When I was at Oxford, I wrote eight papers for my tutorial on "Comparative Education," looking at major themes in education across the globe. Two of them were on achievement gaps and affirmative action, problems which oftentimes receive the most focus in the public spotlight, and I submitted them to the Gold Star Journal (along with some photographs).

My papers were accepted (as a combined paper), and all of the photos in the 2015 Gold Star Journal are mine! You can see the paper on page 12 of the PDF, and the photos throughout.

Abstract:
Education often does not receive as much publicity as other issues in the public eye, but education concerns tend to divide the country. Achievement gaps among genders, races, and socioeconomic strata are often not discussed but are at the heart of many of our nation’s issues, from unemployment numbers to average salary and overall quality of life. Affirmative action, favoring students with a certain feature, characteristic, or situation in college placement, is a controversial way to fill quotas in incoming college classes in an attempt to close achievement gaps. Can we close achievement gaps by catering to a “lowest-common denominator” in classes? Is affirmative action an ethical and effective way to eliminate achievement gaps?

I had the great opportunity to speak at the National Youth-At-Risk Conference in Savannah, GA on March 3, 2015. The Citadel's Zucker Family School of Education is dedicated to the Charleston-area community, specifically in helping the schools in the area.