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.