| During the 1980-81 academic year there were twenty-two Native American students at Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges. Nineteen of whom elected to participate in this study. They represented approximately .0035% of the entire enrollment. With five seniors graduating during the Spring of 1981 and six new freshmen matriculating in the Fall of 1981, this figure will remain virtually unchanged. This analytic paper is an analysis of the impact of the college experience upon Native American students at Harvard and Radcliffe. Literature addressing the adaptation of Native Americans to higher education is generally lacking, therefore, this analytic paper is intended to not only meet that need in part, but also produce a body of knowledge upon which similar studies may be built.;Part One, outlines the research methodology in which a forty-six item questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data, while an interview schedule was utilized in recording data of a qualitative nature. Part Two, presents the self-reported responses to the survey questionnaire which fall under four areas: background information, academic information, social information, and extra-curricular activities. In Part Three, an overview of academic and social adaptation is discussed, including an account of its relevance to other academic settings. Part Four, examines specific academic issues that required adapting to, including faculty and the curriculum. Three adaptations strategies were identified which were employed in the academic context. Part Five, examines three specific social-related issues which included roommates, friends and Native American social issues that also required adapting to. Extra-curricular activities, organized and unorganized, were viewed as diversions from the routine of academic pursuit and also as a device to stimulate and enhance one's social life. Three strategies which aided in adaptation to social life were identified. Part Six, provides limited exposure to the concept of ambivalence which was detected as a result of this investigation. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of school.) UMI. |
