CULTURE AND RETENTION
A contributing factor in retention that can go unnoticed and therefore unaddressed is the effect of cultural upbringing and the importance in their lives. As an educator whose demographics include a large population of Mexican American and Native Americans students, I have noticed the following scenario occur over and over.
The best students, being totally aware of missed classes and the effects on their education, will miss school to be at the side of sick or ailing relatives to the exclusion of concern for damage to their educational career. There is no alternative in their choice assessment
Sounds like an exciting challenge, Debra. Good luck!
Richard, I find a familiar parallel with your Mexican American/Native American students with my Caribbean ones. Family social interactions always take precedence over personal educational goals. Has anyone had any success in changing cultural perceptions and priorities where they relate to education versus family responsibilities?
The problem here is that this industry is new to this island, and students were undergoing their studies based on expectations that the industry would be in place by the time they graduated. This has only JUST become a reality, and those students whom we lost due to economic hardship in the interim will not now be able to rejoin their classes. I am hopeful that our next class will have the benefit of job fairs and testimonies from their previous classmates, which should have an impact on retention.
I presume that this behavior isn't acceptable to employers. If so, would their 'testimony' about work place expectations have any impact on the students?
I have run across similar challenges in the Caribbean, where I teach at the post-secondary level. The most convenient excuse I am given for tardiness/absenteeism is "it's our culture." Of course some of this is out of students' control, i.e., transportation issues, childcare, family "emergencies." Notwithstanding, I find it difficult to get my students to equate successful completion of their government-paid education and their attendance with being offered a job on completion that will make improvements to their day-to-day existance.
There is no compromise either at the school level which is bound to Federal Laws and procedures due to the Federal Grant monies or in the workplace which operates at low efficiency due to the absenteeism or work ethic.
The Indian outsources were told that intellectual
material was protected by copyright and could be used as free material. The Indian companies were not convinced due to their cultural beliefs, they only responded when their contracts were about to be pulled unless compliance occured. One telling occurance was the entry of Gerber into the African economy. The Africans do not read the ingredients, and were abhored by the pictures of babies on the jars, they assumed that this represented the contents and not a bottle was sold. Bad research concerning the cultural differences between the two concerns. Anthropoligists have destroyed several primitive societies with their good intentions and their interference in adjusting a culture to meet their own beliefs. The Yir Yornt of Australia a case in point. The arrogancy of those who believe that their own culture is superior to and better than those "others" whom they try and change. The questions and problems of de-culturing a society just to make it easier to get along.
You have an interesting point of view. I wonder if the student's potential employer would agree to adjust their practices to meet the needs of the population they provide employment? We all come from a cultural background which can at times produce acculturative stress. Even with thoughful planning, is it possible to plan to meet each cultural need? Sometimes consequences can demonstrate actions for others.
Changing deeply ingrained cultural values must be quite a challenge; one that would require an intimate understanding of the dynamics. Does your institution have ethnic employees who can address some of these issues? Have you done workshops or open forums to allow for discussion of the issues? Are students punished if they violate your policies on the topics?
I'm not sure the problem of copyright infringement or abuse of intellectual property rights is limited to certain ethnic groups. This seems to be a general problem and probably deserves a lot more attention from all of us.
I have found that changing the value of a Cultural nature extremly difficult if not impossible. I was once asked to prepare a paper that described the method that I would use to reeducate Indian, Oriental culture that would reorientate these countries and align them with American values concerning copyright and ownership of intellectual information. If you have any way of changing ingrained Cultural response, please enlighten this humble person.
Interesting cultural dilema. I understand the culture of the student population, what you didn't mention is the culture of the school, in how creatively they've adpoted practices to align with the needs of the population that they are servicing. In recognizing the cultural make up of the student population, you should have recognized this possibility in the planning stages, and have developed interim actions to address this, as it relates to retention.
You raise an interesting point, Richard. Does your school address this point in an Orientation or curriculum? Do your students continue this behavior when they get jobs? How do employers handle this behavior?
