This week, I read two chapters from Educating a Diverse Nation. Chapter 4 focused on Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and ways they are trying to ensure student success. At the beginning of the chapter, the author wrote, "HSIs are responding to the needs of students from diverse cultural, linguistic, and economic backgrounds while at the same time ensuring that an HSI education leads somewhere - to living wages or to more education" (p.93). This quote really stuck out to me because I believe the latter part is applicable to all institutions, but the quote as a whole is specific to HSIs because so many of their students are coming to college unprepared and with limited support in terms of family understanding and knowledge of the process. One institution, La Sierra University, began connecting their students with personal and academic coaches as part of their first year experience. These coaches help students acclimate to campus, understand policies and processes, and get connected with resources. Most importantly, they fuel self-reliance and self-efficacy among their students so that they are empowered to take ownership of their collegiate journey. This program made me consider the following questions:
Chapter 5 of Educating a Diverse Nation described the familial atmospheres of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Members of HBCU communities - faculty, staff, students, alumni - are often extremely loyal to their institutions, describe highly supportive systems, and protect each other and their family name (in this case, their institution). At Morehouse College, an HBCU, the institution's mission and environment empowers their students to "understand and believe in their potential and ability to act and lead" (p. 155). I think this really speaks to the impact of peer role modeling, as several students talked about how seeing others similar to them succeed fueled their own ambitions. Another feature of Morehouse's program that stood out to me was the stress placed on providing access to faculty. Time and time again, we see mentoring and personal relationships playing a critical role in student success in college. It seems that many HBCUs really excel in this aspect. At Norfolk State University, students benefit from a strong partnership between student affairs and academic affairs, that truly unites personal and academic support. This made me wonder if such partnerships are often stronger at HBCUs, and if so, why this sort of relationship does not transcend to PWIs. Finally, the last part that really stuck out to me from this chapter was the "We over Me" slogan at Paul Quinn College, which was implemented by the President. He broke it down to four values:
The next reading was titled "Student Affairs Capitalism and Early-Career Student Affairs Professionals." This study discussed how new student affairs practitioners are faced with pressure from their institutions to generate revenues through their functional units. Overall, they viewed this as conflicting with their professional values and ethics, demanding entrepreneurial skills, and exploiting undergraduate and graduate students. I really appreciated reading this article, as I feel like this is a problem I've already begun to face and will only continue to encounter. During undergrad, I was vice chairperson of our student fee allocation board and chairperson of our club sports fee allocation board. With the club sports board, our Director of Campus Recreation often pushed us to use the fees to buy equipment that could be used by teams but also rented by individuals - a direct violation of our constitution and policies regarding student fee money. While he was focused on seizing opportunities to generate revenue, we were focused on upholding our responsibilities of being good stewards of student money. I can imagine the stakes would only be raised when the relationship shifts from student leader-advisor to employee-supervisor. As I begin my job search next semester, I will try to evaluate office's attitudes toward such a practice so I can avoid being blindsided by entrepreneurial responsibilities. When I first started reading this week's article from the New York Times, I got a little annoyed. I figured it was just another article about student loan debt. During a pretty bad week, I didn't want another article that was redundant to others and would just bring me down even more because of the subject matter. However, this article was really insightful, more in depth than what I typically read about the costs of college, and overall just a great and engaging piece of writing. I appreciated the comparison between student loan debt and the mortgage crisis, as I believe that puts it into perspective for many people. Something that really stuck out to me was how much more significantly tuition and fees increased for public institutions than private institutions over the past decade. Also, an argument I hadn't really heard before was that state funding cuts were due primarily to the fact the lawmakers came to believe state schools were one of the few parts of government that could raise the money on their own - by raising tuition. As for misleading acceptance letters and marketing attempts to hide the true costs of college - I totally get that. I went to a private institution for undergrad, and it often employed marketing strategies similar to those mentioned in the article (i.e. "focus on the value and quality of education..."). Even with the SAAHE program here at Ball State, the costs were very vague; we were always told we would be responsible for a "portion of tuition," but never were able to be told a specific amount, even when we inquired. We did not learn the true cost until the Bursar billed us. I can only imagine what a shock it must be to first-year undergrads who are responsible for a much greater amount of tuition - and even more so for recent grads or dropouts that have to start making loan payments. This feature from Mother Jones provided an overview of the student loan debt crisis through graphic charts. This was more like what I was expecting from the prior article, in the sense that it gave a general overview of how debt has worsened over time. It's important for us to keep in mind what our students are facing in terms of rising college costs and also for us to use our roles to advocate for our students' need for lessened financial burden. Of course, many of us and our colleagues face this issue head-on, so it's not one we're likely to forget when working with our students. The student loan debt crisis scares me greatly; my optimistic attitude wants me to believe everything will end up working out okay, but it's hard to see that now. The final reading for this week was not a reading but rather an interactive website designed by The Chronicle to help students determine the potential value of the education they want. The site is broken down into three functions: determining true cost of college, examining graduation rates of colleges, and understanding the balance of debt repayments and potential earnings. I'm actually shocked I have never encountered this website before, as it seems to be exactly what people considering a degree of higher education need. I think this effectively highlights the issues of knowledge and information gaps; several resources like this exist, but people do not know about them and cannot make effective use of them.
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This week's readings discussed adult and online learners. The first reading by Crawley, "Profile of Online Students," gave an overview of adult learners, who is taking online courses, and why they have chosen to learn that way. Overall, adult learners and online students tend to be adult learners, looking to earn a degree at their own pace and at flexible times. They're often balancing many other roles (jobs, families, etc.) and do not really have the time to be full-time students. They are looking fore efficient, cost-effective ways to earn a degree, often as a means to an end; they believe they need this degree to get a specific job they want. I found it interesting - but logical - that adult learners' top four criteria in choosing a school are cost, scheduling, reputation, and class size (the last two were the most surprising). Most important from this reading was the list of recommendations of what institutions can do to support these students, such as addressing students' career and life goals early on in their college career, define knowledge acquired by students through previous college or work experience, and promoting an array of payment options.
The next reading was an article from The Atlantic about the influence of the Internet on our methods of reading and acquiring knowledge. In it, the author argued that the condensed, easily-accessible information online has restructured how we think. We are no longer able to read lengthy articles or books , and there is less need to retain knowledge. He countered Google's belief that people would be better off by having all information available at all times. I tend to side with the author's perspective. I have definitely noticed my own attention span decrease, and I do not often worry about retaining knowledge. My undergraduate degree is in communication, so I have often thought about these influences of new media. Related to student affairs, I believe this trend in knowledge acquisition is something we need to consider when we are trying to educate our students. The readings from Marc Prensky were actually ones I had read in undergrad! My first thoughts on these readings were that they're written for people older than us. I do not really believe I am a "digital immigrant;" I believe I am a "digital native." In my career, this may give me an advantage over my superiors in being able to connect with students because I already speak their technological language. Really, I feel like I have gotten the best of both worlds; although I am a digital native, I have spent quite a bit of time with digital immigrants, allowing me to learn their ways and traditions as well. I think, in my career, it will be my responsibility to help my colleagues understand and see value in the way digital natives live and learn. Part II of these readings focused more on how students' thought processes and brains really have changed, specifically looking at neuroscience. I especially liked the part arguing against the claim that students can no longer pay attention or stay focused; the author stated that they can do this, just not with antiquated methods of teaching. Today's educators should focus on interactivity and stimulation to engage students and keep their attention. The YouTube video about MOOCs really did not present much new information beyond what we have already discussed in this class. Although the video highlighted benefits of MOOCs, I still discount their effectiveness. The video concluded with saying the learning process and measurement of success in MOOCs is the same as in the real world, but I disagree; there are much greater indicators of success in the real world, such as bonuses, promotions, awards, etc. Honestly, I believe MOOCs are a passing fad and are already well on their way to extinction. Laptop U, an article from The New Yorker, further discussed MOOCs. An interesting piece from this article was the student-to-faculty ratio, which reminded me of the arithmetic of engagement as described in How College Works. In this article, the author supported the impressive class sizes of MOOCs because it puts more emphasis on the student taking ownership of their learning, making it more effective. I don't entirely buy into that. However, I do like the grading style for the multiple choice questions because it provides students with feedback about the correct answer; this is something you do not see in many traditional classrooms. Finally, I liked how the author painted the two different pictures of higher education in America: the one of elite universities and the one where students are struggling to get buy and are just working really hard to get some sort of degree. It is important for us to remember these two different systems and to recognize in which one we are working. The Rolling Stone writes excellent ethnographies. Vivid, descriptive, and personal, these narratives provide impressive insight into people's lives. But, I'm starting to not like them. A couple weeks ago, we read "A Rape on Campus," which sought to divulge sexual assault cover-ups and injustices at the University of Virginia. But, this article has been significantly disputed for inaccuracies. I'm afraid this week's reading, "Confessions of an Ivy League Frat Boy: Darmouth's Hazing Abuses," may be similar in that sense. This narrative portrayed fraternity life in an absolutely horrible way, and mainly from a singular perspective. It took a look into life at the extremities of fraternities, acting as if that is the norm. At one point, the author even said, "As with all fraternities, drugs were by no means uncommon at SAE." ALL fraternities? Really? What an ignorant generalization. Although I am not affiliated with a sorority or fraternity, I have always respected the Greek life systems for their roles in students' experiences and development. I think it is important to pay attention to some of the concerning trends mentioned in this article - e.g. sexual assault, alcohol and drug usage, etc. - but I think it is unacceptable to give the impression that all fraternities are terrible places.
The first thing that stuck out to me from The Chronicle's article, "Alcohol's Hold on Campus," was the location - University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. One of my close friends from undergrad now goes to grad school there, and her Snapchat stories certainly reinforce the image of the school as being one with a heavy drinking culture. It was interesting to read about this from the police's perspective, especially about their enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy: only enforcing it with those who are facing significant safety risks. This especially makes the number of annual arrests for drinking offenses incredible - the fact that 1,000 students are deemed to be so drunk that their safety is a concern is unbelievable. The article went on to explain why college's haven't put an end to such binge drinking. Many colleges are launching preventative and counseling efforts to curb usage, but they're doing nothing about availability of cheap and easily-accessible alcohol. Most interesting was the reasoning cited for not being more aggressive in curbing such habits; the reasoning that universities want to treat students as young adults rather than policing them. I was happy to see a portion of this article discuss sexual assault awareness and bystander intervention programs. It is definitely a tricky situation, as discussing the influence of alcohol in sexual assaults may often lead to victim-blaming. The opinion piece on college's not doing their jobs if students have time to drink made a good point about how engaging, challenging, and provoking students can help decrease binge drinking. However, I do not believe there should be an all-out ban on drinking. Finally, The Chronicle's piece had an article called "How to be Intoxicated." In all honesty, this article didn't connect with me very well and was a little too heavy on the Greek-lore. "A Nation of Whimps" highlighted a multitude of issues on today's college campuses, issues that primarily seem to stem from helicopter parenting and a refusal to allow one's children to fail. Grade inflation, requests for excessive accommodations, binge drinking and other partying behaviors, and a deference toward being faced with opposing views were all cited as effects of parental protectionism. What I found most interesting, however, was the author's interpretation of what happens because of frequent parent-student contact: the infantilization of college students. As someone who talks to my parents several times each week (sometimes each day, even), this should make me a feel a bit embarrassed. I did agree with the point about cell phones contributing to a decline in planning; my personal experience with making plans for group meetings or even just hanging out with friends is that very little is planned ahead of time because it is so easy to contact each other last minute. In fact, even if plans are made a week in advance, they usually don't seem to be concrete unless there is follow-up that day via cell phone. I loved how the author concluded with saying while some concern is warranted for certain kids, the majority of students are likely to be a-okay without such hyper-vigilance. I'm always happy whenever I get to read an article from The Atlantic. Even when I may disagree with the entire article, I truly enjoy reading it. This week, we read "Being Gay at Jerry Falwell's University," a story about a student's coming out at Liberty University. This article made me cheer! I was so happy to hear that Brandon had a positive experience coming out at his religiously-affiliated school; the level of support he received is something we may not often see, even from people not tied to religions. Being Catholic, I've often thought about how my religious values align with my personal values of supporting all people in their unique identities. I've long struggled with navigating the conflicts among these values, but I've come to realize that their is one unifying, driving value: the dignity and worth of every single person. To me, it seems that many of Brandon's professors had this same value, which allowed them to genuinely care for and support Brandon as he worked to discover who he was and to love himself. We had another set of readings from The Chronicle this week. They were part of a special feature called "Race on Campus." The first narrative was from a Black professor who spoke of how, no matter how many accolades he earned, he would never be regarded as "good enough" or equal by his White colleagues. This is a sad reality. However, I appreciated his approach to dealing with this, and I especially loved his quote:
The next portion of the feature highlighted the disproportionate amount of mentoring and service-work done by faculty members of color. This served as a reminder of how important it is to have a diverse faculty and also how much students are drawn to faculty or staff they view as being similar to them - whether that is race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc. It is sad that this work is so disproportionate among white faculty and faculty of color, but it is admirable how willing so many faculty of color are to take on such work. I was glad to read that students are now advocating for faculty - a seemingly backwards situation - in regard to requesting administrators to hire more faculty of color. Another portion of this segment was about the challenges in creating diversity on campus and retaining members of underrepresented minorities. This quote stuck out to me: "Even these days...a diverse student body or faculty should not be the only end goal. A certain number does not guarantee inclusion." It's so true, and it is something I talked about quite a bit with my former boss, Bradley University's Vice President for Student Affairs. Bradley's graduate school had been recruiting international students pretty heavily, and there were calls for this to extend to undergrads. However, there were very few resources in place on campus to serve such students. My boss began working to create a staff position specifically for working with international students and developing programs that would support them. The article also talked about trying to change a university's atmosphere, which is incredibly tough. It takes a truly collaborative and persistent effort to cause even the slightest shifts. This leads perfectly into the next portion of the segment, which was about the need for collaboration in diversity and inclusion efforts. I liked what the author said about needing to get buy-in from all levels as well as placing it at the front of everyone's mind at all times. The final few portions to this segment discussed how to support students and faculty of color. While reading these, I thought of the following questions for my peers:
The final reading for this week was "Guests in Someone Else's House: Students of Color." This report presented a qualitative study of the experiences of students, faculty, and staff of color at the University of Minnesota. I appreciated how the author broke it down to highlight the differences between the support these campus community members feel in small, isolated areas versus the university environment as a whole. I think this is something that may be observed at many colleges. Often, we find multicultural centers, ethnic studies departments, diversity and inclusion offices, etc. to be extremely supportive to students of color. However, we must strive to extend this level of support to a greater context so that students feel welcomed in all aspects of college life. |
Kristin KreherMy happiness comes from meaningful interactions, the outdoors, thrift shops, and saying "thank you." Archives
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