Regardless of their grit,
students are doubly disadvantaged if they
- are economically-deprived AND
- have long-term goals of being professionals in fields that require core STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) courses in college
disadvantage1 = inability to afford college Several nonprofit organizations already address this disadvantage, though of course incompletely.
disadvantage2 = poor academic background (esp consistent high-quality Math education) necessary for college STEM EducationEquity Foundation (EEF) builds STEM tutoring bridges over this disadvantage:
- EEF provides excellent inexpensive (or free) STEM tutoring to motivated students who could not otherwise afford such tutoring.
- EEF thus helps these students help themselves cross over STEM chasms.
EEF’s trainer-of-tutors has privately tutored STEM since 2006. He now also trains other STEM content experts, who often don't know how to teach their STEM expertise, to tutor STEM to financially-disadvantaged gritty students in these students' journeys from high school through to early college. The stipulation: the STEM expert's EEF training-in-how-to-tutor is free if the STEM experts' tutoring of students is also free.
EEF is a non-profit, but EEF is not registered as a 501(c)(3) organization. Rather, EEF is developing a new model for non-profits. This model enables EEF to avoid red tape. But more importantly, this model enables EEF to adapt as necessary to
- vagaries of government, esp erratic changes in IRS regulations
- vagaries of education, esp structural changes (due to IT progress) in college courses
- vagaries of commerce, esp structural changes (due to IT progress) in how businesses market themselves
In Biology's evolutionary terms, this adaptability enhances EEF's survivability in today's fast-changing governmental, educational, and commercial environments.