Apprehension to Engagement in the Classroom: Perceptions of Black Males in the Community College

• In Event: Pushing Black Males Through the Pipeline: Research to Practice

Abstract

This manuscript reports on interviews conducted with 28 Black male students at a southwestern community college. The purpose of this study was to discuss how participants discussed academic disengagement as a factor impeding their academic success. Students described disengagement as an apprehension to fully engage as active agents in their own academic development through necessary interactions, particularly with faculty. Many students noted that academic disengagement was a result of their desire to avoid being perceived as academically inadequate. Implications for practice are presented which center academic disengagement as an institutional failure and dilemma as opposed to a student issue.

Author

• J. Luke Wood, San Diego State University