Overlooked Factors Contributing to Inequity in Classes

Knowing more about your students can go a long way in your effort to make a more inclusive environment.  There are apparent areas that we can help, such as considering students physical disabilities, e.g., visual impairments.  However, there are other factors that are often overlooked that may be a less obvious, but equally as deserving of attention in creating inclusive learning environments.
The following are a few factors that contribute to inequity in the classroom:

• Family crisis: It is difficult to devote the attention or be able to work around inflexible schedules when a student must simultaneously address issues, such as a sick child or terminally parent.
• Mental Health Issues: Anxiety or depression are just a few unseen issues that some student must overcome in addition to classwork.  Likewise some content may even make students very uncomfortable, such as those dealing with PTSD.  In 2016, 39% of students polled reported struggling with at least one mental illness. Mental illness is not always visible, the National College Health Association attributes it as one of the leading causes in inhibiting student success.
• Lack of healthcare: In 2013 studies show that one in four students ages 18-29 do not have health insurance.  This one more level of stress that can compound financial issues if the student has a health condition that requires help.
• Hunger: In a recent survey of community college students in 2017, 20% were going hungry. What is crazy is that to get food stamps, you need to work 20 hours a week and this makes full time students have to work 20 hours just to get food. Often they do not get enough and the physical effects of hunger impairs the students as well. Over 3 million students in 2016 were potentially eligible for SNAP benefits and less than half participated. Meanwhile, the US Government Accountability office estimates that more than 1 in 3 students are considered ‘food insecure’.
• Homelessness: In the past year about one in ten of your students have experienced homelessness.  As hard as that is to believe, between 9-14% of students experienced homelessness depending on what type of school they attended.  Moreover, between 36-46% housing insecure.  Obviously, the stress of not having a home has devastating effects on student success.
• English as a Second Language:  23% of immigrants with a college degree from abroad are underemployed or unemployed and see going back to school as way to help.  These students need flexibility to accommodate possible strict working schedules as well as differing needs in learning from those without college experience. They may also find our education norms, communication habits, and participation structure to be quite different from their educational experiences.  You should consider this when you let them know they, ‘can nuke a hot pocket in the food pantry”.

These are often stealthy, yet sinister factors that impede many students.  When developing your educational environments, try to remember to consider ways to accommodate or ameliorate these to help students who need it most.  While we may not be able to fix all problems, creating a more inclusive environment can help, one student at a time.

References

American College Health Association. (2017) American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment II: Reference Group Executive Summary Fall 2017. Hanover, MD

Atchison, B., Diffey, L., Rafa, A., and Sarubbi, M. Equity in Education: Key Questions to Consider. Education Commission of the States, June, 2017, pp. 1-6.

Auerbach R. et al (2018) WHO World Mental Health Surveys International College Student Project: Prevalence and Distribution of Mental Disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 127(7) pp. 623-638.

Batalova, J., Fix, M., & Creticos, P. A. (2008). Uneven progress: The employment pathways of skilled immigrants in the United States. Washington, DC: National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, Migration Policy Institute

Batalova, J., McHugh, M., & Morawski, M. (2014). Brain waste in the U.S. workforce: Select labor force characteristics of college-educated native-born and foreign-born adults. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.

Bergey, R., Movit, M., Baird, A. S. & A. Faria (2018) Serving English Language Learners in Higher Education: Unlocking the Potential. American Institutes for Research.

Hess, A (2018) New study finds that 36% of college students don't have enough to eat. CNBC. Apr 6, 2018. Retrieved Oct , 25 2019.

Johnson, A (2014) Millennials are confident about financial health but are underinsured. Insurancequotes.com. Retrieved: Oct 23, 2019.

Markle, G. (2015). Factors Influencing persistence among nontraditional university students. Adult Education Quarterly, 65(3), 267-285.

Mosisa, A. (2013). Foreign-born workers in the U.S. labor force. Washington, DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Pedrelli, P., Nyer, M, Yeung, A., Zulauf, C. & T. Wilens (2014) College Students: Mental Health Problems and Treatment Considerations. Academic Psychiatry. 39(5) pp. 503-511.