Graduating Class

Disadvantaged Students Crossing the Bridge of Higher Education

By Latty L. Goodwin
Foreword by Lois Weis

Subjects: Education
Paperback : 9780791467428, 248 pages, June 2006
Hardcover : 9780791467411, 248 pages, June 2006

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Table of contents

Foreword
Preface Water, Water, Everywhere!

1. Introduction

 

Why Should We Care?
Looking for Answers
Who Are These Students?
How Did These Students Succeed?
Will Success in College Pay Off in the “Real World”?

 

2. Who Are You?

 

The Pleasers: First-Generation Immigrant Students
The Searchers: Second-Generation Immigrant Students
The Skeptics: Multigenerational Immigrant Students
Conclusion

 

3. Living Within the Culture of an Elite University

 

The Sum of Its Parts: How to Describe the College Experience
Climate Issues
Institutional Change
Conclusion

 

4. Lessons Learned: The Academics of College

 

The Pleasers: First-Generation Immigrant Students
The Searchers: Second-Generation Immigrant Students
The Skeptics: Multigenerational Immigrant Students
What Made a Difference

 

5. “All Work and No Play”: The Social Relevance of College

 

All Stressed Out
The Pleasers: First-Generation Immigrant Students
The Searchers: Second-Generation Immigrant Students
The Skeptics: Multigenerational Immigrant Students
Conclusion

 

6. Storming the Bridge: Surviving the Challenges of College

 

Adversity Comes in Big and Small Packages
Persistence: “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger!”
Academic Resilience

 

7. Exit Ahead: The Outcomes of College

 

Outcomes: What Was Acquired?
Reflections of Regret and Hope for the Future
Conclusion

 

8. Now Which Way? Choosing the Right Road

 

Balancing Acts: Challenges Ahead
The Moon and the Stars: Goals for the Future
Conclusion

 

9. Conclusion: Closing the Gap

 

Recipe for Success: Making It Happen
Short-Term Outcomes
Implications

 

Appendix A Suggested Readings
Appendix B Participant Profiles
References

Students from poor and working-class families struggle to succeed and graduate from an elite university.

Description

In Graduating Class, Latty L. Goodwin tells the story of a group of students from poor and working-class families who struggle against all odds to graduate from an elite university. The author explores the lived experiences of an engaging group of college students and shares their stories of trials and tribulations, joys and sorrows, and their frustrations and successes. Goodwin shows that even though the affirmative action debate was recently "settled" in the Supreme Court, universities are still left to grapple with defining who is deserving, meritorious, and qualified for admission. This timely story of hope and of students persevering through academic adversity poignantly demonstrates the justice of democratic access to higher education.

Latty L. Goodwin is Associate Professor of Educational Development and Director of the First Year Enrichment Program at Rochester Institute of Technology.