Daniela Berlinski Source 2

How does self-identity play into a low-income student’s experience when attempting to obtain a college degree?

Colyar, J. E., and A. E. Stich. "Discourses of Remediation: Low-Income Students and Academic Identities." American Behavioral Scientist 55.2 (2010): 121-41.Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

            This article references low-income students and their academic preparedness. It states that most low-income students are more than likely to be underprepared compared to their middle and upper income peers. The authors also make a point to reference that there is more to student achievement than GPA and credits, but student’s identities in relation to their remedial experiences. The article primarily focused on low-income students who participated in a three-week summer bridge program that aids students in their transition to college. Discourse is defined as giving context for developing identification. The author’s reference that remediation is typically used in context with negative associations. However, most students who do use remedial programs are more than likely low-income students. These courses that they take are often not for credit, which in turn makes the process towards the degree slower. A very prominent point the authors note is that for low income students the development of identity is made harder in a higher education context due to the fact that higher education is primarily focused towards middle class students and their patterns and beliefs. This is why the authors think that summer bridge programs are important, they help fill in the gaps that students with low-income backgrounds typically have. The summer bridge program is intended to introduce to incoming college students the realities of student life: living in residence halls, adapting to campus culture, and viewing the rigor of college classes and work. These students learn to apply critical thinking to academic situations to help them succeed. In the study, the observers picked 86 students to observe the essays they wrote as a part of the program. In most papers a major them had a lot to do with family and peer support. This included the importance of having those family and friends to help you excel and push you to graduate college. Another subject most papers had to do with was academic management, meaning realizing the difference in academics between high school and college. In matters of theme they lastly mostly included about their optimism in their expectations of college and the power education beholds. In regards to their rhetorical strategies, students wrote using second person pronouns, passive voice, and using evidential. Most of the rhetorical strategies pointed out their academic ambiguity. The authors conclude the article by stating the importance of empowering these remedial students to begin to identify themselves into their schools. They also note that however there are norms and practices within each students experiences, students coming from low income backgrounds may need that extra resource and they explain that remedial courses are an effective way to obtain it.

            To me this article looks at the effectiveness of summer bridge programs and why these students coming from low-income backgrounds struggle with their identity within an institution that is mainly supported by middle and upper class students and faculty. Before reading this article, I had never thought of summer bridge programs in aiding the transition from students into college life. However, now I view that this is a very powerful source that could aid in academic retention for “at risk” and low-income students who wish to pursue an education. I think a lot of what the article is pointing out is that these students are struggling with their identity, as most students are from the ages of 18-24. However, the institutions of higher education are more predominantly geared towards students from Caucasian and middle/upper class backgrounds. It is difficult for a low-income student, coming from different backgrounds, to ease into the college experience academically and socially. This therefor causes uneasiness, which relates to the increasing drop out rates. Two summers ago I participated in Arkansas Governor’s School, which is a selective six-week summer program funded by the state where one essentially is a college student living on a campus; however we learn just to learn. This experience can be seen as somewhat like the summer bridge program, where I learned what it meant to be in college with the differing experiences, opinions, ideas, and coursework rigor.

            My previous source, written by Melanie Corrigan, discusses more the factors that are involved with the smaller level of retention rate of low-income students as compared to those in the middle or upper class. One thing that the Corrigan article states that conflicts with this article is that most family circumstances inhibit the student to be able to successfully grow in their college career. In this study however, most students had a strong emotional tie to their families and viewed their support as their driving force for academic retention. Since these situations are polar opposites, I think it would be interesting to look at students who didn’t grow up with parents, students whose parents are indifferent about their education, or students whose parents actively do not support their want to obtain a degree.

            This source has led me to question if universities offer supportive opportunities to low income students to make them feel as if they belong to a more inclusive environment and opportunities that don’t inhibit their academic performance. I think it’s important to ask: Is it possible for the government to make summer bridge programs, like this one, mandatory for public universities? I think next it would be interesting to research the effect of first generation students and their retention efforts, as many first hand experiences described in this article related to those kinds of people. I think it would be interesting to consider at risk youth who don’t have as positive of a relationship with their parents as the children in this article seem to have.