Tufts Emerging Black Leaders (EBL) on Saturday held its eighth annual symposium in Cabot Auditorium, titled "The Dream Unfulfilled: The Myth of Meritocracy," with panels and performances addressing the issues of meritocracy, or the lack thereof, in American society.
The event was attended by students, professors and alumni, while the speakers represented fields such as education, psychology, business, government and activism.
The choice of meritocracy as this year's focus was a near?inevitable one, according to Co?President of EBL Jessica Wilson.
"It just came to this," she said. "Everything related back to meritocracy."
Meritocracy is a problem for more than just the black community, according to Wilson, a sophomore.
"Meritocracy doesn't just affect the black community, it affects each and every one of us," she said. "To be honest with you, everyone on campus should be in this room today."
Many panelists, including Rodney Glasgow, the director of diversity and community relations and dean of students at Worcester Academy, chose to focus on the disadvantages that keep many members of the black community from achieving the "American dream."
"To be a descendent of slaves in this country is to be a descendent of those who didn't have the right to learn," he said.
Glasgow emphasized that the idea of America as a meritocracy is unrealistic.
"We are a country that wants to believe we're in a meritocracy so ... we don't have to change anything," he said.
He explained that the environment and a person's family contribute to the odds that they will come out on top.
"Money affords them that opportunity, the right neighborhood affords them that opportunity," Glasgow said. "Nobody gets there by their own success."
John Belcher, a project leader and professional development specialist in the Numeracy Projects program at Technical Education Research Centers, Inc. based in Cambridge, agreed with Glasgow's assessment.
"There's that reality of different people starting at different places, with different assets," he said. "The rules are different for the economic and political elite."
Even if students are provided with a strong education, it is often still hard to convince them that they can achieve, according to Jada Golden, a primary school teacher in the Boston public school system.
"Meritocracy plays a negative effect in the classroom," she said. "Subconsciously, even, my students believe that they're not as good."
Golden said that from her observations, she believes young, black male students have it the hardest in the public education system, where play and other activities that "build resiliency in children" are often left out of the curriculum in favor of test score?focused learning.
Christopher Seeley, the high school division director at Trevor Day School in New York, argued that it is possible to work with a mandated curriculum but still help students achieve in their own way and remain true to themselves.
"We have to recognize that we do have to prepare students for standards," he said.
He also emphasized that his work in private schools and the privileged status of many attending the symposium did not mean they should feel bad that they have achieved what many cannot.
"We shouldn't feel guilty," Seeley said. "The question is, what are we going to do with [our success]?"
One suggestion Wilson made for helping people feel they can be successful is coming to terms with their identities.
"People need to find their space of self?empowerment," she said. "No one can take that from you."
The symposium was rounded out with several musical and spoken performances, including a recital of Margaret Walker's "For My People" by Amber Johnson, a freshman who won the 2010 national Poetry Out Loud competition with the poem.
The students who organized the event, as well as those in attendance, served as a positive sign of things to come for Glasgow.
"To be in the presence of all these young people who are going to take things to the next level is amazing," he said.
