Roland Fryer, A ‘Genius,’ Illuminates Consequences Of Disparity

Roland Fryer says that he doesn’t have a political agenda. He just asks the questions, and goes where the data takes him.

In his studies of the achievement gap between black and white students, the data has taken Fryer in some interesting directions. He has looked at whether you could use money to motivate students to do better in school, and whether public schools could get better results if they acted more like charter schools.

For his work, 34-year-old Fryer was awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant Monday.

Guest:

• Roland Fryer, professor of Economics, Harvard University

More:

• 3 Harvard Professors Awarded MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grants
• Colbert Report: Stephen Colbert interviews Roland Fryer
• On Point: Fryer on “The Black Experience”