An early assignment in my doctoral work prompted each member of our cohort to develop our personal, philosophical purpose statement. Here reads mine: In the spirit of the Truman Commission's aim to democratize education and in hopes of refuting Dougherty's (2003) claims that "entering the community college puts obstacles in the way of the pursuit of the baccalaureate degree" (p. 77), I believe my role and purpose in higher education is to advocate for increased opportunity for low-income and first generation college students. Opportunity--as opposed to access--is my primary focus as I believe, as Cohen & Brawer (2008) argue, the community college is within reach of Americans. The issue becomes--once they are within our walls, what do we do with them? Where there will always be low-income and first generation students entering higher education, emphasis needs to be placed on changing societal, familial, institutional and other external factors contributing to the success and/or struggles of our students. Valadez's qualitative data stands as an example of the type of data I can gather and the type of work I can do in my current ( and future positions) in student development. I commit to: expounding on the work of Valadez by understanding how social-class positions influence both the experience of the student and the institution's response to said student; educating my community about the successes (not just the failures) of students afforded access and opportunity who otherwise may not be able to attend college; debunking the myth that this population should not pursue programs for transfer; providing holistic student support to this group--understanding that it's not just the in-class piece that matters; providing data and information to stakeholders and other influential parties about the need for continued financial and academic support for such programs as TRIO and/or educational opportunity centers; and will advocate for the community college to approach low income, first-generation students holistically as well.
Cohen, A.M. & Brawer, F.B. (2008). The American community college. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Dougherty, K. (2003). The community college: The origins, impacts, and futures of a contradictory institution. In J. Ballantine & J. Spade (Eds.),Schools and society (pp. 377-385). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. In B. Townsend & D. Bragg (2006). ASHE reader on community colleges (pp. 75-82). Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing
.Valadez, J.R. (1996). Educational access and social mobility in a rural community colege. Review of higher education, 19 (4), 391-409. In B. Townsend & D. Bragg (2006) ASHE reader on community colleges (pp.83-94). Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing