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spotlight: Spreading the word worldwide: MIT bloggers post about poverty | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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In honor of Blog Action Day, thousands of bloggers all over the world are coming together to blog on the topic of poverty. At MIT, there are many initiatives to address poverty worldwide from the Poverty Action Lab run by faculty member Esther Duflo to the student-run Global Poverty Initiative, organizers of Poverty Week, October 18-24. Read on to learn more about the ways MIT is tackling poverty around the world. From the blogs Our nation's greatest injustice by Laura N. '09 My hometown is a real-world manifestation of the phrase "the wrong side of the tracks." In fact, I'm from the wrong side of TWO tracks. These experiences have really driven home to me, in a pretty personal way, the very real effect that socioeconomic status has on...everything. How you grow up, your childhood experiences, your worldview, and most importantly, your educational opportunities. Well, it turns out that I'm not the only person to notice these patterns. Wendy Kopp noticed it too, so she started Teach for America, an organization which recruits top students from prestigious universities and hires them to work as teachers in low income communities. Teach for America considers educational inequality "our nation's greatest injustice." That's a pretty hefty statement, but I have to agree that it's pretty bogus that despite all of our claims to be a land of opportunity, we have a long way to go for true equality. (read more) Posted Oct. 15, 4:40 pm The Global Poverty Initiative by Shannon M. '12 The MIT Global Poverty Initiative operates under the goal that WE can be the generation that eliminates poverty. Last March GPI hosted the Millennium Campus Conference, which drew over 1,000 people from all over the world to MIT and keynote speakers such as Henrietta Fore (Administrator of USAID) and Senator John Edwards. That's impressive. Let's be honest. (read more) Posted Oct. 15, 4:30 pm Introduction to D-Lab by Paul B. '11 When most people I know think of MIT, the first thing that leaps to mind is almost always computer science, physics or some other aspect of science and engineering. International development isn't exactly something MIT is world-renowned for. Yet. But there's a dedicated cadre of people at MIT dedicated to changing that perception - and their numbers are growing. Whether your passion is combating poverty or improving healthcare in Third World countries, MIT is pushing international development forward on pretty much every level, from fostering student groups and Institute initiatives to creating more classes and UROPs dedicated to these issues. (read more) Posted Oct. 15, 11 am How GPI took over my life by Kathy Li '10 I've always been interested in 'helping the poor in Africa' in a very abstract way, but it wasn't until I came to MIT that I realized that I could really make a difference in the developing world. And not really make a difference 30 years from now, or after med school, or even after college, but really make a difference NOW. (read more) Posted Oct. 15, 1 am Not my college essay by Yan '12 Though it may sound as if we spend our nights complaining about problem sets, the average MIT student is conscious of complex problems that don't involve taking a triple integral. For starters, there's D-Lab, a trilogy of courses coupled with field trips to developing countries over IAP that allow students to study and design technology for developing communities in countries such as Haiti, India, Brazil, Honduras, Zambia, Samoa and Lesotho. On the research front, there's also the Jameel Poverty Action Lab, which investigates problems in health care, education, social roles, economics and just about everything else related to poverty. I'd be a terrible excuse for a blogger if I didn't throw in a word or twelve about Alia Whitney-Johnson '08, an MIT graduate who started her own non-profit organization to teach economically valuable skills to help young mothers in Sri Lanka. (read more) Posted Oct. 15, 12 am Humanitarian Work At MIT The Humanitarian Blog was started by Ali Wyne '08, who wished to launch a corner of the MIT Admissions blogosphere devoted to the many people at MIT who are working to change the plight of the world's impoverished - whether by war or famine or disease or any of the other myriad ills that afflict so many. Each post profiles someone who's doing amazing humanitarian work at MIT. Also check out America in the World: MIT Speaks (pdf) a booklet of 25 essays by MIT students describing what they think the United States must do to make the world a better place in 2008. (read more) Public Service Center blogs Public Service Fellow Kendra Johnson '09 is working with the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Fellows Jodie Wu '09 and Ke Zhang '10 are in Tanzania. Videos News MIT: In the World is a series exploring the ways people from MIT are using technology--from the appropriately simple to the cutting-edge--to meet the needs of local people in places around the planet. Courses and more Add your voice If you are a member of the MIT community and would like a link to your blog post on the topic of poverty for Blog Action Day, email spotlight@mit.edu with a link to your blog and your MIT affiliation to have it considered for inclusion. |
 Muhammad Yunus: 2008 Commencement address (text and audio)
 Esther Duflo: helping the world's poor
 America in the World (pdf) 25 student essays capture how to make the world a better place in 2008
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