First-Generation College Graduates and the Discourses Needed for Academic Success

• In Event: Roundtable Session 46
  In Roundtable Session: Cultural Dynamics of Social Class Inequality

Abstract

Scholars have shown that students whose parents did not attend college are less likely to attend college and find school success compared with children who have a parent who attended college.
This study is an inquiry into the habits, attitudes, supports, and social milieus that allowed 40 people--who have achieved graduate degrees while neither of their parents attended college--to achieve academic success. How do these individuals explain their academic success? What obstacles did they face? What support systems were in place? And what might educators and parents learn from these individuals?

Authors

• Mari Plikuhn, University of Evansville

• Matthew Knoester, University of Evansville