The last two years of high school are the most difficult years for any young students because those are the years that one is told to choose what he or she wants to do for the rest of their lives. As dramatic as the statement may sound, this proclamation is accurate because students are told to pick a college and a major as young as the age of seventeen or eighteen. For many individuals, like myself, this process was extremely difficult choosing both, and receiving guidance from others helped me progress through the last year of my high school career. Not only were those two subjects a challenge, but being a first-generation student was difficult to deal with due to the lack of help from my parents. Many students throughout their life do not …show more content…
Personally, I have been exposed to do everything by myself since I was a child because my parents lacked education; therefore, they were not able to aid me. I had an older brother, and he was always involved in his own school work; however, I was always stuck alone. My parents have provided my brother and I with food and shelter by working hard from their blue collard jobs; therefore, they have always motivated us to get an education so we would have a more stable life. My brother and I were slower at gaining knowledge throughout school and both of us were put in the learning disability program. We were put in this program because we were slower at reading, so in high school, my brother and I had amazing grades because our motivation pushed us to work harder. These obstacles motivated me at a young age, and I was disciplined to not give up. Also, I was taught if I needed help, then it was okay to ask others for guidance. My brother and I had been accepted into great universities, and we both have done great for ourselves because of the motivation we carried throughout our lives. Generally speaking, with both of us being first-generation students, this had taught us to motivate ourselves and be the best. There are some weaknesses that come with being a first-generation student; nonetheless, with those weaknesses comes a great deal of strengths. As a final point, being a first-generation student is difficult; incidentally, this advantage gives me every bit of empowerment to work harder and be
While first-generation college students are over half of all students in postsecondary education, exclusionary practices block their admittance into elite institutions. The outliers who receive admittance to the Ivory Tower may think they have made it—that their American Dream and long-held belief in the meritocratic ethos has finally paid off. Instead, they are confronted with educational stratification and social reproduction that was stacked against them long before they received the piece of parchment granting them access. The onerous task of navigating through unfamiliar academic and social situations often results in leaving. Can first-generation college students learn how to activate, manage, and accumulate social and cultural capital to navigate elite universities?
Important individuals who provide information and support youth during this stage are parents, peers, and high school staff (i.e., teachers and counselors; Hossler & Gallagher, 1987). In high schools, guidance counselors, as will be elaborated later, have a particularly important role in students’ college choice. Finally, the choice stage occurs during the eleventh and twelfth grades and is when students select a postsecondary institution from among those considered.
How does being the first in one’s family to graduate from college impact one’s desire to finish college? Some of the major barriers first generation college students face include lack of motivation, lack of support, and low income finances. Some freshman students might lack the motivation to do well in school because of the lack of appropriate role models or mentors in the academic environment. These difficulties can be tied to lack of support at home; the parents might not be concerned about their child's education, maybe the parent lacks the ability to guide them through college, the parent might not have the process of having not navigated it themselves. Parents might feel embarrassed that they don’t have any knowledge to help them through college.
Most first generation college students are significantly older than the average, approximately 24 year of age (Pascarella et. al 2004). The surrounding low-income environments that many of these students are raised around can explain this late age. This financial pressure can also explain another category of first generation students, preparation (Chen & Carroll, 2005). These students are often less prepared to enter the college life. They have not been exposed to the necessary preparation needed to succeed on college admissions tests and furthermore don’t meet the performance requirements that universities and institutions require. Analyzing the prefaces that surround the environment of first generation college students aids in understanding current problems faced in college as well as assist in proposing solutions for this subset of
If failure ever becomes an option, reconsider your choices and work out a plan where it is not even considered. Finding groups that help first generation students will help you tenfold. Students do not have to face the learning curve alone. Tutors and professors understand that being a first generation student is difficult even if the university doesn’t have anything to help. On top of not knowing about college and dealing with a learning curve, first generation students also have a fear of becoming unrecognizable to their own families. The development of two separate identities can often make it difficult for these students to branch out and learn. The fear of becoming someone else and not knowing can lead students to living in a shell where they are not only excluding themselves from others, but also from learning and being educated. More colleges need to implement a program that helps first generation students transition to college life. Without anything being done, these students will continue to have the highest dropout
First-generation students frequently have a feeling that they don’t belong in school. The biggest challenge of this students is psychologically because of the need of support. Most of the difficulties are lack of professional mentoring. For example often they apply to only one college because of the lack of money and information f other colleges. Many students enroll and are determine to obtain good grades but at the same time are worried because of the need of support from their mother. Some experience not owning a computer or knowing how to use them and this slows down their learning process, and are afraid to ask for help. Once they identify what they are capable to do academically they began to think everything they achieve or do would be underestimated by others. They may think teachers are going to punish them for not knowing how to solve critical thinking problems. Or by their classmates they may become socially discomfort with other students, because of the loss of personality.
I feel as if though the best way to adapt to the harsh reality of a personal problem is being vocal about it, which can later help someone realize that it may not have been much of a personal problem after all. One issue facing college students around the world is the fact that many of them derive from households and families lacking any college alumni; therefore, making them first-generation college students. The difficulties that come along with attaching this moniker to students include tedious things such as spending countless, mind-bending hours spent on Google searching what school best suits one’s needs, or needing to delve a little deeper into websites regarding what differentiates an independent student from a dependent one. Minor
Society puts too much pressure on high school students to attend a 4-year college right after graduation. Though this is an attainable goal for some, a great majority of students are not fully prepared for the demands of college. 4-year schools require an incredible amount of maturity and preparation, leaving very little room for mistakes. Schools often overlook this aspect because their main goal is to get as many students into 4-year college as possible. This is a great goal to have however they send students off to college who aren’t ready to be handle the difficult of their courses while being away from home. My senior year of high school, my family and I came to the conclusion that we were not going to be able to afford four-year college tuition. This upset me at first because I felt like all my hard work and good grades went to waste. I dreaded the thought of going to community college because my who...
I am Nursing major and with that degree to become a Nurse Practitioner who specializes in the Cardiovascular System to reduce the rate of heart diease in America. I am a hardworking individual and I take my academics very seriously. I understand that I am at school for a purpose and know my purpose is to further my education. I am just trying to make it. My parents always told me growing up “ In order to get something you never had that I will have to do things I have never done.” No one prepared me for college, because I am a first generation college student. In addition to being a first generation college student ; I am also a first generation high school graduate. I use my my parents trials and tribulations as my motivation, because I want
Being a first generation college student has been my biggest struggle in life. For years, I was told to attend Allen Community College before any big changes of course I didn’t listen. For years I was told I wouldn’t last in a big university, I have been told I will be unprepared and behind. I have been told that three out of five first generations students do not complete a degree. Being told something isn’t possible is a hard thing to deal with.
So what can other first generation college students do to avoid what has happened to Sarah? The answer lies in directing a passion towards learning and education in students and their families that will build self-motivation and avoid the negative predispositions of being the first in the family to attend college. While Sarah has not been attending the University of Miami for too long, her experiences thus far have given her a very good understanding of her position in this academic community, and nevertheless, gives a representation of first-year, first-generation college students. Sarah is only one person though and may not be fully representative of the population of first generation college students, but as a member of this community, Sarah’s input is essential to the ideas and views of the students in this group.
In the 21st century, if an individual decides to make a major commitment or resolution, they have the utmost support from their peers and family members. However, when a first-generation college student decides on furthering their education, the dearest people close to the student seem to disappear. Linda Banks-Santilli (2015) claims that first-generation students apply to a single college and without the help of a parent (para. 13). Although Banks-Santilli does not say so directly, she assumes that the students can not afford multiple application fees and the students are unsure on how to determine which college is a good fit, as their parents have not taken them on a college tour. I agree that first-generation students have far less help
You go three years of high school preparing for college and at the same time having fun. Until you are in your senior year of high school that’s when you realize and start asking your self what college do I want to go to? Or what college career I want to pursue? That’s when you notice you have but so little time to answer these questions. Me I’m in my last year of high school and I though I already knew what career I wanted to pursue, but its now that I notice that not even I know what I’m going to do with my life? All I’m sure of its that I’m going to graduate out of high school with a diploma and that I’m going to college. But what happens after that? What major did I study? Or where did I go to accomplish my goal?
High school, along with college are two major stepping stones in a person’s life. Many individuals are able to make the transitions from high school to college pretty easily, while there are others that find the transition into college to be somewhat challenging and hard to adjust to. When I made the jump from high school to college, I found that there are vast differences between the two, and both had very diverse environments. I found the key differences concerning high school and college to be the level of academic responsibilities, time management and scheduling, as well as the methods learning to be the main differences.
Our educational system in the university setting tends to cater towards its incoming freshmen. They enter with hopes to discover what their passions are, and others enter with no more than the goal to achieve a paper at the end of 4 years’ worth of “passing” work. We all enter the university setting voluntarily, we sign up for the loans and years of future debt less willingly, but we do it. All for a result that we can benefit from years after we pay off the seemingly infinite amount of student loans. But there is one group of students that professors should be aware of, the ones who come here because their opportunities without a college education are limited, not limitless like they could be for some of their peers, these are the First-Generation students.