It's All about Saving Face: Working with the Urban College Student

Abstract Urban college students on academic probation seldom utilize the academic support services offered in most colleges and universities. This study assessed a successful academic support program that emphasized the unique psychological, sociocultural and communal aspects of at-risk urban college students and how those aspects contributed to the program's effectiveness. Participants included 62 New York college urban students on academic probation (64.5% African Americans, 22.6% Hispanic Americans, 9.7% West Indian American, 3.2% other). Program effectiveness was measured by an increase in the student participants' GPA and a two-tailed, paired-samples t-test was used to analyze the data. Results showed a significant difference between the Pre-GPA (before program) and Post-GPA (after program). The following conclusions were supported: at-risk urban college students are underprepared for the college culture, they lack the communal connections needed to gain academic support and they use certain defensive strategies to mask a shame-based vulnerability to public academic humiliation. Keywords: at-risk urban college students, academic support services. ********** Most college and universities have excellent Academic Resource Centers, equipped with the newest technology and trained staff ready to help students with their learning challenges. However, urban college students on academic probation traditionally will not make use of these services. This study asks the question, "why doesn't the urban student utilize Academic Resource Centers for additional academic help"? The expectations of what college students should be doing to ensure their academic success in a typical school culture are known. Yet, it seems that at-risk urban students are unable to "fit into" the typical school culture (Ogbu, 2003) found on college campuses. In our eagerness to recruit and admit students of color to the college campus, we have failed them in so many ways. Colleges have broadened their demographics, admitting more African American and Hispanic students than ever before, but have done very little to engage or retain them. Studies have shown that urban students face a higher risk of not graduating college once accepted (National Center for Education Statistics, 2008) and they end up on academic probation because of poor grades, poor attendance and/or inadequate study skills (McDonough, 2004). What has been fundamentally overlooked is that at-risk urban students are underprepared for the typical American college culture (Ogbu, 2003). Clearly, school culture has an important effect on students' academic success (McClaffery, McDonough & Nunez, 2002). Professionals in the field need to be aware of the explicit as well as implicit aspects of the college culture affecting students. These contextual forces shape our expectations of students' behavior in and outside the classroom. Peterson and Deal (1998) define culture as "the underground stream of norms, values, beliefs, and traditions that has built up over time . " (p.28) and to understand the urban students' dilemma, the typical American college culture must be examined. What are the expected behaviors, norms and values that we, as educators, look for in successful college students? First and foremost, we expect students to take responsibility for their learning. If they need remedial work or have difficulty with an assigned task, we expect students to ask for help. During class, we expect students to raise their hands and answer questions. While presenting a lecture, we expect students to maintain eye contact with us and ask questions or generate further discussion of the topic. If a student is unclear about an assignment or the topic being discussed, we expect the student to seek clarification by either asking us in or after the class. In addition, if a student missed a class because of any number of reasons, we expect the student to let us know so we can provide a way to make up the work. …