it according to whose standard, or in whose favor. "Levelling" in my experience rarely makes anything fair or equal in line with our high-minded conceptions of such things. Better to ensure one has the tools one needs to negotiate the uneven terrain, ensure that one knows how to use those tools, and ensure that one has the creativity to apply those tools in non-traditional ways when necessary.
Put another way -- when faced with Mt. Everest, one does not think about what's the best way to reduce the mountain itself to a molehill, just so they'll be more successful in climbing it. They think instead about the quality of their equipment, plotting their journey, and the people with whom they will be travelling. The mountain remains its intimidating, exciting, unlevelled self. The climbers, however, are the ones changing to ensure success.
Posted by: Jenny at Mar 4, 2004 2:22:52 PM
ere's my question: once you have a program in place, how do you drum up enthusiasm and support? I
I work for a non-profit offering introductory computer courses to community teens. Upon completion, each student receives a refurbished computer. However, I find that the majority of students we "recruit" are either forced to join by their parents or enroll to meet the requirements of juvenile probation. Regardless of their reason for signing up, I'm still having trouble drumming up their enthusiasm to learn about technology. I'm here trying to help level the playing field but there is a general lack of interest. So now what do you do? I can use lots of colorful language to come up with theories, but I need some real solutions and results. It's sometimes discouraging.
*To give some background on myself: I'm a black woman, MBA in IT and E-Business from a preminantly white university, grew up in a working class neighborhood much like Tiffany.
Posted by: Darice at Mar 4, 2004 4:36:36 PM
jenny: there are two ways to level a mountain:
1. blow it to rubble
2. or fill in the valleys around it
we're talking about how much dirt you'd need to do #2.
Posted by: tiffany at Mar 4, 2004 4:56:53 PM
Tiffany - you're metaphor is fantastic! Jenny - i think that this is a better way of conceptualizing what i'm talking about. The goal is not to dumb down school, but to provide equal access and opportunity and the necessary structures to let people do their best. That's totally tricky.
Posted by: zephoria at Mar 4, 2004 6:43:50 PM
Darice - goddess only knows that i wish i knew. I think that's part of the support necessity... cultural support is not simply about making it bearable, but making it seem relevant and reasonable. And i don't always know how you can get over initial barriers on that one. But i'd be more than psyched if other readers know of good approaches.
[Btw: Jason is *adorable*]
Posted by: zephoria at Mar 4, 2004 6:56:16 PM
Hey ladies
(Yeah!)
Let 'em know it ain't easy
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Let's come togeta'
Sista's
(Yeah!)
Its time to be greedy
Nothin' good comes for free
Sorry, I got a WHOOSH of Pink's lyrics there all of a sudden ... anyway, I wanted to add a few ideas to this good mix. I liked what Tiffany said about segregation -- being in an environment where you and your gender or race or religion or politics is the 100% demographic is paradoxically empowering, especially when you leave it and venture out -- as I've seen it work wonderfully well going to an all women's college. There's a lot of research on this, but she nails it that not being THE OTHER has much to recommend it. At Mt. Holyoke where I was an undergrad, seeing the editor of the paper was a woman, seeing the loudest opinion in any class discussion was a woman speaking, seeing the president of the class was a woman -- SEEING was believing you could do it.
It's what is behind this venture I'm involved with and mentioned earlier -- a lecture series for women in innovation where all the presenters, speakers, staff are women. I think we need to SEE women doing these things in order for other women to believe they can do them. It's like "3-D Mentoring" and so when it comes to leveling a CLASSIST AND RACIST playing field, nothing beats standing up and showing you can do it, to give others the cultural permission to imagine they can do it.
Everyone is scared to get up there and lay it on the line. I've learned that from men who let me in on their secret, that they are just as scared as anyone, but are expected to JUST DO IT. I think women are often given permission to be scared of things like public speaking and BACK AWAY from opportunities, instead of move towards them. We need to stop that. We owe it to younger women and others who feel disenfrachised to show them how to do these things, how to at least PRETEND they belong and deserve to be HEARD and taken seriously.
Danah, thanks so much for bringing this subject up.
Posted by: Halley at Mar 5, 2004 12:59:05 AM
my mama friends and i have been talking about this topic for a while and we keep referring to the "emotional support" you mention as "community." despite the cliche of "it takes a village" everything i read and talk about with other introspective types supports that idea. this article talks about how little things like the availability of good child care improves a child's prospects immensely.
a lot of the mamas in my circle grew up in seriously dysfunctional families and most of us have had to fight tooth and nail to get support, both emotional and structural. sometimes our sanity hinges on a few hours of trustworthy child care a week, or friends who don't think we're crazy for sometimes wanting to start drinking at naptime, or just having someone to call in a pinch if someone has a mysterious cough or we need to get out of the house. without community like this it's extraordinarily difficult to succeed. those who do often end up bitter (like my ex-boyfriend, who grew up in a poor inner-city neighborhood with a single mom) or worse.
wealthy families may certainly be dysfunctional but their children have complex support networks and the advantage of status in their privileged schools and social circles. they may actually be able to "buy love." a loving community, i would argue, is the best "mountain" upon which to build future success.
Posted by: sarah at Mar 7, 2004 4:32:26 AM
Darice, I volunteer with http://www.ignite-us.org and the way we get girls fired up at the local high schools is to go in and tell the stories of how we came to work in'/with technology. There is an amazing range of women, including a drop dead gorgeous motorcycle riding artist/networking (the wired kind) guru, women of all colors, a woman who was a runaway as a youth herself, women who have ridden out ridicule in a male dominated field.
The girls tell us over and over again -- it's the stories that are the first step to their engagement.
Posted by: Nancy at Mar 11, 2004 10:13:06 PM
Nancy -
Thank you for your suggestions. I've had a somewhat disheartening week at work. Let's just say it involved 2 students who not only made it clear that they didn't want to be there, but felt I was purposely trying to embarrass them by addressing their disrespectful attitudes. The evening ended with a mysterious dent in my car. (sigh)
Anyway, last Thursday, I attended a workshop in the Hartford area (Connecticut) given by the Bishop's Fund for Children. I came back to work rejuvenated, ready to save the world. Okay, maybe not save the world, but hopefully get through to at least one or two students. :)
On a positive note, I'm working on a couple projects for the organization: turning our facility into a Cisco Networking Academy (http://cisco.netacad.net/public/academy/) and/or developing some type of entrepreneurial program, possibly using materials from NFTE (http://www.nfte.com). I'll keep you all posted on how things go...
Posted by: Darice at Mar 15, 2004 9:40:47 AM
Darice,
About the introductory computer course for community teens...what a deal you are giving them!
So how do you increase voluntary participation? There are so many factors that can affect the popularity of a course, some of which are of course beyond our control. Why not ask the teens themselves why they are/n't interested? Why not form an inquiry group made up of prospective and past teens and investigate what kind(s) of introductory course(s) on technology would be meaningful to them. I also get the sense from your brief description that your prospective learners might respond better if the content was more contextualized. There is so much research out there in support of situated learning. That's my two cents worth.
Posted by: suzanna at Mar 19, 2004 10:46:57 PM
I just want to say thank you for this thread. not enought time now to post reactions, but, just thank you.
Posted by: Terri in Tokyo/AfAm4dfa at Mar 21, 2004 10:20:21 PM
Hi Suzanna -
Good point. I do conduct student surveys to find what they like or don't like about the course(s). The response I often receive is that the students want to learn more about specific topics - for example, Networking, Web Development, or Desktop Software (MS Office, Publisher, etc). I've tried to implement such programs but then I keep coming across the same obstacle: getting a committment from the same students who made the suggestions. I'm not sure if it's an economic issue (we sometimes have to raise registration costs to cover course materials, staff salaries, etc., although the fee is currently $65 for an 8 week program http://www.baym.org). On the other hand, programs that could possibly generate more revenue for the organization (for example, the Cisco Networking Academy) have high investment costs. Just to have the equipment in place to offer a training program to high school teens, we'd need to invest at least $10K on Cisco equipment. Once the bosses heard that, they pretty much shot my idea down. This happens everytime they hear "investment cost". That's understandable, but when I make suggestions regarding raising capital to do these things, I run into disagreements about the organization's approach to fundraising. It's so discouraging sometimes. Here's one new question - how do you get management (particularly if they're all men) to see your vision and take a different approach? I could actually talk about that for days. lol I'm constantly butting heads being the only female there.
Anyway, I know I'm running off-topic, but the problem seems to involve several issues: student interest, the quality of education offered, financial obstacles...I guess no different from the issues many other non-profits are facing.
Posted by: Darice at Mar 23, 2004 11:11:15 AM
Darice,
I'm no expert on this stuff but how I've seen other people succeed is through the collection of relevant facts. Like how many people are interested in such and such a course. Program planners use some kind of rule of thumb as to what percent is likely to show up (sorry I can't remember it). Here's another idea for building a client base. What about finding volunteer techies/instructors who are willing to give up a Saturday to offer some informal learning. Sort of like a "Come and Try" day. After a few of those you might generate more interest in the longer courses. And what about the employers in your area that are likely to hire young adults? Have you asked them what kind of computer skills they would want to see in a young adult? All this is data that you can present to your bosses.
Have you tried getting donations of computer equipment from companies? We have been somewhat successful getting various hardware components for a test lab for our programs. This can ease the financial burden and look good for the bosses.
Posted by: suzanna at Apr 9, 2004 9:12:42 PM
