Senior Managing Director & Head of Retail Sales, Virtus Investment Ptnrs
Search every verified Thomas Franco interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2016 SPARC scholarship speech, Thomas Franco discussed his experiences as a first-generation, low-income, Latino, and LGBT minority student pursuing a STEM education. He described what he called a "push out culture" in STEM, attributing to systemic barriers such as educational inequity and implicit bias from peers, educators, and administrators. Franco stated that minority students often lack role models in STEM fields and are more likely to believe in "natural ability theory," which he contrasted with the "malleable ability theory" he attributed to white counterparts. Franco argued that these challenges continue through undergraduate education, citing reports that minority students are more likely to switch from STEM majors and that only 30 percent of minority STEM degree holders work in the field. He said that many companies do not implement effective diversity initiatives. Franco called for institutions to provide outreach programs like weekend science projects and summer boot camps for K-12 minority students.
“I pledge to fight the push out culture. The push out culture of STEM is one that is rooted in systemic barriers like educational inequity that start early on in K through 12 grades.”
“According to the LA Antik, no matter how you break it down, a minority student being placed in a school district inevitably decreases the funding that that district gets.”
“Institutions of higher education could put out outreach to K through 12th grade minority students and give them the opportunities to get their hands dirty in science, like weekend science projects and summer boot camps.”
“There are implicit biases and stereotypes that minorities face in K through 12th grade from peers, educators, and administrators who believe that these minority students won't be able to succeed academically.”
“Minority students struggle to see people who look like them or speak like them in fields like biology or math, which affects their dreams of becoming doctors or engineers.”
“We have a culture of STEM that pushes away minority students, and this implicit bias or stereotypes continue on in undergraduate education, which might be why minority students are more likely than their white counterparts to switch from a STEM major to a non-STEM major.”
“Minority students are more likely to believe in natural ability theory, the idea that only those with inherent abilities in STEM can succeed, while white counterparts believe in malleable ability theory, that hard work improves abilities over time.”
“We present weed out classes in the beginning of undergraduate education that act as gatekeepers and push away students who don't believe they have what it takes, disproportionately affecting minority students who start three steps behind.”
“Only thirty percent of minority students who have a STEM degree end up working in STEM, largely because many companies don't go beyond a diversity statement or commitment to diversity, never putting plans into action.”
“We have a lack of minorities in STEM because of a push-out culture that has kept students like me from making it past stages like K through 12th grade, undergraduate education, or getting into the STEM workforce.”
A Blocked Pathway: What it Means to be a Minority in STEM SPARC [scholarships] 2016 Thomas Franco SPARC [scholarships] ...
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