Part 1: The Contest – MiGente con Mente
A national essay contest open to Latino youth with a grand prize of $10,000 cash for use towards a college education is offered by MiGente.com. a social networking site for Latinos, and DeVry University. Students are asked to write (in 750 words or less) “why education is important to you and to the Latino Community.” In addition to the grand prizewinner who receives $10,000, nine other finalists will each receive a $1,000 cash prize to use toward a college degree program.
The competition is open to future college students nationwide and the essay deadline is August 19, 2007. (Submission details here.)
Part 2: Thoughts about this contest
When I received this announcement from a PR firm, I was torn about posting it here. It’s a good thing to give money to kids for college. But the essay topic, well, in a word, “OY!” So I thought, why not address both?
In my recent post What is Student Voice?, I responded to some of the calls for student participation at educational conferences, and wrote about about the fact that student voice is about more than simply listening to students. It is about authentic student action. “Finding your voice” is a metaphor for finding the power within yourself to change your world. In many instances, I see student panels pulled together where students are trotted out for an hour, applauded for saying what we expect them to say, and then sent back home. This contest, while well-intentioned, is an example of the same kind of condescending nod to students that too often passes as “listening to student voice.”
Really, what does a high school student know about the importance of higher education other than what they’ve been told is the right answer for essays like this. Everyone “knows” that going to college is a good thing. I’m not saying these kids probably don’t believe it, but hellooo – the essay is to win money for college! This is just a lazy adult fantasy about teen-age thinking and motivation.
The contest rules require an applicant to not only express their educational aspirations or need of financial assistance, but to speak for an entire community. This is a heavy burden to place on the shoulders of a high school senior. It’s manipulative and culturally coercive.
Finally, if you read the contest rules, as any good essay-contest writer would do, it’s even clearer what they are looking for.
“Finalists will be selected based on an evaluation of each Essay Submission’s message (20%), emotional impact(20%), poignancy(20%), writing style (20%) and sentence structure (20%).”
Poignancy! C’mon, who doesn’t know what that means? Poignancy and emotional impact combine for 40% of the score. The implied message is that Latino youth shouldn’t want to go to college to learn, but to right wrongs. Poignancy is about the past; emotional impact means that a reader better be made to cry.
Most kids who enter this contest are going to smell this topic and scoring system a mile away as a clear message that the essay should be conformist and safe, with a sob story that will make a single, warm tear roll down a judge’s face, then wrap up with an uplifting finale. This is performance art in which the student applicant is supposed to recite the proper cliches.
I’m sure this contest will produce many fine entries. I wish all the best to the kids who will spend their time polishing the hopeful combination of formulaic, sincere-sounding writing that is being asked of them. I wish the contest sponsors had spent the same amount of time thinking about the hidden subtext and inauthentic requirements of their contest.
Sylvia
Sylvia,
This reminds me of some of the old time TV shows, like “Queen for a Day”, where the woman with the most pitiful story received a cornucopia of gifts and paraded around in a crown and red velvet robe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_for_a_Day
Too bad the sponsors didn’t have the courage to let the contestants write – or produce a video clip or podcast – about some issue that mattered to them personally, be it becoming a professional golfer, learning to fly airplanes, or becoming the first Latino president.
Hello Sylvia,
You have been tagged for the 8 random things meme.
This is a great effort Between MiGente & DeVry! Every effort matters!
I disagree with the comments from Sylvia. We at Chula Magazine, http://www.chulamagazine.com come across many young people who have aspirations, understand their path and know the community they come from.
Don’t write us off so easily.
Hi Lex,
I’m glad you read the blog post, but think you misinterpreted what I said. I would never write anyone off, and my post was to point out that the way the contest essay was scored invited sob stories, rather than honest emotions from the writer. I believe strongly that young people don’t have to be manipulated to tell their own stories.
B,
I’m glad money is being given to pay for college, that’s why I posted it so more people would see it. But in the future, I would hope that MiGente and DeVry would reconsider their contest criteria.