On Diversity: Access Ain’t Inclusion | Anthony Jack | TEDxCambridge

I remember the first time I stepped foot on the Amherst College campus it was with my mother and brother we drove up from Miami the flights were too expensive and besides we were all afraid of flying anyway we pulled dr. Pratt door got out of the car took deep breaths a fresh country air but then my brother starts to laugh he saw a little critter run across the yard he said Tony y'all pay how much for school here and y'all got rats yeah it was a chipmunk we had never seen a real one before his joke barely hid his excitement it did nothing for his nerves we were in another world so yeah me here a Harvard professor in an opera house it's a testament to the fact that even under impe dreams come true I'm the proud son of a middle school security guard the brother of a janitor both hard-working but neither college-educated I'm from a poor segregated community in Miami that even my local newspaper called a place time for God they're often more struggles and celebrations high school was the finish line when I was growing up there were only three Ivy League schools Harvard Yale and Princeton and the only reason why Princeton makes the list is because of the Fresh Prince of bel-air but such is the pernicious power of poverty it isolates and it separates it creates two worlds occupied by the haves and the have Nevers so much so that people equate poor students like myself making it into college as having made it the golden ticket not to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory but to those bastions of power and privilege yet getting in is only half the battle colleges like many organizations have invested millions in diversity recruitment but have thought less about what to do when students arrive on campus access ain't inclusion part of the reason why is because colleges get their new diversity from old sources my research is the first to show that colleges get half of their poor black students from boarding in Bay schools one-third of Latinos are - I call these students the privileged poor colleges like poor students from private schools because they have cultural capital those taken for granted ways of being that are valued in mainstream institutions the other poor black and Latino students at in local typically distressed public schools they don't enter with the same cultural capital I call these students that doubly disadvantaged it was my interviews with a hundred and three undergraduates that show how poverty and inequality stopped those who made it you see when students into college whether a community college or an Ivy League institution they encounter a hidden curriculum a system of unwritten rules and unset expectation professors throw around class terms like office hours yet they only say when they are they never say what they are you see colleges expect students to be comfortable engaging faculty I mean this is the road to recommendation letters it's the road to emotional support when times gets rough connect you and faculty is even valuable for your GPA one research project showed that each visit to office hours corresponds with a 1.2 5% bump in your final grade for that course yet this expectation goes unsaid there's no manuals of do's and dont's wins the house and unspoken if undergraduates want something they will come operates as the gold ticket the college corollary to the squeaky wheel gets the grease imagine the culture shock then that the doubly disadvantaged experience it was otherworldly for valaria a lower-income student from the Midwest her teachers spent more time maintaining order than making connections she into college believing in the American Dream she believed that her advancement should be about the work it was how her father saw the world it was also how he told her to see it as well mija you don't want to get ahead by kissing ass right you want it based on hard work it'll take longer mija but you'll feel more proud let us not be quick to label this father's advice as bad in 2016 a dean from dean college reached out to me she wanted to know how could she increase academic engagement among her lower income students I said let's start with something basic let's define office hours something I said resonated with her when she finally asked her students why they didn't visit her in office hours they said miss we thought that was your time to do your work in your office undisturbed it's a reasonable assumption to make something was lost in translation that had nothing to do with English proficiency but let us remember the privileged poor those alumni of prep schools where contact with faculty is not only encouraged but built into the structure of the place students like a goon a reflective latina a goon hails from a troubled neighborhood but attended a New England boarding school she was taught in high school by PhDs PhDs were also dorm parents she entered college feeling entitled to talk to a professor and say hey I want to meet with you my high school told me I can do that it's actually my right even when her professor was away from campus she had no qualms calling him for virtual office hours despite friends surprised looks undergraduates from America's forgotten neighborhoods and ignored schools are truly disadvantaged if colleges continue to privilege privilege we cannot assume that all students have had a chance to practice let alone master these skills before they arrive on campus and as office hours in college become open-door policies at work this process can continue we wonder why we can hire diverse applicants but we can't seem to promote them recommendation letters in college are dependent upon relationships with faculty just as promotion at work is dependent upon relationships with superiors for me I watch the gull of a crowd and learn how to navigate office hours similar to a goon I got those letters of recommendation 1 even coming from the college president I learned that is not just what you know and who you know but also about who knows you and how well they do but I am not so naive the stumbling blocks to inclusion are not merely social colleges take for granted not just what students know but also what they can't afford sometimes the very policies that colleges implement hurt they hurt all lower-income students the privileged poor and the doubly disadvantaged alike colleges decision to shut down during spring break assuming that all people can leave for fun in the Sun is a case in point but what if you can't go home well what if you don't have a home to go to what about for you if hurt in home are synonymous campus for better or for worse is your refuge yet professors flee and friends leave buildings close they even turn down the heat in the dorms you walk past the cafeteria and the lights are out in the chairs they're stacked on top of the tables you walk past the cafeteria and the lights are out you literally can still tho see the plates and trays the forks and knives through the fence that bar you from entry it comes as no surprise why poor students like ariana call spring break the real hunger games but just how close it comes to living in the districts is downright depressing when campus is closed students come back food and security not knowing where their next meal is coming from sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures I attended a conference for first-generation college students and I met a young woman she was white witty and wore her hair in a pixie haircut she had on a blue Columbia University sweatshirt she she stood brave in a room to discuss how she spent her last spring break at one of the most wealthiest colleges in the country she increased her online dating activity the week before spring break to secure dates the following week banking on gender norms of older men paying for the first meal she treated OkCupid as if it was door - she treated tinder as if it was GrubHub out-priced and overextended she offered her time this makes no sense but this is a reality for many students across the country two out of every five undergraduates in America are food insecure instead of investing time learning linear algebra many invest their times making ends meet you know the question of if diversity is worth it it's ever-present and not just at colleges but I organizations of all stripes the answer is yes it is but we should not be surprised when certain new groups struggle these unwritten rules and injuries hurdles don't just trip them up it keeps them on the outs we must move from access to inclusion and data will help in this endeavor I've shared with you just two issues that undercut diversity efforts the hidden curriculum and food and security there are many more both social and structural in nature so I'll leave y'all with this what else do we take for granted thank you [Applause] [Music]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 266,078

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Education, Achievement, Big problems, Education reform, Empathy, Hardship, Higher education, Inequality, Policy, Poverty, Schools, Struggle, Students, Success

Id: j7w2Gv7ueOc

Length: 12min 43sec (763 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 13 2019