a. DOCUMENT-Rt$UME ED 261 603 2'" HE 018 701. AUTHOR Arfken, DeboraP h. D. . TITLE A Lamp Beside the Academic Door: A Look at the ,New Student and His Needs. PUB DATE [Mar Al] NOTE 17p. PUB TYPE Viewpoints (120) ERRS PRICE MF01/PC01 PlUs Postage.? DESCRIPTORS Academic Abipty; Adult students; *College Students; Educationally Disadvantaged; Females; Higher EducatioT; *,sigh Risk Students; 'Low Income Groups; Minority Groups; *Nontraditional Students; Open Enrollpent; Reenkry Students; *Remedial Programs;" StOdent Needs; *Student Personnbl Services; Teacher Responsibility; Teaching Methods , ABSWEACT -.- The problems experidnqed by nontraditional college students and the responses by collegeS and univertities are , cdesidered. The, new students on campuses are adults,, students from lower Socioeconomic levels, ethnic minorities, and women: Since many new -students teed to lave academic difficulties, colleges have offered remedial classes in each subject area. Colleges can be' expected to focus increased attention "on the problems of the new student population aS the traditipnal student population continues to . decline. If remedial programs aie to be successful, the student with waak skills' must be identified early, preferaJly at admission or iorientation time. The student will need intensive counseling support to develop a more pos4ive 4c1 self - confident approach to learning. The teacher should select the remedial program assignment, rather 4 than being assigned to it. The teacher should have the responsibility to decide what is to be learned and 'the teaching methods. ndi'vidualization of programs and BlooW.s concept of Mastery learning niay .15e helpful approaches: Students Stiould knew learning goals .and work on small,_ sequential and structurbd learning units.that are self-paced. Constant feedback and evaluation are important.' (SW) 1 ,**********ic*****************;***************************************' 'Reproductions, supplied by EDRS are the Joest that can be made * * fromIthe origidal document. * ,- * .t. *********************************************************1c*********4*** a 0' p re ?tk I a 4 LAMP.BESIDE THE.ACADEMIC DOOR I A,LOOK AT THE NEW STUDENT AND HIS NEEDS a O 4 Afken Deborah U DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION N TIONAL INSTITUTE "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS OF EDUCATION E MATERIAL, HAS BEEN GRANTED CATIONAL RESOURCES BY INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) L. The document has been reproduced eA merited from IN 4.(400 or organaton orogoanng it Minor changes have been made to improve , reproduction Quality . Ponta of view or TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOUROS opinions stated In thn docu Intuit do not ncessanly INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." repheant official N* p0futiOn Or I 01.FY *et 2 Sir ' .5 v Who Is the New Student? Once upon a time in academic land all students were highly p.rin- ciPled, highly motivated, high-achieving yoUng men and women between eighteen to twenty-two in age, seeking intellectual enlightment. These students have disappeared; no oneis sure just what happened ' .^ to them. In 'their places ar'the New Students, a heterogeneous group comprised all learners who were previousJytunderrepresented in Ili' higher education: adults, students from lower socioeconomic levels, 'ethnic mfilurities, and women.1 Despite their vast differences, they .t do share One salient characteristic: these students al; have difficulty with acadeMic Ln thepasi, educators have identified New Students in ethnic terms. However, as K. l'teicia.Cross emphasizes in her detailed study., Beyond . the Open Door,.fearntng problems are not color bound, 'In fact, two- . . . , thirds of the community colleges surveyed in 1971 stated that fewer than one-fourtiliaf their students in remedial, situations were of ethnic minorities. Specifically, the New Student - -or the remedial, marginal, de- , velopmenlal,,high risik,''slow learner, low-achieving, educationlly handicapped, disprivileged, disadvantaged, dr-non-traditiohaL student or whatever label may turrently be i ri vogue--has an 'erratic school' . , record. and unimpressive standardi ;ed test Usually, he scores scores. 1 3. 4 \.... - -'2 in the lowest third. Because heiT. not confident.of,his Academic abi- , , He prefers to-learn what others titles, he will avoid risk situations. 4,44, . ... , have said rager,than to engage in his own` intellectual questioning. Ob- e . yiously, he does not enjoy abstract ideas,, preferring instead to learn things.that are tangible and useful. This pragmatic nature attracts himitO activities, such as crafts and mechanics,.not ordinarily stressed in' school's- and intimately to a vocational career.3 With such a 4ckground, why does the New Student tome to,higher He comeskbedauS e he has been swept Into college by-dsOciety education? with rising educational aspirations. He wants a better job and life .4 thin his blue-collar father, and society has'assured. hiM that a college, . He comes also becguse,. or university degree wiTl provide that success. . admissions officers have'actively recruited him.. rr What-Are His Problems? ', Once on campus, the New Studdnt becomes an academic.probjlem and .41 , The studen generates controversy between-administration and faculty. t does not perform traditional. educational tasks, particularly reading Indeed, his achievement may only reach and writing, with competency. He is the prOduct of a national school. low junior *high ,school level. system that has seen mean composite scores on ACT tests pluTmet two 4 standard scores from 1964 to 1976. About the only skill this -student Al has, but one he excels in, is knowing how to avoid failure. He 'knowingly avoid learning situations where he must expose biTself risk, preferring theSecurity of doing an.exercite over and over, even 0- As John Holt so astutely pointed out in when he has mastered it, P. I 4 p I 3 , . "- . g does have)advantgq. How Children Fail, incoOpetence 'This student.' . has learned that not only dOes society reduce its expectations for him, .but so does he for himtelf. If-one deliberately sets, out to fail, then he,will not be disappointed. How Has .Higher Education Reacted-to Him? To understand the extent of-the problem which inextricably- binds the New StOent and higher education, it ?s' necessary to-remember that 0 in the early years of academic iiistoo; most students came from homes A college education was reserved, of course, dfmealthy aristocriats.i / Asthe popylation, for' the brightest and especially for the wealthiest. of the country swelled with influxes of immigrants, the aristocratic idea . was.challenged by those who maintained a Allege education should be an earned right rather,than a birthright.. These, advocates of meritocracy felt the criteria for admission should be based on academic ability and . ,willingness to study hard. While the new melltocracy led to a democra- tization of higher education, ironically its academic admissions tests also set up new barriers., By the early 1970's there was growing evidence that revolt wn occurring once again as New Students demanded to enter the doors of higher educafion without the bapHers of either the aristocratic or Encouraged by the posiMonof the f970 Task meritocratic system's. Force on higher Education, the "relevancy" theme of American society, and expanding financial aid, New Students moved en masse through the By:1978 over seventy per cent ofthefour- open doors of education. year colleges and universities admitted to,an open door admissions 5 and recruitment policy. Immediately, the controNersy flared.' Faculty who had delighted in teaching'those "Highly selected.students with high test scores and A ' Professors could not under- .high motivation went into deep shock. . . :stand the New Student's lack of interest and motivation;, much less ra They dreaded tOe:deMeaning the appalling display of inferior` skills. task of trying to teach tysftstudent who d4d not learn well "bylisten- 'ing and reading and who definitely did not fit into a traditionai'class- , fficult circumstance was of- As a result, a difficult room teaching,situatian. . 1 , . . ten compOunded and the New Student subjected to "deliberate professional .-, In addition to the He became an academic "afterttiought."6 neglect," cbmmunity colleges severe educational .l ems these students exhibi.ted4 , found their attrition rate moving from 34:4 per cents td 40.1 per cent, and senior colleges found theirs accelerating from 13.6 per cent to The overall rate had moved from 19.91aer cent to 35.8 29.6 per cent. cent.? per . . . . . . . Initially; eduCators and admitrators in four year ,institutions 11 . *r, ', t can also then it subscribed to the plillosophies of "if the door can open \ .., .. 1 , revolve shut" and "Nal edOcational opportunity is fine as long as it does not clash with our values." By the mid 1970's, bowdear, evert the most seclusive institutions In fact, had come to realize that the New Student was here to stay. the New Student would have to be encouraged, even courted,, to stay, in the ensuing decades of decline. Remedial glasses in But howticould the New Student he taught? Faculty saw these cpurses eadh subject area were the instant answer. .7 ,47 as buffer zones, holding New Students until they copld pass muster. . Here the student, and assume their identity as traditional students. alreaty demoralized by his initial difficulties in college and his less than persistent Tatbre, was given a program which many faculty scorned as being watered dowli,cairogram which they felff give away Some colleges even saw grades and credit for lesS than college work. 1 remedial programs as custodial; such programs were to keep students out of, .of the labor market, out of *troubleand off the streets. . Later ev)uations of thesequick-solution Coursesswere damning. Rosen, Brunner'and Ftcyler in their monogr4h saw these students,aS .branded, officially or-by implication" as serond-class citizens of ' A former remedial student, Jerome Ben, Rosen, painfully. theji.. college. l'i'fe fragmented) by the gnawing "So there it was, a whole recollects: , . ... b . , . . . ' , I was uneducable in-math and therefore worth- fear of the uneducable. I felt'this as deeply as thefore- less in every other aspect of lifer / .8 But most depressing,of all wasJohn Roueche's taste of death. k study in 1968, the first national study of remediar.education prog.rams in American community colleges, which documented the widespread failuc of remedial programs to be of any real assistance to their students. How Can Higher Education Meet His Needs? As higher education moves into the next three decades of declining ,; A thesSue of the New Student will receive' sharp student gopulatiop attention, for it is the NewStudent who will keep the institution Thus we must face the jarring question that K. Patricia Cross alive. X 7 Has higher educatiOn faced up to, the 'poses in BegOndthe Open Door: ' fact that equality of, educational opportunity requires more than guaran- tees of equal access to post-secondary education-?9 If there is no answer .provided, then higher education delivers these students a,double whammy: ' . where he it keeps the academically untalented student in a situattO does not do welll,and-learns no marketable skills and ?then sends him out to the workforce, doomed o low entry -4eVel jobs. J As administratprs and faculty make' their plans for this student, they must.first dispel what*the media has'labellee"mounting alarm." . al- Actually,, higher education has Remedial education is nothing new.. had academically weak and poorly prepared students. Wellesley Col- ways ... . lege, for example, offered a "rdmediatioh course for academib deficiency" in 1894 and thus claips distinction for being the first in the field: In the 1940's study skills and remedial reading courses were offered at numerous colleges and universities, including Stanford and Harvard. It Was only during the 650's and 1960's that students with learning ',problems wereidenied admission to the more prestigiouS four year in- , - is that thk problem is so pervasive stitutions: The difference no The decline of scores on that it, represents all of academic society. &liege Testlz program, the College Entrance Examinatien Board, American witnesses the fact. and the National Assessment of Educational P4z)graMs A Thuse find remedial programs necessary in given the most seleCtive in- . att. sis The following factsdrawn from Roueche's 1976 curvey show * stitutions. v. the dramatic increase in. such services: le ye. 4 ti 1' 7, --. 86%-of all' cofleges and un'ivetsitiesprovide special . This services for the academically disadvantaged. is. truefor 95% of the community'c011eges and 77% of the senior colleges. , k comely colleges aod.68% of the senior 83% of the -- , diagnostic services. colleges proyid - . 4 61%'of the senjor.colleges proyide learning assis- :- centers: 10 K ..- , . , . Maxwell's Improving Student 'reaming Skills supports these. figures and states that there are specifically l',8481earning*center comOnents t . , 11 in 1,433 independent colleges and universities inArthltmerica.. This ..number doubled between 1974 and 1977, with four-yeat institutions show- t , ing the,greatest increase. - It is crucial then for the'institutfon, the president, dean, trus- tees and faculty to recognize the needtfor a comprehensive remedial learning"program, forodt-deminds institutional priority and dollat commitments, successful program, studies While there are many facets of reveal that those organized by department or divis-ion, those offering grades and credit, and those providing peer tutoring are the most suc- cessful.12 \ 'When it comes down to essentials, however, the keys to a sound pro- gram according to Roueche, Maxwell, and g:ross--the acknowledged experts in this field--are found in the identification of the student, the selection of the teacher, and the teaching ,methods. If the program is to be successfill, the student with weak skills must.be identified early, preferably at admission or orientation time. 9 (5 7o. facilitate this process, Maxwell provides suggestions for question- . The student will need in- naires and'placements tests in her handbook. , ftf tensive counseling support whi.le his fear-of-failure pattern is replaced with a mgre positive self- confident approach to learning. During this time, he should be told frankly just how the university proposes to r, help him and how successful the program has been in retaining and gradu- ating students:\ The student should also know from the onset tha.:.the university cannot perform miracles in a semester or tWb; he should know I how vitallis min active participation is. In this learning environment, teachers are the miter key. As Mina Shaughnessy said in her remarkable book, Errors and Expecttions, -",Good teachersmake'goodprograms." The teacher should select this program', It is then his responsibility 'assignment; he should not be istigned to it. to decide what is to be learnedand how it is to be taught, to get in- volved with the students, and to commOnicate his eipectatiOns by class- .), room behavior. Kenneth Bruffee, professor of English at Brodklym College, director of Freshman English in 1970, and an early volunteer in this program, exemplifies the special qualities this kind of teacher needs. To learn the feelings. of anxiety, embarrassment, and dumb incapacity" that New . --,Students hive, he and other colleagues signed up for courses outside In a recent article, he recounts their areas of specialization. ,/ ';the fear of being exposed by making mistakes, the terror in taking an Having experienced this, he finds exam, the chagrin of being graded." he is no longer shocked by the problems.of teaching the New Student , 13' but rather exhilarated by the "new intellectual frontier." r 10 2