Hello hello,
Back from a wonderful visit to beautiful MN! It was so restorative to see dear friends and family for the first time in too long, and it reiterated the importance of real, human connection. The world feels a little bit smaller now that I know I can safely hop on a plane and be with the people I love.
One thing I do NOT love is traveling with an 18 months old…. Little Leo was a Big terror on the flight from SFO –> MSP. And, as I sat with him screaming on my lap and pulling the hair of the man in front of me (no joke), I remembered that we traveled to Cameroon when Remy was 18 months and almost didn’t make it. We vowed to never travel with an 18 month old again after that experience, but being cooped up in the house for over a year will make you rethink everything you’ve ever said in your life.
There were so many things about MN that caught my attention in ways they never did when we lived there. As we drove from the airport to my brother-in-law’s house, I could NOT get over how GREEN everything was! It was like (how I imagine) a psychedelic trip! Also, people were so nice on the road and in the stores. It’s funny how quickly humans adapt to a new environment…
Anyway, Malcolm Gladwell has done it again. He’s used his podcast to take a look at things that no one is really questioning, and he brings a new perspective to the surface. I just finished the second of two episodes of Revisionist History that looks at the US News College rankings. At this point, I’m not surprised to see how white privilege creeps into any and every scenario, but like Malcolm expresses, this one made me pretty mad. Check out both episodes here:
Lord of the Rankings – Pushkin
Malcom teams up with a professor at Reed College who has ‘hacked’ the US News algorithm used to rank US colleges/universities, and it should not come as a shock that the rankings are a “perpetuation of privilege” as stated by Dillard College President Walter Kimbrough, PhD.
To say the ranking system is less than scientific is an understatement. Robert Morse, the US News Chief Data Strategist, is responsible for the US News ranking algorithm, and he is interviewed about the factors that go into ranking colleges. His answers to Malcolm’s questions make him sound so uninformed and ignorant that it really solidified the argument around the bias within the rankings. Essentially, the more money accumulated and the more rich, white people a university has in attendance directly correlates to the ranking. The episodes go into a lot more detail with many examples that I can’t do it justice here. Here’s a visual just to whet your appetite:
I have to admit that I’ve looked at these rankings and assessed my own accomplishments and worthiness based on where my own school falls within the list. It’s a wake up call to rethink where I place prestige and value. Per Malcolm’s suggestion, I hope Dr. Kimbrough and other university presidents team up to reject the US News Rankings.
(Do you see how I’ve started to refer to Malcolm Gladwell as Malcolm? I guess we’re close.)
#powertoprivilege #blacklivesmatter #courageousconversations
Be good,
Jessica