A Speech on Generative Learning | Class 22 YearUp Graduation

A speech on generative learning. Generative learning is to have to learn something without having the benefit of being taught. This is a simple concept to understand yet, it is very powerful. I want to talk about generative learning and how it correlates to the Opportunity Divide. Unfortunately, there is a divide that keeps young ambitious people out of companies that have demanded their talent. This exists due to several complicated reasons: whether it’s societal, systemic, adversities at home, or even experiencing a negative domino effect from other people around you. If you went through the Year Up program, chances are that you either come from an immigrant household, have no family history of a prestigious institution, or have an upbringing where you endured a lot of challenges. We know more than anyone that there are several factors that positioned us to lack opportunities... I believe these cases are due to the absence of knowledge. There is an old saying that I love that goes as follows: “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. These are things we know that we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns. The things we do not know that we do not know.” Generative Learning is us finding and overcoming our unknown unknowns. Although we start off with an absence of knowledge, we don’t shy away and tackle the unknown unknowns.