How Much of a Difference Can 2 Blocks from the Most Innovative Square Mile on the Planet Make? From our Research a lot!
Our story starts with the desire to address disparities in our community. In Cambridge we have struggling communities and thriving corporations existing in the same space and we wanted to think about how these disparities can be solved. We decided to focus on education because it is an important topic that we as students can relate to. With Harvard and MIT being some of the most prestigious schools in the world and companies like Moderna, Ideo and Google having major branches here in Cambridge, we want to make sure our schools reflect the same level of excellence. The Cambridge Public School District ranks right in the middle of public schools in Massachusetts despite having one of the highest per pupil expenditures.
Cambridge is a victim of the opportunity gap. The opportunity gap is when the arbitrary circumstances in which people are born - such as race, ethnicity, zip code, and socioeconomic status determines their opportunities in life, as opposed to all people having a chance to achieve their full potential.
A way to understand this is through the eyes of equality vs equity. Equality means that we can provide resources to everyone equally, but some students may need extra help to achieve their potential. Equity means providing extra support to those who are having a tougher time at school to make sure all students can reach their fullest potential.
Understanding equity doesn’t solve this problem on its own. Something has gone wrong in our educational system, something that needs changing. There are many professionals working on improving our school systems and many great ideas and positive changes have come from this. Here at iFp, we want to share our ideas on ways to combat the opportunity gap because we know that there is always more that can be improved.
Why should our voices matter? We don't have any degrees in education or years of research, but we have a powerful tool at our disposal: experience and perspective. As time goes on, the social structure of schools changes a lot. An expert in education might have solid ideas about student perspectives, but as students ourselves we know it first hand. This gives our ideas legitimacy.
So what are our next steps? Our mission is to see an educational system where everyone is able to bridge the gap between schools and innovative jobs in places like Google and Ideo. If these two institutions are able to inhabit the same space with only two blocks separating them, wouldn’t it make sense to show all of the students how they can reach these amazing jobs. We can't wait to ask whether this is a good idea or whether it's too controversial, we need to just do it! We can’t bring impact alone. We need the help of others to help bring about educational justice and break down the opportunity gap.