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Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

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Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#21

Post by rayiner »

eric4smith wrote: post #18

Why are we expecting these companies (or anyone) to fix all problems. The fix is simple. Focus on your own home and yourself first. Teach your kids more at home. Be more involved with them. Teach them to take responsibility. Don’t do silly degrees that cost huge student loans. Do more STEM. Start a small business. Eat better food. Exercise. Sure there is systemic stuff out there - but it’s 2021 and you have a choice…

> Teach your kids more at home. Be more involved with them. Teach them to take responsibility. Don’t do silly degrees that cost huge student loans. Do more STEM. Start a small business. Eat better food. Exercise.

This is literally the ethos of HBCUs, which graduate a disproportionate share of Black STEM majors. The point of the article is that Google is ignoring HBCU candidates.

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#22

Post by devwastaken »

bko wrote: post #7
ForHackernews wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The idea that Google can fix "racial diversity in tech" is absurd at best. These are deeply rooted systemic issues that need to be addressed from the ground up. I don't disagree with the substance of your comment, but it's worth pointing out that Alphabet is a company with a $1,416,000,000,000 market cap. If any non-governmental entity could be said to have the resources to address "systemic issues" at the root, it…

Do you really want a giant multinationals addressing issues normally handled by the state? Do you really want google to be so involved in education and housing? Is that's whats wrong with our politics, not enough corporate influence? I just want google to provide me reasonable search results, respect my privacy and follow all applicable laws.

The private market is exactly who should be funding higher education. Federal government funding has resulted in significant inflation of costs and poor quality of administration and instructors. Education that does not meet the market should fail and be replaced.

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#23

Post by mkoubaa »

yostrovs wrote: post #14
rayiner wrote: post #11

Some more context: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/business/google-hbcus/index.h... . The allegations about Google discriminating against graduates of HBCUs are deeply troubling. For historical, cultural, and political reasons, HBCU’s are a cornerstone of both economic mobility for lower income Black people, as well as the maintenance of economic and social capital among upper income Black people: https://cmsi.gse.rut…

I would probably be hesitant to hire someone from an HBCU because I would think that being immersed in an environment of only certain kind of persons makes you ill adapted to deal with the variety you'll find in the wider world. Also, when an institution defines itself by some characteristic like color, to me it signals that academics is not its primary concern. HBCUs had an important purpose at one time, but today b…

Hbcus routinely admit non black students

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#24

Post by vvG94KbDUtRa »

rayiner wrote: post #21
eric4smith wrote: post #18

Why are we expecting these companies (or anyone) to fix all problems. The fix is simple. Focus on your own home and yourself first. Teach your kids more at home. Be more involved with them. Teach them to take responsibility. Don’t do silly degrees that cost huge student loans. Do more STEM. Start a small business. Eat better food. Exercise. Sure there is systemic stuff out there - but it’s 2021 and you have a choice…

> Teach your kids more at home. Be more involved with them. Teach them to take responsibility. Don’t do silly degrees that cost huge student loans. Do more STEM. Start a small business. Eat better food. Exercise. This is literally the ethos of HBCUs, which graduate a disproportionate share of Black STEM majors. The point of the article is that Google is ignoring HBCU candidates.

No the point of the article is they didn't hold them in the same esteem as Harvard and Stanford. Which seems...fine?

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#25

Post by ForHackernews »

vvG94KbDUtRa wrote: post #24
rayiner wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Teach your kids more at home. Be more involved with them. Teach them to take responsibility. Don’t do silly degrees that cost huge student loans. Do more STEM. Start a small business. Eat better food. Exercise. This is literally the ethos of HBCUs, which graduate a disproportionate share of Black STEM majors. The point of the article is that Google is ignoring HBCU candidates.

No the point of the article is they didn't hold them in the same esteem as Harvard and Stanford. Which seems...fine?

That's not what the article said: It said they considered them "long-tail" institutions (below even state schools) that they basically wouldn't hire from.

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#26

Post by yostrovs »

rayiner wrote: post #17
yostrovs wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would probably be hesitant to hire someone from an HBCU because I would think that being immersed in an environment of only certain kind of persons makes you ill adapted to deal with the variety you'll find in the wider world. Also, when an institution defines itself by some characteristic like color, to me it signals that academics is not its primary concern. HBCUs had an important purpose at one time, but today b…

I quite disagree, but it’s fair to say that the issue of how to close gaps between Black and white people is a complicated one with no clear answers. What’s more important here is that lots of affluent Black people disagree with you—and therefore attend and send their kids to HBCUs. If Google, etc., want to recruit more Black people, the answer can’t be to overlook HBCUs based on conclusions about whether “they remai…

Companies like Google can afford to hire the best. They do that by getting people from top end CS schools like Stanford, CMU, Berkeley and other relevant schools for non CS work. HBCUs are simply not in the top tier and don't produce developers that will be worth $200,000 a year. It's not because they're black colleges but because they're not in the top 1 percent.

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#27

Post by endisneigh »

yostrovs wrote: post #14
rayiner wrote: post #11

Some more context: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/business/google-hbcus/index.h... . The allegations about Google discriminating against graduates of HBCUs are deeply troubling. For historical, cultural, and political reasons, HBCU’s are a cornerstone of both economic mobility for lower income Black people, as well as the maintenance of economic and social capital among upper income Black people: https://cmsi.gse.rut…

I would probably be hesitant to hire someone from an HBCU because I would think that being immersed in an environment of only certain kind of persons makes you ill adapted to deal with the variety you'll find in the wider world. Also, when an institution defines itself by some characteristic like color, to me it signals that academics is not its primary concern. HBCUs had an important purpose at one time, but today b…

I assume you would also be hesitant to hire someone who went to a school like Wellesley then, as well?

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#28

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

tetromino_ wrote: post #15
eznzt wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The fact is, it's 2021 and people should care about what they do with their themselves, their family and their community first. And stop waiting for [... some other entity ...] to fix their problems. From the other day: https://foxbaltimore.com/news/project-baltimore/city-student... >"He didn't fail, the school failed him. The school failed at their job. They failed. They failed, that's the problem here. They failed…

The article says that the kid was absent or late for 272 days in 3 years. That's over 50% of school days. Regardless of whether the school had made the mandated phone call about absence issues to the kid's mother, "the school failed him" would not be the first phrase I would use to describe the situation. It's possible that the school did fail him; maybe he was bullied and going to school was unbearable! But if that…

An important reason it's a school failure story is that the 0.13 GPA all those absences earned him was 50th percentile (!!) at the school. In some sense the guy should have gone to class, but he's an impressionable high schooler, and it seems clear the school was setting an expectation that you don't really have to.

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#29

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

yostrovs wrote: post #26
rayiner wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I quite disagree, but it’s fair to say that the issue of how to close gaps between Black and white people is a complicated one with no clear answers. What’s more important here is that lots of affluent Black people disagree with you—and therefore attend and send their kids to HBCUs. If Google, etc., want to recruit more Black people, the answer can’t be to overlook HBCUs based on conclusions about whether “they remai…

Companies like Google can afford to hire the best. They do that by getting people from top end CS schools like Stanford, CMU, Berkeley and other relevant schools for non CS work. HBCUs are simply not in the top tier and don't produce developers that will be worth $200,000 a year. It's not because they're black colleges but because they're not in the top 1 percent.

Is Stanford the best school in and of itself, or do most of the value come from the selection itself?

Re: Google’s approach to Black schools explains why there's few Black engs in Tech

#30

Post by eric4smith »

rayiner wrote: post #21
eric4smith wrote: post #18

Why are we expecting these companies (or anyone) to fix all problems. The fix is simple. Focus on your own home and yourself first. Teach your kids more at home. Be more involved with them. Teach them to take responsibility. Don’t do silly degrees that cost huge student loans. Do more STEM. Start a small business. Eat better food. Exercise. Sure there is systemic stuff out there - but it’s 2021 and you have a choice…

> Teach your kids more at home. Be more involved with them. Teach them to take responsibility. Don’t do silly degrees that cost huge student loans. Do more STEM. Start a small business. Eat better food. Exercise. This is literally the ethos of HBCUs, which graduate a disproportionate share of Black STEM majors. The point of the article is that Google is ignoring HBCU candidates.

The teach at home thing - that’s what people need to do looooong before college.

That being the ethos of HBCU’s is already too late.

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