A Reflection on the Role of Business Education and Our Responsibility to Foster Open Dialogue
On Wednesday, a Wharton professor shared on Twitter an exchange with her undergraduate students that asked what they thought the average American worker makes per year. She revealed that 25% of her class thought the figure was more than $100k, when in actuality, the number is roughly half of that. This assumption is not unusual, as the professor herself noted, since most individuals underestimate the disparity within American incomes.
This exchange got me thinking about the role of business education, and our responsibility as educators to create opportunities for nuanced discussion to shed light on the range of experiences within society. The sharing of honest, personal views is essential to meaningful discourse, and should be an intentional part of the Wharton learning journey.
It’s likely some student responses were representative of what we psychologists call the “anchoring effect” – or, having our personal experiences and backgrounds serve as reference points for how we view the world. And while we cannot change where we come from, we can – and should – work to understand where others are coming from.?
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At Wharton and Penn, we are proud to ensure that those reference points are informed by a diversity of students. Nearly half of Wharton undergraduates are female, while 20% are non-US citizens. In the Wharton undergraduate Class of 2025, over 60% self-identify as students of color, while 12% are first generation. This distinctive profile creates a rich environment for individuals to learn, while also broadening their exposure to lived experiences different than their own.???
I am proud to be part of a community willing to tackle such sensitive but necessary issues. It is my desire and expectation that Wharton commit to creating space for students to wrestle with any number of societal challenges, and that we as faculty support their exploration and personal discovery.
Erika James?is Dean, Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise, and Professor of Management at the?Wharton School?of the University of Pennsylvania.?
Co-Founder & CEO @ AlphaAI | Operations Research, Engineering
3 年Amazing article! An incredible illustration of how students assumed the average American worker makes per year. With the Internet and the ease of access to information, it is increasingly important for educators to reflect on the role of business education and our responsibility to foster open dialogue. By providing a platform for students to discuss business issues and engage with their peers as well as professionals, we can help provide a more rich and diverse learning experience. In my opinion, this is one of the most important roles of business education. Thanks for sharing!
Author, HarperCollins | Managing Director, DiscoveredLOGIC.com | #1 Executive Coach in US Fintech - Google it! | exCOO of US CFPB | Wharton MBA, Bain, CIA, CapitalOne alum | ??Exec | 47,000 LinkedIn subscribers |????????
3 年Welcome to Wharton, Dean! As an alum, I was excited to hear about you coming to Wharton. Beyond the content of the survey, I wonder if the professor going public was appropriate / expected. Did she tell the students she was going to make the results public? What was her intent of going public? Was it to help her students learn or was it something else? Thinking back to my days in Vance Hall and Steinberg-Dietrich, I think it would have detracted from my learning experience to worry about my professors publicizing the questions I asked or the answers I gave in class. Especially if they were doing it as a “gotcha” to make themselves seem bigger by belittling me. I was there to learn and that meant I had to be vulnerable sometimes. If I thought my professors would be publicly posting if I asked a dumb question, I may not have asked questions. Maybe students today expect everything to be public and they were fine with this. It just doesn’t feel like the classroom learning environment I expected. Is this how teaching is done now?
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3 年all they have to do is go to the US department of labor web site. Twitter is not a good source.