João’s Equity Story

João’s Equity Story

João’s story begins on a neighborhood football pitch. Like many of his football-obsessed friends, he tried to spend as much time playing football with various school and club teams. And his interactions with teammates from different backgrounds were his first formative experiences in dealing with equity and access. As a Latin American of Asian descent, he recalls opponents and occasionally teammates “making fun of my small eyes” or other racial taunts. He brushed these off and noted that the jeers never hindered his opportunities to play or sense of belonging on the pitch. And that by and large, teammates, coaches, and opponents responded to the quality of his play rather than his race. Yet, he also understood that the game was not a meritocracy and recalled instances when other teammates’ participation was barred by access to equipment: “I played with teammates from different socio-economic backgrounds, and many times my friends could not play because they could not afford new shoes.” Playing football with and participating in fundraising activities for his sidelined teammates exposed João to the growing economic inequality in his community, seeding an attention to equity of access to resources and equipment in his later work at university and as a maker educator.

I played with teammates from different socio-economic backgrounds, and many times my friends could not play because they could not afford new shoes.

During his graduate studies and work as a researcher João developed educational programs to support electronics waste picking and recycling cooperatives around his city. During workshop sessions, several participants from neighboring municipalities confided in him that they felt particularly anxious to attend, making remarks like “‘I never thought that I would be in a course at this university.’” João thinks back to those conversations every now and then in part because they were a sharp contrast to his feeling at home at the university. “I totally fit in,” João noted, thinking about the make-up of the student body and academic staff in the computer engineering department. It wasn’t until several years later in 2018–while attending a curriculum design training at a university in the United States–that he had felt a similar sense of feeling out of place akin to the participants of the waste picking and recycling workshops.

Apart from an initial culture shock, João mainly attributes that feeling of distress to the language barrier and was thankful that a colleague and mentor was able to help him through it. At that point in 2018, he was starting to consider switching career paths from computer engineering to K-12 education and pursuing a graduate degree in education. But self-doubt began to creep in as João grew frustrated with communication challenges and a sense of not being able to participate to the best of his ability. Looking back, he was thankful that Aline, a friend and fellow South American who was a graduate student at the time, was helping facilitate the workshop and was there to talk and help process the experience. “I spoke with Aline a lot!” João fondly remembers, and he noted that improvements over the weeklong program instilled additional confidence:

Maybe if I study hard, I can also do a masters program in the U.S.

Over the past two years working on international maker initiatives, João has noticed instances of feeling uncomfortable communicating in different situations as well as opportunities to improve inclusivity and equity of participation in meetings. In one case, being the newest member of a long-running project, he felt especially conscious of the power dynamic: “I don’t want to interrupt people with more background”–referring to faculty and senior team-members. This is often compounded by the language barrier. During some meetings, he reflected that he occasionally finds himself stuck wondering how he should phrase something and cannot get a word in amid more confident English speakers who have years of built-up rapport. Yet, João has started to incorporate strategies to help himself and other colleagues who speak English as a secondary language actively participate in meetings. For example, making use of different modes of communication such as chat functions and whiteboard tools during meetings instead of relying on impromptu speaking, or deliberately scheduling time within meetings for free-writing and thought-gathering prior to discussions. 

João will continue developing these strategies and reflecting on equity, participation, and education in the next chapter of his story this fall, when he starts his graduate studies in education in New York City.