This year’s education-themed program is situated in Stanford’s backyard of East Palo Alto and the surrounding Bay Area, including Sacramento. We will explore educational justice and what that looks like across education systems in these communities, and what justice looks like in practice. In 1848, education reformer Horace Mann wrote to the Massachusetts State Board of Education that “Education...beyond all other devices of human origin, is a great equalizer of conditions of men—the balance wheel of the social machinery.” As students at Stanford University, what responsibility do we hold to that claim, and how do we turn that responsibility into action?
Decades ago, 65% of East Palo Alto students dropped out of high school, and fewer than 4% went on to earn a four-year degree. Schools like Eastside College Prep escalated the number to over 99% accepting colleges. We hope to understand what that means to the understanding of justice and how we can engage meaningfully in existing education challenges.