Using Networks to Advance Education
I recently started listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast called Revisionist History. I was particularly recommended a series on education where Gladwell touches on a few different aspects of education in America: secondary schooling in poorer areas, college budgets and financial aid, and how rich universities are only getting richer. However, the most relevant topic to networks is the first; the episode, called “Carlos Doesn’t Remember”, is about a student named Carlos who was mentored by a wealthy entertainment lawyer-turned-philanthropist in LA County. His connection with this lawyer (who seeks out bright students at a young age) allowed him to enter a private elementary school, better middle school, and eventually private high school. Though he grew up in a town that didn’t even provide a public high school for its residents, because of his shown talent at a young age, he was able to have the funds and mobility to attend better schools.
Carlos served as a local bridge between the community he grew up in (his mother was a drug addict and in jail; his sister and him were in foster care) and the community of the lawyer – wealthy, able to access higher education, and able to give generously to the community. The lawyer was his source of information to a world that he probably would not have been able to enter. Though Carlos was bright and at the top of his class, without a mentor to give him resources, he probably would have assimilated with gang culture and dropped out of school before 9th grade. Fortunately, this network formed by the lawyer’s efforts gave Carlos a chance to create new connections and create a better life for him and his sister. These local bridges are few, however, because there are not many like the lawyer who are really able to provide students in poor communities better opportunities. This reveals a need for more connections to be made to these communities in order to provide them a fair chance at higher education, to find a job, and leave bad neighborhoods.