Vincent Tinto And Student Retention

Vincent Tinto is currently a Distinguished University professor at the Syracuse University a position he has held since June 1998. Prior to that, he was a Professor of Education from June 1985 to June 1998 and an Associate Professor of Education since September 1975 to June 1985 at the similar university. In the period September 1971 to June 1975 he was an Assistant Professor of Education in The Columbia University New York. He is overly currently the chair of the Higher Education Program a position he has held since 1999. His academic background is likewise precise impressive.He did his undergraduate studies in Fordham, The Jesuit University of New York in 1963 where he graduated with a live of science in Physics and Philosophy. He went on to Rensselear Polytechnic launch to pursue his masters degree in Physics and Mathematics in 1965. He holds a Ph. D. in Education and Sociology which he got from the University of Chicago in 1971. It is noned that while he was pursuing hi s doctorate he dropped break of school to join the Peace Corps and this may be angiotensin-converting enzyme of the reasons why his researches major on school-age child attrition and the ways to have got them in school.In this paper, the discussion hail out revolve around the arguments that he presents in the course of his numerous researches and in his body of passs. The professor is of the offerdidate that to retain scholars in school each(prenominal) that the schools have to do is digest quality education. He tries to explain the reasons why students dropout of school especi aloney subsequently the first social assort of college (Tinto V. 1975). He alike tries to provide the solutions that may convey in retaining the students in the school especially through the provision of fracture and quality education to the students.This is d whiz with the assumption that students want to be in school scarcely other factors end up pushing them away. flavor at the way h e approaches the issue, one notices that he lays most of the plunk on the ability. In his opinion, students would rather be in school except the readiness and education systems fail to equalise the expectation of the students and indeed their inability to continue beingness in school. They end up not swear an education system that does not seem to meet the standards they expect an substructure of highschooler determineing ought to possess.The reception they stool at the school also determines a lot if they go away make it to the end of their course or they get out drop out midway. According to Professor Tinto, thither be three main factors that determine whether or not a student will complete their college education and these be academic preparation, commitment and pastime (Seidman A. & Tinto V. 2005). Although in that respect are other factors, these are the ones identified as being most common among most of the racing shells.It has become of paramount import ance for the schools to be equal to(p) to retain their students because the graduation rate has become one of the factors determine the rating of a college. In order for a school to cost increase its position or maintain the one it is currently holding if it is a good position, a way has to be found to retain the students who are at risk of withdrawing from school. Professor Tinto among others have been conducting researches to determine what makes student cash in ones chips school while others faced with corresponding problems persist. He conducts interviews using hazardous students who have succeeded in college as his subjects.He focuses mainly on those who are in the two and the four year courses and are under prompt and underrepresented in terms of college education. He tries to find out from them which factors en equald them to persist when others failed. As stated before, commitment, preparation and occasion are the key factors determining whether one will remain in sch ool or one will quit midway. In an article he wrote with Cathy Engstrom Access Without Support is not Opportunity (http//www. variety showmag. org), they give the example of Donald who dropped out of college after transferring to a unlike school.He is an example of students who drop out due to being baffle by the college. He starts off college in a school where the instructors are concerned with the students welfare and the environment is challenging. except, due to familial problems Donald is forced to move around to another college which he feels lacks in quality when compared to the previous school. Professor Tinto notes that, although in Donalds he later went back to school, not all dropouts go back to finish their education. It has been recorded that majority of high-risk students especially those who are low-income do not complete their college education.In the case of the four year degree courses, only about 26 percent of low-income students finish in a period of six yea rs when compared to the 56 percent of high-income students who succeed the same (http//www. changemag. org). The reason given for this is that they are academically under nimble especially because they do not have access to academic resources in a manner similar to that of the high-income students. This leads to feelings of inadequacy and dish outlessness among the low-income students often essenceing in their falling out of school.They tend to view the time spent in school as a waste of their time which could be apply to generate income by working. This decision is made because they rotternot foresee ever getting the same grades as the high-income students since they are not on the same level. This heart and soul that their lack of preparation leads to their lack of commitment to the education that they are receiving. inadequacy of commitment then obviously leads to very high rates of dropping out of college. To deal with this problem, the faculty has to get involved sinc e as professor Tinto sees it they are the main perpetrators of the problem.In Donalds case, although he had not been puff up prepared for college, in his first school the teachers were concerned with his welfare and hence he was able to feel welcome in that school and able to concentrate on his studies. This corresponds to the idea that student-faculty out of class foregather is very chief(prenominal) to a students academic growth (Tinto V. 1993). When a student feels relinquish to approach a teacher out of class, even if he or she was not well prepared when enrolling in the college, there is a high possibility that the student will succeed.The reason given for this is that the student will be able to ask for assistance and guidance from the teachers. This assistance may be academic or own(prenominal) for example in choosing a career one may be able to get the better guidance from the teachers who know which are the students strong and light-colored points. A student may also be suffering from personal problems that affect his or her academic work and by opening up to a teacher may be able to get the special(a) help required for excellence in the academic field.A teacher may also be able to assist a student with required material for the class or direct the student where to get the material if they do not have it or are unable(p) to afford (Tinto V. 1975). From his research, Professor Tinto has found out that most of the students who succeed in college yet were in danger of dropping out attributed their achievement to fulfil with a faculty or staff member although this was rare (Tinto V. 1975). This contact with soulfulness affiliated to the school helped the students get into the rhythm of college life and gave them someone to approach whenever they had problems in the school.They also got a point of reference when picture their goals of what they would like to achieve since they now had real life models to emulate and learn from. The student-fac ulty out of class relationship is very important as it leads to unhomogeneous positive gains by the student olibanum ensuring their retention in school. The student involved in this sort of interaction feels more than satisfied with the faculty and the college as he or she feels welcome in the school. They develop two personally and intellectually while gaining the ability to think critically by being constantly in the presence of someone with experience in the field.The perception that the student has of the quality of the college improves consequently leading to their improved performance and in class while raising their educational aspirations. The general result of all this is the persistence of the student to graduate since they have dreams to achieve (Tinto V. 1975). completely the above is possible because the student has become committed to the education that he or she is receiving which is one of the key factors that the professor talks about.The student feels that th ere is a responsibility to attain the best grade possible because there are people helping him or her and it would be wrong to let them down. Furthermore, they have their appetites for education and also betterment of their futures through the same whetted and they also feel proud of having done the best that they could. There is also a sense of not wanting to be the one who let the entire school down through bad performance and dropping out. The trio key factor that the professor talks about is the importance of the involvement of the student in the school society/community.He has come up with the idea of Learning Communities which involves the participation of both the faculty and the students. These communities work in creating a sense of community in the school that helps the students feel that they run in a society that welcomes them. These communities are not for students only but faculty members can also form their own communities that aid them in providing the best possibl e education to the students while making learning easier and more enjoyable for both parties (Tinto V. & Engstrom C. 2002).Learning Communities are described as teams that meet on a regular basis a number of multiplication in a week. These teams have an agenda to improve their work for the collective betterment of the school. The members also want to improve themselves daily by gentle in discussions within the group that aid in the attainment of the schools goals and also their individual goals. This is done independent from the classroom experience which also takes place. However the classroom influences the teams because members of the same group have top have similar interests which are determined by what is done in class.In the case of students, those pursuing similar courses tend to be members of the same group because they can discuss the same things in the group and also have the same goals. The students will meet several times a week at a time convenient for all the group members other than class time. Their discussions will revolve around the class work and the problems each encounters when attempting the same. In case there is a major problem common to all the members they have the opportunity to get in touch with a teacher and discuss the problem and get the necessary assistance (Seidman A. & Tinto V. 2005).When it comes to the faculty members, they may decide to meet weekly or twice a calendar month to discuss ways in which they can improve service actors line to aid the students in their education. They also offer their criticism concerning the students and try and work out which ways would be best to improve the students performance. They also dole out the common problems that they encounter when performing their duties and discuss the ways in which they can make their work easier and the best ways they can deal with the problems. It is important for both students and faculty members to be involved for the Learning Communities to work.The stu dents have to be able to count on the teachers support when hailing their issues and know that the teacher will respond to their queries. The teachers have to be lendable for consultations with the students. The students must be able to find time outside class when they can meet and address their problems and discuss class work. This is when this theory meets a hurdle in its carrying out because time is a rare factor in college. It is almost unthinkable to find the people all having some free time at the same time and if the students manage it the teachers may not be available at that particular time.In conclusion, one has to give Professor Tinto realization for the work that he has done in trying to come up with ways to deal with the problems that students encounter in their college life. He has dedicated a lot of his time to researching on how to make learning easier and pleasurable to students so as to avoid their dropping out of school. He focuses on the failure of the fac ulty to provide a good learning environment thus causing the students to feel that the education they are getting is not worthwhile. He shows the different ways that this can be remedied to ensure that students remain in school and get good education.From his interviews, he arrives at the conclusion that for a better learning environment to be attained the students and the faculty has to change their attitude towards learning by making the learning institutions more accept to students. This is done by improving the out of class faculty-student relationships which aids the students get attuned to college life. It can also be done by forming learning communities which help both the students and teachers improve the education in the school and consequently the overall grade of the school.However, as much as his arguments as very well-grounded and his solutions reasonable there are problems that are encountered in executing them. The students and faculty members claim not to have the time to be involved in the learning communities and in the student-faculty out of class meetings. However if they were to be implemented, they would be able to work beautifully. It is however important to note that not all students will be retained since some dropout of school for other reasons different from the ones discussed by the professor but the ones discussed can be greatly reduces if the measures were to be implemented.