Whole Stole the Crayons in Silicon Valley?

FourSquare's Tristan Walker on race & Silicon Valley @NPR

On Tuesdays I go to Dallas' best tech networking event, hands down. We talk about difficult stuff like mergers, Bitcoin banks and trend-lines in the world of entrepreneurship.  

Today, we got up close with an even more difficult topic--who stole the multi-colored Crayons from the coloring book that is high tech?  Where are women in the workforce? African Americans? Latinos?  Forget about hide and seek. It's more like "King of the Hill." Some folks get to the top. Others get pushed away. Why?

There was a polite intensity in the room, and a real sense that we need to talk more about this.  Not as academics, not as politicians, but as the real people who create companies, hire staff and make actual decisions to either mentor or ignore talented up and comers.  The stats are pretty grim.  Three percent of Silicon Valley engineers are Latino and only two percent African American.  And women, over 70% of whom express interest in STEM during middle school...less then half of one percent study computer science.  Of all engineers, only 12% are women.

In the last few weeks, there has been a geyser of coverage about race in Tech.  From the American Society for Engineering Education, to Fast Company to NPR-Morning Edition's profile of Tristan Walker, the heat is on about race in the Valley.  The bottom line is that young talent gets into tech when people see role models from their own communities and when people reach out to mentor others.  No big initiatives, programs or grants will be as impactful as your contribution.  

The takeaway?  If you really believe in the values of tech and entrepreneurship, then start by disrupting what you see every day.  Upside for entrepreneurs?  More talent.  More human resources.  More intellectual and social capital under your roof or in your shop. Ready to be that change?

Allen Selis, Founding Director  
Tech EdVentures

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Tech EdVentures brings STEM skills to children in grades K-8.
We're committed to disrupting the world, one young inventor at a time!

Would Schools Please Stop Killing Creativity?

On my way to teaching a group of 7th graders today, I overheard the math teacher lecturing his/her kids.  Quote:

"Would you please stop running your own probability simulations on the calculators?  It messes up the settings and makes it harder to set up for my next class."

Friends, this is what's wrong with schools.  We're too task-centered, too worried about losing pace and not excited enough to let kids drive the action.  

Those of us who study schools believe that the power of schooling to shape attitudes is even greater than its ability to convey knowledge. The takeaway from this class was "don't think too much. Just follow directions!" I am a fan of traditional schooling when it's done well.  But done poorly, it's a mess.  Please, teachers, let your kids hack.  Let them invent. Let them guide the learning flow.  And by all means, jump for joy when they decide to run their own probability simulations on the TI Calcs, OK?  

Allen Selis, Founding Director  
Tech EdVentures

Like what you see?  
Then like us on Facebook, too!

Tech EdVentures brings STEM skills to children in grades K-8.
We're committed to disrupting the world, one young inventor at a time!