College and Sociological Imagination

Examine the following data sources.  
What does the data reveal?  Thinking with a sociological imagination, how might you be shaped by where you go to college?

Data Source 1: Economic Diversity and College

This NY Times interactive shows how economically diverse a college is:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/

Data Source 2: Where College Grads Move

WSJ data shows where college grads are likely to move after they graduate.

Here is Indiana U and U of I:

 

Try Accessing the data through this link:

Where Graduates Move After College

Try to make your own conclusions about the data:

What does this data say about your life after college?

On a less personal level, what does this data say about the U.S. in general?

If the link above does not work, these might:

Accessible through this facebook link:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/486893378140308/?multi_permalinks=1004035523092755&notif_id=1532189664367938&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic

For full access to the WSJ when you're on campus, you need to use the following special link: www.wsj.com/highschool

Once there, the fastest way for you (and your students) to find the article you're looking for is to click the search icon and enter the words  "grads database"

The only result that pops up should be "Where Graduates Move After College" and you should all be able to access it. 

Or the original story here:
https://www.wsj.com/graphics/where-graduates-move-after-college/?mod=e2fb

Data Source 3: Where Tech Firms Hire From:

Wired story shows where the largest tech companies get their grads from:
https://www.wired.com/2014/05/alumni-network-2/

Imagine where...

HW: Be sure that you have read Sociological Mindfulness by Michael Schwalbe.

Applying your sociological imagination to where a person lives

Recall that a sociological imagination is understanding that an individual's experience is shaped by where and when they live.  If you have questions, please consult my post from yesterday and ask a student sitting near you.  Today, I want you to use data to use a sociological imagination to understand how being a student in SHS's district might shape students differently that being a student in North Chicago.  North Chicago is just 10 miles northeast of SHS, but a student's biography might be drastically different if you live there.

Use your sociological imagination to analyze the three data sources below.  Using your sociological imagination, create a hypothesis for each of the three data sources.  Be sure to cite data to support your hypothesis.

1. Compare high school data from Illinois High School Report Card Data here.  Use data from the link to hypothesize how you (and the opportunities presented to you) might be different if you were going to school in North Chicago as opposed to Stevenson.
If you have trouble accessing the website, here is 2018 data for SHS.
Here is 2018 data for North Chicago.

2. Compare the community data from CMAP.  Here are community snapshots for North Chicago and Lincolnshire.  Hypothesize how the data might shape your experience, opportunities, and challenges if you lived in North Chicago as opposed to Lincolnshire.

3. How might this data reveal that some of the private troubles of different students are really public issues:  First, brainstorm with your group, what might be the private troubles of these students?  Then use your soc imagination to think about how living in North Chicago instead of Lincolnshire might be part of the problem.


Another exercise in sociological imagination and college is at this post.  It has some ways of both using data and exploring college and the sociological imagination.