“Even in institutions like Teachers College, a predominantly white institution, for our students of color, for our faculty of color, we often hear these phrases that say things like, ‘These institutions are not for us, they weren’t designed for us, so we don’t fit,” Mentor says. “This is why a child who plays sports in school, or a child who is on a debate team with a caring educator, will do better in his studies than someone who is isolated from it.”

college blues

It’s not just your imagination. College is terrible.

That’s partly because, researchers say, students are moving to a stage in their education where grades and academic competition among students make a stark difference between those who do well in school and those who don’t. .

This “can encourage harmful social comparisons between students as they form their academic identities,” write two researchers from Stanford University and Arizona State University.

The study asked college freshmen to read and respond to first-person vignettes from former students, who wrote about their worries about fitting in with their peers.

They found that students who participated in the activity worried less about how they would do (both academically and making friends) in the future, compared to students who had not participated in the reading exercise. The group of participating students also saw slight improvements in their GPAs and scored lower Ds and Fs than their peers.

The researchers also named what they didn’t find: The exercises didn’t have a greater or lesser impact for any particular racial or ethnic group of students.

While this seems too simple a solution to be effective, the researchers argue that “quick-acting socio-psychological interventions such as this are not ‘magic’.

“Their power lies in the possibility of small but precise changes in the beliefs and perceptions of individuals at critical life moments, allowing recursive processes to transform these small gains into larger gains,” the document states.

Mentor is inclined to agree with the sentiment, saying storytelling has long been a tool for making connections.

“I can tell you what my travels are like,” she says. “A lot of times that’s how someone else can see a glimmer of their own life reflected and be able to make something out of it.”

Reverse freshman funk

According to a study published in the May issue of Science, when a student lacks a sense of belonging, it’s a sign that they may be struggling to progress in their college program.

One of the challenges highlighted by the researchers is that uncertainty about university affiliation impacts groups differently, especially ethnic minority students or first-generation students. Their goal was to find ways to help these groups continue their education after the first year of college, when many freshmen are at risk of dropping out.

“The history and reality of racism and social class exclusion in higher education means that everyday challenges such as feeling left out or having difficulty finding a lab partner can take on a racialized or charged meaning. social class for specific identity groups: “People like me don’t belong here,” the researchers explain. “Because such fixed and global attributions can become self-confirming, it is important to prevent them.”

The group of 37 researchers conducted a dozen randomized controlled experiments with nearly 27,000 undergraduate students at 22 institutions.

Some of the students were selected to participate in a 30-minute online writing assignment before starting classes, where they read the first-hand experiences of older students who reassured them that “feeling homesickness, struggling academically, or having trouble interacting with professors” are normal parts of the college experience. They are also asked to write down their thoughts on going to college and describe how they might handle these issues as they arise.

The researchers noted that this strategy to increase students’ sense of belonging only worked in colleges where students had the opportunity to connect with others on campus. It could be social events where students can make friends or find professors willing to serve as mentors.

But what about events like freshman orientation? Aren’t they enough to make students feel part of the community?

The mentor responds with a story.

When she arrived in the United States, it took some time to realize that people who asked her, “How are you?” meant it as a casual greeting rather than a genuine matter of concern for his well-being.

“I would stop to start saying how I am. So in my culture, I would answer the question,” Mentor recalls. But in the United States, “the person would say, ‘Hey, how are you?’ and keep walking.

It’s a bit like what university orientations for freshmen are, by comparison: compulsory practices intended to check things on a list. To ensure students know how to get from point A to point B.

“And I think humanity is lacking in those orientations that we have,” Mentor says. “When I say to my students at orientation: ‘If you need anything, contact me’, my invitation is sincere. If we are honest and authentic about creating spaces of belonging, we should do more than pay lip service. »