The focus of this inquiry is on the forces that influence and underpin persistence to college degree completion as revealed through the experiences of sixteen African American male graduates of four year traditionally white colleges and universities. This descriptive, exploratory inquiry utilized a multi-method, in-depth, qualitative approach. Because the persistence perspective invites difficult methodological choices, this inquiry met this challenge with a perspective that mirrors persistence itself. An effort was made to gain a new perspective concerning degree completion from the narratives of the experiences of African American male college graduates. The inquiry looked to their life experiences in order to identify shared factors which influenced their success. Therefore, the choices made by this study were guided by the question: what are the basic, but essential requirements for African American male students to persist in completing a four-year college degree program on traditionally white campuses? The data revealed the complexity of the persistence perspective with special emphasis on factors that influenced successful degree completion. Early positive experiences in the family and the community, positive self-identity, self reliance, early recognition of discouragement and harm, techniques for managing potential harm and discouragement, and building a support network were identified as factors that influenced persistence in college degree completion. Recommendations for further research and practice are offered to contribute to understanding the persistence perspective, and fertile areas for improving the persistence rates of African American males attending traditionally white colleges and universities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-1541 |
| Date | 01 January 1997 |
| Creators | White, Robert W |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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