If, as many admissions officers claim, LSAT scores provide the best indication of how well one will perform in law school, then Pedro Noguera would say that race serves as the best statistical indication of success in life. Speaking to a full house on Wednesday evening, Noguera addressed the intrinsic inequality inherent in American culture and potential solutions to it in a lecture punctuated by laughter and silence, and ended by a standing ovation.

“As a nation, we accept the fact that certain people will be trapped in permanent poverty,” he said.

Noguera, a professor in the Steinhardt School of Education at NYU, opened with an exegesis upon both the meaninglessness and profundity of race. Citing Toni Morrison, he explained that though race tells us nothing substantial about one’s personality, it is undeniable that race fundamentally shapes one’s experiences. Moreover, the tendency to dwell upon success stories deflects attention from the dire injustices of racial inequality in contemporary America.

“In many ways we’re paralyzed as a nation because of race,” Noguera said. “America loves the exceptions. We love the rags to riches story, don’t we? That’s the American Dream.”

Even tragedies are considered exceptions, as in the case of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf region. With 80 percent of black families claiming that they will not return to their homes, according to a recent New York Times article, Noguera thinks the racism seen there is all too common.

“Poverty in America is distinctly black,” he said. “…Anyone who knows anything about America knows there are New Orleanses throughout America.” Rather than examining the society in which failure remains such a tenable option for so many people, Noguera suggested that Americans prefer to lay the blame upon those who don’t achieve.

“America lives a lie,” he said. “A lie that the rest of the world sees pretty clearly.”

Despite daunting statistics, Noguera described public schools as one of the most potentially efficacious solutions to inequality.

“Education is still a force for social change, and an unpredictable force at that,” he said.

Even when used for indoctrination, Noguera stressed that one can never guarantee what a student will do with the education received.

Many seniors attended hoping to get a clearer idea of the merits and failings of programs like Teach for America and the New York City Teaching Fellows. Lily Whitsitt ’06 has been considering ultimately working in education and was pleased to hear Noguera’s views.

“There are other options rather than just these programs,” Whitsitt said, explaining that according to Noguera there may be more effective ways to become a teacher.

“The root of [Noguera’s] philosophy seems to be that if doing something would benefit future students, either for students or yourself as a future teacher or citizen, then you should take action,” said Kathleen Salmon ’07.

Proposing a perhaps radical redistribution of attention and energy such that the most experienced and talented teachers would be drawn to the schools most in need, Noguera cited several instances of high-poverty, yet high performing schools. In particular, he described a high school in Manhattan, where though 20 percent of students are homeless, 98 percent go on to college.

In addition, Noguera provided his audience with ways in which it could attempt to bridge the gaps left by inequality in every day life. By examining the way that privilege operates and reproduces, Noguera suggested that the victims of inequality could ultimately be empowered. Maintaining that privilege is purchased at the expense of others, he urged his audience to give voice to the voiceless in its own, personal terms.

“I encourage you not to be afraid to speak,” he said. “I think we have to focus the conversation on the implications for us.”

The lecture was Sean Conlon’s ’06 second time hearing Noguera speak, and he came with high expectations.

“[I] remembered him being an extremely smart and engaging speaker,” Conlon said. “[The] lecture only reinforced that further.”

Conlon thought Noguera’s discussion of the limitations of Teach for America especially important, and he hoped that many current applicants would take the warnings to heart.

“I hope that [Noguera’s words] at least caused those who are signing up for or considering Teach for America to take an extra moment and really think about whether it is the best program through which to begin a career as an educator,” he said.

Noguera’s pessimistic opening words were never out of mind.

“We accept inequality in America as the way it is,” he said.

He spent the remainder of the evening trying to inspire a generation to ultimately prove him wrong.