A Proposal for Academic and Institutional Connections at USD

Created and Presented By: Jake Sanborn

Undergraduate at the University of San Diego

Why do we need a better Outreach program?

• There are clear discrepancies in terms of the quality of education American students of different racial backgrounds receive.

Inequality within the American Education System

• These discrepancies, in terms of the quality of education received by students of different racial backgrounds, can have severe consequences.
• While the majority of white and Asian students are likely to graduate high school, receiving at least a high school diploma, other groups of students (such as Hispanic, African American, or Native Americans) have a far lower chance of even graduating high school.
• The chances of students from these marginalized groups graduating (or even attending) college are automatically lower than their white or Asian counterparts.

Unequal Education as “Unintentional”, but Devastating

• Most educators do not go out of their way to harm their students, regardless of racial identities, gender, religious beliefs, or other identifying attributes.
• Rather, it is that educators “teach to certain students… not consciously” but as a matter of practice, which harms the educational opportunities of other students groups (Ochoa).
• In the case of one of the schools Ochoa visited, even faculty members are able to see that their colleagues “teach to the Asian [students]” at the school (Ochoa 25). Additionally, they blame the lack of success of Hispanic students on their “apathy” and the “lack of value” they and their parents put into their educations (Ochoa 44).
• There are, of course, exceptions to the above statement, but these are relatively few and far between.

The Parallel between the Worlds of Education and Catholicism

• Important parallels can be drawn between the inequality and exclusivity seen in the American Educational System and Catholicism in the United States.
• While the Catholic Church and American institutions of higher education have condemned racism, these systems have made few active efforts to enact change on a grand scale.
• Affirmative action policies in education
• “If preferences for minority students were eliminated, acceptance rates for Black and Hispanic students would be dramatically reduced.” (Espenshade & Radford, 345)
• Three statements on race and racism made by the Catholic Church
• “Discrimination and the Christian Conscience” (1958)
• “The National Race Crisis” (1968)
• “Brothers and Sisters to Us” (1979)
• Bryan Massingale offers critical reviews on all three statements

Student Body at the University of San Diego

What could be done at USD to address at least some societal issues?

• In a perfect world, colleges and universities would be open to everyone who wanted to attend them, regardless of socio-economic background, race, religion, or personal beliefs and cultural customs.
• Standardized testing would be extremely overhauled, so that no particular race has an easier time than others getting into colleges.
• Better yet, exams such as the SAT and ACT could be removed entirely and replaced by alternative, holistic means of determining whether or not students are a good fit for a particular university or institution.
• Affirmative action policies would be clearly structured into admission policies.
• In terms of religion, the works of Hispanic, African American, and Native American theologians should be showcased and utilized in the theological world.
• “By ignoring the theological and political reflections of blacks and other minorities in their churches and other contexts, white Catholics are saying that black and other poor people cannot think.” (Cone, 60)

In practicality...

• Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world.
• Rather, what I propose is a series of partnership programs between the individual departments at USD and high schools in San Diego County that would stand to benefit from such a pairing.
• This program will involve both faculty and students.
• Each department at USD will have a faculty committee made of volunteers, that will work with the Partnership Program
• Students will voluntarily enter the program as peer mentors and tutors, in whatever subjects they feel comfortable teaching

Partnership Program

• Partner schools will be selected based upon necessity, in that schools that demonstrate a clear need for academic assistance will be given priority.
• As an example, Garfield High School (whose exam scores are seen below) is a clear case of a high-need school

Partnership Program (continued)

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• As a comparison to Garfield High School, here are the results for Del Norte High School, which is ranked 39th out of 2,001 California high schools.

Forging Relationships and Connections within San Diego

• The goals of a partnership program ought to be fairly straightforward.
• The primary goal of the program is to offer direct academic support to the students who are most undeserved under the current educational system.
• This support will include: academic tutoring, free group or individual consultation sessions with USD Admissions Officers*, and the chance to meet with and learn from current USD students.

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* if the Admissions Office is willing to work with the program

If the program came to be implemented and was successful...

• Moving forwards, if this program were implemented at USD and it was successful in supporting local high school students and increasing their chances of succeeding at both the high school and college levels, I would like to see:
• USD make an effort to expand its program to other universities and institutions, to benefit local students across the country
• USD to continue to grow and expand its parent program to include more “partner” high schools

Thank you for your time!

Works Cited

• Cone, James H. Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black

Theology. Maryknoll, Orbis Books, 1986.

• Espenshade, Thomas J., and Alexandria W. Radford. No Longer Separate, Not

Yet Equal. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2009.

• Massingale, Bryan N. Racial Justice and the Catholic Church. New York, Orbis

Books, 2010.

• National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the

California Department of Education. Schooldigger, 2017.

• Ochoa, Gilda L. Academic Profiling: Latinos, Asian Americans, and the

Achievement Gap. Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

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