"Not College Material: What it Means and What it Means to Today's Youth

“Not College Material”: What it Means and

What it Means to Today’s Youth

By: Michelle M. Jones


What does it mean when a student hears or feels that they are not “college material”? How does it really affect them in the long run and what can be done about this? A very high percentage of high school students have felt or have been told at some point that they are not “the type” to go to college or that they just aren’t good enough. A survey of fifty students was taken and reveals a shocking rate. The real concern is where are they getting this from and how can it be stopped before they decide that school, period, is not for them. This article looks at the shocking rates and some of the factors that may be causing this. It will also look at some realistic solutions to the problem.
First and foremost, what does it mean to a high school student or any student for that matter to feel as though they are not college material? It means that there is nothing for them to look forward to, which leads to a higher number of students dropping out of school, usually at the high school level, when with a little more encouragement they could have succeeded at , at least completing the 12th grade. Four out of five interviews with high school dropouts revealed that at some point during their schooling they felt or were lead to believe that they were not going to make it. This can be attributed to a number of different factors such as lack of support in the home, lack of encouragement from teachers and school officials, influences from peers, extenuating circumstances, and sometimes circumstances dealing with race and ethnicity. All of the factors can play a major role in the reasons students drop out of school.
Out of a survey of fifty students at two high schools in Vallejo, CA., 21 out of 50 students at some point, felt as though they were not college material. That’s 42% which is close to half of the students. This is an alarmingly high rate that can be based on a number of different reasons . What is even more alarming is that 30 of those 50 students considered dropping out of school. That’s 60%! This does not mean that they are all still considering dropping out of school at this point but at some point it crossed their minds. The students attributed this consideration to teachers, peers, and even family and/or culture. If teachers and administration adapted their policies and attitudes toward the students and their behavior and looked deeper into the situation of each individual student, surely this rate could drop substantially.

According to a research project conducted for the conference “Dropouts in America: How Severe is the Problem? What Do We Know About Intervention and Prevention” held at Harvard University on January 13, 2001 by Russell W. Romberger of UC Santa Barbara, “ Understanding why students drop out of school is the key to addressing this major educational problem. Yet, identifying the causes of dropping out is extremely difficult to do because like other forms of educational achievement (e.g., test scores), it is influence by an array of proximal and distal factors related to both the individual and to the family, school, and community settings in which the student lives”(page 4). This statement has proven to be true when looking at the responses of the 50 surveyed students that looked at those aspects. It can also be seen in the interviews that were conducted with the high school dropouts that pointed at the same reasons for making the decision to drop out.
Going back to the issue of the students feeling of not being “college material”, this is a major reason for students to drop out of school. It takes away from their hope for the future of going to college. The idea of going to college is associated with success and making money which makes the student feel unsuccessful and causes a severe lowering of self esteem. The study by Romberger also states, “... dropping out is not only simply a result of academic failure, but rather often results from both social and academic problems in school” (page 33). This is very true and was expressed by the respondents of the interviews. Romberger also says, “... these problems often appear early in the students school careers, suggesting the need for early intervention” (page 33). The dropouts interviewed expressed a fond memory of school in early years and a general love for learning, but somewhere in between elementary and high school things began to deteriorate. Speculation guesses that at this point is where the students began to feel as if they weren’t good enough. Lastly the Romberger study says, “ . . . these problems are influenced by a lack of support and resources in families, schools, and communities” (page 33). This once again has proven to be true time and time again.
A source online titled “Research on School Counseling Effectiveness” gives great reason as to why schools need to offer more and better counseling services to the students to prevent the idea of not being college material from ever entering their heads. Several of the points are that, “1) Reviews of research on school counseling have consistently found that services school counselors provide have a positive effect on children, 21) The School Dropout Assistance program (1991-1996) funded a number of projects to test and evaluate the effects of promising strategies for drop out prevention and reentry. The results found that counseling services were one of the key elements of any particular dropout prevention initiative, 22) Studies on high school attrition has indicated that preventive counseling, occurring before students are in crisis, reduced the risk of these students dropping out later” (page 1 and 4). These points show that with proper and adequate counseling there could be a major impact on the prevention of high school dropouts.
It is a known fact that not everyone is meant to go directly to a 4-year institution or any college for that matter, but it children were handled in such a way that assumed every child was on that path, their would be a serious change in the high school drop out rates. There needs to be a series of changes in the approaches’ schools and families take in assessing the needs of each individual child. This will ensure that no child feels as though they are not “college material” and subsequently lower the dropout rates.