Who Gets To Graduate?

One Reply to “Who Gets To Graduate?”

1. Thank you David Laude for caring about students like Vanessa and doing something to help them persist and graduate. Like Vanessa, I had the grades and the desire to make something of myself, but I felt so isolated and lost during my undergraduate years because I was a minority. I was socially and culturally inept. I did not know whom to turn to for help with adjusting to life in college. Many of my classes had 100+ students. Truthfully, I only remember one teacher’s name and only because she made my life a living hell. She did not believe in my writing ability and kept telling me that I had a “long, long way to go.” (English is not my native language.) If I had not been too ashamed to return home and be labeled a failure, I would have dropped out. Had there been a David Laude, I think my undergraduate experience would have been more pleasant.

   Every college/universities in CA also needs a David Laude to help design programs that would boost persistence and graduation rates. According to Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), there will be gap between skilled workers with a BA degree or higher (35%) and the economic demand (41%) by 2025. If we are to thrive economically, we need to replicate successful models, such as those in University of Texas at Austin. I agree with Laude and Yeager that most students just want to belong and to feel that someone believes in their ability to succeed.