College Students and Our Economy

As Americans, we look to the economy for explanations about so many things in our daily live—gas prices, interest rates, and the cost of a gallon of milk.  We also look to the economy to explain trends in college attendance, job placement rates, and the number of students enrolled to continue their education.  In a society that places such value on education, we must work to provide all students with quality courses and the highest level of instruction. 

In recent years, legislation has focused on the support of community colleges.  Providing larger pell grants to more students has allowed for higher admission rates and will hopefully lead to higher enrollment in four-year institutions.  Many community college students work full time jobs off campus, or have family responsibilities that do not afford them much time to spend on coursework.  As a result, these students do not take a full course load each semester and may take longer than the traditional student to complete their program.  New legislation also proposes and increased emphasis on “critical work force areas,” including healthcare, biotechnology and STEM courses.  Policy makers hope that this new legislation will eventually stimulate the economy and return the investment made by government entities and schools. 

Governors are also being encouraged to take an active role in protecting the educational opportunities of students in their states.  By providing valuable scholarships and educational opportunities, states can capitalize on innovation and progressive ideas from the students of state universities.  Unfortunately, many states do not have the funds to provide the assistance to students that they once could.  Budget cuts have led to a rise in tuition and fewer available scholarships for incoming students.  During the recession between 2002-2004, state governments cut billions of dollars out of their budgets that were once appropriated for higher education.  Without this state funding, schools are forced to cut programs, fill classrooms to overflow capacity, and offer fewer experiences for students outside of the classroom.  As the economy takes a turn for the better, lawmakers should look at the costs of limiting educational opportunities and examine the outcomes and benefits of a more educated population.

Despite the dip in America’s economy, those employed by colleges and universities report higher job satisfaction than in years past.  The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Great Colleges to Work for” survey included results from over 200 campuses and nearly 41,000 employees.  Employers reported healthy relationships with co-workers and supervisors, appropriate work-life balance, and confidence in the leadership in their department and at their institution.  Despite less funds to work with on campuses, professionals feel secure in their jobs and have faith in the administration guiding their institution into the future. 

Regardless of economic worries and the threat of fiscal cliffs and government shutdowns, professionals at our colleges and universities must focus on their responsibility to students.  Providing a positive experience that allows for growth and development into (hopefully) responsible individuals who can make positive contributions to society. 

Sources:
Community Colleges
Upbeat Employees
Governors to Colleges
Law-Makers and Budget Cuts

Behavior and Campus Involvement

Student behavior is an issue in any school setting, but the sense of accountability students have throughout grade school and high school disappears when students move away from home.  Without parents to monitor student behavior, college students experience a new freedom both inside and outside of the classroom.  At universities there are no “detentions,” and the most significant punishment most instructors can give is to lower a student’s grade in the course.  Unless there is significant disruption in class, or a serious concern on behalf of the professor, disruptive students won’t see an administrator to address their behavior.  The challenge facing professors and student affairs professionals is communicating expectations to students. 

One might assume that all 18-24 year olds know what is expected of them in a classroom, but we must remember that the college experience is a completely foreign concept for many high school graduates.  In high school classrooms, there is a smaller student-teacher ratio and often much more class interaction.  Along with new class atmospheres, students don’t have a school bus or parents dropping them off at school at the same time every morning.  Students have the freedom to arrive on campus when they please and unless instructors and offices have strict tardy policies, they might also arrive late to classes and meetings.  How can Student Affairs professionals set students up to succeed throughout their college experience? 

A study by researchers at the University of Michigan reports that students who attend religious services on a weekly basis also reported better behavior.  The study suggests that students are not restricted by religion, but encouraged to live healthier and more responsible lifestyles.  Studies have also shown positive correlations between student involvement on campus and academic performance.  These clubs and organizations give students positive experiences dealing with their peers, adult advisors, and community members.  By giving students responsibilities, they gain leadership skills and learn how to communicate clearly and effectively.  These organizations also help students discover their interests and passions, ultimately aiding their career and goal development. 

Richard Vedder goes so far as to call today’s colleges “country clubs,” arguing that by allowing students more freedom, they are not experiencing the development of past college students.  He points to a decline in in labor productivity and growth.  He suggests that the campus activities create distractions and allow students to make excuses for studying and class attendance.  Although studies have failed to show the lack of college preparedness for incoming freshman, students have also reported less studying and more partying.

By encouraging students to get involved in campus organizations, Student Affairs professionals can attempt to curb behavior problems on campus.  Equipping students to effectively balance coursework and extra curricular activities can lead to success in the classroom and in personal growth.  Finding a happy medium between being over-committed and not involved at all is an important task.  As professionals, we should work with individual students on a case-by-case basis, taking into account their personal interests and ultimate career and life goals.

Sources:

Religion and Behavior

Campus Clubs and Student Needs

Colleges and Country Clubs

Disruptive Student Behavior

Alcohol on Campus

It seems alcohol is one problem that plagues all college campuses.  Regardless of size, geographical location, or demographics, campus administrators across the country cannot control the alcohol consumption of their students.  Some blame the local and institutional law enforcement, while others blame federally incentivized laws that require the drinking age to remain at 21 years.  Whatever the cause of this alcohol epidemic, if the alcohol culture of our students’ does not change future generations will suffer.

                  In Devon Jersild’s article, Alcohol in the Vulnerable Lives of College Women, Jersild addresses the staggering statistics facing today’s college women.  Studies show that women are more likely to suffer long term consequences and more health issues from alcohol related substance abuse than their male counterparts.  Today’s women are more likely to depend on alcohol than their mothers and according to studies, working women are less likely to abstain from alcohol and more likely to drink heavily than women who do not work.  Since many women begin drinking heavily during their college years, there is concern for the development of women both socially and emotionally.  Women who abuse alcohol slow in development and damage their vital organs more quickly than men.  Jersild also suggests that women drink more heavily in an effort to “keep up with the boys.”  Rather than the genteel and well-behaved persona that women of former generations upheld, today’s college women want to be seen as equals with their male counterparts. 

                  Brandon Busteed reports that the number of college students consuming dangerous levels of alcohol is down in recent years.  He attributes some of this to educational programs that teach students the negative affects of alcohol such as AlcoholEdu.  Along with these educational measures, Busteed attributes some success in curbing the alcohol culture to local authorities and institutional administrators.  He says that an effort to reduce the amount of off campus partying has paid off in several college towns.  With landlords and police cooperating with one another and working together, the number of underage students who have access to alcohol can be limited and the number of alcohol related incidents could be reduced. 

                  Stephen Guest writes from a parents’ perspective in his article The Importance of Enforcing Alcohol Rules, he and his wife lost a daughter due to alcohol related accidents.  He blames the administration of higher education institutions and local law enforcement officials.  His daughter was killed in a snowmobile accident in which the driver of the snowmobile was intoxicated.  Had local law enforcement officials taken action when the party was reported, her life might have been spared.  He raises the question, “what are our colleges doing to protect studetns?”  Guest and his wife are encouraging lawmakers to take a proactive stand against underage drinking and to work to decrease the amount of binge drinking on college campuses. 

                  As administrators, we should develop programs that will educate students on the dangers of binge drinking.  I’m not sure what the proper course of action might be, but something needs to change to protect the development of college students.  

Alcohol and Women

High-Risk Drinking in College

Enforcing Alcohol Laws

Emotional Safety on Campus

Along with physical safety and the need to feel comfortable on campus, college students should also feel safe emotionally.  If a student is in need of counseling or help in a time of emotional stress, institutions should provide support options for those students.  Transitioning from high school to college, or from a community college to a four-year university can be difficult for some students.  In addition to a new campus and new professors, students might also see changes in their friend groups, workload, and even in their interests. 

            The mental health and safety of students should be of utmost concern on college campuses.  The mental stability of students can have an impact on their schoolwork, relationships, and the campus organizations they join.  According to Steven Bushong, students also suffer from stress related to the economic recession that has cost people jobs and lifestyles in the United States over the last decade.  Students see little hope for finding a job after graduation and many would rather continue an education until the job market is more stable.  However, without taking out student loans, many of them cannot afford to stay in school.  The stress of this potentially life-altering decision sends many students over the edge.  Counseling centers offer advice and support to students who feel as if they have nowhere else to turn. 

Counseling Centers report being understaffed and overbooked.  Most public institutions have a ratio of one counselor to every 2,607 students.  These departments are also seeing budget cuts and less funding to provide services to students, despite the fact that counselors on campuses around the country provide staggering statistics and incredible success rates.  Operating at no cost to students, Counseling Centers provide professional services that might have life saving results. 

            Counseling Centers also serve students participating in the recruitment process and students who are experiencing troubles with their families, including divorce or death.  Counseling centers can also serve as a means of support for students looking for jobs or looking for direction in their life.  In offices across campus, LPCs are employed to work with students and staff members who might be experiencing stress or depression. 

            The role of counseling and emotional safety on our campuses is a growing problem, especially with the technology currently available to students.  As administrators, we must work to fight this growing problem by working with students and meeting them where they’re at. 

Sources: 

Campus Threat-Assessment Teams Get New Guidance From Mental-Health Groups
Campus Counseling Centers React to Recession-Related Stress Among StudentsCollege Counseling Centers Remain Understaffed Though Demand Is Strong, Survey FindsColleges Must Create 'Culture of Preparedness,' Campus-Safety Experts Say

Diversity in Sorority Life

How do we foster diversity on a college campus?  How do we give students more freedom than they’ve ever experienced and then force them to befriend someone who is different?  Throughout our institutions, we see student organizations made up of predominantly one race.  Students identify with one group and tend to congregate with students who have similar experiences and lifestyles. 

            In a 2011 court case, it was ruled lawful for the University of Texas to take race into consideration when selecting students for admission.  Some critics of this decision question the necessity of such policies.  Why force diversity and admit minority students who might be less qualified in order to reach quotas for certain student populations?  Instead, why not focus on quality education for ALL students and accept them based on achievements rather than race?

            At the University of Alabama, a school rich with tradition and history, the school’s historically white sororities remain just that—white.  In her book, Pledged, Alexandra Robbins notes that the only time (as of 2005) that a minority woman was given a bid to a white sorority it was by mistake.  A student whose mother was Caucasian and her father was bi-racial was granted membership into a traditionally white sorority, her family’s race unbeknownst to her new sisters.  During Greek recruitment in 2001, an African American student with a stellar GPA, extensive volunteer experience, and a padded resume didn’t make it to the third round of recruitment.  Although she had made many friends before and during recruitment, these relationships were not enough to secure her a bid.  After completing the recruitment process twice and not receiving a bid, the young woman created her own group.  She was looking for sisterhood and lifelong friendships and decided to create a sorority of her own to meet those needs.  Rather than focus solely on social events and upcoming philanthropies, her organization participates regularly in service activities and engage in intellectual conversation.

            Many critics of the Greek system claim that overbearing advisors and mothers run Greek houses, living vicariously through the lives of their daughters and holding on to memories of their college days.  To effectively change the environment of institutions and the Greek system, we must put leaders in place who are advocates for facilitating diversity.  If we force groups to accept members based on their race are we really teaching students anything? Without a change in adult and student leadership and supervision within these organizations we will never see a change in the demographic layout of Greek organizations on our campuses.

As student affairs professionals, we should work with Greek letter organizations to develop programming that will encourage diversity within these groups and teach students and advisors to be accepting and willing to change.  Programs should focus on what an individual has to offer regardless of their skin color or family history, teaching students to place value on other characteristics.  Chapter members would initially be taken out of their comfort zone, but eventually these changes would become the norm and multicultural organizations would thrive on campuses.  Who knows what potential these organizations would have if they didn’t discriminate based on race? 

Sources: 
Pledged: The Secret Life of Soroities
No Time for Complacency
Powerful Greek Systems
How to Handle Racist Practicies in Sororities and Fraternities

Helicopter Parents Aren't Going to Fly Away

                "How to begin to educate a child. First rule: leave him alone. Second rule: leave him alone. Third rule: leave him alone. That is the whole beginning."  

-D.H. Lawrence, 1918

 

Helicopter parents, we’ve all heard of them, and many of us have had some interaction with them.  Parents who demand that their students be awarded certain privileges or accommodations, or request special treatment for their child.  It seems that parents are becoming increasingly involved in the lives of their college students.  Hovering parents expect constant communication with their student and immediate access to school officials and professors.  From life on campus to career decisions, parents are pressuring their students to live life according to the standards set forth for them by mom and dad.  How do institutions of higher learning deal with overly involved parents who insist on micromanaging the lives of their college students?    

                The Millennial Parents are the ones guilty of “hovering,” and since the Millennials will be enrolled in undergraduate institutions until at least 2020, schools are designing programs and procedures to deal with difficult and needy parents.  According to Eric Wills article The Parent Trap, The University of Vermont has established a team of individuals called “parent bouncers” to keep unwanted parents out of certain orientation activities, discussions, and class registration.  But rather than “bouncing” parents, most of these student employees direct parents to coffee tents, parent programs, and answer other questions the parents might have.  Clemson recruits parents who had a positive orientation experience to return the following year and share with new parents.  Clemson’s Jeanine Ward-Roof, director of student-development services says, “We can no longer think about just the student, it’s the whole family that is involved.”  Recently, we’ve seen family involvement here at Ole Miss involving one of our biggest football recruits.  Robert Nkemdiche’s mother was very vocal about the “family” decision that would be made regarding her son’s college football career. 

                In her article, The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting, Nancy Gibbs addresses the extreme measures parents take in protecting their children.  She also points out that statistically, children are much more likely to be harmed by a family friend or relative than they are to eat poisoned Halloween candy or be kidnapped by a complete stranger.  Gibbs suggests that parents view college admissions as a sort of report card on how well they raised their children.  If a student is accepted to a notable university and is awarded scholarships, parents feel as if they’ve succeeded. 

Claire Potter, a history professor at The New School for Public Engagement in New York has developed a list of skills that students should have before they begin college.  She also suggests that professors should give assignments that allow students to use these skills and work with their students to improve upon them.  Skills on her list include: learning to communicate clearly and effectively with professors and other professionals via email and in person;   managing schedules and prioritizing assignments and other commitments; and communicating to parents that as a college student he or she can handle problems as they arise and do not need daily assistance.  Imagine if every college student arrived on campus with formal communication skills and the motivation to problem solve without a parent holding their hand?  Student Affairs professionals would be blown away and their jobs would probably be much easier. 

As we look ahead to plan parent programs, we should consider the involvement that many of these parents have had in their child’s life for the last 18 years.  They aren't going anywere anytime soon.  Letting go will be difficult, especially when moms and dads have controlled soccer games, school musicals, and the Homecoming parade for years, but it is possible.  By providing parents with other ways to get involved on campus and teaching them effective ways to communicate with their students, we can help them fly away.  With parent support and clear communication between the institution and the parents, students can learn to become independent adults and eventually (hopefully) be hard working citizens making positive contributions to society.    

Sources: 

Parent Trap

Managing Millennial Parents

Want Helicopter Parents Gone? Teach Your Students To Fly.

The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting

Photo: Hugh Kretschmer for TIME 

Education Majors—the Future of American Schools

“Why do you want to be a teacher, you’re so much smarter than that.”

“You should consider medical school or law school; you are far too intelligent to be a teacher.”

These two statements are heard far too often in today’s society.  Regardless of where they come from, be it a well meaning relative or a peer with dreams to become the next great researcher.  According to New York Times journalist, Nicholas Kristof, schools in the United States are not doing their jobs in preparing students for the future.  He refers to the educational system as a “broken elevator.” A system that at one point, provided the necessary skills and knowledge to move up in socioeconomic status now acts more as a steep set of stairs than an escalator. 

As an undergraduate student, I received confused looks when I returned to my hometown and announced that rather than pursuing a career in accounting, I would be studying education.  Thankfully, one of my former teachers and family friends was incredibly supportive.  Since teaching me, she has moved into a principal position and oversees teachers, new and old, on a daily basis.  She told me that the brightest students always make the best teachers, and that it was a shame more students were not encouraged to pursue careers in education.  As a student, I heard remarks belittling the education program at Ole Miss and the students enrolled in the School of Education.  Even some of my friends made comments regarding my coursework and the classes I was required to take.  To the disbelief of many, I completed multiple 400 level history classes about everything from the Cold War to drug wars in Latin America, to the Huns in early China.  I enjoyed many of these classes, just as many students on a pre-med track enjoy biology and chemistry classes, but they were by no means easy.  Just as accounting students struggle to understand theories in Intermediate Accounting, I was challenged when researching the history and laws of ancient China. 

In the world of undergraduates, there is a certain stigma surrounding education majors.  Most might agree that anyone studying Elementary Education is simply attending college to complete an “MRS Degree,” preparing to be a wife and mother while taking easy classes and spending hours coloring pages and playing with kids.  Those studying Secondary Education are the former high school football stars who want to coach their hometown team to a State Championship while teaching a few drivers ed classes along the way.  But what about the people who, are you ready for this, want to teach!?  Crazy, I know.  But can’t you remember at least one teacher in your educational career who honestly loved his or her job?  Someone who worked after hours planning lessons that would spark your interest and hold your attention?  Just one teacher who loved students so much that on Friday nights, rather than being with family, her or she was at the football field cheering for the players, cheerleaders, and band members who sat in their classes every week?  If these teachers are the ones making a difference in our schools and preparing students for life after high school, why don’t we have more of them?  There are so many answers to this question.  The pay is too little, the parents are too involved, teaching to the test isn’t really teaching, paperwork is overwhelming, students have no respect, facilities are not up to date, there is no support from school administration, and there are no opportunities to move up from here; the list goes on and on. 

Vartan Gregorian, in his article Teacher Education Must Become Colleges’ Central Preoccupation, states that “higher-education institutions, in fact, must accept much of the responsibility for the dismal state of public school teaching today.”  He goes on to say that schools of education do not provide adequate training for prospective teachers and do not ensure they are properly equipped in their subject area before they are licensed to teach.  This is the disservice we are doing, as institutions of higher learning, to our students.  By failing to prepare them for what they will face in a classroom, we are setting them up for disappointment, frustration, and little success in the future.  Arthur Levine blames the failure of teachers on the expectations placed on them by employers.  He points out the lack of on the job training in teaching, citing doctors, lawyers, and businessmen as examples.  What hospital will take a doctor straight out of medical school and have him perform open heart surgery?  Why do we expect the same of our teachers? 

Before we can recruit solid students to enroll in schools of education, we must work to change the stereotype of education students and teaching as a profession.  Recently, Mississippi has taken a huge step in attracting bright students to become teachers.  The Mississippi Excellence in Teaching Program will provide 20 students with a full scholarship to attend either Mississippi State University or The University of Mississippi and enroll in education programs.  Upon completion of their degree, students must commit to teaching five years in Mississippi schools.  The requirements for this scholarship are high, requiring a minimum score of 28 on the ACT test and take part in a competitive interview process. 

Hopefully, in the coming years, we will see increased funding towards education and an increased interest in becoming an educator.  With more educators interested in enriching the lives of their students, perhaps we will see higher graduation rates and an even higher completion rate at colleges and universities. 

Sources:
The Clarion Ledger
Expectations for Our Teachers Are Misplaced
Teacher Education Must Become Colleges' Central Preoccupation
Our Broken Escalator