graduation and the media
01.04.05 // 12:46 a.m.

Yesterday, I read an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times. The title and accompanying illustration immediately grabbed my attention: Congratulations! You�re About to Fail.

Richard Lee Colvin, a professor at Columbia�s Teachers College and director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, wrote an excellent piece on the lack of attention the mainstream media gives to a big problem in higher education. No, it does not have to do with affirmative action. No, it is not about recruiting violations for NCAA sports. No, it is not about the increasing costs at both public and private institutions nationwide. And no, it is not about the admissions games thousands of high school seniors play ever fall.

Colvin focuses on the reason I am in a PhD program:

If we were smart, we'd cover our ears and fret about a much more serious dilemma: Nearly six in 10 high school graduates in 2005 will start college in the fall, but half of them � and more than two-thirds of the African American and Latino students who enroll � will fail to earn either an associate's or bachelor's degree.

That�s right, retention, persistence, and graduation rates of underrepresented students.

Colvin argues that most journalists and policymakers ignore the embarrassing graduation rates because it is not something that will most likely affect their children, or the children of their peers. Journalists and policymakers are college educated. Researchers have demonstrated that the children of middle class professionals are more likely to attend a 4-year institution. Also, it is more likely that these students will enroll in a more selective institution.

Meanwhile, the media play on the shock value of $30,000 or $40,000 tuition bills, perhaps because the colleges that charge that much are the places that journalists would like to see their kids attend, if only they could afford it. So articles and broadcasts smirk at the millions of dollars colleges spend on climbing walls and hot tubs large enough to host a Western Civ class. They ponder the meaning of the battle over affirmative action. But those issues affect but a thin slice of the college-going population, those who attend the 10% to 20% of colleges that cherry-pick from a wealthy, well-qualified crop. The much bigger societal problem of too few students graduating from any college, two- or four-year, receives little ink or air time.

The uneven amount of concern given to college costs and college admissions (including affirmative action), by journalists and policymakers shows their elitism. I haven�t done it, but I expect that barring the Chronicle of Higher Education, a search in Lexis-Nexis Academic for keywords such as �higher education,� �colleges� and �universities� would bring up mainly stories on costs and admissions standards.

Why is this important? Well, demographics show that the populations are changing. Latinos, especially, will increase their proportion of the college-going age nation-wide. The numbers of Latinos attending institutions of higher education will also increase, but it will not reach parity with the proportion in the college-aged population.

Education researchers have used econometric models to explain the numerous benefits of having a more educated society. States like California, Florida, Texas and New York stand to gain billions by educating more Latinos.

I know people with BA�s get better jobs, make more money, etc, but the economics of it have always come second. Maybe I�m na�ve� but I just think that the more Raza with a formal education will benefit their communities. They will go back and to work for underserved communities.

I chose to go into a higher education doctoral program rather than law, public policy, Chicana/o Studies, counseling or teacher education primarily because of my two years working at MC. It was here where I saw the immediacy of the issue of underrepresented students in higher education and our lower graduation rates. I�ve seen first hand what Colvin addresses.

Why some, especially Latinos and those who live at home, will succumb to the tug of family obligations. Why loneliness will overcome many. Why plenty of motivated, hardworking students will simply be unable to overcome the despair of stepping onto campus and feeling as if they've entered a black-tie ball wearing a thrift-store T-shirt. These are the students who met every high school requirement, scoring higher grades than most of their classmates in courses the academic establishment said would prepare them for the future.

I�ve met these students, I counseled them. Hell, I could have easily been one of those students. I wasn�t... and I can�t forget that as I work towards real solutions. I�m training to be a researcher, professor, policy-maker and even administrator. I hope to do all four of those at some point in my career. I just want to make a difference.

Right now, I fall in this �second group�:

A second group of advocates counters this approach [that of not caring who students do, as long as there are students paying tuition] by pressing colleges to help students get up to speed, suggesting the schools connect freshmen with mentors, increase financial aid so students won't have to work and could live on campus, and push schools to offer more of the courses in greatest demand so financially strapped students can graduate on time.

Let�s see how, and if it changes as I learn more in my higher education courses and continue to do more research. I�m glad I read this opinion piece, it makes me look forward to starting school on Thursday.

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