New Lines on Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., Winter 2025
“Let us not be afraid to outgrow old thoughts and ways, and dare to think on new lines as to the future of the work under our care.” — Jane Stanford, 1904
Martin Luther King, Jr., gave a speech at Stanford that we must not forget
By Matthew Rascoff, Vice Provost for Digital Education
Martin Luther King Jr. was at a crossroads when he came to Stanford University in April 1967.
The civil rights movement was adrift. Nonviolence was challenged by riots in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, and Newark. Just ten days before he arrived on campus King had spoken out against the Vietnam War, which met with a fierce backlash from the editorial pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and even from the NAACP, as Jonathan Eig writes in King: A Life, his magisterial new biography.
At Stanford, though, despite his audience of mostly draft-age undergraduates, King said he did not want to discuss Vietnam. Delivered without notes before a crowded Memorial Auditorium, his address, which would turn out to be among his most famous, was about inequality.
There are two Americas, King said, one “overflowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of opportunity. This America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies; and culture and education for their minds; and freedom and human dignity for their spirits. In this America, millions of people experience every day the opportunity of having life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in all of their dimensions. And in this America millions of young people grow up in the sunlight of opportunity.”
But the sunlight of opportunity did not shine for all young people.
“...Tragically and unfortunately, there is another America. This other America has a daily ugliness about it that constantly transforms the ebulliency of hope into the fatigue of despair. In this America millions of work-starved men walk the streets daily in search for jobs that do not exist. In this America millions of people find themselves living in rat-infested, vermin-filled slums. In this America people are poor by the millions. They find themselves perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.”
The speech was a meditation not just on the material conditions of poverty, but also on its psychological impact, especially for children.
Continue to read the vice provost's note
Easing the ‘jump’ from high school to college: how teaching fellows support a Stanford course
Bringing a Stanford course to high school students in their own classrooms via a hybrid model takes multiple layers of partnership, including with teachers and schools open to trying new approaches. But it’s the role played by teaching fellows that provides the “secret sauce,” says Lerone A. Martin, the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies and in African and African American Studies at Stanford.
Professor Martin worked with Stanford Digital Education and the National Education Equity Lab to make his course, Between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr: Race, Religion, and the Politics of Freedom, available to high school students in under-resourced communities. “The curriculum is provided by me as the professor, and it's the same curriculum that I teach here on campus to Stanford students,” he explains.
Teaching fellows — Stanford undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni — provide an essential academic and personal layer of support. They coordinate with the classroom teachers to co-lead weekly discussion sections on Zoom; they also provide robust feedback on student writing and help high school students acclimate to the challenges of college work. In this video, teaching fellows Juan Flores, Sam McLoughlin, and Anna Rose Robinson describe their efforts to make students feel at home and thrive — and how they find teaching to be deeply meaningful and fulfilling.
Watch the video about “Malcolm and Martin” teaching fellows
‘An amazing opportunity for us to reach beyond campus.’ Stanford brings CS 105 to high schools
From 2021 through 2024, more than 1,100 students from under-resourced high schools have enrolled in the Stanford course CS 105: Introduction to Computers. This innovative educational effort was launched by Patrick Young, a Stanford computer science lecturer who has taught CS 105 to Stanford undergraduates on campus for more than 20 years. Working with Stanford Digital Education and the nonprofit National Education Equity Lab, Patrick has brought this college-credit-bearing course to Title I high schools nationwide, from Brooklyn to the San Fernando Valley, from Miami to Honolulu. The goal is to help create new pathways to college. In this video, Patrick talks about how such a rigorous course can enable high school students to thrive. He is joined by a teacher and principal at Birmingham Community Charter High School in Los Angeles who describe how the course has strengthened their students' confidence and sense of what is possible — a point echoed by two students in the course and by the Stanford undergraduate who serves as a CS 105 teaching fellow for the Birmingham students.
Stanford Digital Education discusses civic engagement courses with its advisory council
Members of the Stanford Digital Education advisory council found colorful markers and blank sheets of card stock awaiting them when they gathered Oct. 28 for a daylong meeting on campus. Then, they were asked to pick up a pen and get down to work determining the meaning of life.
As part of a design exercise, the group of leaders from education, technology, government, and finance were requested to consider their own experiences and careers and then to write down the principles that guide them, the people who inspire them, the strengths that they bring to the table, and the changes they want to bring to the world. After a period of quiet reflection, the facilitator, sam seidel from the Stanford d.school, asked people to share their responses.
This activity was drawn from the Creative Hustle course that seidel and colleague Olatunde Sobomehin have offered at Stanford. They are working with SDE to bring this course to more learners, as they believe that enabling learners to connect with their own creativity is key to tackling the world’s problems. The exercise to identify values is a step to help people become change agents, or “creative hustlers.”
The Creative Hustle presentation was part of a day devoted to showing the advisory council how SDE is developing digital courses that help learners cultivate a sense of purpose and civic responsibility. At a time of increased polarization, SDE is aiming to enhance learners’ understanding of how to work together across divides.
Discover ideas for teaching citizenship skills
Universities recognized for strengthening pathways to higher education
A novel digital pathways effort that involves Stanford and a dozen other leading universities was honored last month for its success in opening access to higher education for high school students from low-income communities.
Carnegie Corporation of New York and the National Education Equity Lab hosted the Nov. 20 event in Manhattan to spotlight the initiative’s achievement to date: More than 33,000 students from Title I high schools nationwide have enrolled in college-credit-bearing courses since 2019, thanks to this work.
The Ed Equity Lab, with funding from Carnegie and other philanthropies, has established a network spanning 32 states and 130 school districts. The Lab has helped universities bring their courses into high school classrooms via a hybrid model. This approach uses recorded lectures, live lessons via Zoom, in-person class work with teachers, and a range of digital materials and tools.
“This is one of the most impactful efforts to improve student opportunity we have seen in the last 25 years,” said one of the event’s keynote speakers, Robert Balfanz, Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, co-director of the Center for Social Organization of Schools, and director of the Everyone Graduates Center.
Learn who is behind the new digital pathways
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In the media
Recent coverage involving Stanford Digital Education.
How higher education can win back America, New York Times, December 27, 2024
Pathways to higher ed reimagined with Stanford's Matthew Rascoff, Teach and Learn podcast, December 19, 2024
The Ed Equity Lab, a leading college pipeline, achieves great success, Forbes, November 26, 2024
Abby Falik, our Stanford Digital Education visiting fellow, has started a newsletter on Substack called "Taking Flight," about turning transitions into transformations. You can subscribe here.
Calendar
Jan. 16
King and Faith Interreligious Symposium. The Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown, senior minister of the historic Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, will deliver a keynote address exploring the thought and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and how he connected faith and social justice. Dr. Brown served as head of the youth council of the NAACP in Mississippi under Medgar Evers. Free and open to the public. Stanford University Memorial Church, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
Jan. 19
University Public Worship: Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Service featuring.Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas. A commemoration of Dr. King's contributions to civil rights and social progress with music, spoken word performances, and reflections on Dr. King's life and work. The MLK Celebration speaker, Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Ph.D., is The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and College of Arts and Sciences. Free and open to the public. Stanford University Memorial Church, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
Jan. 20
MLK Day Community Celebration Keynote Address. Lerone Martin, director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford, will deliver a keynote address on King’s life and legacy capping a day of learning and celebration. Free and open to the public at the Fine Arts Center Main Theatre at Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI. This event will also be live-streamed on Facebook.
Jan. 22
King and Faith Symposium: Fireside Chat. A conversation about health equity and clinical care advancements in the East Bay between Lerone Martin, director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford, and Joyce Sackey, chief equity, diversity, and inclusion officer and associate dean of the Stanford School of Medicine. In person at Stanford and online, 3:00-4:30 p.m Pacific Time. RSVP for location details.
Jan. 23
Empathy in Instructional Design. Kisha Daniels, assistant professor of the practice of education at Duke University, will share how she approaches the instructional design of her courses to more fully incorporate her students and make her courses more relevant to their lives. A virtual lunch-and-learn hosted by Duke Learning Innovation and Lifetime Education as part of a series on pedagogies of care, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. RSVP.
Feb. 3
Charting Equity in Online Learning Teams: Opportunities and Challenges. Collaboration offers a powerful avenue for fostering meaningful student learning. In this talk, Yiwen Lin, postdoctoral associate at the University of Pittsburgh will explore how to analyze engagement at scale, identify settings where unequal participation is happening, and foster equitable interactions. She will also invite discussion on the challenges and opportunities of implementing and evaluating team-based learning in real-world online courses. Part of the Innovation Insights series hosted virtually by the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation, 12:00-1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. RSVP.
March 3-6
SXSW EDU Conference and Festival. This conference celebrates innovation, experimentation, and learning through a wide range of sessions, in- workshops, hands-on experiences, mentorship, film screenings, future-focused competitions, an expo, networking opportunities, and performances. Costs $695, with discounts for some groups. Learn more on the conference website.
March 13
Critical Issues in Learning Differences: Fostering Continued Education for Adults with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities. Carly Gilson, associate professor at The Ohio State University, will share research on the benefits of post-secondary college programs for young adults with disabilities, followed by a presentation by Gayatri Kini of the Accidental Ally, which provides workforce training and support to young adults. Organized by the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, the hybrid event will be held on the Stanford campus and online, 3:30-5:00 p.m. Pacific Time. RSVP.
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