4 ms·
Should Dev Bootcamp scholarships help classes besides race and gender identity?
Dev Bootcamp is offering $425k in scholarship money (in ~$12k chunks) to these classes:
- Veterans
- Anyone who identifies as female or non-male
- Anyone who identified as an ethnic minority group underrepresented in tech (African American, Chicano/Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander)
See http://devbootcamp.com/tuition/
This is a really cool initiative, but it feels weird to me that a bunch of protected classes are left out: religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, etc.
For example, "median earnings for people with no disability were over $28,000 compared to the $17,000 median income reported for individuals with a disability" [1] according to the 2006 census. And gay men earn 10% to 32% less [2] than heterosexual men.
Should Dev Bootcamp's new scholarships include other classes? Or is it better to just focus on race and gender identity as a "first step"? Why?
----
sources:
[1]: http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-disability.aspx
[2]: http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Badgett-Sears-Lau-Ho-Bias-in-the-Workplace-Jun-2007.pdf
- feybay 12y agoWell, I guess it's time for me to identify as a non-jew just long enough to pick up some easy cash! Seriously, how does this strike anybody as acceptable? For example, imagine if there was a prize in college that was available to everybody but degenerate Germans. People would be upset, and rightly so.
- proveanegative 12y agoHave you tried contacting Dev Bootcamp for comment?
- aaronbrager 12y agoI'll send them an email now and post a response if I get it.
- panorama 12y ago1. As a function of population count, women and people of color are significantly under-represented in engineering. This is DBC's way of making those numbers better, and they're doing a good job (each cohort seems to have a better-than-industry-average ratio). 2. They don't have to offer scholarships at all -- not every bootcamp offers scholarships, why not hold _those_ schools to a higher standard?
- aaronbrager 12y ago1. I know this is true anecdotally, but are there data to back this up? Is any information available about these other classes? 2. It's not my goal to hold anyone to a specific standard or complain, just to explore what the best scholarship approach is.
- panorama 12y agoWhat data are you looking for specifically? Re: 2, yeah I understand, good topic.
- lalwanivikas 12y agoAbsolutely! Why not give to everyone on need or merit basis? I was admitted last year but wasn't able to attend because of money.