|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rice Thresher
Phone:
|
by Leslie Liu thresher editorial staff
American Sociological Association President Douglas Massey presented the current results of the ongoing study Tuesday at Rice. In fall 1999, Massey, a professor and Sociology Department chair at the University of Pennsylvania, headed a longitudinal survey of freshmen. Researchers interviewed 3,924 freshmen entering 28 selective colleges and universities throughout the United States. Researchers interviewed these freshmen during two and a half hour periods that fall and were able to reinterview 95 percent of the group in spring 2000. The sample consisted of similar numbers of white, Asian, Latino and black students. The study has found that in the sample, there were 1.86 black female students to each black male student. Among undergraduates nationwide, Massey said the ratio is 2.2:1. Massey said the ratio for white females to males is much more even at 1.1:1. "So what that means is unless there is interracial dating and marriage or cross-class ... dating and marriage ... half the black women aren't going to date, aren't going to get married. And that's built into the demography of the population," Massey said. Massey said research questions focused on the different backgrounds and experiences that students bring with them. Interviewers asked about the environment that surrounded the students at three phases in their lives - at ages 6 and 13 and during their senior year of high school. He said the research aimed to "get a sense of who these people are right now as they are entering college, what they think. What they think about their chances for success, how sure are they are that they're going to complete one year, two years, three years, graduate from college, go to graduate school, finish a graduate degree. Get a sense for what they're thinking about themselves." The study found that white and Asian students in the sample, from private and public colleges and universities in the United States, tended to be from middle- or upper-class backgrounds and to have parents who are professionals. On the other hand, Massey said, the study found that black and Latino students came from a wide variety of backgrounds. "For many of these black kids, the ones who are from a poor, inner-city background, this'll be the first time they've ever run into rich black people," Massey said. "And their experience of white people [in college] is going to be from the most privileged segment of American society. "So if you meet the average white person on campus, and you make an assumption about them based on what the average is, you're quite likely to be correct," Massey said. Massey said this means that for many privileged white and Asian students, the only contact they have with minorities will be the black and Latino students they meet in college. Meanwhile, Massey said that for the students from working-class white or Asian families, the marginalization they might feel in higher education would be experienced individually and not as a cohesive group. "That's not the case for the minorities," he said. "Poor African-Americans feel alienated from this very privileged, white environment around them, and because they are significant enough in number, this is experienced not as an individual marginalization but as a group marginalization." Another variable the study tried to quantify is called "stereotype threat," a theory put forward by Claude Steele, a psychology professor at Stanford University. Steele argues that minorities underperform because of a fear of conforming to negative racial stereotypes. The study found that the higher degree of stereotype threat a student felt, the lower their performance (based on first-semester GPA). Massey is writing a book on the results from this study, exploring basic differences between groups with respect to demography, socioeconomic status, child-rearing practices, neighborhood conditions, type of schools attended, school quality and peer environment. He said the study should provide a basis for estimating why these differences exist and quantifying the various pathways by which different groups prepare themselves for college. Among schools that sampled students attended were Howard University, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Columbia University, Penn State University, Princeton University, Williams College, Bryn Mawr College and Swarthmore College. Students related Massey's findings to recent discussions at Rice about minorities moving off campus. "I think his research does show that there is definitely a sociological basis or a demographic basis or real social reasons why we see differences in the way minorities are living here," Baker College senior John Lin said. "The fact that we do have minority flight testifies to the differences that he finds in his research. "I think his research can really provide some valuable insight to the college community, because a lot of people wonder, 'Why are we making a big deal out of this race thing? And can we just move past that?' But I think his research shows that there are still more significant issues that need to be dealt with," Lin said. Lovett College sophomore Mayra Cuello said it was interesting to see how Massey's findings proved that minority students have unique experiences when they come to college. "He's already showing that students that are in segregated schools have different lives and they witness very different events in their own neighborhoods, and that has an effect, I think, on how well they do in school," Cuello said. "With the whole diversity thing, most of the students that feel uncomfortable when they come to campus are students that lived in segregated areas. ... I think [the research is] going to show how important what neighborhood you come from is to how you do in college." Sociology Department Chair Chandler Davidson said the database put together from this research, the first to examine minority and majority student performance in this way, will probably be used by many future researchers. "What is really exciting about his research project is that he not only has quantitative data on essentially 4,000 students, broken down into different ethnic groups, but this is a longitudinal study where you follow these students from their freshman year through graduation and after," Davidson said. Masey's presentation, sponsored by the Sociology Department, was called "Pathways to College Preparation: Minority and Majority Experiences." About 60 students, faculty and staff attended the lecture in Sewall Hall, Room 301.
- back - |
|||
|
Search the Thresher pages:
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of: The Rice Thresher, Rice University MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu |
