Ecological Theory Studies Of Minority Students

Adam Gorlick in “ Got an hour? Boost your grades. Stanford psychologists design 60-minute exercise that raises GPAs of minority student” talks about the transition from high school to college and the difficulties many students face. In his article Adam Gorlick brings up various questions many freshman ask for example, will they fit in but also brings up the issue of being a minority in a new college campus. He later goes on to talk about how these situations during the transition to college are situations that everyone goes through.

This illustrates that students are pushed to excel academically and in extracurricular activities to secure admission, impacting students' well-being. Furthermore, the intense pressure students face competing for college admission reveals a concerning trend where academic pursuits often overshadow essential aspects of childhood like social development. Thus, the stress young individuals endure for college admissions is unhealthy, underscoring the need for a more balanced approach. Others may argue that everyone should attend college due to the transformative impact it provides. In the article, “The Chance And The Choice That Changed My Life: The Power of A College Promise”, Chike Aguh views college as the key to “unlocking the American Dream for students across the country and the world” (Aguh).

Research suggests that students of color and economically disadvantaged students are likely to have low academic achievement, in comparison to their White middle class counterparts. Studies show that these disparities are a result of environmental, historical, sociopolitical, sociocultural, and institutional factors, and not necessarily students’ capabilities (Bemak & Chung, 2008). These environmental, sociocultural and sociopolitical factors can result to depression, low self-esteem, and a lack of educational and career opportunities. Thus, counseling professionals in the school settings need to develop advocacy plans to cater for these environmental factors that are barriers to academic, career and personal development (Ratts & Hutchins,

The obstacles faced by first-generation families are often steeped in poverty (First-Generation College Students: How Co-Curricular Involvement Can Assist with Success). Although first-generation students often cross all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic status, and gender lines, the path to college-completion is fraught with

The population increase of Hispanics has made the youth group the largest minority group in the United States (Cohn, Lopez, & Passel, 2011). The growth in U.S. born Hispanics has also increased the amount of first generation college bound going students. Unfortunately, many latina/o students come from poor communities and attend under services schools. These students are faced with the task of seeking academic outreach programs to show them the way to higher educational endeavors. The sample in the study are all college bound students based on the eligibility requirement to join the Higher Education Mentoring Program. The participant criteria is maintaining at least a 2.5 gpa, and actively striving to constantly improve performance on A-G courses. The purpose of this study was to identify the psychological, social and cultural factors that influence theses students college aspirations. This study used the Psychosociocultural (PSC) model that encourages the examination of academic self-efficacy, peers,parental, and faculty support and school environment to further understand educational perseverance. The literature on first generation students shows that those who participate in outreach programs

In a 2004 journal by Susan Auerbach, the concept of parental influence and support for Latina/o students is addressed. Auerbach shares that, “Research suggests the pivotal role of parents in promoting students’ college going” (Auerbach, p.127). It is no mystery that parents have great influence over their children, and when a parent is uneducated on how to best advise their child regarding higher education, they are unable to use this influence to encourage attendance. Auerbach states, “Families without a tradition of college going do not have sufficient knowledge to help their children navigate pathways to college” (Auerbach, p.140). According to the Latino Eligibility Study, the single most important barrier to college access for Latino students in California is lack of active knowledge of the steps needed to go to college (Gandara, 1998,2002). Parents of first generation students need tools that can aid in the child’s success and serve as a means of knowledge on what can be a challenging and confusing process. Another issue tied to parent involvement and understanding is that, “Poor and working class Latino families come to college preparation relatively late in students’ careers, with fewer resources and more obstacles” (Auerbach, p.136). The journal supports the idea that Latino/a parents are in need of early access to college preparation education in order to be able to challenge and support their

Despite all of the challenges that Latino/a college students face, they are still able to navigate through the rigors of college. Social support, ethnic identity, and individual factors all play a pivotal role in Latino/a college student self-efficacy. These strengths help to assist students in adjusting to college life and to further persevere through the many adversities that they may encounter throughout higher education. One of the strengths and protective factors that Latino/a college students have to help them cope and buffer stress during their time in college is through social support.

This study was also conducted by interviewing to get results and was to analyze the desire for higher education . The study for Ms. Olive revealed that parents’ education is important for students as it can either encourage or discourage the students from seeking higher education (2014). The study stated that the Hispanics students might not seek higher education as they feel that they are less prepared psychologically and academically (2015). Along with those some factors, the study revealed that to influence them, the students, to seeking higher educations it helps when they are “influenced by respected others: resilience, persistence, and self-efficacy: need for distinction and career satisfaction: spirituality and divine influence,” (2014 p.87). The results that were found among between both researchers are important to understanding the causes of the

“Kids who are the first in their families to brave the world of higher education come on campus with little academic know-how and are much more likely than their peers to drop out before graduation” (1). Many people believe that school isn’t for everyone, and whoever goes is privileged for doing so. Countless people in the world today do not attend college, and this is mainly due to an influence of those in their family. Perhaps they are unsupportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as a break in the family system rather than a continuation of their schooling and higher learning. Most of the first-generation students decide to apply to colleges, because they aspire to jobs which require degrees. However, unlike some students whose parents have earned a degree, they often seek out college to bring honor to their families, and to ensure they make a decent amount of money for their future.

It is a well known fact but there are many people including counselors, parents, teachers, and friends who resist saying it out loud for fear it will sound like discouragement and negativity: college is definitely not for everyone. The pressure on high schools students, especially those that excel, to attend a college or university is enormous. And in the case of a bright, industrious and motivated high school student, attending a college or university is an obvious career choice. For those students, it's only a matter of what university to attend, whether one's SAT score is high enough, and the availability of the money. Then there are the millions of high school students who are not really personally motivated but are being pressured by their counselors, teachers and parents should they attend college if they really don't care? This paper examines those issues.

The person I interviewed for this assignment is one of my closet friends. His name is Joseph Mitchell. Joseph is a 20- years old, Caucasian male from New Jersey. Both his parents are American. His mom doesn’t not have a degree but his dad does. Joseph also has four siblings, none of which have an advanced degree. His motivation to go to college was to further his education and get a degree in graphic design. He also wanted to continue his track career. Joseph said that the things that motivate him to stay in college are his family, friends, God and his future. He believes that his families expectations for him plays a huge role in why he is so motived to get his degree. His self-drive is another thing that plays a huge rule in his motivation

2004). If community colleges are able to provide resources for students to formulate culturally based clubs and organizations in efforts to aid in the retention and persistence efforts amongst minority students. Research also indicates the correlation amongst student engagement and student persistence (Astin, 1985; Tinto, 1993; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). A recent study conducted by (Wang and Shiveley, 2009) showed improvement in the retention of first-year students because of their participation in extracurricular activities. Students who are involved in activities are more likely to be successful.

As consistently illustrated in the literature, family support and education as a family value have been positively related to students’ persistence to graduation (Hrabowski, Maton, & Greif, 1998; Moore, 2000; Taylor, Hinton, & Wilson, 1995). Family members can provide guidance, encouragement, and reassurance about college challenges and the student’s potential for success. Hrabowski and Maton (1995) established that parents and other family members were instrumental in helping African American students adjust to college life at a predominantly White institution.

Students from all over the United States are told all through their life that they need to attend college if they ever want to be successful, however, this is far from the truth. Often schools are culprits for driving students to attend money driven colleges, in other cases it is family. While schools all too often make the push on students to continue their schooling, parents can cause the same situation, as they may not have a degree and be working a low-paying factory job. Now kids already don’t want to be like their parents when they get older, so seeing them suffer in poverty or barely above the poverty line can cause some dissatisfaction, further seeking a degree to live a life that they never got. What many

The article “Motivating Firs-Generation Students For Academic Success and College Completion” by Tanjula Petty describes the additional challenges first generation students have to overcome while attending college. A well-heeled diversity and world of opportunities are a few of the positive outcomes of attending college. According to Tanjula Petty (2014), “Yet, the most cited and widely used definition for first- generation students is someone whose parents has not completed a college degree”. Students whose parents did not acquire a college degree, have a lack of support at home. Their family members are not equipped to provide information required for college difficulties students may have. They lack knowledge and resources that students that students with college-educated parents have. The article states that these students are less psychologically prepared for college. Many low-income families do not understand the benefits of graduating from college. First generation students spend more time working and less time studying unlike their classmates. (Petty 2014) Coming from low-income families, many of these students have to divide their time between college and working. Leading students to prioritize money before school. Many work full time while going to school. Working more hours than studying can potentially harm students ' success.