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Ever since I have worked in the field of higher education, enormous amounts of time have been spent seeking ways to recruit and retain students. Recruitment plans and retention plans are many as is research on this subject. Many of us have made recruitment and retention the subject of our dissertations. Online repositories of research have thousands of articles that pertain to a variety of recruitment and retention treatments.
Of course institutions of high education depend on the success of these two activities. In California where budgets are based on a growth formula, the recruitment and retention of students gets a great deal of attention. Many colleges have in place enrollment management teams who develop plans and strategies to attain more students for the colleges and increase the retention of continuing students.
Losing Students
Research shows that during a normal semester around 25% of students drop out during the first 3 weeks of classes. Of those students who fill out an application, 45% of these prospective students do not return to complete the enrollment process. The student drop-out rate during the first two weeks of class is about 13%.
College officials agonize over these numbers. Reasons given for these student losses have to do with increase in college fees set by the State Legislature. Another reason is when the economy gets better prospective students choose to go to work. Other reasons include work, illness, parking and convenience of classes. The list is long.
So the efforts continue to find students, enlist them and keep them in school. And the drop-out picture continues to remain about the same in public California Community Colleges.
Their just might be some other reasons if we dare look at them…….
There are actions and words used in higher education that have a chilling effect on students and impact on student success…
High Risk Students / At Risk Students
When students don’t succeed, they are often labeled “at risk” or “high risk.” These labels are usually used by professionals when they don’t understand why. Even before students arrive at the college, they are often branded “at risk” as soon as people learn from what school they come and what neighborhood they come. All this of course happens prior to meeting the student in person. Pre-judgments by professionals undermine the hopes of new students and diminish the trust the community has in the college. These pre-judgments are the precursor of bigotry.
Certainly there are many ways to describe a situation professionally that promotes the self interest of the student. That comes about at the point of contact with the professional who can assess the students’ skills and knowledge and then determine a course of action with the student.
Girls
‘Girls’ is a term used by staff in athletic departments. Women often use this term amongst themselves. However in athletics, ‘men’ is the term used for male sports and girls is too often the term used for female sports. These assignments of labels are demeaning to all students. If persons are 18 or older they are legally adults. If the college is a place that promotes adult behavior and the acquisition adult life skills, referring to female and male athletes as adults is a top priority.
Kids
‘Kids’, An interesting term that references baby sheep, yet today it is a term of limited endearment used with children.
At college, it is assumed that the vast majority of students have moved beyond the K-12 system. Students at a community college are considered adults. For this reason their transcripts, class schedules and any other personal data are confidential. Only the student can give written permission to release their personal information to another person or if the legal authorities present a subpoena or court order.
As it happens in California, the average age of a community college student is 26-27 years of age. So the students in classes by in large are people who are single parents, employed 20-40 hrs a week, are living independently of their parents and indeed have children of their own. To call these students ‘kids’ is both offensive and arrogant.
The major outcome of a college education is to prepare a student for a profession in which they can be independent and responsible adults. Why the need to call them kids?
Personal Bigotry
This is an area that many of us have never addressed while others of us in higher education have certainly struggled.
All of us have grown up with issues of racism, homophobia, sexism, ableism, ageism and so on. Few of us have really worked these issues through as they pertain to us and their impact on how our own frame of reference is defined. Many of us live in denial of our own bigotry. In doing so, we hurt ourselves and those with whom we work and teach. Once professionals “own up to their own bigotry” they then have a chance to unlearn bad knowledge acquired over a life time and relearn better ways to work with themselves and others.
Getting straight with these issues will change the campus climate….where students can say….this college works for me for I know that I count!
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