ASA2, Section A01 (Vrindavani)
Week 3
In this week's reading, I was captivated by the unveiling of academia's true nature and the underlying consequences of the social engineering implemented upon students who attend universities. It brings to mind the amount of peers I know who have been impacted heavily by the transition between high school and college, or fail many classes once reaching their "dream school." Why is it that students of color have a low retention rate in college?
When I first began to write this entry, I wanted to frame my question toward Asian Americans specifically. Through personal experience, I have seen many of my friends fall from the pressures of academia and discontinue their higher educational path. However, upon further researching, I found that the trends of low retention in Asian American students are significantly less impacted than that of other students of color and even white people. Why is it then that it seems to be different in my experience?
While race is a highly influential and contested notion, another point of understanding that one must acknowledge is socio-economic background. The figure below details a breakdown of racial background compared to their socioeconomic status and foster care percentage in California during 2009-2010.
It seems that Asian American numbers for foster care and socioeconomic status are lower than other ethnicities, with the exception of Pacific Islanders and American Indian/Alaska Native populations - but their numbers could be low due to their low presence in California’s population as a whole. So while I was examining these trends of low retention rate from my friends and peers, I was only looking at the racial scheme of things rather than the socioeconomic status trend. Because I come from a low-income community, it is much more likely that these students struggle with academic retention - and while many of my friends do come from Asian households, it seems that we are going against the grain in some way by being from a socioeconomically disadvantaged community.
To recall, the purpose of my analysis in this topic was to question why academic retention rates were so low for students of color. My answer is that the University system does not provide enough support for their culturally diverse students and their low-income students.
References
Barrat, V. (2013). The Invisible Achievement Gap, Part 1: Education Outcomes of Students in Foster Care in California’s Public Schools. Retrieved from The Invisible Achievement Gap, Part 1: Education Outcomes of Students in Foster Care in California’s Public Schools
NSC Research Center. (2019). Persistence & Retention - 2018. Retrieved from https://nscresearchcenter.org/snapshotreport33-first-year-persistence-and-retention/
Valverde, K.L.C. (2019). Fight the Tower: Asian American Women Scholars’ Resistance and Renewal in the Academy. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781978806405/cfi/4!/4/4@0.00:23.2
No comments:
Post a Comment