The effects of stereotypes on community college students. Essay 3: The effects of stereotypes on community college students.

1) THE INITIAL OR “BLUNT STATEMENT” INTRODUCTION: “In this paper, I intend to argue that at the community college-level, racial stereotypes not only have a detrimental impact on students’ academic success, but also on student confidence and identity. “I want to argue that despite the destructive impact of negative gender stereotypes about women being unable to compete with men in STEM programs at the community college level, many women are using the negative stereotypes of women in STEM to succeed.

2) THE FUNNEL APPROACH In many schools across the United States, students learn very early about how it is “bad” to stereotype those who are different from them. Later in high school and college, we are told that stereotyping is problematic because it relies on implicit bias and hasty assumptions that are often not based in reality or reason. Yet, stereotyping persists! In fact, stereotyping even extends beyond some of the expected categories of race, gender, age, ability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity to the general category of students. Observe the difference in reaction when you tell your beloved aunt that you were accepted at Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Watch this beloved aunt’s face fall when you tell her that you are going to your local community college. Although this reaction is not part of every student’s experience, it suggests that negative stereotypes about community college exist, can be detrimental to student perceptions of themselves as “academic” material, and can negatively impact their persistence levels.

3) AN ANECDOTAL INTRODUCTION The day after I graduated from high school, I met an old friend, who attended a different school, at Starbuck’s. She was eager to tell me about how she had been accepted at UCLA and received a generous academic scholarship. I congratulated her and although I felt a little envious because I really wanted to go to UCLA, I took a deep breath and told her that I was planning to attend Los Angeles Valley College. I quickly added that my plan was to save money and get my G.E.s out of the way and then transfer to a UC – maybe even UCLA. Based on her reaction (a sympathetic sigh and an “oh no!”), you would have thought I told her that I couldn’t go to college because I had a terminal illness. I was a little unsettled by her response to my news and after some thought, I realized that she was relying on stereotypes about community college education and assumptions about community college students. Although negative stereotypes about community colleges and students can cause some students annoyance, anxiety, and loss of self-esteem, community colleges like LAVC have been able to effectively counter these stereotypes by hiring outstanding faculty, recruiting student scholars, and emphasizing the impressive diversity of students that can and do succeed at both the community college and at the four-year college level.

4) AN INTRODUCTION THAT REFRAMES OR NARROWS THE QUESTION What are the effects of the “structural inequalities” that exist within the community college system and how do these “inequalities” persist in the form of stereotypes that impact community college students? In her essay “Do White College Students Believe Stereotypes about Minorities?”, Natalie Gross argues that stereotypes persist in colleges as a direct “result of structural inequalities that go unchecked.” I

5) AN INTRODUCTION THAT DEFINES THE OPPOSITION In “Stereotypes Hurt Minority Students’ Persistence at the Community College Level,” Dr. Levi Dorr argues that stereotypes about minority students and their incoming skill levels and academic potential have a detrimental impact on student confidence and their ability to persist. While research like Dr. Dorr’s has suggested the ways in which minority students have been negatively impacted by stereotypes, other research argues that minority community college students have been able to overcome the negative effects of stereotypes and succeed academically and professionally.

6) INTRODUCTION THAT BEGINS WITH A QUOTE In her essay “Do White College Students Believe Stereotypes about Minorities?”, Natalie Gross argues that the persistence of stereotypes in colleges is a “result of structural inequalities that go unchecked.” If this is the case, then we can imagine that stereotypes might also exist in the community college. What are the effects of these “structural inequalities” that continue on as stereotypes on community college students?

7) AN INTRODUCTION THAT BEGINS WITH A HARD FACT According to the U.S. Department of Education website (collegescorecard.gov), Los Angeles Valley College has a graduation rate of 19%, which is lower than the national average of 42%. While the college’s retention rate is above the 68% average at 73%, the graduation rate remains below average. What factors account for this low graduation rate? Although there are many complex factors that can account for this rate, the negative effects of race and gender stereotypes on the persistence, performance, and graduation of community college students must be directly addressed for rates to increase.