Literature Review #4

"America's Top Parent: What's Behind the "Tiger Mother" Craze?" - Elizabeth Kolbert

Kolbert, Elizabeth. "The New Yorker." America's Top Parent: What's Behind the "Tiger Mother" Craze? 31 January 2011: 1-3.

This article, from The New Yorker, talks about a recent book written by Amy Chua, pictured above, and how she is a "tiger mom". She feels that in order to give her daughter, also pictured above, the best opportunities in college and future careers, she needs to be ruthless in their academic, social, and cultural activities now. They have strict rules that may seem absurd such as no sleepovers, no playmates, no grade lower than an A on report cards, no choosing your own extracurricular activities, and no ranking lower than No. 1 in any subject, except for gym and drama. She argues that the steps that she has taken to groom her children is what will help them succeed academically and in their future careers. 

What makes this mother knowledgable about the topic the fact that it is a true story about her life. Also, the accomplishments that her children have made show that there may be something behind her parenting style. For example, her one daughter has performed at Carnegie Hall. This shows that the hard work, dedication, and constant pushing is making a stage for a profitable and prosperous future for her children. 

The two key terms that she used largely throughout this piece was the idea between "Chinese mothers" and "Western mothers". As quoted in this article, "In Chua's binary world, there are just two kinds of mother. There are Chinese mothers, who, she allows, do not necessarily have to be Chinese. 'I'm using the term Chinese mothers' loosely' she writes. Then there are Western mothers. Western mothers think that they are being strict when they insist that their children practice their instruments for half an hour a day. For Chinese mother's the first hour is the easy part".

This information helps explore my research question because it is a primary example of cultural capital that is held within the upper-income students and how they are using it as an advantage for college and beyond. Although this an extreme form ruthless parenting, it is an example none the less. 

Abstract, Bibliography, and Link to Paper

Research Blog #10

The problem that was researched and discussed throughout this paper was about how the class divide plays a crucial role in the idea of cultural capital and how it affects the information deficiency of low-income and first generation students. In order to properly research and understand this topic I used 10 scholarly sources to provide examples and back up the argument I was making. As a result of this research and knowledge, I have found that the federal and state governments need to step in to provide students and parents with the ability to find and use information to make well-infomed decisions about colleges and universities. 

Work Cited

DeParle, Jason. "For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall." The New York Times 22      December 2012: 1-14.

Dumias, Susan A and Aaryn Ward. "Cultural Capital and first-generation college success." Science Direct (2009): 245-265.

Herndon, Craig M. "Improving Consumer Information for Higher Education Planning." New Directions for Institutional Research (2013): 63-74.

Kolbert, Elizabeth. "The New Yorker." America's Top Parent: What's Behind the "Tiger Mother" Craze? 31 January 2011: 1-3.

Leonhardt, David. "The New York Times." Better Colleges Failing to Lure Talented Poor 16 March 2013.

Lewin, Tamar. "The New York Times." College May Become Unafforable for Most in U.S. 3 December 2008.

Meister, Bob. "Debt and Taxes: Can the Financial Industry Save Public Universities?" Representations (2011): 128-55.

Price, Derek V. Borrowing Inequality: Race, Class, and Student Loans. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004.

Supiano, Beckie. "Straight Answers on Paying for College: Still Too Little, Too Late." The Chronicle of Higher Education 8 February 2013: A12, A13.

University, Indiana. Cultural Capital is Key to Preparing for College and Getting Into a Good School. 15 August 2010. <http://sciencedaily.com>.

Literature Review #3

"Cultural Capital and First-generation College Success"- Susan A. Dumais and Aaryn Ward

Dumias, Susan A and Aaryn Ward. "Cultural Capital and first-generation college success." Science Direct (2009): 245-265.

This reading focuses on the idea of cultural capital and how it effects upper and lower-income students differently. It also defines cultural capital, coined by Pierre Bourdeui, and describes the levels of access of that students can possess. There is substantial argument about how the people that possess cultural capital are key holders to information and resources that are beneficial for the success in higher education and the importance of this. Furthremore, the authors analyze the success and effects, such as enrollment rates and GPA, that this model has on both types of students. Since cultural capital is inherited, this article presents evidence of how the parents of prospective college students that hold this capital help their children throughout the process and what information that are bestowing upon them. Lastly, they touch on the issue of social mobility and how cultural capital keeps the class divide widening.

Susan A. Dumais is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Louisiana State University. She graduated from Harvard University after receiving her PhD. Her research focuses on the ways that society is stratified, particularly in the areas of class and gender, and within the contexts of education and culture. She has written numerous articles pertaining to cultural capital and the barriers that first generation students face during college.
Unfortunately, I could not find sufficient information about the second author Aaryn Ward.

The largest key term in this paper is cultural capital. It is defined by expert David Swartz as " verbal facility, general cultural awareness, aesthetic preferences, information about the school system, and education credentials" (246). This concept is used as the main principal throughout the article. Another concept in this article is conceptualization of cultural capital. This states that we use this "study a critical juncture in a students' lives; the transition from high school to college, and the subsequent college experience" (249). They believe that having cultural capital is not enough, but the individual must activate it at certain points for it to become useful and be used to their advantage.

"Cultural capital is unequally distributed in society, with the middle and upper class families having more and working and lower class families having less (or none at all)" (247). This quote is very important in my argument because it pinpoints that there is a huge divide in the possession of cultural capital. This is one of the central arguments that are being used throughout my paper.

"first-generation students remain at a disadvantage compared to their non-first-generation peers: they have lower enrollment rates, lower levels of academic and social integration, lower grade point averages while in school, and lower rates of retention and graduation" (250). This is useful information when discussing the problems that first generation students face because it shows you the areas in which they currently are falling behind and they are important the success at college. This proves that first-generation students have to work that much harder to be on the same level as some of their peers. 

"It also appears as though first-generation status serves as more of a barrier for initial college access than it does for attainment of a bachelor's degree" (262). This quote is beneficial to the paper topic because although students have a hard time during school and not all finish with a degree, the first step is often the hardest and most detrimental to the success of first-generation students. They need to go through square one to move on the the second part of the journey.

This information helps me explore my research question because it gives me the meat behind this idea of cultural capital that is being talked about throughout my paper. It also highlights the different ways in which the divide between the classes, the information deficiency, and cultural capital all have intertwining and significant roles. I will be using a lot of information from this article to argue my topic to the reader. This is the most helpful article to my paper subject so far.

Argument & Counter-arguement

Research Blog #9

The argument that I will pursuing in this paper is that the the information gap and the idea of "cultural capital" are fueling the increasing class divide. The upper-income students have all of the resources of information at their fingertips because it is passed down through their family as their past generations are college graduates. However, the low-income and first generation students do not have this and lack the information needed to navigate through college and the admissions process.

There are sources that believe that students should be able to find this information out on their own and that it is currently out there for them to find. This raises the debate that students should or shouldn't be given the information that they need. The sources that find that students should be self-sufficient already know what they need to know and don't need anyone else's help. Unfortunately, students who are dealing with this all on their own might need a little help. No students should suffer because another individual feels that they do not deserve help. This divides our students because the students with cultural capital will always have the information and the students without will not.

Visuals

Research Blog #8

There are various pictures that will be used a visuals throughout my final paper and presentation that will help illustrate my topic to my readers. These are the ones that I have used this far:

This visual is representing the "silver spoon" that some upper class students have in the sense that they are given the information from previous generations in their family that have gone to college. They do not need to find this information on their own.. it is inherited.

This graph visualizes the amount of undergraduate student state financial aid that is available for prospective college students. It breaks down the total amount of aid into proportions of how it is distributed between grants, loans, and other programs. This is a good way show how aid is distributed.

This is a visual that will be used near the end of my presentation to represent putting the puzzles pieces of information together. Once students have all of the parts, they can put together the information they need and use it to their advantage and make the proper decisions.

This isa visual of some of the elite colleges and universities that students can attend in the U.S.

This is a picture of the three students that are featured in the New York Times article that was used as my case study. 

This is a cartoon showing the restraints of a college graduate and how they are a prisoner of debt while obtaining a college degree.

This is the logo of the Virginia Education Wizard, which is a program that was started to help students get the information that they were seeking all in one place. 

My Case

Research Blog #7

The main example that I will be using to argue my point will the the article by Jason DeParle, For Poor Leap to College Often Ends in Hard Fall. This article, which is also explained in detail in the previous blog Literature Review #1, illustrates how a lack of information within the low-income students is a precursor a harder times during college. It highlights three young women, but the most astonishing is Angelica Gonzalez. Though the Emory Advantage Plan, she would have been able to attend Emory for free but missed the deadline and missed her aid. She then proceeded to make the poor decision to take out a student loan for that year equaling $40,000. Not having the proper information she needed showcases how poor decisions can be made. She is now buried in debt and without a degree working a minimum wage job back home.

This speaks to my debate because it shows how students, especially for lower-income families make poor decisions when they do not have the proper information available to make informed decisions. It also shows that without some cultural capital, she made poor decisions regarding her college career. This research is a newspaper article from The New York Times and explains in excessive detail her story. The link to the story is below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/education/poor-students-struggle-as-class-plays-a-greater-role-in-success.html>

Literature Review #2

"Improving Consumer Information for Higher Education Planning" - M. Craig Herndon

Herndon, M. Craig. "Improving Consumer Information For Higher Education Planning." New Directions For Institutional Research 2012.153 (n.d.): 63. EBSCO: Academic Search Premier (EBSCO EIT) (XML). Web. 9 Apr. 2013.

This article was focused on what information was available to students to make better decisions on various topics pertaining to college and how they could potentially fix this information gap. After various surveys from different populations, it was concluded that the major areas where students lacked information were making decisions about careers, majors, colleges, and paying for college. Therefore, they created a system called the Virginia Education Wizard to help students of all ages answer questions and find valuable information on topics pertaining to college and information about specific colleges and universities. In the two years that this program has been used it has seen immediate positive outcomes although they state that without further analysis they cannot be sure of concrete conclusions. As stated in the article, "The Wizard was created to provide consumers with better information in guiding they career and college-planning decisions". Although this article does not solely  focus on college finances, it is helping in understanding the different ways people are trying to overcome this lack of information. 

According to Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority, "Craig Herndon, Ph.D., serves as Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development Services for the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) where he provides leadership to workforce training programs and services consumed by more than 250,000 participants annually at 23 colleges on 40 campuses. As the Chief Workforce Development officer, Herndon has helped to align the strategic vision of workforce development at Virginia’s Community Colleges and the Commonwealth’s 15 workforce investment boards, for which the VCCS acts as the state administrator, in the shared pursuit of increased credential attainment, increased employment attainment, and enhanced services to businesses". 

"A deficit of good information has the potential to produce negative consequences for the individual consumer" (page 64). Students can have information, but unless it is good information it is useless to them. The information needs to be able to used to their advantage or else you might as well not even give them the information in the first place. Students are bound to make poor choices without good information guiding them.

"No comprehensive information sources existed for the most pressing questions and no technology solution sets existed to meet the scope of the needs identified though the survey" (page 66). This survey revealed that for the questions that most students were asking there were no answers or information regarding these question available for them to consult. They also didn't find any technological ways to find the answers they were seeking. It is shown that is it hard for students to find the answers they need, therefore they often get frustrated and give up on finding it. We need to make this information more available for them.

"The Wizard was created to provide consumers with better information in guiding career-and college planning decisions" (page 69). This program is in place to address the problem of information deficiency for students in Virginia. They are trying to make useful information available for students who wish to use it and are trying to answer their most pressing questions pertaining to a higher education.

This material helps explore my research question because it shows how people are trying to fix the problems of the information deficit for students. If students have the information they need they will be able to make more informed and reasonable decisions about college.

Undergraduate Research Writing Conference

Extra Credit #1

On Wednesday, April 10th I attended the Undergraduate Research Writing Conference as a chance to earn extra credit for Research in the Disciplines. I attended the 10:30 session where I was able to hear three students present and explain topics that they had spent a lot of time researching and working on. The group of speaker that I decided to attend was in the Livingston Conference Room where there were presentations on student financial aid, the water bottle industry, and stem cells. It was interesting to see how passion fueled their spark to research and how hard work showed off in their presentations. I find that the more personal story of student financial aid, which also pertains to our class, was especially interesting because she used her life experience to form her research. It was great to see my peers doing research that was interesting and useful.

Bibliography with 5 Scholarly Sources

Research Blog #5

These are 5 scholarly sources that I will be using throughout my research paper:

DeParle, Jason. "For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall." The New York Times 22      December 2012: 1-14.

Dumias, Susan A and Aaryn Ward. "Cultural Capital and first-generation college success." Science Direct (2009): 245-265.

Herndon, Craig M. "Improving Consumer Information for Higher Education Planning." New Directions for Institutional Research (2013): 63-74.

Meister, Bob. "Debt and Taxes: Can the Financial Industry Save Public Universities?" Representations (2011): 128-55.

Price, Derek V. Borrowing Inequality: Race, Class, and Student Loans. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004.

Literature Review #1

"For Poor, Leap to College Often End in a Hard Fall"- Jason DeParle

This article highlights stories about three lower-income students from Galveston Texas. It accounts their struggles from family and school and how this affected them in college academically and socially. There are great insights in this article about what some thoughts are that are going through these students minds. Some barricades they face on the topic of higher education are vulnerability, disadvantage in the lack of knowledge, the standard of education growing up, and other family issues such as leaving their family behind and thinking they are better than the rest for pursuing and education.

Furthermore, this article combs over the more problematic issues these students face such as the income gap, guidance, the socio-economic ladder, enrichment activities provided before college, and having a "safety net". They explain how these aspects affect how lower income students face struggles that other students do not have to endure. We are even given detailed accounts about the financial aspects that these three students faced when enrolled at college and how ultimately, they fell behind because of the lack of knowledge the had and the fact they were doing it on their own. It became apparent that these students are faced with providing for themselves fully while maintaining their academics and this along with other factors pushed them over the end. This is partially the fact that because of financial aid difficulties they had substantial amounts of loans and couldn't keep their heads above water. In the end, even with all of their pursuits in college and to have an education these girls ended up with no degrees and mountains of loans to pay back.

Some important quotes include: "With little guidance form family or school officials, college became a leap that they braved without a safety net". (2) This quote highlights the fact that many lower income students do not have the financial or emotional "safety net" that other more fortunate students do. This becomes an increasing problems because they do not have the knowledge that they need or the support to get through college, and if they do succeed and receive their diploma many struggle on the way there.

"It's becoming increasingly unlikely that a low-income student no matter how intrinsically bright, moves up the socioeconomic ladder". (3) This quote stands out because it is stating that children that are in low-income situations have little or no chance in improving life for themselves. This seems to be a circle of life that these students are facing and they don't know how to escape it. It is very disheartening to hear this statement.

"Schools may have also changed in ways that make parental income and education more important". (6) This quote is particularly interesting because students are already at a disadvantage when coming up from poorer educational systems and now that the era of technology has seeped into the educational network this puts them in a further gap from the more fortunate students.

This article is useful in exploring my research question because it gives inside information about what is happening to students that are coming from these situations. We need examples of this problem to explore what blockades they are facing and how this problem in holding them back. Without these accounts, we are only guessing at what problems are currently being faced and what can be done to divert it.

Jason DeParle, the author of this article of this article, is a senior writer at the New York Times and been a finalist multiple times for the Pulitzer Prize and won the George Polk award for his writing of the welfare system. This graduate from Duke University seems intent on focusing about the struggles that families face form lower-economic standpoints.

Jason Deparle; Kitty Bennett Contributed. “For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 23. Dec. 2012. Web. 26 Feb.2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/education>.

Research Proposal

Research Blog #4

Elise Fritz
March 1, 2013
Research in the Disciplines: College!

Research Proposal

I. Title:
The Black Hole of College Finances

II. Topic:
I will be exploring how students are being educated about the financial options available to them before college. Also, how the upper class have the resources to help their kids get into the elite schools while the middle and lower class are missing out on the financial aid and support to which they are entitled. This has created a “dog eat dog world” which is driven by competition. This competition brings forth links to privatization  and looking out for your own interests and not caring about anyone else’s. Furthermore, for-profit schools have taken advantage of the poor and their lack of information.

III. Research Question:
How has the idea of privatization increased the gap between the upper class who have the resources to get financial advice and the lower class who do not by fostering the competition of admission into college and self-interest? How has the vast difference in demographics between these students give the advantage to the upper class and leave the less fortunate in the dark about financial options?

IV. Theoretical Frame:
Although I do not have a specific theory in mind to analyze this topic I am trying to unearth something very specific. I am still revolving around the central idea of the ways that students are being educated about their options to pay for college. However, there is another sub-topic that is interwoven and constructs an interesting viewpoint. The children of the elite have various resources available to them that the less-fortunate don’t and this leaves an informational gap between these students which can be detrimental to their financial futures.

V. Research Plan and Additional Questions:
The research plan that I am instituting for these questions is merely finding examples of how students have failed to find information that could have helped them with their finances and college loans. I am also researching the various programs and assistance that is available for students and what they should be taking advantage of. Many students do not know about these options and this is where they fall short when preparing for college.
Concentrating on case studies, I have two specific examples of horrific stories about students who lost out on substantial financial benefits because they didn’t know they were available for them. I will use these examples of neglect to further argue this problem and how we can fix this.

VI. Bibliography
Price, Derek V. Borrowing Inequality: Race, Class, and Student Loans. Boulder, CO:L. Reinner, 2004. Print.
Jason Deparle; Kitty Bennett Contributed. “For Poor, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 23. Dec. 2012. Web. 26 Feb.2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/education>.
Supiano, Beckie. “Straight Answers on Paying for College: Still Too Little, Too Late”. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 8 Feb. 2013: A12-13. Print.
Herndon, M. Craig. “Improving Consumer Information For Higher Education Planning.” New Directions For Institutional Research 2012.153 (n.d.): 63. EBSCO: Academic Search Premier (EBSCO EIT) (XML). Web. 15 Mar. 2013.
Simmons, Omari Scott. “Lost in Transition: The Implications of Social Capital For Higher Education Access”. Notre Dame Law Review 87.1 (n.d.):205-252. Thomson Scientific: ISI Web of Knowledge- Web of Science. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.

Classroom Connections

Research Blog #3

During increasing research into my topic, I have found that the idea of "corporatization" has been talked about in class and in our readings which brings up some interesting ideas when thinking about my topic. In Nicolaus Mill's reading The Corporatization of Higher Education, a few things caught my attention. He states that "middle-class families as well as the rich are as a result spending thousands of dollars to hire private college advisors, SAT tutors, and sports coaches". Parents are going to these high extremes to try and get their children into the best colleges and hope for scholarships to help them with the increasingly high tuition. Unfortunately, with schools competing for the highest ratings they use the tactic of rejecting applications to get there. Parents are shelling out all of this money to try and give their children that "edge" and most attempts are not worth it. Furthermore, Mills says, "the students who succeed in getting into our highest-ranked colleges and universities a thus far wealthier than the population as a whole. At elite schools, 74 percent of the student body come from the top quarter of the socioeconomic scale, while just 3 percent come from the bottom". All of the money that parents are spending get their kids into better schools could be used to help pay for the increasing tuition they will be seeing when they get there. That students that are not on the top of the pyramid are the ones that need the financial help to get through college and they need the education to make smart decisions about their options. If parents are willing to spend their money on tutors and advisors, they should be also spending their money on finding someone to give their children the right information about college finances since this is not necessarily easily available for them.

Scouting the Territory

Research Blog #2

I find that the question of how and if high school students are being prepared about their financial options about college is still interesting. However, it seems harder and harder to find any research that backs any of this up. The first thing that I researched was using Google, and when typing in "educational programs about college for high school students" it find multiple summer programs that are held at the universities for high school students. However, these programs do not fit the criteria that I am looking for. When researching "educational programs about finances for college" the page is a mash-up of links for repayment benefits for people in the military, a link for Federal Student Aid, and some news articles pertaining to this topic. When using databases such as Google Scholar, I have yet to find any relevant articles that would help with my topic, but these resources are useful so I will just need to dig a little deeper. It seems that the subject that people are most interested in is government aid. It seems that the major way students are parents are prepared to pay for college is through various government loans from Financial Aid. However, this is the problem that I am trying to uncover. Yes, you will most likely need some sort of financial aid and this information is helpful, but what about the other programs or scholarship opportunities that students could receive to relieve some of the burden of paying for college.

This article from FOX Business: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/12/31/tips-for-low-income-students-to-pay-for-college/>  is interesting because it is giving insight into the various ways to pay for college. Although the title "Tips for Low-Income Students to Pay for College" may target only a specific group it has useful information that every student could make use of. After knowing these options, students then can do some additional research.

This article from College Scholarships: <http://www.collegescholarships.org/grants/> is helpful because it gives detailed information about grants for college. This information gives students the information they need to learn about grants and other ways to pay for college.

Were You Prepared For College?

Research Blog #1: Topic Idea

I would like to write about how students prepared for college and what their expectations were. Did these expectations change or stay the same? I would also like to examine if students knew all of the options that were available to them or if they received the proper education prior to college about the various options to pay for it. For example, many students were not aware of programs such as NJ STARS or what they could do for them financially. Were students given the opportunity to apply for scholarships, their due dates, and other valuable information. I feel that students are thrown into college without knowing all of the facts, and if they did would they have made different decisions? It is impossible for students to know everything even if they have help. How are students being educated about the financial aspects of college and how could such programs impact their decisions? Understanding how students are educated about financials and how they get into their debt will give critical insight into how we can change the outcome for future students.