A Theory of Minority Students' Survival in College |
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| Authors: | Richard Nagasawa Paul Wong |
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| Institution: | Is professor of sociology and director of graduate programs in the Department of Sociology, Arizona State University. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Washington, Seattle. He specializes in race and ethnic relations and theory construction. His current research focuses on drug and alcohol use among Asian Pacific youths and on racial disparity in sentencing under federal sentencing guidelines (with P. Wong). His formalization of the theory of racial formation is forthcoming in P. Wong, Race, Ethnicity, Nationality in the United States: Toward the Twenty-First Century;(Westview Press). Is an associate provost, a professor of sociology, and director of the Center for Applied Studies in American Ethnicity at Colorado State University. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. His books include Content Analysis of Documentary and Biographic Materials, China's Higher Leadership in the Socialist Transition, Minority Community Mental Health Training, and Navajos at Risk;. His next book, Race, Ethniciw, Nationality in the United States: Toward the Twenty-first Centuty, is being published in 1998 by Westview Press. |
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| Abstract: | This paper sets forth a theory to explain the survival of minority students in college. Minority students are faced with barriers such as cultural and racial isolation, unfamiliarity with college life, and hostility. As colleges place greater emphasis on diversity, campuses are more likely to turn into hostile milieus for minority students. In reaction, minority students will close ranks and seek other minority students on campus to form ethnic social networks rooted in their ethnic subculture. The ethnic social networks serve: (1) to reinforce excellence in academics; (2) to provide social support and information for students in navigating the college maze; and (3) to increase solidarity and pride in members. These minority social networks on campus help integrate minority students into the college social and academic systems and thereby maximize the students' survival in college. |
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