4 pillars of college success in science
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0:01 - 0:05So I'll be talking about the success of my campus,
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0:05 - 0:07the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, UMBC,
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0:07 - 0:11in educating students of all types,
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0:11 - 0:15across the arts and humanities and the science and engineering areas.
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0:15 - 0:19What makes our story especially important
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0:19 - 0:24is that we have learned so much from a group of students
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0:24 - 0:27who are typically not at the top of the academic ladder --
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0:27 - 0:31students of color, students underrepresented in selected areas.
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0:31 - 0:34And what makes the story especially unique
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0:34 - 0:39is that we have learned how to help African-American students, Latino students,
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0:39 - 0:41students from low-income backgrounds,
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0:41 - 0:44to become some of the best in the world in science and engineering.
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0:44 - 0:48And so I begin with a story about my childhood.
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0:48 - 0:51We all are products of our childhood experiences.
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0:51 - 0:55It's hard for me to believe that it's been 50 years
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0:55 - 1:01since I had the experience of being a ninth grade kid in Birmingham, Alabama,
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1:01 - 1:03a kid who loved getting A's,
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1:03 - 1:06a kid who loved math, who loved to read,
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1:06 - 1:08a kid who would say to the teacher --
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1:08 - 1:12when the teacher said, "Here are 10 problems," to the class,
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1:12 - 1:16this little fat kid would say, "Give us 10 more."
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1:16 - 1:19And the whole class would say, "Shut up, Freeman."
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1:19 - 1:23And there was a designated kicker every day.
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1:23 - 1:25And so I was always asking this question:
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1:25 - 1:31"Well how could we get more kids to really love to learn?"
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1:31 - 1:34And amazingly, one week in church,
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1:34 - 1:36when I really didn't want to be there
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1:36 - 1:41and I was in the back of the room being placated by doing math problems,
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1:41 - 1:43I heard this man say this:
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1:43 - 1:46"If we can get the children
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1:46 - 1:52to participate in this peaceful demonstration here in Birmingham,
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1:52 - 1:57we can show America that even children know the difference between right and wrong
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1:57 - 2:02and that children really do want to get the best possible education."
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2:02 - 2:04And I looked up and said, "Who is that man?"
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2:04 - 2:07And they said his name was Dr. Martin Luther King.
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2:07 - 2:09And I said to my parents, "I've got to go.
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2:09 - 2:10I want to go. I want to be a part of this."
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2:10 - 2:12And they said, "Absolutely not."
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2:12 - 2:13(Laughter)
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2:13 - 2:15And we had a rough go of it.
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2:15 - 2:19And at that time, quite frankly, you really did not talk back to your parents.
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2:19 - 2:21And somehow I said, "You know, you guys are hypocrites.
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2:21 - 2:23You make me go to this. You make me listen.
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2:23 - 2:25The man wants me to go, and now you say no."
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2:25 - 2:27And they thought about it all night.
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2:27 - 2:29And they came into my room the next morning.
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2:29 - 2:31They had not slept.
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2:31 - 2:33They had been literally crying and praying and thinking,
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2:33 - 2:37"Will we let our 12-year-old
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2:37 - 2:41participate in this march and probably have to go to jail?"
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2:41 - 2:43And they decided to do it.
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2:43 - 2:44And when they came in to tell me,
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2:44 - 2:46I was at first elated.
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2:46 - 2:50And then all of a sudden I began thinking about the dogs and the fire hoses,
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2:50 - 2:52and I got really scared, I really did.
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2:52 - 2:55And one of the points I make to people all the time
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2:55 - 2:58is that sometimes when people do things that are courageous,
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2:58 - 3:00it doesn't really mean that they're that courageous.
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3:00 - 3:03It simply means that they believe it's important to do it.
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3:03 - 3:05I wanted a better education.
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3:05 - 3:08I did not want to have to have hand-me-down books.
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3:08 - 3:10I wanted to know that the school I attended
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3:10 - 3:13not only had good teachers, but the resources we needed.
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3:13 - 3:15And as a result of that experience,
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3:15 - 3:17in the middle of the week, while I was there in jail,
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3:17 - 3:19Dr. King came and said with our parents,
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3:19 - 3:22"What you children do this day
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3:22 - 3:27will have an impact on children who have not been born."
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3:27 - 3:32I recently realized that two-thirds of Americans today
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3:32 - 3:35had not been born at the time of 1963.
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3:35 - 3:38And so for them, when they hear about the Children's Crusade in Birmingham,
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3:38 - 3:41in many ways, if they see it on TV,
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3:41 - 3:44it's like our looking at the 1863 "Lincoln" movie:
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3:44 - 3:46It's history.
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3:46 - 3:48And the real question is, what lessons did we learn?
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3:48 - 3:51Well amazingly, the most important for me was this:
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3:51 - 3:57That children can be empowered to take ownership of their education.
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3:57 - 3:59They can be taught to be passionate
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3:59 - 4:04about wanting to learn and to love the idea of asking questions.
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4:04 - 4:06And so it is especially significant
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4:06 - 4:08that the university I now lead,
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4:08 - 4:11the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, UMBC,
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4:11 - 4:17was founded the very year I went to jail with Dr. King, in 1963.
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4:17 - 4:21And what made that institutional founding especially important
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4:21 - 4:26is that Maryland is the South, as you know,
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4:26 - 4:30and, quite frankly, it was the first university in our state
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4:30 - 4:34founded at a time when students of all races could go there.
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4:34 - 4:38And so we had black and white students and others who began to attend.
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4:38 - 4:42And it has been for 50 years an experiment.
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4:42 - 4:44The experiment is this:
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4:44 - 4:48Is it possible to have institutions in our country, universities,
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4:48 - 4:51where people from all backgrounds can come and learn
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4:51 - 4:54and learn to work together and learn to become leaders
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4:54 - 4:58and to support each other in that experience?
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4:58 - 5:03Now what is especially important about that experience for me is this:
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5:03 - 5:07We found that we could do a lot in the arts and humanities and social sciences.
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5:07 - 5:10And so we began to work on that, for years in the '60s.
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5:10 - 5:14And we produced a number of people in law, all the way to the humanities.
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5:14 - 5:16We produced great artists. Beckett is our muse.
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5:16 - 5:18A lot of our students get into theater.
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5:18 - 5:19It's great work.
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5:19 - 5:23The problem that we faced was the same problem America continues to face --
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5:23 - 5:25that students in the sciences and engineering,
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5:25 - 5:27black students were not succeeding.
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5:27 - 5:29But when I looked at the data,
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5:29 - 5:32what I found was that, quite frankly, students in general,
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5:32 - 5:34large numbers were not making it.
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5:34 - 5:36And as a result of that,
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5:36 - 5:39we decided to do something that would help, first of all,
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5:39 - 5:43the group at the bottom, African-American students, and then Hispanic students.
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5:43 - 5:48And Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, philanthropists, said, "We'd like to help."
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5:48 - 5:51Robert Meyerhoff said, "Why is it that everything I see on TV about black boys,
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5:51 - 5:54if it's not about basketball, is not positive?
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5:54 - 5:56I'd like to make a difference, to do something that's positive."
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5:56 - 6:00We married those ideas, and we created this Meyerhoff Scholars program.
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6:00 - 6:02And what is significant about the program
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6:02 - 6:05is that we learned a number of things.
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6:05 - 6:06And the question is this:
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6:06 - 6:10How is it that now we lead the country in producing African-Americans
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6:10 - 6:15who go on to complete Ph.D.'s in science and engineering and M.D./Ph.D.'s?
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6:15 - 6:18That's a big deal. Give me a hand for that. That's a big deal.
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6:18 - 6:20That's a big deal. It really is.
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6:20 - 6:23(Applause)
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6:23 - 6:25You see, most people don't realize
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6:25 - 6:29that it's not just minorities who don't do well in science and engineering.
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6:29 - 6:32Quite frankly, you're talking about Americans.
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6:32 - 6:36If you don't know it, while 20 percent of blacks and Hispanics
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6:36 - 6:38who begin with a major in science and engineering
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6:38 - 6:40will actually graduate in science and engineering,
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6:40 - 6:44only 32 percent of whites who begin with majors in those areas
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6:44 - 6:46actually succeed and graduate in those areas,
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6:46 - 6:49and only 42 percent of Asian-Americans.
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6:49 - 6:51And so, the real question is, what is the challenge?
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6:51 - 6:54Well a part of it, of course, is K-12.
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6:54 - 6:56We need to strengthen K-12.
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6:56 - 6:58But the other part has to do with the culture
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6:58 - 7:00of science and engineering on our campuses.
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7:00 - 7:04Whether you know it or not, large numbers of students with high SAT's
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7:04 - 7:06and large numbers of A.P. credits
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7:06 - 7:09who go to the most prestigious universities in our country
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7:09 - 7:13begin in pre-med or pre-engineering and engineering, and they end up changing their majors.
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7:13 - 7:16And the number one reason, we find, quite frankly,
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7:16 - 7:19is they did not do well in first year science courses.
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7:19 - 7:23In fact, we call first year science and engineering, typically around America,
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7:23 - 7:25weed-out courses or barrier courses.
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7:25 - 7:26How many of you in this audience know somebody
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7:26 - 7:28who started off in pre-med or engineering
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7:28 - 7:30and changed their major within a year or two?
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7:30 - 7:32It's an American challenge. Half of you in the room.
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7:32 - 7:33I know. I know. I know.
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7:33 - 7:35And what is interesting about that
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7:35 - 7:38is that so many students are smart and can do it.
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7:38 - 7:40We need to find ways of making it happen.
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7:40 - 7:43So what are the four things we did to help minority students
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7:43 - 7:44that now are helping students in general?
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7:44 - 7:46Number one: high expectations.
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7:46 - 7:51It takes an understanding of the academic preparation of students --
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7:51 - 7:53their grades, the rigor of the course work,
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7:53 - 7:56their test-taking skills, their attitude,
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7:56 - 7:58the fire in their belly, the passion for the work, to make it.
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7:58 - 8:03And so doing things to help students prepare to be in that position, very important.
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8:03 - 8:08But equally important, it takes an understanding that it's hard work that makes the difference.
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8:08 - 8:10I don't care how smart you are or how smart you think you are.
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8:10 - 8:13Smart simply means you're ready to learn.
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8:13 - 8:16You're excited about learning and you want to ask good questions.
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8:16 - 8:20I. I. Rabi, a Nobel laureate, said that when he was growing up in New York,
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8:20 - 8:23all of his friends' parents would ask them
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8:23 - 8:25"What did you learn in school?" at the end of a day.
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8:25 - 8:29And he said, in contrast, his Jewish mother would say,
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8:29 - 8:32"Izzy, did you ask a good question today?"
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8:32 - 8:35And so high expectations have to do with curiosity
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8:35 - 8:37and encouraging young people to be curious.
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8:37 - 8:39And as a result of those high expectations,
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8:39 - 8:41we began to find students we wanted to work with
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8:41 - 8:43to see what could we do to help them,
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8:43 - 8:45not simply to survive in science and engineering,
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8:45 - 8:48but to become the very best, to excel.
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8:48 - 8:50Interestingly enough, an example:
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8:50 - 8:55One young man who earned a C in the first course and wanted to go on to med school,
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8:55 - 8:57we said, "We need to have you retake the course,
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8:57 - 9:01because you need a strong foundation if you're going to move to the next level."
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9:01 - 9:04Every foundation makes the difference in the next level.
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9:04 - 9:05He retook the course.
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9:05 - 9:08That young man went on to graduate from UMBC,
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9:08 - 9:12to become the first black to get the M.D./Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
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9:12 - 9:13He now works at Harvard.
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9:13 - 9:15Nice story. Give him a hand for that too.
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9:15 - 9:18(Applause)
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9:18 - 9:20Secondly, it's not about test scores only.
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9:20 - 9:22Test scores are important, but they're not the most important thing.
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9:22 - 9:25One young woman had great grades, but test scores were not as high.
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9:25 - 9:27But she had a factor that was very important.
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9:27 - 9:31She never missed a day of school, K-12.
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9:31 - 9:32There was fire in that belly.
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9:32 - 9:36That young woman went on, and she is today with an M.D./Ph.D. from Hopkins.
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9:36 - 9:40She's on the faculty, tenure track in psychiatry, Ph.D. in neuroscience.
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9:40 - 9:45She and her adviser have a patent on a second use of Viagra for diabetes patients.
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9:45 - 9:48Big hand for her. Big hand for her.
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9:48 - 9:49(Applause)
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9:49 - 9:52And so high expectations, very important.
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9:52 - 9:55Secondly, the idea of building community among the students.
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9:55 - 9:57You all know that so often in science and engineering
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9:57 - 9:59we tend to think cutthroat.
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9:59 - 10:01Students are not taught to work in groups.
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10:01 - 10:03And that's what we work to do with that group
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10:03 - 10:05to get them to understand each other,
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10:05 - 10:07to build trust among them, to support each other,
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10:07 - 10:09to learn how to ask good questions,
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10:09 - 10:13but also to learn how to explain concepts with clarity.
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10:13 - 10:15As you know, it's one thing to earn an A yourself,
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10:15 - 10:17it's another thing to help someone else do well.
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10:17 - 10:21And so to feel that sense of responsibility makes all the difference in the world.
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10:21 - 10:24So building community among those students, very important.
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10:24 - 10:29Third, the idea of, it takes researchers to produce researchers.
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10:29 - 10:31Whether you're talking about artists producing artists
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10:31 - 10:34or you're talking about people getting into the social sciences,
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10:34 - 10:39whatever the discipline -- and especially in science and engineering, as in art, for example --
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10:39 - 10:42you need scientists to pull the students into the work.
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10:42 - 10:44And so our students are working in labs regularly.
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10:44 - 10:47And one great example that you'll appreciate:
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10:47 - 10:50During a snowstorm in Baltimore several years ago,
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10:50 - 10:53the guy on our campus with this Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant
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10:53 - 10:58literally came back to work in his lab after several days,
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10:58 - 11:01and all these students had refused to leave the lab.
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11:01 - 11:03They had food they had packed out.
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11:03 - 11:05They were in the lab working,
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11:05 - 11:09and they saw the work, not as schoolwork, but as their lives.
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11:09 - 11:10They knew they were working on AIDS research.
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11:10 - 11:14They were looking at this amazing protein design.
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11:14 - 11:18And what was interesting was each one of them focused on that work.
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11:18 - 11:20And he said, "It doesn't get any better than that."
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11:20 - 11:22And then finally, if you've got the community
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11:22 - 11:26and you've got the high expectations and you've got researchers producing researchers,
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11:26 - 11:29you have to have people who are willing as faculty
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11:29 - 11:32to get involved with those students, even in the classroom.
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11:32 - 11:34I'll never forget a faculty member calling the staff and saying,
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11:34 - 11:37"I've got this young man in class, a young black guy,
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11:37 - 11:40and he seems like he's just not excited about the work.
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11:40 - 11:42He's not taking notes. We need to talk to him."
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11:42 - 11:46What was significant was that the faculty member was observing every student
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11:46 - 11:49to understand who was really involved and who was not
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11:49 - 11:51and was saying, "Let me see how I can work with them.
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11:51 - 11:52Let me get the staff to help me out."
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11:52 - 11:54It was that connecting.
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11:54 - 11:58That young man today is actually a faculty member M.D./Ph.D. in neuroengineering at Duke.
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11:58 - 12:00Give him a big hand for that.
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12:00 - 12:02(Applause)
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12:02 - 12:07And so the significance is that we have now developed this model
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12:07 - 12:11that is helping us, not only finally with evaluation, assessing what works.
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12:11 - 12:14And what we learned was that we needed to think about redesigning courses.
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12:14 - 12:17And so we redesigned chemistry, we redesigned physics.
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12:17 - 12:20But now we are looking at redesigning the humanities and social sciences.
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12:20 - 12:23Because so many students are bored in class.
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12:23 - 12:24Do you know that?
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12:24 - 12:26Many students, K-12 and in universities,
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12:26 - 12:28don't want to just sit there and listen to somebody talk.
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12:28 - 12:30They need to be engaged.
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12:30 - 12:33And so we have done -- if you look at our website at the Chemistry Discovery Center,
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12:33 - 12:35you'll see people coming from all over the country
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12:35 - 12:38to look at how we are redesigning courses,
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12:38 - 12:41having an emphasis on collaboration, use of technology,
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12:41 - 12:45using problems out of our biotech companies on our campus,
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12:45 - 12:47and not giving students the theories,
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12:47 - 12:49but having them struggle with those theories.
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12:49 - 12:53And it's working so well that throughout our university system in Maryland,
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12:53 - 12:55more and more courses are being redesigned.
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12:55 - 12:56It's called academic innovation.
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12:56 - 12:58And what does all of that mean?
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12:58 - 13:00It means that now, not just in science and engineering,
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13:00 - 13:05we now have programs in the arts, in the humanities, in the social sciences,
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13:05 - 13:09in teacher education, even particularly for women in I.T.
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13:09 - 13:13If you don't know it, there's been a 79-percent decline
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13:13 - 13:17in the number of women majoring in computer science just since 2000.
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13:17 - 13:21And what I'm saying is that what will make the difference
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13:21 - 13:23will be building community among students,
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13:23 - 13:26telling young women, young minority students and students in general,
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13:26 - 13:27you can do this work.
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13:27 - 13:31And most important, giving them a chance to build that community
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13:31 - 13:33with faculty pulling them into the work
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13:33 - 13:35and our assessing what works and what does not work.
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13:35 - 13:39Most important, if a student has a sense of self,
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13:39 - 13:42it is amazing how the dreams and the values
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13:42 - 13:44can make all the difference in the world.
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13:44 - 13:48When I was a 12-year-old child in the jail in Birmingham,
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13:48 - 13:51I kept thinking, "I wonder what my future could be."
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13:51 - 13:57I had no idea that it was possible for this little black boy in Birmingham
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13:57 - 14:02to one day be president of a university that has students from 150 countries,
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14:02 - 14:04where students are not there just to survive,
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14:04 - 14:08where they love learning, where they enjoy being the best,
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14:08 - 14:11where they will one day change the world.
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14:11 - 14:14Aristotle said, "Excellence is never an accident.
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14:14 - 14:20It is the result of high intention, sincere effort and intelligent execution.
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14:20 - 14:24It represents the wisest option among many alternatives."
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14:24 - 14:26And then he said something that gives me goosebumps.
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14:26 - 14:32He said, "Choice, not chance, determines your destiny."
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14:32 - 14:40Choice, not chance, determines your destiny, dreams and values.
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14:40 - 14:41Thank you all very much.
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14:41 - 14:52(Applause)
- Title:
- 4 pillars of college success in science
- Speaker:
- Freeman Hrabowski
- Description:
-
At age 12, Freeman Hrabowski marched with Martin Luther King. Now he's president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where he works to create an environment that helps under-represented students -- specifically African-American, Latino and low-income learners -- get degrees in math and science. He shares the four pillars of UMBC's approach.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 15:10
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for 4 pillars of college success in science | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for 4 pillars of college success in science | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for 4 pillars of college success in science | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for 4 pillars of college success in science | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for 4 pillars of college success in science | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for 4 pillars of college success in science | ||
Timothy Covell edited English subtitles for 4 pillars of college success in science | ||
Timothy Covell added a translation |