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Glenn Loury's avatar

Wonderful essay. Should be required reading everywhere!

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Michelle Styles's avatar

A very interesting read. I wonder if you have considered the difference in racial attainment gaps between various countries? For example the recent UK Commission on Racial Equality (2021) had the interesting statistic that the US Black attainment gap was 8 x greater than the UK gap.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities/education-and-training

As the report notes, there are considerable differences between the two countries but nevertheless, it is a statistically significant gap.

The head of the Commission was Tony Sewell who founded the UK Generating Genius charity which has been focussed for the last 15 years on increasing Black and other people from disadvantaged backgrounds in STEM. It has been reasonably successful. Could the lessons learned from such a charity be put to good use in the US ? https://generatinggenius.org.uk/

Dr. Sewell is controversial now in the UK because of the report and his practical approach to the problem, but he does seem to be getting results.

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