scholarly journals Can role models help encourage young people to apply to (selective) universities? Evidence from a large scale English field experiment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sanders ◽  
Raj Chande ◽  
Eliza Kozman ◽  
Tim Leunig
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
British Government ◽  
School Students ◽  
Selective University ◽  
Selective Universities ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Tuition Costs

Abstract Under-participation in selective universities lowers social mobility in England, the United States, and elsewhere. English universities have standardized tuition costs, and strongly heterogeneous graduate earnings. Attending a selective university is therefore strongly incentivized, yet under-participation is extensive. The British Government sent 11,104 “nudge” letters to school students whose prior attainment made them competitive for entry into selective universities, urging them to consider that option. We evaluate this RCT and find it effective at raising the number of students who apply to, and accept offers from, selective universities. We find the cost to be low relative to outcomes.

The Cost of Disbelief: Fracturing News Ecosystems in an Age of Rampant Media Cynicism

2020 ◽  
pp. 000276422097847
Author(s):  
Paul Mihailidis ◽  
Bobbie Foster
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Local News ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Civic Mindedness

In the United States, and around the world, journalism and public information exist across broken media architectures. Citizens are at the mercy of those eager to take advantage of platform infrastructures in which access, quality, and diversity varies so wildly. Increasingly, politicians are taking advantage of these platform architectures to position people against one another. The result is a fracturing of belief, where truths splinter and trust erodes. Our digital environments are at the center of this fracturing, and our social and civic cohesion is at risk. What has resulted is a rampant cynicism, which is reflected in an intentional disengagement from the information infrastructures that provide civic cohesion. This is buoyed by an erosion of local news environments, which has further disconnected communities or forced them to rely on large scale digital media companies. This article will detail three areas eroding public trust and engagement— distributed propaganda, hijacking of local news, and reifying polarization—and their contributions to growing cynicism toward our current civic and political environments. It will unpack the frame of cynicism to articulate a lack of willingness to participate in civic processes that are seen as inclusive and reach beyond differences. The essay will pivot to the concept of civic-mindedness to promote an approach to combat the cynicism that has engulfed our political and civic infrastructures.

Gender Differences in Defining Technology

2011 ◽  
pp. 528-534
Author(s):  
Mari W. Buche
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Past ◽  
Skills Shortage ◽  
Definition Of

There is an alarming trend in the information technology (IT) career field: fewer women than in the past are entering the IT educational pipeline (Camp, 1997; Cukier, Shortt, & Devine, 2002; Whitaker, 2000; Woszczynski, Myers & Beise, 2004). Researchers have discovered a number of possible causes for this dearth including lack of female role models (Ahuja, 2002; Trauth, 2002), the “nerd” image (Braham, 1992; Menagh, 1998; Van Brussel, 1992), and family distractions (Ahuja, 2002; Trauth, 2002). With approximately 50% of the general workforce comprised of women in the United States, this statistic is alarming. At the same time, the IT skills shortage is rapidly becoming a global concern (Cukier et al., 2002; Trauth, 2002; Verton, 2004). The message is clear: something radical needs to be done now to attract and retain qualified, talented women to the IT field. The general understanding of IT can be seen as an obstacle to attracting job candidates. When junior and senior high school students were asked about their perceptions of IT workers, the majority responded with terms like “weird”, “nerd”, and “geek (Menagh, 1998; Van Brussel, 1992). The derogatory tone is unmistakable since socialization practices of young girls influence their career choices long before they enter universities (Ahuja, 2002). The basic definition of IT learned through industry and government agencies invokes the areas of computer science and engineering (Cukier et al., 2002). The lack of a concise definition of IT precludes development of a deeper understanding of the problem (Woszczynski et al., 2004). In the past, technology workers have been required to possess strong mathematical and technical skills to create algorithms and to program in tedious computer languages (Weinberg, 1971). This practice ignores the multidimensional nature of IT work. Many workers enter the IT field through paths other than computer science or engineering education programs. So, why is the definition of IT so narrowly focused on these two areas? The purpose of this article is to explore the influence of gender on perceptions of technology. Next, relevant literature from the information systems field is reviewed, followed by a comparison of definitions found in academic articles, textbooks, and practitioner journals. The next section describes the methods and results of a 2004 study on definitions of technology of undergraduate students (Buche, 2005). Themes extracted from their definitions are compared based on gender. Following the results, a first attempt at a gender-sensitive definition is proposed. The article ends with future trends and conclusions for managers and academics.

Mini-medical school programs decrease perceived barriers of pursuing medical careers among underrepresented minority high school students

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abraham Abdulrazzak ◽  
Andrew Chandler ◽  
Rosemary Lu ◽  
Olivia Mobarakai ◽  
Bryan Lebron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Healthcare Disparities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Perceived Barriers ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
School Students ◽  
School Programs

Abstract Context The percent of underrepresented minority (URM) students who apply to medical school has changed minimally in the past 40 years. Due to the lack of URM applicants, the consequent matriculation of URMs is grossly disproportionate from their percent representation of the US population. Increasing diversity among medical students and physicians has previously been identified as essential to decreasing healthcare disparities among US minorities. Objectives The objective of our study was to recognize the barriers of applying to medical school among URMs in high school. Methods To identify and assess the prevalence of barriers, surveys were distributed to participants of Med-Achieve, a mini-medical school program of diverse high school students in New York City during the 2019–2020 academic year. Results Among students who will be first in their immediate family to attend college, 80.0% perceived a barrier to pursuing medical school. Specified barriers indicated include the cost of medical school (77%), a lack of guidance/role models (53.9%), and the predicted inability to do well in medical school classes (53.9%). At the end of the program, a statistically significant reduction in the barrier of lack of guidance/role models was seen. Conclusions This study highlights the benefit of mini-medical school programs, especially programs with a mentoring component, to decrease the perceived barriers of applying to medical school among URMs. It also suggests the potential role of similar programs to increase diversity in medicine and to decrease healthcare disparities among minorities in the United States.

scholarly journals From Imagined to In-Practice and Performed STEM Identities: Measuring the Impact of a Latina STEM Fellowship on the Educational Trajectories of Latina High School Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-139
Author(s):  
Steve Daniel Przymus ◽  
David Sparks ◽  
Sofia Garcia ◽  
Allison Silveus ◽  
Cassandra Cartmill
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Place Identity ◽  
School Students ◽  
Educational Trajectories ◽  
The Impact

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational camps and fellowships that specifically target underrepresented populations in STEM fields, such as Latinas, have become more common place across the United States. In this article, we analyze multimodal ways of representing, opportunities, and role-models present at these camps, which together assemble an environment that uplifts participants with greater knowledge about possible STEM educational/career pathways and develops within participants an identity as future STEM professionals. We place identity and the power of imagination front and center in our study and through a multimodal systemic functional linguistics approach (Przymus et al., 2020), we analyze the experience of six Latina high school students and document all meaning-making textual interactions that moved these Latina STEM Fellowship (LSF) participants from imagined to in- practice and performed STEM identities. Results indicate that participants are deeply aware of the stereotype threat and identity contingencies that face Latinas in STEM careers, but that interacting with other high school Latina peers and with accomplished Latina scientists at the LSF worked to counteract these challenges and discourses of deficit.

Casualties and the Concept of Grandness

2021 ◽  
pp. 427-446
Author(s):  
Mary L. Dudziak
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The United States ◽  
Grand Strategy ◽  
The World ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Broad Theory ◽  
Cost Of War ◽  
The Cost

This chapter reflects on the Korean War, considering how casualties affect American perceptions of the cost of war. It was the first large-scale overseas US war that was not declared or authorized by Congress, and the war's greatest impact was on Korean civilians. Using the example of Korean War casualties, the chapter explores the tension between the idea of “grandness” in grand strategy and the importance of granular, concrete consequences. The “grandness” of grand strategy relates both to the scale of strategizing and to the ideas that inform it. For American policymakers, it proceeds from a broad theory of the United States’ role in the world. On the ground, however, a strategy can result in mass death. Therefore, an understanding of the concrete human experience of the use of force should be firmly incorporated into grand strategy—both the practice and the pedagogy.

scholarly journals AN INTERVIEW WITH FRANCO MODIGLIANI

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Barnett ◽  
Robert Solow
Keyword(s):  
Federal Reserve ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Board Of Governors ◽  
Espresso Coffee ◽  
Investment Capital ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Franco Modigliani's contributions in economics and finance have transformed both fields. Although many other major contributions in those fields have come and gone, Modigliani's contributions seem to grow in importance with time. His famous 1944 article on liquidity preference has not only remained required reading for generations of Keynesian economists but has become part of the vocabulary of all economists. The implications of the life-cycle hypothesis of consumption and saving provided the primary motivation for the incorporation of finite lifetime models into macroeconomics and had a seminal role in the growth in macroeconomics of the overlapping generations approach to modeling of Allais, Samuelson, and Diamond. Modigliani and Miller's work on the cost of capital transformed corporate finance and deeply influenced subsequent research on investment, capital asset pricing, and recent research on derivatives. Modigliani received the Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics in 1985.In macroeconomic policy, Modigliani has remained influential on two continents. In the United States, he played a central role in the creation of a the Federal Reserve System's large-scale quarterly macroeconometric model, and he frequently participated in the semiannual meetings of academic consultants to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C. His visibility in European policy matters is most evident in Italy, where nearly everyone seems to know him as a celebrity, from his frequent appearances in the media. In the rest of Europe, his visibility has been enhanced by his publication, with a group of distinguished European and American economists, of “An Economists' Manifesto on Unemployment in the European Union,” which was signed by a number of famous economists and endorsed by several others.This interview was conducted in two parts on different dates in two different locations, and later unified. The initial interview was conducted by Robert Solow at Modigliani's vacation home in Martha's Vineyard. Following the transcription of the tape from that interview, the rest of the interview was conducted by William Barnett in Modigliani's apartment on the top floor of a high-rise building overlooking the Charles River near Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Those concluding parts of the interview in Cambridge continued for the two days of November 5–6, 1999 with breaks for lunch and for the excellent espresso coffee prepared by Modigliani in an elaborate machine that would be owned only by someone who takes fine coffee seriously.Although the impact that Modigliani has had on the economics and finance professions is clear to all members of those professions, only his students can understand the inspiration that he has provided to them. However, that may have been adequately reflected by Robert Shiller at Yale University in correspondence regarding this interview, when he referred to Modigliani as: “my hero.”

Clearance of Bulk Materials From Decommissioning Projects: Regulatory and Cost Issues

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Devgun ◽  
D. Demoss ◽  
S. Raupp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
National Level ◽  
Nuclear Regulatory Commission ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nuclear Facilities ◽  
Bulk Materials ◽  
Solid Materials ◽  
The Cost

Decommissioning of nuclear facilities requires management of bulk materials on a large scale. Clearance (also called “free release”) is an essential part of material management and is necessary to reduce the amount of radioactive waste generated. Cleared materials can either be recycled for other use or disposed of as conventional waste. While guidance for decommissioning of reactors in the United States is well established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and License Termination criteria as codified in 10 CFR 20 Subpart E are applied, there is no specific criteria or detailed guidance for the clearance of solid materials. The issue has been around for over three decades. The approach taken by the NRC is still on a case by case basis. In contrast, the guidance at the international scene is more detailed and clearance of solid materials (for recycling or disposition) from the decommissioning of nuclear facilities is regularly practiced in European countries (such as, Sweden, Belgium and Germany). The cost of disposal of bulk materials from decommissioning, such as demolition debris that may or may not be contaminated, as radioactive waste is prohibitive. A path to free release under some criteria is necessary. It is not a question of radiological safety since there is consensus on extremely low dose criteria and these are accepted at the international level. It is rather, an issue of regulatory void in the United States where clarity and explicit guidance at the national level is pending. This paper provides an overview of national and international guidance and regulatory developments for the clearance of solid materials from nuclear decommissioning projects including dose risk based methodologies. It will summarize the cost dimension of the issue and the field experience gained from the Big Rock Point decommissioning project.

Profit and duty in the Second Bank of the United States' exchange operations

2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
JANE KNODELL
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Westward Expansion ◽  
International Payment ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Market Niche ◽  
The Cost

The Second Bank of the United States (1816–36) faced a potential trade-off between the private profits it was expected to produce for shareholders and the ‘free’ yet costly fiscal services it was mandated to provide to the Federal government during an era of westward expansion and primitive transportation networks. This article shows that the bank's large-scale dealings in domestic and foreign exchange transformed this potential trade-off into a positive synergy between the bank's private and public obligations. The bank was financially successful because it found a market niche – the provision of interregional and international payment services – whose exploitation had the added virtue of reducing the cost to the bank of being the Treasury's fiscal agent.

A Family With Autosomal-Dominant Progressive Sensorineural Hearing Loss

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Halpin ◽  
Barbara Herrmann ◽  
Margaret Whearty
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
The Family ◽  
Patient Will ◽  
Language Pathology

The family described in this article provides an unusual opportunity to relate findings from genetic, histological, electrophysiological, psychophysical, and rehabilitative investigation. Although the total number evaluated is large (49), the known, living affected population is smaller (14), and these are spread from age 20 to age 59. As a result, the findings described above are those of a large-scale case study. Clearly, more data will be available through longitudinal study of the individuals documented in the course of this investigation but, given the slow nature of the progression in this disease, such studies will be undertaken after an interval of several years. The general picture presented to the audiologist who must rehabilitate these cases is that of a progressive cochlear degeneration that affects only thresholds at first, and then rapidly diminishes speech intelligibility. The expected result is that, after normal language development, the patient may accept hearing aids well, encouraged by the support of the family. Performance and satisfaction with the hearing aids is good, until the onset of the speech intelligibility loss, at which time the patient will encounter serious difficulties and may reject hearing aids as unhelpful. As the histological and electrophysiological results indicate, however, the eighth nerve remains viable, especially in the younger affected members, and success with cochlear implantation may be expected. Audiologic counseling efforts are aided by the presence of role models and support from the other affected members of the family. Speech-language pathology services were not considered important by the members of this family since their speech production developed normally and has remained very good. Self-correction of speech was supported by hearing aids and cochlear implants (Case 5’s speech production was documented in Perkell, Lane, Svirsky, & Webster, 1992). These patients received genetic counseling and, due to the high penetrance of the disease, exhibited serious concerns regarding future generations and the hope of a cure.

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