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DOCUMENTRESUMEJC 680 291ED 024 355By-Robinson, Richard B.Survey of Personal Attitudes About Cerritos College From Full-Time Day Students of MexicarrAmericanHeritage.Pub Date May 68Note- 13p.EDRS Price MF- 0.25 HC- 0.75.Descriptors-College Students, Community College% Counseling, Dropout Identification, Dropout Prevention.Dropouts, *Guidance Services, *Junior Colleges, Questionnaires, Remedial Instruction, *Social Discrimination,*Student Attitudes, *Student College Relationship, Student Needs, Student Opinion, Student TeacherRelationship, SurveysIdentifiers- *California, NorwalkOf the 53 Mexican-American full-time students at Cerritos College (Calif.) whocompleted questionnaires designed to determine their attitudes toward the institutionand to detect possible reasons for their fellow Mexican-Americans' disinterest inattending college or dropping out ofthe institution,907 reported that theythemselves had not experienced any discrimination by the students or staff, 807 saidthat they felt socially accepted and 507 indicated that the staff did not understandtheir problems. Major reasons cited by the respondents for the failure of otherMexican-Americans to attend college or to remain at Cerritos included (1) economic(4) languagereasons, (2) problems with teachers, (3) academic problems, andemploymentandproblems. It was recommended that the college provide part-timestudent loans for Mexican-Americans, that the programming of classes be improved,that regular counseling sessions be established to combat the dropout problem, andthat special language arts classes be created for remedial work in English. (DG)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFAREOFFICE OF EDUCATION;THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THEPF4S0 OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS;k""NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAA POLICY.rYSURVEY OF PERSONAL ATTITUDES ABOUT CERRITOS COLLEGEFROM FULL-TIME DAY STUDENTS OF MEXICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGEbyRichard B. RobinsonforPROFESSOR TERRY GIBBS,EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION DEPARTMENT AND STUDENTS ENROLLED IN"EDUCATION FOR THE CULTURALLY DEPRIVED STUDENT",CALIFORNIA STATE COLLEGELONG BEACHandCERRITO'S COMMUNITY COLLEGENORWALK, CALIFORNIAMay, 1968

Little attention has been directed toward the needs of the pooryoungster living in Mexican-American communities, and it should comeas no surprise to anybody that these children of low-income familiesgenerally do.not.do as well in school as children irom more affluentones.Studies have already shown that high percentages of theseyoungsters drop out of public school as soon as the law does notrequire compulsory attendance.A very small percentage of theMekican-American youths ever enroll in College, let along finish.Many people tend to put the blame for the condition on a"languageproblem".Others say that the attitudes of the community-home culture are responsible for the problem.Some experts may saythat it is a lack of understanding by the school teachers and theadministrators, while others say the condition is caused.by racial'discrimination, and a feeling of inferiority by the Mexican-Americanyout.h,

page 2PURPOSE OF STUDYThe primary purpose of this study is to determine what theattitudes of the Mexican-American student is toward Cerritos College.The secondary purpose of the study will hopefully give some.conclu-sive information as to what the Mexican-American student of CerritosCollege thinks are the reasons for his peer friends dropping out ofcollege and/or not being motivated into going to college after highschool graduation.It may be generally assumed that even thoughthe Mexican-American community population of the Cerritos CollegeDistrict may.be as high as fifty thousand, as feq as 150 - 200 ofthese people attend the tuition-free Cerritos College on a fulltime basis.It should be noted though that perhaps a small numbermay be enrolled in a private educational institution, one of theState Colleges or University of California campuses,.or a privatevocational or technical school.

.Oage 3PROCEDURE.it was determined that the Office of Student Affairs at CerritosCollege would select through random sampling forty female and fortymale full-time students who had a Spanish surname.Out of thisnumber it was hoped that there would be at least twenty7five femaleand twenty-five male students who would be of Mexican-Americanethnic background and would partiCipate in the study by responding.A letter.explaining the purpose and nature of the study wassent to each student's home via U. S. Mail along with the question-naire and a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return mailing.After three weeks twenty-elght male and twenty-five female questionnaires were completed. (For a copy of this letter and thequestionnaire, please see appendix).A total of fifty-three returned questionnaire surveys werethen used for compilation of the data received.The respondentremained anonymous to *the institution, unless however, he chose tolet us know in some manner what his identity was:44' It was assUmedthat if the respondent could remain anonymous, we could get good,honest answers.We believe that.the following results are signifi-cantly candid responses.

page 4RESULTS.0The surveyed group included an almost even number of males andfemales.There was found to be no significant difference in theresponies of males and females, so no separation of the data wasmade.The first section of the questionnaire survey that dealt with"yes" or "no" responses to discrimination and/or acceptance by thecollege comMunity provided the following results:I.To question number one;."any incidents in which you felt.you were being discriminated against by other students",forty-eight, (approximately 90%), students said "no" andfive answered "yes".2.There was'no significant change for question number two,any discrimination by college staff", when forty-nineanswered "no" and only four students said "yes" todiscrimination.3.In questioh number three there was some change, howevernot significant.The majority of respondents said that theyare accepted socially by the other students.Only tenstudents,(approximately 20%), said that they didn't feelsocially accepted.

page 54.Question number four, "does College staff understand theproblems of Mexican-American students", showed that therespondents were fairly evenly divided.There were twenty-two students who said that the staff understood theirproblems whereas twenty-six indicated that staff didn'tunderstand their problems.Five students reported theycouldn't honestly answer the question.in.question number five that asked students to rate or ranktheir attitudes about reasons for "dropping out" and/or"not going to college", the reasons that were given by morethan fifty per cent of the students as foremost andserious were:A.Economic reasons; not enough money for books, clothes,Aransportation, living expenses, etc.,F. Problems with teachers and academic curriculum,G.Communicative, language problems and/or accent.The other reasons that received some concerned studentattitude responses from the majority who respondedwere:C.Military enlistment,D.College not important to,parent,E."Feel inferior",J.Rather go out and "earn a living"

page 6The remaining four reasons listed in question number fivewere not rated as important by the majority of student's.'These were reasons B, H,I, and K.(Note table on page 7'for tallied responses).6.Question number six received practically no, action.Mostof the fifty-three respondents either left the questionblank or wrote the word "none".One male student saidthat the Selective Service Boards discriminate againstMexican-Americans by changing their status from "2-S"to "1.-A"" even though they are making the grades and units.Another male student wrote two pages on why Cerritosshould have a better new student orientation program.The rest of the written responses to number six wereshort statements that in effect said there waS nodiscrimination and generally were complimentary tothe institution.

page 7CERRITOS COLLEGE MEXICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTATTITUDE RESPONSES ON WHY FRIENDS OF MEXICANAMERICAN ETHNIC BACKGROUND DROP OUT OF COLLEGETable IOR DO NOT, GO TO COLLEGE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL.GRADUATIONVeryIm.ortantREASONS OR.CAUSESA.B.C.Economic reasons,'notenough money for clothes,living expenses, etc.No need for moreeducationOf NoImportance.Military enlistmentTallied Res onsesOf 02117,.Parents do not feel goingto college is important492217E."Feel inferior"4142410F.Problems with teachersand academic.curriculumD.,G.B.4.41214201417145Can't get into socialclubs and ve-Languageproblems.I.J.K.f,Rather go out and "earna living"Mexican-AmericanCommunity belittles'going to college.1.2.1533

,SSZCar,Z71,17:page 8.SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONSThe overwhelming majority (90%) of students from.MexicanAmerican ethnic,backgrounds attending Cerritos College say thatthey are not aware nOr have they encountered discrimination fromother students or members of the teaching and administrativestaff.during their enrollment.Eighty per cent, or a.significantly sizeable number of theseminority students attending Cerritos College say that they arealso accepted socially into clubs, organizationi, and all extracurricular activities.Slightly more than fifty per cent of the students who wereinvolved in the study.said however, that they felt the teachingand administrative staff does not understand the problems of theMexican-American student.Over f.ifty per cent of the students who responded to thequestionnaire felt that the major. reasons Mexican-Americanyoungsters do not attend college is because of financial reasons,problems with teachers and curriculum,.and communication-languagedifficulties.Over fifty per cent of the surveyed students indicatesome concern about going to college because of the following reasons:parents who don't feel going to college is important, military enlist-ment, attitude of "feeling inferior" to other students, and the desireto "get out and earn a living".

Page 9Recomrdendations for the institution would be to find ways ofpart-time jobretenti.on for the Mexitan-American by providingopportunities and student loans.Careful programming and regulardrop-out rate bycounseling sessions perhaps could lower thegetting the student help before it is too late.For the studentlanguage skills, specialwho enters the institution with poorlanguage art classes could be provided to attempt remediationfor his language problemS.Some of the problems Which seem to prever, Aexican-Americangoing to have to be resolvedstudents from attending college areschool, home, andin the more forMative years of life, in thethe community-at-large.study do not implyThe conclusions and/or results of thisof California or for.that.similarprojects in other communitiesUnited States would producethat matter the western part of thethe same results.The Cerritos College District is stillbasically suburban and the attitudes of the Mexican-Americanradically fromyouth living in this area could change very.attending a two-yearthe attitudes of-those Mexican-AmericansSap Jose, or El Centro.Community College in East Los Angeles,

page 10might best beOur overall positive conclusion from this study.summed up by what one anonymous freshman female student wrote onthe back side of her questionnaire:"I feel that Cerritos is an excellent schooland that students that attend Cerritos are there.because they want to be there in order to obtainpersonally do not feel I'ma higher education.discriminated against. Usually those that do,already haVe an inferiority complex before reaching'Ithe college level."

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