Now What?
Last week I didn’t post anything because I was still (and still am) reeling from the chaos of the current moment. Writing has been a therapeutic tool in processing my emotions, digesting the sobering headlines, and consolidating my thoughts around my future career goals. It is my mission to educate youth on how to be active participants in a diverse, inclusive democracy. It is my mission to challenge youth to rethink prejudice and adopt a more compassionate community.
Below you will find my response to the Wall Street Journal article, “Will the Pandemic Revolutionize College Admissions?” Since sending this letter to the authors, I am wholly committed to dismantling the temerity of whiteness and furthermore teaching tolerance among young people. I hope that you’re willing to step into the discomfort of speaking up on behalf of injustice and commit to approaching the “other” with compassion.
Dear Dr. Barnard, Mr. Weissbourd, and Ms. Ross Anderson,
On Saturday, May 29th I read your Wall Street Journal piece titled “Will the Pandemic Revolutionize College Admissions?” Growing up in the Bay Area, I surrendered to the relentless insistence on high grades, excellent standardized test results, and a curated (yet "reasonable") resumé. Though admissions representatives boasted of their “holistic approach,” my peers, teachers, and college counselors celebrated numbers: GPA, SAT scores, and an extensive list of extra-curricular activities.
As noted in your article, “...too often colleges have measured what’s easily measurable and not what’s meaningful for success and citizenship in school and life.” Which metrics are currently implemented to “...gauge hard-to-measure ‘non-cognitive’ qualities such as grit and curiosity...?” How would admissions officers weigh the GPAs of Oakland’s Xaviar Brown and Akil Riley – the co-organizers of the June 1st massive youth-led protest – against their leadership, initiative, and passion that inspired thousands to demonstrate in favor of disrupting complacency towards systemic racism? Evidentially their clear communication and impeccable organization compelled 15,000 community members to rally together, together being the operative word.
Why is it that “...too often colleges have measured what’s easily measurable and not what’s meaningful for success and citizenship in school and life?” I wonder, did institutions disregard the process of intimately understanding an applicant’s moral compass to remain competitive in the quantitative fields? Furthermore, why is it that the usual admissions metrics are being upended now? I’d argue that the “compromise,” the dramatic decrease in significance of GPAs, class ranks, and standardized test scores forces institutions to evaluate a student’s personhood instead of their numerical standing. Universities utilize GPA and SAT/ACT cut-offs as intellectual currency, creating a clear hierarchy of who’s on top. Has higher education sacrificed upstanding ethical character for the University name printed on our diploma?
Metrics for how many ignorant, racist students occupy even the most prestigious classrooms do not exist. It is a true luxury that “many [institutions] reject enough applications with high GPAs and strong recommendations to fill two or three freshmen classes with students highly likely to succeed.” Let us capitalize on the opportunity to curate an incoming class that is, in addition to academically talented, also open-minded, critical thinking, and willing to engage in challenging conversations to promote radical empathy. No doubt that understanding an applicant’s social and political identity is time-consuming; though it is an educator’s responsibility to walk students through their stigmas and fears and eventually innovate a path towards true diversity, equity, and inclusion.
My future endeavors include applying to Graduate School of Education programs. I am eager to expand my grasp of historical shifts in the United States’ public education system – specifically those movements that have redefined the goal of a mandatory, public education – and the most effective ways for humans to learn and adopt empathetic behaviors into their daily lives. I’m not disillusioned; hard skills including research, analysis, testing, and implementation are necessary to create structural transformation. Your team at the Making Caring Common project also recognizes that qualitative data is required in “developing a guide...to help students identify and assess qualities such as perspective-taking and grit that are linked to student success in school and as citizens.”
When does Making Caring Common believe is the appropriate moment to intervene in a student’s educational journey? If higher education institutions are rethinking and reforming the admissions process to value those so-called “maddening” qualitative characteristics, where do we start? Should school districts implement a required curriculum that teaches cross-cultural conversation and dialogue? By the time kids apply to college, they (and their families) must already buy into the notion “...that colleges want high school students to live happy, fulfilled and enjoyable lives...” How can I, as a young professional pursuing a career in education, transform the current climate to embrace the non-negotiable fact that a successful education should not be quantified by seemingly arbitrary numbers but instead measured over the course of a lifetime?
One of the most admirable aspects of Ally-ship, in my opinion, is that I don’t have to pretend to be freed from racism. I am not. Neither are you. After accepting this reality, it is my duty to fight blatant racism and unconscious bias wherever I encounter it: the classroom, the boardroom, the market, the doctor’s office, the Internet, the dinner table.
In fact, the dinner table is where we must begin educating our children. Success for Black bodies will be measured not only by the declining number of unjust fatalities but in the everyday treatment of individuals whose skin color is a shade lighter or darker than your own. To combat systemic racism requires emotional literacy. In times of crisis we must extend out across racial and cultural differences, not remain insular in an echo chamber of similar experiences.
The limits of my imagination restrain me from grasping the deep and distinct pain that must be defining a Black American’s experience. While I’m disheartened by the news, I cannot be numb to the emotions of my Black friends, colleagues, community members. Without assuming that I hold the key to liberation, how am I helping? Have I contacted the black people in my life, asking what they need from me, and how I can support them? To even answer these questions requires acknowledging those differences and simultaneously celebrating those differences. A successful education should not be determined by a score at the end of the semester. A successful education should provide a foundation for citizens to actively listen, collaborate, and identify key challenges that our peers face. A successful education equips students with the soft skills to construct a bridge in a fractured world.
Adults are the custodians of a child’s education; we are not janitors. We cannot brush away stressful and fraught conversations or dismiss the realities of systemic racism in effort to preserve the image of a pristine utopia. Exercising integrity and honesty are essential in reflection, both on a personal and societal level. Regardless of the resulting unsettling revelations, every individual is responsible for admitting one’s own unconscious, racist biases and analyzing the ways in which one's race operates as a shield, not a weapon.
This time is emotionally exhausting. Reading headlines, reciting the names aloud, and genuinely honoring George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Christain Cooper and every other historically disenfranchised and otherwise exploited member of society is necessary. And it is also emotionally exhausting. And it doesn’t remedy the ugly epidemic of racism in the United States.
Too often I’ve heard, “I can’t wait to get back to normal.” It is a disregard for the Black lived experience to confound our return to “medical normalcy” with the complacency of systemic racism. COVID-19 is abnormal. Racism is not. It is ignorant to claim this moment as completely unprecedented; the persistence of racial injustice is woven into the fabric of this country yet erased from our history textbooks. Years and years from now, when the kids are asked about the monumental revolution in 2020, I hope that they will proudly state, “that was the time when the United States adopted a ‘better normal.’”
I highly value your perspectives on the changing landscape of education in our country. I would be delighted to hear your response and answers to my questions posed in this letter.
Sincerely,
Emily Sprague