With the privatization of public universities today, the price of a college education is at an all-time high. This being said, students cannot afford to waste time and money taking courses that cannot be put towards their major requirements. Undecided students are at a loss when they are still in the process of choosing a major because they may be taking classes that will not translate to their intended major. This means that they may have to spend extra semesters making up for the lost time, which is an additional cost to the student. This problem lead to the development of my research questions: What are the underlying causes that push a student into being undecided? and Can being undecided in college impact the way that a student transitions into adulthood?
My thesis is that the "undecided" pathway is essentially only an option for extremely affluent students. Some factors that contribute to a student being undecided are anxiety, career undecidedness, and lack of parental involvement. The majority of students who lack career decidedness and parental involvement are minority or first-generation college students whose parents cannot provide them with personal experience, or active involvement in their education. This results in these minority and first-generation students, who are most likely not affluent, to have to spend extra time, money and credits to decide on their intended major. For these students, this is barely an option that they can afford given the student debt that they will be in post-graduation. When these students return home after graduation, they often experience "delayed adulthood," which is defined as college graduates who only partially transition into adult roles after graduation, due to lack of jobs available, college debt, and a cloud of uncertainty, it is nearly impossible for these undecided students to transition into independent adult roles post-graduation.
"The Benefits of Being Undecided" : Counter Argument
The opposing side of the debate argues for what Rebekah Nathan calls "liminality," which argues that students should use their first year as a transformative period in which they can be undecided before they are confined to a specific major with specific requirements. They argue that during this time, a student can take different courses to help them narrow their interests and hopefully, find a major that suits themselves. Another argument is that students can also take advantage of on-campus career services. These views actually have helped me strengthen my argument because I was able to come up with a strong counter-argument for each argument they stated. For example, one argument is that once students are on campus, they are more likely to take advantage of on-campus advisors and counseling. I was able to counter this argument by presenting the fact that many students don't know where these services are located, and many are hesitant to go in general. In the article, "Research Confirms an Urgent Need to Improve How Students Are Supported When Choosing College Majors," they state the following : "More than 80 percent of graduates said work-based sources were helpful, well above the ratings assigned to even college or high school counselors. However, only about 20 percent of respondents said they got advice from such sources" (Hansen & Taylor). Most students do not have the information or resources necessary to help them make a proper decision, especially first-generation and minority students. In my research I found that the choice to pursue an undecided major often is a choice that less affluent students tend to make because they lack the resources and assistance to make a decision. However, they do not realize that this decision is really only a decision that affluent students can afford to make because of the high cost of a college degree which includes: time, money, and credits.
"The Benefits of Being Undecided" : Counter Argument
The opposing side of the debate argues for what Rebekah Nathan calls "liminality," which argues that students should use their first year as a transformative period in which they can be undecided before they are confined to a specific major with specific requirements. They argue that during this time, a student can take different courses to help them narrow their interests and hopefully, find a major that suits themselves. Another argument is that students can also take advantage of on-campus career services. These views actually have helped me strengthen my argument because I was able to come up with a strong counter-argument for each argument they stated. For example, one argument is that once students are on campus, they are more likely to take advantage of on-campus advisors and counseling. I was able to counter this argument by presenting the fact that many students don't know where these services are located, and many are hesitant to go in general. In the article, "Research Confirms an Urgent Need to Improve How Students Are Supported When Choosing College Majors," they state the following : "More than 80 percent of graduates said work-based sources were helpful, well above the ratings assigned to even college or high school counselors. However, only about 20 percent of respondents said they got advice from such sources" (Hansen & Taylor). Most students do not have the information or resources necessary to help them make a proper decision, especially first-generation and minority students. In my research I found that the choice to pursue an undecided major often is a choice that less affluent students tend to make because they lack the resources and assistance to make a decision. However, they do not realize that this decision is really only a decision that affluent students can afford to make because of the high cost of a college degree which includes: time, money, and credits.
Comments
Post a Comment