Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Who You Know: Social Capital is Key for First-Gen Students’ Career Success

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This article points to what they call a 'report' (it's not a report, it's a web presentation) from an organization called Basta that offers (what it says is) "a free program for first-generation college students and recent graduates to land their first job" (keep in mind "Basta... had $3.9 million in annual revenue"). Mostly, though, it seems to be a recruitment network through it's Seekr program. And the article is basically one big advertisement for them. But. This is true: "social capital — or who you know — is key for first-generation college graduates searching for their first job." Actually, it's key for everyone. It's just that less wealthy students are less likely to have a network of friends and contacts. The trick for the rest of us (who are not funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies and Heckscher Foundation for Children) is how to make networking opportunities to everyone, that is, to render quaint the social networking opportunities of the (elite) university system.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Oct 10, 2024 03:50 a.m.

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