This discussion requires the identification of an article that provides a real-world example of a practitioner's impact on societal change. I have read several research papers on this topic and chosen the best one.
The article: "A scholar-practice perspective to promoting minority success in STEM."
Business field/industry or sector: Higher Education.
The business problem/issue the author identified: The problem of minority success in STEM in undergraduate education and beyond.
Background:
According to the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), as of 2011, racial minorities in the United States held only 12.5% of engineering degrees (Frehill, 2011); according to the research, this small percentage has caused concern to professionals in higher education, due to the significant disparity between minority and white students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and related professions (Hurtado et al., 2010).
The scholar-practitioner approach:
Many efforts have been directed to raise the percentage of minority students in these disciplines by identifying the basis of the problem, the obstacles that led to this problem, and the alternatives and solutions (Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).
The basis of the problem:
The paper considered that studying engineering, science, and mathematics requires a certain level of financial well-being to complete this study, the student will bear more extraordinary expenses, in addition to accessing a different society that has monopolized this study for a long time, which is the white community, whether from colleagues in the research or even university professors (Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).and this basis for the problem will be explained by obstacles.
The obstacles:
- Financial burden: the purchase of laboratory materials and technological devices, participation in the financing of research and design projects, and tuition fees that are considered higher than others(Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).
- Implicit bias: The traditional culture of white students and professors makes students of color feel pressured by these stereotypes and not complete their studies(Quaye et al., 2015).
- Scarcity of Colored Professors: The research indicates that few professors of color in engineering, science, and mathematics, and students of color feel alienated while studying (Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).
- Unpreparedness: Students of color must enroll in pre-college training and summer bridge programs(Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).
- Financial Support: Helping students obtain scholarships from federal and local funding, as the paper considers these areas critical to the workforce(Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).
- Dedicated Programs: Fund and create programs dedicated to this goal, such as the (Meyerhoff) Program and the Minority Engineering Program (MEP), to Support Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).
- Pre-college preparation: setting up customized programs to train minority students before university (Hurtado et al., 2011).
- Student retention programs: by providing guidance and building confidence if students encounter problems or obstacles applying or during their studies (Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).
- Recruiting professors of color: The paper argues that the lack of colored faculty increases the challenge of acquiring mentorship for minority students( Zirkel and Cantor, 2004).
- Abandoning the stereotypical view: The paper says that the university professor is worried about the presence of minorities, as they leave quickly because of their inability to keep up with the financial costs of studying, which is reflected in the form of a real lack of interest from the professor to the student, which leads to leaving the study, even if the student can bear the expenses (Covington, Chavis & Perry, 2017).
- Academic Research Teams: Forming research teams of colored and non-colored students and research activities related to their academic courses (Tinto, 1993).
- Tracking and Motivation: Strengthening the interaction between faculty and students by working to monitor the progress of students of color, removing psychological barriers to them, and working to increase their self-confidence to influence and improve their communities (Tsui, 2007).
The paper proposes a set of solutions and alternatives classified according to the party responsible for them:
First: Government Role:
Second: University role:
Third: The role of university professors:
Agreement or disagreement with author(s)’ findings:
In fact, I was amazed by the results and statistics of this paper and the research related to it; since I obtained a Bachelor's degree in architecture in Egypt, we do not have this problem because Egypt is a colorful society with all colors from the intensity of the whiteness and redness of the skin in some areas of the north to the dark black color in some areas In the south, wealth or poverty is not associated with color in Egypt or the stereotypical view that was prevalent in the West. Still, if the problem was this way in the United States, the paper presented an ideal shape for the scholar-practitioner approach to societal change.
Conclusion
the scholar-practitioner approach is well suited to addressing issues of societal change, as it stands based on the problem, refutes the obstacles that led to it, and then proposes solutions based on adequate analyses drawn from previous studies, which results in highly efficient and robust solutions when implemented by the practitioners.
References
Covington, M., Chavis, T., & Perry, A. (2017). A scholar-practitioner perspective to promoting minority success in STEM. Journal for Multicultural Education.
Frehill, L.M. (2011), "African Americans in engineering", NACME Research & Policy Brief, Vol. 1 No. 4, pp. 1-2.
Hurtado, S., Newman, C.B., Tran, M.C. and Chang, M.J. (2010), "Improving the rate of success for underrepresented racial minorities in STEM fields: insights from a national project," New Directions for Institutional Research, Vol. 2010 No. 148, pp. 5-15.
Hurtado, S., Eagan, M.K., Tran, M.C., Newman, C.B., Chang, M.J. and Velasco, P. (2011), "We do science here: underrepresented students' interactions with faculty in different college contexts," The Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 67 No. 3, pp. 553-579.
Quaye, S.J., Griffin, K.A. and Museus, S.D. (2015), "Engaging students of color," in Quaye, S. and Harper, S. (Eds), Student Engagement in Higher Education: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Approaches for Diverse Populations, Routledge, New York, NY, pp. 17-35.
Tinto, V. (1993), Leaving College: Rethinking The Causes and Cures of Student Attrition, 2nd ed., University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Tsui, L. (2007), "Effective strategies to increase diversity in STEM fields: a review of the research literature," The Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 76 No. 4, pp. 555-581.
Zirkel, S. and Cantor, N. (2004), "50 years after Brown v. Board of Education: the promise and challenge of multicultural education", Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 60 No. 1, pp. 1-15.