Still, the students I work with will probably enter a university education system in which they will be surrounded by students who fall into this category - possibly first generation college students or those who come from diverse economic situations.
I was really stuck by the fact that, "more than 40 percent of American students who start at four-year colleges haven’t earned a degree after six years." I know that the graduation rate in the US is low, but this was a startling statistic. I'm curious to know if the current economy in the United States is aiding these statistics.
"If you want to help low-income students succeed, it’s not enough to deal with their academic and financial obstacles. You also need to address their doubts and misconceptions and fears. To solve the problem of college completion, you first need to get inside the mind of a college student."
To do this one of their professors, Professor Laude, has not only created a small classroom environment for these students but also, "supplemented his lectures with a variety of strategies: He offered students two hours each week of extra instruction; he assigned them advisers who kept in close contact with them and intervened if the students ran into trouble or fell behind; he found upperclassmen to work with students one on one, as peer mentors."
Another interesting trend that this article points out is, "whether a student graduates or not seems to depend today almost entirely on just one factor — how much money his or her parents make. To put it in blunt terms: Rich kids graduate; poor and working-class kids don’t." The University of Texas is working hard to tackle this issue.
"If you want to help low-income students succeed, it’s not enough to deal with their academic and financial obstacles. You also need to address their doubts and misconceptions and fears. To solve the problem of college completion, you first need to get inside the mind of a college student."
To do this one of their professors, Professor Laude, has not only created a small classroom environment for these students but also, "supplemented his lectures with a variety of strategies: He offered students two hours each week of extra instruction; he assigned them advisers who kept in close contact with them and intervened if the students ran into trouble or fell behind; he found upperclassmen to work with students one on one, as peer mentors."
Overall, I think this article struck me because I believe so strongly in liberal arts education. In general, these colleges tend to be small, with small class sizes and individual attention for each student. While not every liberal arts college can provide this close personal contact, I think that most strive to create a more community based approach to education - integrating residential life and classroom learning where ever possible, and encouraging personal contact by professors, teaching assistants, mentors, and residence life staff.
From my own personal experience as a student at Trinity College (CT), I had many dinners at my professors homes and was surrounded by faculty and students who kept an eye on me. When my father had a stroke when I was a sophomore in college, a team of college staff came to my aid to make sure I had a plan for completing school work and that I had access to a mental health professional if I needed one.
In working with Asian students for the past four years, many of them tend to shy away from "Liberal Arts Colleges" because they think of them as a bastion for far left thinkers and artists. Many of them enter the college search with this mis-conception, hearing only "arts" and move toward larger universities in search of a more balanced education. I have been working hard over the years to encourage my students to take a look at liberal arts colleges for the small classroom environment which fosters personal connections and interdisciplinary thinking.
When speaking with students in the future, I think I will add to this information that the learning environment offered by a liberal arts college might actually increase graduation rates too.
From my own personal experience as a student at Trinity College (CT), I had many dinners at my professors homes and was surrounded by faculty and students who kept an eye on me. When my father had a stroke when I was a sophomore in college, a team of college staff came to my aid to make sure I had a plan for completing school work and that I had access to a mental health professional if I needed one.
In working with Asian students for the past four years, many of them tend to shy away from "Liberal Arts Colleges" because they think of them as a bastion for far left thinkers and artists. Many of them enter the college search with this mis-conception, hearing only "arts" and move toward larger universities in search of a more balanced education. I have been working hard over the years to encourage my students to take a look at liberal arts colleges for the small classroom environment which fosters personal connections and interdisciplinary thinking.
When speaking with students in the future, I think I will add to this information that the learning environment offered by a liberal arts college might actually increase graduation rates too.
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