Peer Groups and the Institute of the Community College
As I went through the research process for this paper I conducted many interviews with former classmates who are now either attending a four-year university or a local community college. The original intent was to find out their reasons for attending the institution they chose to attend. As I accumulated information I began to see a glaring trend in the relationship between the social group the individual was a member of and the college they ended up attending. This then drove me to further examine the influencing factors in these students’ social lives, in a hope of identifying the degree to which they are influenced by each other. Thus, the first part of the paper explores the community colleges of the surrounding area and the programs that they have to offer to students. Meanwhile, the second part of the paper is more of a sociological investigation into peer groups and the factors that lead kids into choosing their institution of higher education. I chose to focus on the institution that is the community college due to the fact that a large number of my former classmates are enrolled in community colleges.
As mentioned above, a large portion of the evidence for this paper was gained through personal interviews with former classmates. Some students expressed concern regarding the confidentiality of their statements, and wanting to respect this concern, I aim at protecting the confidentiality of their statements by keeping the author of each quote as ambiguous. However each interview that was conducted in the research process is recorded in the bibliography and that is where the participants receive credit for their contribution and participation to my re...
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One major decision one must make after exiting high school is whether to go to a university or go to community college. In the article “Two Year Are Better Than Four,” written by Liz Addison. She expressed her opinion on the significance of community colleges in comparison with the university. She stated that community college do not receive the acknowledgment and appreciation that they deserve. “what’s the matter with colleges?,” (Addison 255).
Roberts, Kate “The Paradox of Teenage Girls: Today Are They to Grown Up or Lagging Down?” http//drkateroberts.com 2013/12/25. Web 4/25/2014.
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“A human being’s sense of self is established in the context of their ethics and morals. The concept of identity is related to ‘who I am’. Individuals situate themselves in a contextual environment that may include their relationships with family and friends, and their abilities and the occupations in which they are, or have been. This identifies what is ultimately important to an individual and how that relates to where their identity is in relation to this.” (Thomas, 2013)
The GCC is claimed to be one of the most flexible world’s organizations consisting of the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. These countries are rich in oil that gives them important political and economic stimulus. The GCC, the author underlines, is very influenti...
For the past few decades, receiving a college education has been a stressed importance in today’s society. However it is often misunderstood that attending a 4-year school is the best and only way to go. Following this belief, many students attend these schools with out being academically, financially, or mentally prepared. Unfortunately students like this have failed to over look the more realistic options available to them, such as community college. Junior college is a resource available to anyone regardless of his or her previous academic performance. The variety of courses and the inexpensive tuition gives students flexibility to explore the many options presented to them. Though Universities hold more prestige, community colleges provide endless opportunities for students who aren’t fully prepared for a 4-year education
As the high school chapter is coming to a close, many students have to make a decision that will affect the rest of their lives. Hopefully, for many that decision is to enroll in a college and attain a higher education. However, as tuition costs rise, students have to take a second look at their options for a better future. A community college is that second look for many because it is the less expensive option. From 2007-2009, enrollment for community colleges has increased by 24 percent (“College costs and the CPI”). Students aren’t choosing a college for educational purposes because they are overwhelmed by financial issues. They are attending community colleges so they will be able to graduate with a lower debt. Some seniors have wanted to attend a certain university all their life and they work toward that goal through grade school; however, they are hindered by soaring tuition for that college. Students should be able to attend a private university if they mee...
I have shown throughout this essay that we can determine personal identity solely based on psychological continuity. During John Perry’s dialogue he says that there are only three ways in which we can tell a person is who they are. Those three ideas being a person is their body, a person has a continuation of memory, or a person is their immaterial soul. Through the whole of this essay we have discussed that even though bodily identity and immaterial souls are a good suggestions for determining personal identity that they really aren’t logical theories. I have argued that we can distinguish personal identity from psychological continuity.
Throughout life, a person can expect to endure many challenges, trials, experiences, accomplishments and disappointments. How one recovers, from those challenges, and can set the lifespan is a lifelong process from birth to death and includes the formation of identity (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015). I will cover in the paper six life events that influence my identity development from childhood to middle adulthood. Each life event will be explained based on the significance of the event as well as the impact the event had on my development. Also, theories will be discussed as they relate to my development.
Many philosophers and psychologist from Jean Piaget to William James have theorized what makes a person who they are, their identity. Jean Piaget believed that the identity is formed in the sensorimotor stage and the preoperational stage. This means that a child is forming his identity as late to the age of seven (Schellenberg, 29) However, identity is strongly impacted by society such as school, church, government,and other institutions. Through our interactions with different situations our personality develops (Schellenberg 34). "In most situations there is a more diversified opportunity for the development of social identities, reflecting what the individual wants to put forth to define the self as well as what others want to accept,"(Schellenberg 35). Therefore, humans, much like animals, adapt to different situations based on who they are with. Individuals are always changi...
With tuition rising every year, students face the challenge paying the debt achieving a college degree comes with. “Student debt surpassed credit-card debt in June 2010 for the first time in history, rising to about $830 billion — or nearly 6 percent of the nation 's annual economic output”(Clemmitt, Marcia). Not everyone has a ton of money just laying around. Being that financial trouble is the biggest problem for students, they begin to question whether college is worth it or not. In recent years, students have taken out loans to help with expenses. Most students choose to attend a community and junior college to help minimize the debt. Even after graduating with a degree, students still face the struggle of finding a job in this economic time. For higher class families this may not be a problem to them. But for the middle class and low income families, they face tougher times being that they don 't have the financial help like higher class families do. For the middle class and low income families, it makes more sense attending a community and junior college rather than a four year university.
Parfit uses a famous case of division (or fission), as imagined by Wiggins (1967), to illustrate his claim that identity is not what matters in survival. When A’s brain is split into two parts, each housed within two separate, brainless bodies (B and C) it seems that we have three options. We either believe that:
Spady found that there was a direct correlation amongst students’ social settings and interactions the social settings of the college and their persistence. Friendship and Support were both variables that were used in Spady’s research. According to Aljohani (2016), Spady’s research assumed that there are two factors that impact a student's choice to remain or leave their institution; “grades and intellectual development in the academic system, and normative congruence and friendship support in the social system” (p.
The key motive for students to attend college is not because it is a want, but they have to. Furthermore, most high school graduating seniors are under pressure by their school counselor(s) and their parents to go enroll in college because it is “the best thing for your future.” In an essay written by Caroline Bird, called “College is a Waste of Time and Money”, she states that students go to college because “. . . Mother wanted them to go, or some other reason entirely irrelevant to the course of studies for which college is supposedly organized” (217). A student may have a different direction on where and what they want to do for their life, but since students contemplate whether their “supporters” identify what is...
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