Student Involvement and Early Preparation: A Recipe for Minority Student Success

Being a female, first generation Mexican-American student that started off as an Aerospace Engineering major here at CalPoly, two articles spoke to my experience as a life-long student: Raymond Landis’s “The Case for Minority Engineering Programs” and Shirley McBay’s “Improving Education for Minorities”.

Both of these articles were written in the late 1980s, around the time I was born, yet approximately two decades later I find some of their recommendations and insights still timely and relevant.

As I see it, Landis concerns himself not only with the discussion of recruitment of minorities into college engineering programs, but also with the issue of retention. The “attrition”, or loss, of minority college students at white engineering schools can be addressed by examining “the educational environment that our predominantly white schools present to minority students” (756). Landis wants to know why despite good pre- indicators of success in college such as SAT scores, GPA, high level math and science courses taken( 756), minority students still perform less impressively than their white counterparts. Landis focuses on the educational environment, and suggests that increasing student involvement is the key to retention and success.

I find Landis’s suggestion to be beneficial, but it is lacking another aspect that impacts minorities’ success; what needs to be accounted for is the psycho-social impact of the change in demographic environment that minority students undergo on the way from high school to college. Speaking from personal experience, I graduated from a high school where I was able to take a reasonable number of AP classes and graduated number 15 in my class, AND it was also a high school were at least more than 95% of students were Latino/a. To go from that kind of cultural surrounding to a “white engineering school” as Landis could most certainly apply to CalPoly, is staggering.

I believe that Landis is on the right path in offering student involvement as a solution to retention and success in college, as, in reading his article, I felt all his observations about why I feel like I am falling behind apply to me (i.e. amount of time spent on campus, interaction with faculty, participation in student organizations, interaction with other students, etc.) While I agree with Landis, I feel that the particular brand of “involvement” he is promoting lacks a sense of integration. By integration I mean fostering an interaction between minority and non-minority students and faculty. Landis lauds the Multicultural Engineering Program (MEP), which I agree is commendable, but we must not forget that college is a stepping stone to success in the professional world, where cultural isolation is not something for which we are aiming. Student involvement should take on the role of bridging feelings of “otherness”, and lend an opportunity for minority students to find a place within the larger student population. Also, it is important to note that minority students are not just defined by their cultural identity but by their interests as well, and I think that should also be an important aspect to foster.

I feel that Mc Bay’s article addresses Landis’s isolated focus on postsecondary education, as Landis states that we should dispel the “myth of preparation”, the preparation undertaken in K-12 education. While I feel it is right to concentrate on how university environments have historically impeded minority student success, Mc Bay offers that “interventions should occur at the earliest possible time” (37). I feel this argument only makes sense, because education is a cumulative process, and success in college is dictated in great part by this preparation. This preparation requires extra help to address potential lacks in a minority student’s experience. For example, a minority student is more likely to be a first generation college student, and since their parents cannot provide their own experience for how to navigate their children’s advance in education, pre-emptive counseling programs such as MIT’s Minorities Introduction to Engineering and Science Program help fill the void.

Lastly, Landis talks about student-faculty interaction as a component of a successful student’s involvement, however, he also notes that faculty that are non-minority can sometimes be a source of discouragement for minority students. I feel McBay addresses this problem by suggesting that we “redouble our efforts to recruit more minority teachers” (39) and this starts precisely in K-12 education, where “we must seek out and nurture minority students with the talent and interest to become teachers” (ibid).

I believe between Landis’s and McBay’s suggestions, we have a start for ensuring minorities’ success in the educational system as well as the professional world.

Works Cited

Landis, Raymond B. "The Case for Minority Engineering Programs." Engineering Education (1988): 756-61.
McBay (1989), “Improving Education for Minorities.”

Minorities and Majorities

One article that interested me was Improving Education for Minorities by Shirley McBay. This article did make good points. She pin pointed the areas in which she felt that needed to be fixed in order the better the education of the minorities. She presents 9 principles that will led to more students in improving the education they received. She also does do a great job in pointing out the various studies and programs that have been done and have demonstrated change. I understand where she is coming from but at the same time , because of what I am studying, I feel the history behind the education system is missed.
One principle she does mention is in one study the Texas-based AVANCE demonstrated that the parents who participated in the program were “more likely to be involved with the child’s school and serve as a parent leader.” I also feel this is important and a huge step towards education. However, it is not explained why it that these parents were not going to meeting or more involved with the school and their child’s education She presented the solution to the problem but did not explain why there was a problem. And I feel that is important in changing the way parents feel. What was it about this program that urged parents to participate more? What did the program change for them in their lives?
Another interesting point made, or comment is , “ the school’s physical location allows students to work in , and feel connected to a middle class environment that provides ordinary but important role models for the,” Yes , students do need minorities, but to me was what struck me was, “ the schools physical location ” and “feel connected” To me it seemed that the differences between middle and low class needs to be better explained. Why would feeling like being a part of the middle class have an impact on a student? What are the thought concerning the middle class and why is it so important for the students to feel connected? I understand the context of the excerpt I used but, at the same, I feel the urge to connect it to the idea that a minority may feel connected but will not be a part of it. In other words, the idea of never being accepted into mainstream society and being on sidelines.
At the beginning of the article I felt a sort of disconnection because the word minority was used repeatedly. It seemed that it was a group of minorities and that to me was interesting because it was as if all the minorities were lumped together. I understand fort eh purpose of her paper and her study it may have been easier to lump them together, but at the same time that assumes all minorities are all the same and these 9 principles will change that. However, at the end of the article, I did notice that she used the term “our children” at the end unifying not just the minorities but also the “majorities”. Even the term “majorities” stuck out to me. Who are majorities? What she means by the usage “majorities” would be interesting and why she uses it would be interesting and important.

How Minority Groups in Malta are Kept Oppressed and Potential Solutions through Education

Abstract

Women have had an extremely difficult time gaining equality in many scenarios in Malta, especially those in STEM fields. Likewise, various minorities have also struggled to gain equal rights and opporunities. Physical abuse or simple lack of education are a couple of the many factors that keep these minority groups where they are in the social ladder. In addition to exploring further causes to how and why these groups are kept as lower class citizens than the working white male, I hope to uncover potential progress in more contemporary scenarios, as well as possible solutions. While I am a fan of further and complete education to solve problems including these, other methods are brought up and discussed through various sources, so I anticipate a wide variety of options.

Annotated Bibliography

Attard, G. (2010, June 16). Maternity, paternity leave – the other side of the coin. Retrieved February 6, 2011, from National Council of Women of Malta: http://www.ncwmalta.com/maternitypaternityleave

This article, written by president of the National Council of Women of Malta, stresses the importance of equality for women with dependent children in the workplace. Even recently, there is an overwhelming gap between employment rates of men compared to that of women (over 25%). In the article, Attard stresses the importance of keeping women in the labor market: mainly due to the fact that when women are forced to leave jobs due to pregnancy, they often do no return. This article in particular will be useful in my research because it is a prime example of how women are far from equal to men (in the workplace in particular). It also provides slight suggestions to go about possibly remedying this problem in the Maltese society. Unfortunately, it is only one of the many problem areas that women face, but, according to Attard, is one on the forefront of being remedied. I believe that the solution will be a stepping stone to fixing various other problems as well, so I understand Attard's focus and commitment.

Attard, G. (2008, July 25). Sending a strong message against violence – More action for less violence. Retrieved February 6, 2011, from National Council of Women of Malta: http://www.ncwmalta.com/councilviews?id=6

Another large problem women face is one of domestic violence. Statistics show that "one in three women will be victims of violence during their lifetime" and that "more women die from the consequences of violence than from cancer." This is a horrible problem that women face in not just Malta but Europe as a whole. It is also a problem that creates fundamental problems of equality between women and men: one that cannot be overcome without significant outside influence. It is a problem that perpetuates the dominant image of the male. This is an extremely important point in my research and gives one fundamental cause (or continuation) of this drastic inequality. I think the method of solving this problem provided by Attard is an important: one that is the responsibility of all society to combat, which I believe will play a large role in my research.

Caruana-Dingli, M. (2005). Integrating ICT and multicultural aspects within a classroom: the SAIL project. Intercultural Education , 16 (4), 395-404.

This article focuses on using Information and Communication Technology in the classroom to more effectively teach, but more importantly, stress the involvement and education of minority groups. There is an important overlap here between minority groups and technology, although maybe not the traditional one (in the workforce). This article brings education into the picture, which I would also like to focus on somewhat for my research project. Fundamentally, I believe with better, or maybe more appropriate, education, many problems that exist can begin to be dissolved. Notably, when the education of minority groups is becoming more effective, which is where the SAIL (Specialized Animated Interactive Learning) program becomes important.

Fenech, D. (1999). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 457-463.

Fenech, D. (2000). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 458-461.

Fenech, D. (2001). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 361-364.

Fenech, D. (2002). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1033-1036.

Fenech, D. (2003). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1026-1028.

Fenech, D. (2004). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1078-1083.

Fenech, D. (2005). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1119-1123.

Fenech, D. (2006). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1198-1200.

Fenech, D. (2007). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1038-1040.

Fenech, D. (2008). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1071-1073.

Fenech, D. (2009). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1047-1051.

Fenech, D. (2010). Malta. European Journal of Political Research , 1089-1094.

The above twelve articles are going to used essentially as a single reference. They are mostly short articles of statistics about demographics within Malta over various years. These statistics include significant amounts of data about elections and political proceedings throughout their respective years. What I found interesting, and hope to use to my advantage, are the statistics about the political offices held during each year. Also provided (and arguably the most important part to me and my research project), is the gender of the office holder. I think it will be interesting and insightful to compare all of the years provided to one another to see if female prevalence in political offices increases at all over the 12 years I have. Also noted in the last 6, are prevalent issues in national policies throughout the year: these may touch on issues both about women and people of color, which would aid towards my project.

Knepper, P. (2009). The 'White Slave Trade and the Music Hall Affair in 1930 Malta. Journal of Contemporary History , 44 (2), 205-220.

This article focuses on the 1930s in Malta which aroused allegations of prostitution of English women who were present due to jobs at the Music Hall. These happened to be false, but spawned an investigation of these types of practices which aimed at foreigners. This article is especially interesting because the military forces from Britain that came in to deal with the problem shifted focus to the “immoral character of women” rather than the problem at hand. This is a point which has many implications and will hopefully contribute to my research project with some useful points. This Music Hall Affair did not end up directly affecting human rights for immigrants coming to Malta, but showed the fears of foreigners in the face of a “limited world view” as shown by those in the military.