Student success is an interesting issue... one that colleges have struggled with for years. The common response by many is to put in place programs, tools, marketing events that promote student success for students. Our enrollment numbers still rise and fall like the tide and we hear the same old rhetoric, ”The economy is strong, so students have gone back to work... or, the unemployment rate has spiked driving students back to college.”

The Other Side of the Glass Door...

Professionals, who have taken on the artwork of “student development” and in my mind are the key to student success, often fail to help students succeed for they themselves live on the side of the glass door that is for them well ordered, comfortable, warm and well within their range of experience. Faculty, Administrators and staff lose sight of how difficult it is to live on the other side of the glass door. Instead of blaming students for their lack of success, it is time for the professionals in higher education to examine what it is they do that leads to student failure. Institutions have a way of numbing professionals to those they are called to serve... students and community. Instead the goal becomes service to institution... something that affects everyone working in higher education.

The other day a song by Peter Paul and Mary came on the radio and the lyrics were the following:

“I am a little boy with glasses... the one they call a geek;
a little girl who never smiles because I have braces on my teeth and I know how it feels to cry myself to sleep;
I am the child on every play ground that is chosen last;
I am a single teenage mother who is trying to overcome my past;
You don’t have to be my friend... but if it is too much to ask...
don’t laugh at me... don’t call me names, don’t get your pleasure from my pain...
in Gods eyes we're all the same... someday we will all have perfect wings...
don’t laugh at me...
—Peter Paul and Mary. "Don't Laugh at Me" from the CD, Songs of Conscience & Concern. 1983.

...Opening the Glass Door

It takes great courage for prospective students/community members to open the glass door of the community college. It is something that is totally outside their experience. Many have parents, brothers and sisters, friends who have never attempted such a thing. They have read about what higher education can do for people...and yet to engage in college is very frightening and means great sacrifices on top of other important responsibilities. These students carry huge loads which weigh heavy on them as they consider higher education. They work full-time, are single parents, are disenfranchised and often experience abuse because of race, sexual preference, gender, age. They often are living in poverty and experience abuse everyday of their lives. They must use their feet and public transportation. They are often short on food and have some kind of financial debt.

And yet when they do come to the college glass door, pull it open and walk through it... they find professionals who laugh at them... who make fun of them... who have put in place rules of play which are very difficult to handle. They are called KIDS... even though their average age is 27. Students are adults and expect to be treated by professionals with respect. (Of course KID spelled backward spells DIK... both are demeaning terms.) So student success in an institution is tough... it is estimated that 90% of those students who leave the college leave because of poor treatment by professional staff...

Further, it is hard to know the students from the staff and faculty... as there are many students who are senior in age to faculty and staff. There is a belief that faculty and staff are afraid of students... and hide in their offices or walk the campus trying to blend in with the crowd... and only surface in their offices or classrooms... and none of these professionals dare wear a name tag... letting students know who they are... (See the attachment: “For $5. 90% of students could succeed)

Losing Students...

Literature points out that around a 1/3 of students drop our before census day... and only about half of the applications that are completed are ever acted on. Literature and research also point out that student success is connected to a student making a significant connection with a professional person at the college... otherwise chances of dropping out are high... so why not encourage prospective, new and continuing students to know us and welcome them to us by wearing a name tag?

Prospective students report while special programs, marketing plans and educational tools help, surviving on the other side of the glass door is directly related to the strong personal connections they make with those running the college. Thus anything the professional staff can do to increase their respect and welcome for students will in itself impact the staying power of students.

Again access doesn’t work by throwing programs at students... access does work when college professionals address their own respect or lack of it for students. Many professional educators have not dealt with their own racism, sexism, ageism, and homophobia. Students read professionals very well. The campus can say to the community that the environment is a safe place to learn... but the bigotry held in the hearts of professionals glows bright... and students see it and quietly leave the institution and never return.

...Looking for Respect

Students know when they are being laughed at... even though professionals don’t get it. Students ask that we not take pleasure in their pain... by calling them “DYK” (Kids)... Students who come through the glass door are looking for respect, guidance and learning... and yes love. They know hard times... they don’t need to be demeaned...

So professional educator, get straight with your own bigotry; get straight for your own need for power and control.
If you do this, student success will occur and guess what... students will know YOU are dedicated to them... not to policies, not to rules,
Not to your own ignorance...

Don’t laugh at me...

Why a Name Tag?

Maybe, because we want people to know who we are?
Maybe, because we want a campus that is open and friendly?
Maybe, because we want to give students permission to know us?
Maybe, because we love the community in college?
Maybe, because we understand that 1/3 of students are first in their families to enter college?
Maybe, because we understand students are frightened when they first come onto campus?
Maybe, because we seek conversation with those we work and serve with?
Maybe, because we are learners?
Maybe, because we want a campus that is free of bigotry and violence?
Maybe, because we want students to know this is their college?
Maybe, because we know that one solid connection with a college employee improves a student’s chance of success at college?
Maybe, because we respect and love ourselves and those we get to serve?
Just maybe?

—John Baker, Ed.D.

Download Poem (31 KB pdf)

About the Author

John T. Baker, Ed.D.
Interim Vice President of Student Services—Retired
El Camino College, Torrance, California

Dr. John Baker is a retired California Community College Administrator serving at five different California Community College District during his 36 years.

JB—as he is known around the State—continues to work with various groups seeking to improve the artwork of higher education professionals, learning new ways and improved ways to celebrate students and their success. JB may be reached at bakerthur@peoplepc.com.