Project Dillard | Revisionist History | Malcolm Gladwell

A historically Black university in New Orleans is beloved by everyone - except the US News best colleges rankings. We hack our way back into the algorithm and show how Dillard University can rise to the top. Part two of a two-part series.
Season 6 (2021)
#podcast #revisionisthistory #malcolmgladwell #collegerankings
ABOUT REVISIONIST HISTORY
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell’s journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every podcast episode re-examines something from the past - an event, a person, an idea, even a song - and asks whether we got it right the first time. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.
ABOUT MALCOLM GLADWELL
Malcolm Gladwell is president and co-founder of Pushkin Industries. He is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath, and Talking to Strangers. He has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1996. He is a trustee of the Surgo Foundation and currently serves on the board of the RAND Corporation.
ABOUT PUSHKIN INDUSTRIES
Pushkin Industries is an audio production company dedicated to creating premium content in a collaborative environment. Co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018, Pushkin has launched seven new shows into the top 10 on Apple Podcasts (Against the Rules, The Happiness Lab, Solvable, Cautionary Tales, Deep Cover, The Last Archive, and Lost Hills), in addition to producing the hugely successful Revisionist History. Pushkin’s growing audiobook catalogue includes includes the bestselling biography “Fauci,” by Michael Specter, “Hasta La Vista, America,” Kurt Andersen’s parody Trump farewell speech performed by Alec Baldwin, "Takeover" by Noah Feldman, and “Talking to Strangers,” from Pushkin co-founder Malcolm Gladwell. Pushkin is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners and inspires curiosity and joy.
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[@citygirlphotos.tutonelyles4386]

All of your segments are outstanding Malcolm and I always learn so much and enjoy.

[@brek5]

I don't get the Thanksgiving and Christmas thing and where to live. Why would you not just stay in the dorm if you don't have money to go home? I mean, do they close the dorms for holidays? I always went home for Christmas, but I always stayed on campus for spring break and sometimes for Thanksgiving. For the record, I received Pell grants as well, so I was "poor" or whatever, lol.

[@HypatiaK]

Many dorms are closed goring during these times. School cuts back on heating, lights etc. b/c keeping a large building open for a few students isn’t economical.

[@rossrobinson7943]

What other ranking systems providers are available now? For youth college is their largest single purchase. There is a desire and need for information for help selecting colleges. So there will always be a need for guides. So saying stop with any ranking will never achieve that goal. A few years ago I think that I saw usnews now has other ranking options like how good of a bargain is the school (comparing alumni earnings to the cost). Adding factors like fraction of classes taught by professors vs adjuncts, number of administrators are important to families and would shake things up. (Not always 100% negative, classes taught by practicing experts can be quite good) It would be really great to have a graduation rate controlled for test, hs gpa and test scores. That would really let students know how supportive schools are. That would need to be balanced by an objective measures of how well graduates were educated. ( Places like Harvard are getting a reputation for passing everyone) There really is needed a measure the quality of education. Maybe engineering license success rates or something.

[@jonathanmiller308]

As usual, I was mesmerized by Malcolm's and his talented teams' gifted story formation and telling. A gift to humanity for sure! I see the tale that power seeks continuity! I wonder what this is like in other countries and how race and wealth play a role? Are they both causal or just both correlated? I heard here correlated with a plausible storyline of how causality might work given funding and priority changes at Dillard goals. Power gained in happenstance is quickly lost and those with power usually pursued it is sense of the world. I like Malcolm's quote from Mark, it all depend on what we choose to pursue as our objective. Global rankings compare apples and oranges along a purportedly fair dimension. Perhaps helping people achieve their own objectives is more worthy than ranking and placing bets. Who would have bet on the change Jane Goodall, Mother Theresa, MLK, or Jesse Owens brought about had they been ranked and bet on in their journeys?? Yet they brought about profound awareness and catalyzed change with little power from wealth.

[@docadams1]

Mississippi State produces more black engineers than any university in the country, but it's not an HBCU. In some ways, it has that vibe. Many of my graduate students came from Mississippi Valley, Alcorn, Southern, Stillman, and Jackson State.

[@sunkissedfilms]

When it's put this way it makes sense. I wish I went to an HBCU

[@rogerpatry5167]

Thx for doing this work and exposing this.

[@chelebell1275]

Why isn't US News held to task for their false information and publishing it?

[@RobertSaxy]

Money Money Money Mo-ney… MONEY

[@jjjutika2594]

Malcolm your such a Prophetic Outlier … love your work 😄

[@RevEricEvans]

I hope the emotion displayed in this great piece is anger and disgust and not surprise. None of us who live in this country should be surprised.

[@heritagehomesJapan]

I’d forgotten how much I love this man. 2 wives, 20 kilos and a thousand bottles of wine ago I used to read his New Yorker articles religiously. Then he became hugely successful and quasi-philosophical in a rather boring way. Now, thank God, he has reverted to his lovely, quirky roots. Fabulous!

[@davidboyce5320]

you should add a direct link on where to obtain your audio book 🙂

[@PushkinPods]

Malcolm's audiobooks here! - www.pushkin.fm/audiobooks

[@wolcottwu756]

Given that math has been discovered to be racist, one can see how this would happen.

[@robwilliams2265]

How is Math racist?

[@elainesabatino7467]

The Antiwhites media pundits think everything is ‘Wacist’. No White Guilt Forever! ❤

[@willmpet]

Punching way over their weight at Dillard in STEM!

[@BigDiscussions76]

Average alumni giving rate 🤣 As an HBCU alumnus, that rules a lot of our schools out immediately because many of our alumni don't give back🤣

[@roc7880]

u forgot the number of foreign students admitted by the university.

[@paulhue86]

Why distinguish “rich WHITE students” vs rich BLACK students…without describing the difference. Example: the Jenny stereotype of a hedge fund manager’s daughter. Why must she be white in the example.

[@mnfoges12]

Fair question

[@greengraybear7925]

Gladwell's self-professed moral and intellectual superiority is simply insufferable, and ultimately empty of substance. To boot, the irony of forcing Premium subscribers to listen to obnoxious ads is apparently lost on him, as well as on the faithful.

[@greengraybear7925]

@@ozgoodphotos Such ideas are the hallmark of small, closed minds, who fear exposure to "heresies." I am quite familiar with Gladwell and am entitled to have an opinion. But thank you for the suggestion.

[@christopherhamilton3621]

The insufferability I see here is your opinionated ranting. For shame…