Understanding Educational Disparities as Networks
“Neighboring schools, worlds apart” discusses the stark differences that school environments can have on the success of its students in terms of both graduating college and high school. For instance, the article highlights one school in Newton, MA which is flourishing, having most of its students go on to some of the nation’s most elite schools. The other school located in Boston, MA is struggling to have its students graduate on time, with a 30% successful college graduation rate. The key takeaway is that these schools are not that far apart from each other being only just a short drive away, yet their education quality enormously differs. The article goes on to discuss the opportunity differences available at these two high schools and the effect that it has on the student body. It helps conceive the idea that our environment affects our opportunities in life. In this case, depending on which school you went to, your trajectory may have changed. At a macro scale, the article points to a larger theme about the state of our education system in the U.S. In several regions of the United States, these disparities are not uncommon. It points out that depending on where you are located, your opportunities are affected by your surrounding educational network.
I came across this story and I thought it emulated the idea of local bridges quite well. In one case where you have a school that contains a lot of students who are struggling to graduate. It follows that there exists a local bridge between the schools network and the connection to college students or just college more generally. I interpret this as a local bridge because there are a few connections that when severed, will result in a complete disconnection from what I will call the “college network.” The exact opposite is true of the school which is flourishing. Additionally, I think we might be able to model the students at these schools in terms of strong/weak ties. A strong tie could represent a students ability to graduate, if a student surrounds themselves with students that have strong ties, then they are more likely to form a connection and support each other in their endeavor to graduate. When applied to both of these schools respectively, we can see the likelihood of graduation. I thought it was really interesting how we could model real life situations such as these in terms of network concepts.