SPARC [scholarships] 2016-Thomas Franco

Latino, first-generation, low-income, LGBT. These four words describe many minority students across our country today, but they also have something else in common: they all describe me, a minority student who has often felt discouraged, alone, and like he won't be able to make it through a STEM education. My name is Thomas Franco, and my father immigrated to this country at the age of 16, alone, with no money and a sixth grade education. He worked hard and provided for my family, but neither of my parents attended college. As a first-generation ethnic minority, I have faced significant barriers in trying to make it through a STEM education. Today, I want to tell you about those barriers that I and many other ethnic minorities around our country continue to face. We'll dive headfirst into these challenges, but my goal is that by the end of this speech today, you too will be able to stand behind a statement that Dr. Jamie Bracy of Temple University said: 'I pledge to fight the push-out culture.' The push-out culture of STEM is one that is rooted in systemic barriers, barriers like educational inequity that start early on in K through 12 grades. For instance, I went to an elementary school where the norm was K9 units coming in on a daily basis to sniff for drugs, where the norm was in fifth and sixth grade having many of my peers being hauled off in cuffs and arrested for bringing weapons to school and joining gangs. This was my reality, but it was not the reality of many students not two miles down the road who had many more resources and much more funding. For them, the reality was dissecting a frog in sixth grade, not getting arrested. For them, the reality was competing in a science competition that city council hosted, one that I so desperately wanted to be a part of but didn't have the resources to be able to do so. The reality is that these experiences are not unique to my story. Many minority students across the nation face these barriers as well. According to the LA Times, no matter how you break it down, a minority student being placed in a school district inevitably decreases the funding that that district gets. Dr. Jamie Bracy of Temple University puts out an idea called STEM 2.0, an approach that 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, things like weekend science projects and summer boot camps. Unfortunately, these sorts of programs aren't seen at the big level that we need them to be seen, and they're not in the biggest areas of need that we have. This creates an issue because as students don't face these experiences, as students don't get this hands-on experience and are unfamiliar with science, it creates an issue when they're presented with these sorts of situations in the STEM classroom. But there are other issues as well, such as implicit biases and stereotypes that minorities face in K through 12th grade. Peers, educators, and administrators who believe that these minority students won't be able to succeed academically. The result is twofold: minorities start to buy into this claim, and others begin to expect less of them, ultimately leading to a bigger and harder problem of trying to get them interested in a STEM field to begin with. What we have to understand is that these aren't the only issues facing minority students. They also struggle to see people who look like them or speak like them, people who have similar cultures in fields like biology or math. Take it from someone whose dream of becoming a doctor was heavily reliant on what I saw in TV or in the movies, because no one in my family ever thought it possible to become a doctor or an engineer or any career in STEM. What we have to understand is that we have a culture of STEM that pushes away minority students. This sort of implicit bias or stereotypes isn't something that they only face in K through 12th grade; it continues on in undergraduate education, which might be why you see the UCLA reports that minority students are much more likely than their white counterparts to switch from a STEM major to a non-STEM major. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine point out that there are other root issues in this problem. The fact that minority students, for instance, are more likely to begin to believe in something known as natural ability theory, or the idea that only those who have inherent or natural abilities in STEM are able to accomplish success in those fields. Essentially, minorities believe that if they aren't able to be great at math right away, no matter how hard they try, they never will be able to. This is in sharp contrast to their white counterparts, who more often believe in malleable ability theory, or the idea that if you work hard and put more effort in, eventually over time your abilities will improve. We further cement this notion in our STEM culture because we present things like weed-out classes in the very beginning of an undergraduate education, classes that are inherently structured to act as a gatekeeper and push away students who don't believe that they have what it takes. When minority students oftentimes end up three steps behind, starting three steps behind other students because they don't have the same opportunities growing up, they ultimately become intimidated and fall to the bottom of the class. This is a problem because according to the University of Illinois, those students who don't achieve success in those initial classes are more likely to believe in natural ability theory. According to Stanford University, those who believe in that natural ability are less likely to reach out for help, to seek things like tutoring or advice from advisors. The reality is we have a culture here in STEM that pushes away minority students. But even if they are able to make it past these barriers and get a STEM degree, it doesn't mean that they're going to end up working in STEM. In fact, according to the Washington Post, only thirty percent of minority students who have a STEM degree end up working in STEM. In large part, this is because of how difficult it is to enter the STEM career path. The reality is that many companies don't go past a diversity statement or a commitment to diversity, never putting into action plans that eventually fall to the side and become irrelevant. Or they cut programs that are crucial to minority students in K through 12 and undergraduate education, leaving minority students feeling alone without guidance in a field that doesn't have many others like them. The reality is that we have a lack of minorities in STEM, but we can look to a push-out culture that has kept students like me from making it past stages like K through 12th grade, or making it past recruitment, or making it past undergraduate education, or making it past getting into the STEM workforce. My name is Thomas Franco, and my father immigrated to this country at the age of 16, alone, with no money and a sixth grade education. I know the issues that I have faced, but I also know the reasons that they're there. I hope that after today, you too will stand behind what Dr. Bracy said: 'I pledge to fight the push-out culture.'