This special issue addresses theoretical, institutional, student and family issues that significantly impact the academic success of African-American students today

Steward, Robbie J.

English

Kansas State University

Educational Considerations Volume 18 Number 1 The Academic Success of African-American Students Article 2 9-1-1990 An Overview of this Issue Robbie J. Steward University of Kansas Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/edconsiderations  Part of the Higher Education Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Steward, Robbie J. (1990) "An Overview of this Issue," Educational Considerations: Vol. 18: No. 1. https://doi.org/10.4148/0146-9282.1526 This Introductory Materials is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Considerations by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact cads@k-state.edu. An Overview of this Issue This spec ial issue addresses theoretical, inst itutional , student and lam; Iy issues thaI signif icant ly Impact the aca· demic succe ss 01 Al rican- American stu dents today. The Ki ns ler article is a c rit ique and analysis of exist Ing th eories Ihat ~ u ide the educati on al process In inst itutions of learn -ing, but which are aHen det rimental to African- American students. Carter 101l0W5 with a presentation exp lOring the often conf l lctual re lationsh ip between Af rican-American cultu ral variab les and predominantly white c oll eges and un ivers ities . These arti cles together prov ide balance that Is often absen t in w rit ings re lated to th is topic . Wh i le Kinsle r presents very valid points in an explanation for why Afri -can- Ame rican students might fai l, Carler also effect ively e<plores why some Af rican-American students fail and some succeed. Both perspect ives are c rit ical to Increasing readers' understand ing of culture-SpeC ifi c d iffe rences that are often not acknow ledged or attended to, but which se rio ous ly inf luence Af rican - Ame rican students' progress ion within predominantly white educationa l institutions. Logan highligh ts the curre nt criti Gal issue of inc reas· ino re presen1ation of African- Americans in the overal l pop· ulat ion in contrast to the decreas ing represe ntat ion of Afrl ' can-American students within i ns t i tut ions of higher education . She proposes recom mendations that inst itu· tions must begin to consistent ly address if th is imbalance is to be corrected Cook addresses the outc ome 01 cul tural diffe re nces between A frican- Ameri can students and the predomi· nant ly wh ite un ivers it y settin g as ind icated in the previous art icles , I.e., alienation. Cook of fers a vali d and comprehen· 2 sive ove rview of alienation which ch allenges inst itut ions of higher education toward introspection arid action. Finall y, another outcome of cultural conflict Is examined, McRae addresses the impact of race and ger'lder soc ialization upon ca reer cho ice for a spedfi c group; African - American temales. The next sect ion 01 art ic les systematicall y addresses spec ific areas of recom mended prog ramming that have been effective in assist ing institut ions in overcoming the problems re lated to Ihe cultural conflicts of ten exist ing be· tween inst ituHons and Af rican - Am erican st uden ts, Wright presents an emphasis o n jo ining with th e family system as a means 10 dec rease the tendency for development of an ad· ve rsarlal re lation ship be tween white instil ut ion s, the Afri· CM~Ame rlcan fam i ly, and conjointly, the African - American student . Steward and Jackson emp i ricall y exam ine w ithin· group divers it y on levels of pe rsona l competency thai diller· entiate those African-American students who pe rsist to sen ior status o'er a five·ye ar period. Programming recom· mendations are offered as a response to the findi ngs. Richardson, Kohatsu , and Walers present a c rit ique of how graduate school recrui tm en t strategies d iscriminate against African - American students, offering concrete rec· o mmendat ions for change. And f ina ll y, M idgette and Stephens describe an effective, innovative program deve l· o ped to enhance African-American student retent ion, I sincere ly hope that this Issue w ill provide alte rnative perspectives and el ic it reactio n that wil l stimulate discus· Si on, refle ct ion . and aGtion in o rder to fac llilate Ihe aca· demic progression of African- American students in all in-st itu t ions of higher education. Robb ie J. Steward, Ph.D. Guesl Editor Unive rsity of Kansas, Lawrence Educational Considerations 1Steward: An Overview of this IssuePublished by New Prairie Press, 2017

An Overview of this Issue

https://newprairiepress.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1526&amp;context=edconsiderations

An Overview of this Issue

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Kansas State University