First Generation Ethnic Minority Students - Research Paper Example

Running Header: FIRST GENERATION ETHNIC MINORITY First Generation Ethnic Minority with Multiple Higher Education Degrees BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE DATE HERE ABSTRACT In order to determine the incentives, challenges and opportunities of first generation ethnic minority students who were able to obtain multiple higher education degrees, the researcher of this study created a series of in-depth interview questions with a qualitative approach that were targeted at an individual holding three degrees and befitting the category of first generation ethnic minority. The study uncovered that time challenges, financial challenges, the burden of juggling familial obligations, and obtaining relevant and appropriate information represented the largest challenges. The study also identified that having a familial support network, pride in becoming a sort of educational role model for others, the desire to gain a better household income through degree attainment, and substantially positive psychological coping and attitude contributed to constructive navigation of the education process. Through in-depth discussion with a first generation ethnic minority student, a variety of theoretical opportunities for family members of this group and institutional leaders to better engage and support first generation ethnic minority students was determined. First Generation Minority Students with Multiple Higher Education Degrees Introduction Understanding the challenges and opportunities for first generation students has been a subject of interest to many researchers historically. The terminology of “first generation” is referring to any student that actively pursues a college/university education as the first individual within a family dynamic whose parents have not graduated from colleges or university institutions. As of 2012, approximately half of Alaska Natives, American Indians, African Americans, Hispanics and Latino doctorate holders belonged within family units where neither parent had been awarded a college degree (NSF, 2012). However, it is common that First Generation Ethnic Minority Students lack the knowledge that is required to make wise choices while completing their Masters and PhD Programs, which can pose serious consequences on their academic achievements. Ethnic minorities obtaining graduate degrees has been inadequately covered in research, and their challenges have lacked the necessary attention that is crucial in ensuring that they make wise choices during their academic profession. Research has pointed out that First Generation Ethnic Minority Students are inclined to face more challenges unless there is an intervention to streamline their decision making process. As the population of First Generation Ethnic Minority Students continues to increase, it is necessary to provide research driven recommendations to help overcome challenges and resolve problems specific to this population. Hence, the research maintained the potential opportunity to create new template for university administration, educators, family members and general society to better understand the intricacies behind what drives the motivation for first generation ethnic students to obtain multiple higher education degrees. The research provides knowledge of the experiences of a real-world first generation ethnic minority student that has obtained multiple degrees in order to provide practical and workable strategies that can be of benefit for future first generation ethnic minority students in their pursuit of higher education. Research Rationale and Methodology The main purpose of this research study was to understand what specific factors lead first generation ethnic minority students to obtain multiple higher education degrees; inclusive of masters, undergraduate, PhD and doctoral programs. It was hypothesized that there could be a variety of contextual factors that led to pursuit of the aforementioned degrees which required a qualitative approach in order to gain the richness and depth of understanding necessary in this subject matter. Qualitative research is most relevant when there is a need for inference and interpretation of events when events are subjective and when there is a need for a complete and explorative description of a phenomenon (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Qualitative research requires the researcher to become significantly involved in the phenomenon and the subject matter in order to provide appropriate resonance of the events being explored. Qualitative analysis is beneficial in providing a wide range of information that can be used to synthesize the final deduction. The interpretive technique that will be employed in this research is narrative inquiry approach. Wells (2011) defines the narrative inquiry as a methodology engaged in successfully obtaining the experience of people and deriving viable conclusions from the same. The experiences of a recruited sample population were consequent of in-depth interviews of a first generation ethnic minority holding multiple higher education degrees. The interview methodology focused on their experiences within the specific graduate programs they have successfully completed, inclusive of content relating to potential knowledge gaps, deficiencies, discrimination and potential challenges they had to overcome to be successful. Research Findings: Sociological Factors The interview participant, an African-American member of society, indicated that the most significant motivator and inspirational factor that led to attainment of multiple higher education degrees was the familial environment. The female ethnic minority indicated that even though her parents had only achieved education credentials of the eighth grade level, they had always maintained a positive attitude about the importance of education and learning as a fundamental life skill. This is not necessarily astonishing when considering the historical context of educational development for African-Americans. Watkins (2001) asserts that modern attitudes of blacks have evolved as a result of political construction in an effort to provide the nation with more competent laborers to support a capitalistic ideology. During the period of the Civil Rights Movement, the current ruling order, a type of political aristocracy, needed to teach African-Americans the specific cultural values of this upper-class in order to provide them with the skills required to fulfill needs for trained industry laborers. Using rhetoric and propaganda, the ruling order sought to promote obedience, conformity and the overall values of supporting enterprise (Watkins, 2001). Hence, it became a socially-accepted ideology within black society that promotion of black education was the fundamental framework for achieving quality of life, social acceptance, and providing opportunities for enhanced freedom. Hence, during a time period where less-educated blacks were beginning to witness more social acceptance and authority in blacks that sustained higher education, it became a generational teaching that education maintained significant opportunities for advancing black lifestyle and improving their role in society. It is, therefore, not astonishing that these family-driven values and ideologies supporting the necessity and importance of education were passed down to the interview participant as a primary motivator for attaining high quality, advanced educational skills. This assertion is supported by further findings in the interview process, in which the participant describes the significant encouragement and support that her own family (husband and children) generated as it pertained to her decision to return to school to pursue advanced, multiple degrees. The participant indicated that she could sense familial pride at the decision, what was referred to as a type of automatic encouragement completely devoid of negativism, even though the decision altered the dynamics of responsibilities and obligations within the household dynamic. Hence, this was indicative of a generational attitude about the importance of education which was initially instilled as a black cultural value driven by potent and authoritative, not to mention influential, political agenda. Furthermore, Demo & Parker (1987) conducted a research study that recruited 298 university undergraduate students, comprised of equivalent representation of white and black students. The study found that self-concept and self-esteem are enhanced with black pursuers of educational degrees as a result of supportive social groups. Most specifically, the family network was recognized by Stack (1974) as being the most primary influence for feelings of security and social belonging as it pertained to the decision to pursue black education. Families serve as very potent motivational forces (Gofen, 2009) and role models (Fentress & Collopy, 2011). In the domains of psychology and sociology, there is a phenomenon that is rather universal in society known as social comparison theory. This theory asserts that individuals assess the relevance of their opinions and attitudes through the process of comparing the self to others in society who maintain aspirational characteristics (Lin & Kulik, 2002). Through these comparisons, an individual learns how to define themselves and their identity. The interview participant’s husband was currently pursuing more advanced education, engaged in training in the construction industry to improve his pipefitting skills and to ultimately become a journeyman. Concurrently, the couple had six children, all of which are actively engaged in the pursuit of education. The oldest daughter has a masters degree, two other sons currently hold a B.A., a younger child is working on his B.A. and the youngest currently working on his own masters degree. Offered the participant, “They all got the message about education, further education” (Personal Interview). Hence, both parents in this familial environment served as important social reference groups which provided the inspiration and motivation to obtain advanced educational skills and learning. Having a familial support network, regardless of the mechanisms that drove such support (e.g. socio-psychological catalysts), reconciled many of the complications for seeking multiple higher education degrees; at least within this particular black minority group. There cannot, therefore, be any dismissing of the importance of sociological influences in what drives motivation and desire to obtain education and multiple degrees as a means of improving social standing and black lifestyle. When one maintains aspirational characteristics, it generates a type of psychological envy which drives a desire for the comparing individual to mold their own behaviors to achieve the same gains and benefits of the aspirational reference group (Plante, 2013). In fact, the minority ethnic participant indicated that her experiences with the university black studies program and the Black Student Union had students sustaining difficulties communicating effectively with administrators, some students, and teachers which caused frustration and anger associated with a perception that teachers who were not black were actually racist against the black students. As an older student, the participant became a liaison, listener and moderator for other students, built on wisdom gleaned through age and also apparently maintaining a sense of self-confidence about her individual black identity. Hence, when a black minority student is able to attain a high social status as a trusted and competent resource, they have better quality experiences with students as an aspirational figure by which other look up to. This could potentially be a learning lesson for ethnic minority students seeking multiple degrees: to establish a prominent social position as an aspirational figure in order to better effectively engage with instructors, other students, and the general curriculum. For the participant, being involved in a sociologically-important role mediated some of the potential challenges of achieving further education that is not always common in the black population. This particular ethnic minority, furthermore, seemed to segregate herself from the majority of African-American students that were more actively involved in such activities as Black Power Movements, campus-centric black interest groups, and even activities associated with the Black Panthers. The interviewer inquired about whether race played a role in how professors or peers viewed the participant as a potentially respected or chastised individual for wanting to obtain multiple higher education degrees. Though she acknowledged that no doors of opportunity were directly opened for her through the intervention of others in the academic or social environment, she did not directly experience derogatory or otherwise disrespectful social assessment (such as being called nigger). She believed that her goals and dedication were taken at face value and she was not generally restricted toward obtaining her objectives as a result of potential prejudices or stereotypes directly related to her race or gender. Why is this? When referring to the influence of feminist movements or, specifically, black feminist movements, the participant attributed some level of success for being able to be respected and esteemed, however she seemed to attribute the majority of her personal successes toward goal achievement to her own attitude and determination. Perhaps this is unusual for this particular ethnic minority who maintains apparent high levels of self-confidence and self-concept. The literature on the subject states otherwise, that when blacks seek goals that are highly valued by American whites, but are impacted by perceptions of discrimination, their experiences create outcomes of lowered self-esteem as a result of their negative experiences (Hughes & Demo, 1989). The participant indicated that she was readily aware that such discriminations and prejudices were present on campus and felt only a moderate level of angst about the situation as it pertained to elements of racism. However, rather than allowing herself to become engaged and consumed with these feelings, she remained perseverant toward obtaining her higher education goals and essentially distanced herself from these complicated psychological emotions and negative social sentiment about racially-motivated injustices. This factor related to racial stereotypes or prejudices both against being a woman and a black American could also serve as a potential template for assisting other students toward achievement of obtaining multiple higher education degrees. The individual made a psychologically-motivated effort to curb a powerful and potentially negative passion against trying to be an activist for securing the black agenda and ensuring black human rights. In fact, in situations where the participant felt that she was being spotlighted as a potential spokesperson for the holistic black population, which occurred with moderate frequency, she felt annoyed and irritated that she was being compared to other blacks and that there was a pre-existing social sentiment that all blacks might behave and think comparably. She clearly felt, whether just intrinsically or as a product of extrinsic reinforcement from family or other social reference groups, that she had her own identity and self-concept which might have caused problems if the participant had allowed herself to become engrossed in these complex emotional responses. Therefore, whilst this particular ethnic minority did not feel that racially-motivated issues maintained any real relevancy toward obtaining her further degrees, it was abundantly clear that these were self-motivated beliefs and values that provided the motivation to maintain isolation from eliciting concern about potential racist-oriented barriers to goal attainment. Coupled with a complete lack of institutional racism, the holistic failure of organizations to provide suitable services to an individual as a product of their ethnicity or color (Phillips, 2012), there were virtually no challenges related to race or even gender that complicated the attainment of her goals. Though this might be a productive of the specific campuses in which the participant obtained her degrees, it could be that social attitudes and professional attitudes regarding ethnicity, gender and color have been sufficiently deconstructed so as not to be a significant complication toward ethnic minorities obtaining multiple higher education degrees. Institutional Challenges The participant was inquired as to the methods by which she obtained information and for navigating through the graduate system. This assessment was that the situation of gaining knowledge was a headache, causing this ethnic minority to have to literally knock on doors and go from place to place in order to understand what steps and methods were required to obtain her goals. Constant leg work and phone calls made the process highly complicated. As indicated by Ramirez (2011), knowledge that is concerned with college admissions processes is a valuable variety of cultural capital. Individual students that have college-educated parents have much greater access to this particular cultural capital which gives them the ability to secure enhanced access to, and more privileged spaces within, the post-secondary education sector in relation to their working class and under-represented peers (Ramirez, 2013). The experience of navigating through graduate school is multi-faceted and difficult which is often further complicated when the student hails from families that are generally ignorant concerning the complexities of undergraduate education. First-generation graduate students may not understand where to procure important information that will assist in achieving success (Lunceford, 2011). In fact, the difficulties of obtaining the aforesaid knowledge and information has been a deterrent for many first generation ethnic minority students from completing their studies as they do not have the necessary support or information to successfully maneuver through the higher education system. Lack of appropriate and relevant advice creates a disincentive to develop a career objective and acquire multiple graduate degrees (Billson & Terry, 2001). However, this ethnic minority participant defied the literature about lack of information as a first generation graduate student as lack of support and advice did not deter her from achieving knowledge procurement. She was adamant about understanding the processes, procedures and options available in graduate programs, seeking information and consultation from a plethora of expert resources and professionals. The participant was extremely diligent in achieving absolute comprehension and understanding of where to begin, how to proceed, and what methodologies were appropriate for obtaining success in multiple graduate study programs. This participant was clearly intrinsically-motivated, an internal motivation where one is driven to engage in a task for the sake of the task itself rather than relying on externally-driven rewards and incentives to drive behavior (Weiten & Lloyd, 2010). Intrinsic motivations are explained by the psychological theory of self-determination, whereby an individual is driven to achieve a desired objective and maintains the self-control and self-regulation necessary to attain that particular goal (Ryan & Deci, 2002; Ryan & Deci, 2000). The literature asserted by Billson & Terry (2001) would have seemed to indicate that such headaches in procuring knowledge and information relating to graduate studies would have served as a significant psychological deterrent and frustration in the process of ethnic minorities obtaining multiple graduate degrees. However, the participant indicated that they maintained a strong sense of personal passion, which was likely driven by intrinsic motivations, to ensure that they followed the correct procedures and paths to obtain their ultimate objective of achieving educational goals successfully. Though it is only speculative that this behavior might defy the norm for her particular ethnic minority group, this was substantial evidence that this particular interview participant remained self-motivated and self-regulated in virtually all aspects of knowledge gleaning toward goal attainment which prevented complications related to the potential institutional factors that could impede success and achievement. This notion of the participant being highly intrinsically motivated and self-determinate serves as a potential template of knowledge and understanding for institutional professionals within the college or university environment. Weiten & Lloyd (2008) indicate a positive type of psychological coping mechanism known as problem-focused coping, whereby the individual seeks out information about a problem they are facing (in this case lack of knowledge of graduate study processes) and develops a new set of skills to correctly manage the situation. This coping mechanism creates a higher sense of personal control over an issue or problem and identifying methods to remove stressors causing psychological problems pertaining to the problem. Institutional professionals, understanding that many first generation ethnic minority students in the graduate problem might not have adequate access to information, could be more instrumental in developing appropriate instructional pamphlets or offering graduate services counseling to ensure that students are more self-determined in gaining important knowledge. Though this might appear to be relatively simplistic, it was determined that many black peer students were emotionally-charged when they felt frustrations related to perceived discrimination and poor professional communications with educators and overall felt a sense of injustice institutionally related to their ethnicity. This participant maintained very positive problem-focused coping strategies which ultimately placed responsibility for achievement and success, proverbially, on her own shoulders which supplemented her ability to achieve her multiple graduate degree attainment goals. Since not all first generation ethnic minority students are likely to going to maintain this type of positive psychological adjustment and motivation through intrinsic factors, the success of this particular participant in achieving knowledge procurement could serve as a motivational model for other minority students who are frustrated or otherwise concerned about lack of information regarding graduate study processes and procedures. The Challenges of Finance and Time Financial challenges are known to be common hindrances for first generation ethnic minority students as it pertains to their academic pursuits. Many first generation ethnic minority students are actually forced out of school right in the middle of their graduate studies. Whilst other non-minority students maintain awareness of the differing scholarship opportunities and academic programs available to assist students in achieving their goals, many first generation ethnic minority students do not have this knowledge and therefore must drop their academic interests due to economic problems. This significantly jeopardizes the opportunities for ethnic minority students to become valuable economic contributors within the society that they belong in (Chen, 2005). This is of significant concern for academic institutions, family members of the student, and even general society that relies upon economic growth to sustain their own quality of lifestyle. The interview participant was inundated with challenges related to financial concerns throughout the holistic process of gaining all three of her degrees. In her experiences, the household continued to gain more children which, even with the participant’s husband actively working an earning a financial living, they were forced to pinch their dollars accordingly. The concept of proverbially robbing Peter to pay Paul was referred to as a challenge toward receipt of her educational goals. Unfortunately, the participant did not have opportunities to exploit available scholarships, only taking advantage of the Mary Atkins program which was designed to provide mentoring to the female student that returned to higher education much later in life. It was, essentially, due to the ability of her husband to procure an appropriate household income that the student was able to attain all three of her degrees: a masters in English, a masters in Divinity, and a bachelors in English. The participant indicated that she felt if she had not had the obligations and responsibilities associated with rearing six children, she would have been able to attain her degrees at a much faster pace. This ethnic minority student further indicated that it was a “scary” situation wondering where money was going to come from as she navigated through the challenges and obligations of academic graduate programs. However, with the assistance of a supporting husband that sustained a sufficient income, she was not at any point driven out of university studies. The only notable limitation of financial problems was that it did not afford her the opportunity to pursue her doctorate degree and was limited to the speed by which she could attain completion of her degree in Divinity and masters in English. Hence, again, this participant defied the norm of first generation ethnic minority students that are often victims of improper financial capabilities and financial problems that occur as a result of not having access to important resources that provide scholarship or other assistance opportunities at the institution. As aforementioned, being a resourceful and self-determined individual with intrinsic motivations, which was a consistent theme of the participant’s attitude, maturity and intelligence, it is likely that if severe economic challenges were to present themselves, this ethnic minority student would have faced the challenges head-on and ensured that financial burdens and threats would not have depleted her ability to continue with higher education goals. This was supported in the interview when the participant provided words of advice to other students in terms of being motivated to ask for financial assistance and to “nibble” at each individual goal, working classes slowly into one’s lifestyle when economic challenges assert themselves. This is yet another potential learning lesson for academic institutional leaders to develop appropriate programs that are designed to foster financial support and assistance for ethnic minority students that are working diligently to achieve the goal of multiple degree attainment. Not all students maintain an economically-supportive spouse or family members that can contribute to degree attainment. With the foreknowledge that first generation ethnic minority students often do not have appropriate information and knowledge about where to attain potential financial assistance, institutional leaders at colleges and universities can be more instrumental in producing pamphlets or other relevant informational literature to ensure the student is able to take advantage of any and all programs and scholarships that could potentially be available to them. The interview, however, did not uncover any potential new directions for providing financial support or determining best practice for institutional leadership in providing a foundation for ensuring that economic matters do not lead to deference of future educational attainment. In terms of time-related constraints, the participant recognized substantial challenges that were associated with familial obligations which also slowed the pace of secondary masters degree attainment; a 10 year process that is usually achievable by first generation ethnic minority students in a much faster pace. To obtain all of her higher education degrees, the process took nearly 30 years. Time constraints for the ethnic minority student included having to work late into the evening to complete course obligations that were hampered by children wanting the student’s attention. However, in an environment with this high volume of children, this is not overwhelmingly astounding. Being the diligent and self-determined individual that she presented herself to be consistently throughout the interview, time problems associated with family influenced the decision to write a published article titled “A Mother Ain’t Nothing but a Juggler”. Perhaps this was psychologically-driven as a type of coping method for the frustrations that occur when time becomes a problematic situation in the pursuit of educational goals. This assertion is supported by the recurring theme of diligence, determination and intrinsically-driven motivations that made the process of overcoming difficult challenges much easier on this individual. Conclusions This study, unfortunately, did not create any solidified knowledge aligned with known literature about the challenges and opportunities for first generation ethnic minority students in the pursuit of attaining multiple higher education degrees. There is still a considerable gap in knowledge as a consequence of the study with little justification and support for theoretical and research-based understandings of what complicates first generation ethnic minority students from obtaining their multiple degrees. The research uncovered a variety of sociological factors that served as both challenges and opportunities, especially as it relates to family and familial support networks. This particular student maintained a high quality support system within the household dynamic which not only served as motivation to continue pressing forward in goal attainment, but allowed the participant to be viewed as a role model for her children which provided pride and incentive to remain diligent toward completion of the aforesaid educational goals. This was consistent with the literature provided in this study indicating that presence of such networks from peers and family make the process much easier and depletes potential negative psychological outcomes. The study also identified that frustration could be a potential outcome of not having appropriate support from knowledge resources about obtaining information regarding the graduate study and the processes and procedures required of students to successfully navigate these programs. Even though this particular student was a first generation student with parents that had only obtained 8th grade level education credentials, she was not blocked toward attaining her goals and was able to gain important knowledge bases that assisted in making the process of obtaining her degrees more efficient. However, the student’s responses were absolutely consistent with the literature which indicated that lack of information sources for many first-generation students complicates the degree attainment process. Not all students in the category of first generation ethnic minority students maintain the same level of self-determination and pervasive autonomy to be as diligent in contacting viable knowledge resources and ensuring that all of her informational needs were fulfilled. This was an interesting case study as the student’s inherent attributes and capabilities seemed to defy the norms for first generation ethnic minority students and through these competencies made the student achieve a more fluid and smooth process of higher education attainment. Though the participant gave credit to certain black-centric movements and feminist movements for ensuring that she was taken seriously as an African-American female student, she was less influenced by such movement activities and believed she was the owner of her own destiny and took responsibility for achieving her educational goals. Whenever the individual perceived or recognized legitimate challenges and burdens, she maintained a positive attitude which allowed the student to effectively cope with educational challenges as they occurred. She also maintained a proactive mentality to ensure that she was properly prepared for burdens, a type of contingent thinking that apparently made the education process more viable and comfortable as compared to other first generation ethnic minority students. This study fulfilled its objectives of identifying potential barriers and/or opportunities available to first generation ethnic minority students. The main hypothesis was that a blend of tangible and contextual factors led to pursuit of attaining multiple degrees that required an in-depth research approach and qualitative narrative to effectively analyze such variables. It can be reasonably asserted that if the student did not maintain an appropriate support network, have the financial availability of a spouse actively employed, and did not maintain the inherent self-determination characteristics identified in the interview, the student would have likely fit the profile of other first generation ethnic minority students that face multiple challenges in education. It was even self-determination and intrinsic motivations that served as the primary influence for seeking the attainment of multiple degrees, making this participant a rather unique case study as opposed to other ethnic minority students that are inundated with psycho-social, financial and time constraint challenges toward ultimate goal attainment. By not allowing herself to become immersed in negative evaluations of potential discrimination and prejudice, whether perceived or legitimate, this student did not encounter significant, negative psychological outcomes in the education experience. It should be recognized, however, that this was an attribute solely attributed to being a self-determined, forthright and rather mature individual that recognized appropriate paths to achieving her degree goals. Though this study did not provide a vast majority of new revelations regarding the experiences, challenges and motivations for first generation ethnic minority students, it does give society and institutional leaders an opportunity to examine the process for certain minority groups. This knowledge, whether consistent with research literature, could potentially allow academic institutional leaders to better engage and support first generation ethnic minority students. Through examination and analysis of this interview participant maintaining unique and assiduous characteristics, society and college/university leadership can determine best practice for working with self-determined versus de-motivated first generation ethnic minority students to ensure that more opportunities and incentives are in place to help in obtaining educational goals. References Billson, J.M. & Terry, B. (2001). In Search of the Silken Purse: Factors in Attrition among First-Generation Students, College and University, pp.57-75. Fall Chen, X. (2005). First-Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at their College Transcripts. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Deci, E. & Ryan, R. (2002). Handbook of Self-Determination Research. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. Fentress, J.C. & Collopy, R.M.B. (2011). Promoting Resiliency among First-Generation College Students, The Mentor. Penn State University. 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