In response to Shereef's Fireside Chat
For DBC to be successful, you have to buy wholeheartedly into the mindset. No just sticking your toe into the water, jump right into the deep end. Every member of the DBC community is responsible for creating their experience and shaping the experience of others. This resonates with me for many reasons, but particularly because of my background in education. My graduate school program was called the Community Engaged Teaching program because it believed that education was not isolated to a classroom or school building, but rather that education belonged to the community and should engage every aspect of that community. You can't “fix” education just by adding tutoring sessions for students who are struggling with reading without considering the wider community issues of something like hunger. Engaging everyone and all aspects of the community (however you define community) is crucial to success in both instances.
And +10 for the Paulo Freire reference. Yes, do read Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
What drew me to DBC perhaps more than anything else when I was considering coding programs is not that they profess know all the answers but rather that they are willing to ask the right questions, and ask them repeatedly as situations change. I am glad to see that clearly in Shereef's video. I'm excited to participate in the kind of environment espoused by DBC because it's invigorating. It's terrifying in many ways because it's something new, but also invigorating. It's sort of like skydiving (though I've never done that) in that there's a safety net (parachute) but it's just sort of in the background, allowing you experience the terror and and invigorating aspect in a safe way until you need it. I'm going to stop the metaphor there because it's getting slightly out of hand. I look forward to working with folks going forward!