Panel Discusses Fixes for Gap

Harvard professors, students, and a former corporate vice president urged students in a panel discussion at Harvard Business School (HBS) last night to use their positions as future elites to help reduce the “achievement gap” among racial and socioeconomic groups.

This was the second event of “Raps on the Gap,” a University-wide interdisciplinary discussion series sponsored by Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative.

Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) lecturer and Achievement Gap Initiative Director Ronald F. Ferguson began the panel by comparing test scores among different racial groups, noting trends associated with racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. He also emphasized that the racial achievement gap exists among all social levels.

Other panelists identified ways to help combat this gap.

“There is no standard way to fix it,” said former Johnson & Johnson Worldwide Vice President Cedric Jones.

Jones praised schools’ willingness to try new and different methods of addressing the problem, including peer mentor programs and parent advocacy groups.

HKS student Joshua Garriga added that providing decent jobs, encouraging integrity in children, and focusing on education would help close the gap.

But HBS professor David A. Thomas offered a caveat to students who may become discouraged after trying to recruit people to help alleviate the discrepancy.

“Don’t try and convert those who are not ready to take action,” Thomas said. “Often times we waste our energy trying to convert the uncommitted.”

The panelists stressed that students should work to their own unique abilities when fighting to close the achievement gap, whether through public service, mobilization efforts, or business.

Students in the audience said that they were moved by the discussion, as the burden to close the gap seemed to be placed on their shoulders.

“We have the additional responsibility to be accountable to the community,” said Alexis Watson, a second-year student at HKS. “We have the opportunity to be here, and it gives us credibility later on that not everyone has.”

While the majority of the audience was composed of graduate students, a number of undergraduates were also in attendance.

“The talk was inspiring,” said Cathrine C. Ntube ’11. “It’s good to know that there are organizations at Harvard dealing with these problems that some of us face.”