Fast or Far

As K-12 school folks, most of our metrics stop at high school graduation.  I have always tried to push back on this assertion and have actually done some pretty cool research on college matching and college persistence.  One study in particular afforded me the opportunity to partner with the University of Chicago’s Center for Data Science and Public Policy.  The premise for the research, and the question I wanted to answer, was are college-going students going to institutions of higher education that are likely of best fit.  What we found after analyzing tens of thousands of high school graduates was that aside from race disparity gender disparity loomed large.  In a nutshell, my team found that when comparing students of equal academic chops distinguished only by gender that males disproportionately enrolled in more selective universities than females.  This research I led was largely quantitative, so we weren’t trying to answer the why but rather evidence the what.  WHAT we found was when controlling for most variables and all things considered equal, gender was a significant determining factor in college choice.  I’ve written about this interest before and I hope to one day expand on my original study.

On that note, I began this entry with a different title originally and it themed on postsecondary pursuits.  Then I came across this African proverb that perfectly conveyed what I was hoping to describe:

If you want to go fast go alone.

If you want to go far go together.

I’m still complaining my way through going back to school myself and my last assignment involved defining equality, equity, and adequacy.  I didn’t particularly enjoy the assignment because I have some pretty strong opinions about all three constructs.  But what made for a nice reason to procrastinate was helping my first born complete all the necessary e-paperwork for college applications.  He’s a high school senior so we’re knee deep in the process and my strategy is to blitz apply to many and then slow down and review all options.  And I must confess it’s a bit of a rush working the sidelines on all the opportunities that exist – I’m a nervous wreck doing the mental math on every school option but I believe in process and planning and my experience reassures me that if I work both then things work out.    

If you want to go fast go alone.

If you want to go far go together.

Looking back I recognize that early in my career I definitely had my foot on the accelerator.  As I’ve reached some proficient level of “been there done that,” I still want to go fast but recognize I need to find ways to grow the momentum.  Ultimately, I suspect most of us do not change that much and I’m no exception.  But my hope is not so much that I go far because I have some well-earned travels under my belt but that my kids and your kids abandon the notion of doing circles around people and just run flat out straight aways while dragging the rest of us with them.  I hope they instinctively balance going fast while going far.  And I look forward to providing readers with updates next year from snow country, the desert, possibly gulf coast, maybe international, or even the armpit of America.  In the end my kids and your kids can go fast and far and likely keep us collectively still together.