Views from the Summit: White Working Class Appalachian Males and Their Perceptions of Academic Success

This research study explored how White working class Appalachian males who have completed, or who were within one term of completing a program of study at one of ten community and technical colleges in West Virginia perceived academic success. It examined their definitions of academic success, the perceptions they held regarding their own past and present academic successes, as well as their views regarding factors from their lived experience that they felt contributed to their program of study completion. Using qualitative methodology, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with eight participants. It was designed to reflect the tenets of Appreciative Inquiry.;While reflecting the changes within White working class identity formation in response to the deindustrialization of the economy, the findings of this study present two contradictions with the research literature. The first is that these men were found to define academic success from a working class perspective. This demonstrated their adherence to working class cultural capital while successfully completing a postsecondary program of study. This implies they did not need to abandon their working class cultural capital in lieu of new cultural capital in order to be successful at the college level. Furthermore, the factors from their lived experience that participants named as contributing to their program of study completion were factors that have previously been identified in research literature as factors that commonly present as barriers to postsecondary success for working class students. However, the participants in this study indicated these factors presented as positive influences that assisted in facilitating their academic success. Additionally, the perceptions of past and present academic success held by participants were noted as those that 1) reflect the development of/presence of positive psychological capital within these individuals and 2) demonstrate the educational experiences of these men represent the working class identity in transition.