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Kent Collins
TL Paul Gill
IDH 1920H
15 November 2015
Lets Think Like Third Graders
The overarching problem presented by Putnam is a lack of bridging social capital.
Bridging social capital is that which brings different people together, while bonding social capital
is that which brings like people together. Altogether, his statement is painfully accurate. Perhaps
the most devastating example of a lack of bridging capital is the American political system:
despite the fact that most peoples ideologies fall somewhere in the middle of the conservativeliberal spectrum, the two party system forces people to choose one or the other. The notion of
finding communities of like-minded people seems at the surface to be a positive notion, and to
some degree it is, but it inspires people to create imaginary borders, lines, cliques, and labels
when we should only focus on a single label: human.
A majority of my service learning teachings began with a tandem effort of Mrs. Sanders
and me to refocus the children from their unstructured free time. However unproductive this may
seem, I made one of the most meaningful observations while watching the children play and
clean up. Walking around the university last week, I took a step back from my usual internal
monologue and actually looked around to observe, rather than simply to avoid being run over by
the many hazardous long-boarders zipping around campus. The starkest difference between the
third graders at Three Pointes Elementary and the college students (other than age and height)
was the diversity of their social groups. The children played non-discriminately- different races,
genders, shapes, and sizes interacted seamlessly. However, on campus, the majority of social

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clusters I observed consisted of a single race, gender, or both. A cluster of African-American
women would pass on my left as a large group of white males learned to use a broadsword on the
lawn to my right. We seem to unintentionally self-segregate as a community, and since young
children do not do this it is clear that somewhere along the way our society has ingrained this us
and them mentality upon its citizens.
Likewise, economic and social classes tend to be lines upon which people self-segregate,
as Wes Moore discovered in his youth. Upon his entrance to private school, he found himself
isolated from both his rich schoolmates and his poor friends (Moore, Wes, 53). This separation
can lead to generational poverty, an issue seen in the Title I schools our service learning
volunteers visited. Bringing college students (successful ones at that) into such schools creates a
temporary bridging capital that will likely have a lasting impact: these students gain new
perspectives on higher education and the path to success. It is crucial to shape these young minds
to believe that we are not truly all that different. Its unsettling to know how little separates each
of us from another life altogether (Moore, Wes, xi), and it making a meaningful connection via
bridging social capital very well may be the thing that pushes these students toward a better life.
Much like the different drums, Jeff Moore believes that diversity of human personalities
can be brought together to complement one another by working in rhythm with one another. But
where do these differences come from? Largely, we can trace back the majority of this back to
the persons upbringing, cultural identity, and education. Family is the first and most
instrumental community to which people belong. It is the source from which we derive much of
our beliefs and morals, and is a crucial influence in our lives. Education, too, has an important
affect upon our community. It is arguably the most reliable source of upward economic and
social mobility- just look at the countless studies done on the effect of a high school diploma or

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college degree on income to see this clearly. Perhaps the most inspirational effect of familys
influence on ones community is that of Dr. Richard Lapchick. Inspired by his fathers efforts in
improving racial equality in sports, he continued this effort throughout his career to much
personal attack from the opposing public, whose families were doubtless less accepting of
diversity. Lapchicks valiant efforts in the field of racial equality greatly affected his community
and the world at large. Though not everyones familial background has such far-reaching
impacts, they certainly all have an effect on the individuals that form the future of the
community, in effect changing the community.
The effect of education on community is two-fold: first, it affects the community to
which the student belongs; second, it affects the entire society in which the education is being
presented. A prime example of the former can be seen in the story of Angel Sanchez. He used
initiative and education to completely change the community in which he resided- from prison to
a full ride to graduate school, fellow inmates to professionals. While Angel took a lot of
initiative and certainly earned every ounce of success he has found post-incarceration, it would
likely not have been possible without the assistance he was given by the restaurant owner who
granted him a part-time job and the former parole officer who pushed the shelter to grant him an
exception (Sanchez).
The second part of this tale exemplifies the second aspect of educations affect, though
indirectly. Educating the public to social injustices is the most successful avenue to seeing
change being made. Making a community more accepting of its diverse population is largely
achieved by education, traditional or otherwise. Universities, for example, provide bridging
social capital in that people are making connections with people from fundamentally different

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backgrounds than their own. The centripetal pull of advancement through education also lends
itself to discovering a vastly diverse student body.
Such diversity fosters social environments that bring many cultures together and inspire
appreciation for those different than oneself. As said by Tim Arnst, a Human Resources
executive for Universal Parks and Resorts, cultures are different, people are the same. Arnst
has the experience to back up that claim as well, as he has headed the development of many
theme parks in many cultures and continents. Such projects also serve as heightening bridging
social capital, as they entail the blending of Western cultures with that of, say, Shanghai, China.
Its important for the executives planning the park to understand the culture of the area in which
they are building, as that determines what sells (Arnst).
Though I may never need to work alongside people from another culture entirely, nor will
I likely travel abroad, I will certainly encounter differences with other people. This is
unavoidable, because no two people are the same. Even identical twins have different
personalities and ways of thought. If this course has taught me anything, it is that you never
really know what another person has gone through or may currently be enduring. One must
consider that people are like icebergs- what you can see is only a very small portion of what
makes up the person standing before you. This lesson came at a very interesting time in my lifenot only my first semester in college, but in my personal life as well.
I recently became increasingly close with someone who I have known for four years
now, but it was not until this year that I learned all the struggles she had dealt with in her past: a
foreclosed house, a broken home, family members with significant disabilities, and more that I
feel are too personal to disclose on her behalf, despite her anonymity in this paper. It is always
important for me to see the importance of what I learn in a practical sense, so between this

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personal experience and the service learning, where I saw first-hand the ambitions of these
students, despite their current situations, the themes of acceptance and assistance of others
presented within this course really hit home.

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Works Cited
Arnst, Tim. Corporate and Civic Responsibility. University of Central Florida, Orlando,
Florida. 2 November 2015. Lecture.
Lapchick, Richard. Sport and Social Justice. University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida.
12 October 2015. Lecture.
Moore, Jeff. Drum Circles as a Metaphor for Community. University of Central Florida,
Orlando, Florida. 19 October 2015. Lecture.
Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore. New York: Random House, 2011. Print.
Sanchez, Angel. Two Stories, One Person. University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. 26
October 2015. Lecture.