Raj Chetty: “Education is the Surest Pathway to a Better Life”

Renowned economist Raj Chetty was named an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters at Wesleyan’s 192nd Commencement ceremony. In his speech to the Class of 2024, he cited his research into opportunity disparity’s effect on social mobility, praising Wesleyan for being a leader in expanding access to higher education.

“When a child moves to a neighborhood with better schools or gets a chance to attend a high-quality college, we see their lives transformed relative to other comparable kids who didn’t get the same chances,” Chetty said. “Opportunity matters. And education is one of the keys that opens the doors of opportunity.”

Chetty is the William A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics at Harvard University. He is also the director of Opportunity Insights, which uses “big data” to understand how we can give children from disadvantaged backgrounds better chances of succeeding. His work on topics ranging from tax policy and unemployment insurance to education and affordable housing has been widely cited in academia, media outlets, and congressional testimony. Chetty received his PhD from Harvard University in 2003 and is one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard’s history. He has received numerous awards for his research, including a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the John Bates Clark medal, given to the economist under 40 whose work is judged to have made the most significant contribution to the field.

Chetty made the following remarks during Wesleyan’s 192nd Commencement Ceremony on May 26: 

President Roth, members of the Wesleyan University Board of Trustees, faculty, parents, friends, graduates:

It is truly a privilege and honor for me to participate in Wesleyan University’s Class of 2024 Commencement ceremony.

I’ve devoted my life to studying how we can create better opportunities for everyone in society to thrive, no matter their background. What I’ve found is that education remains the surest pathway to a better life, based both on my personal experience and my research.

When my mother was graduating from high school back in the 1950s in a small town in South India, there were no colleges nearby. At that time, it was rare for women to get a higher education, and unheard of for women to move to another city to go to college.

The year before my mother graduated, a wealthy businessman decided to open the first women’s college in my mom’s hometown. My mom attended that college, went on to medical school, and completed her residency at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the first woman to become a doctor in her community in South India.

My father likewise grew up in a low-income family in South India and applied for scholarships to attend universities in the U.S. He was lucky to receive a scholarship to do a Ph.D. at UW–Madison, without which he would not have come to the United States or pursued graduate studies.

The effects of those educational opportunities have cascaded through the generations in our family. Had the college in my mom’s hometown opened a year later or had my father not received the scholarship to UW–Madison, I am certain I would not have the opportunities I have had, let alone be receiving this degree today.

But that’s just one story. Now let me share 100 million stories that back up that example. Over the past decade, my research team at Harvard, Opportunity Insights, has analyzed anonymized data from tax returns, social media, and other sources on over 100 million Americans. We have found that people’s chances are shaped by the environments in which they grow up. When a child moves to a neighborhood with better schools or gets a chance to attend a high-quality college, we see their lives transformed relative to other comparable kids who didn’t get the same chances. Opportunity matters. And education is one of the keys that opens the doors of opportunity.

Unfortunately, access to those opportunities is not evenly distributed. There are numerous talented kids in America who don’t get the opportunity to attend high-quality schools and colleges like this one.

Wesleyan has been a leader in increasing access to higher education, seeking to admit more highly qualified students from low- and middle-income families and eliminating factors such as legacy preferences that can serve to perpetuate privilege across generations. Our research shows that such efforts to expand access to opportunity—when implemented on scale across colleges and other institutions in America—can make the American Dream of upward mobility more of a reality for everyone.

I am especially honored to receive this degree from an institution that is setting an example for society to follow. My challenge to all of you is to build on this example and make the world a better, fairer place by using your education to inspire and spread opportunity to those around you. Your success will be all of our success…. And I wish you the very best of luck.