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Understanding the first‐generation student experience in higher education through a relational dialectic perspective
Author(s) -
LoweryHart Russell,
Pacheco George
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
new directions for teaching and learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.192
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1536-0768
pISSN - 0271-0633
DOI - 10.1002/tl.457
Subject(s) - straddle , dialectic , perspective (graphical) , identity (music) , pedagogy , sociology , class (philosophy) , higher education , psychology , reflexivity , mathematics education , epistemology , social science , political science , law , aesthetics , philosophy , finance , artificial intelligence , computer science , economics
The authors use relational dialectics theory to argue that first‐generation college students (FGS) often struggle with a give‐and‐take tension between getting involved in campus life and losing their familial and working‐class identity. They suggest that because FGS straddle two different cultures of academia and home, institutions must address these tensions to improve the students' retention and graduate rates.