REVISIÓN DOCUMENTAL DE LA EMPRESA ECSI S.A.S

The second theme that came from research question one was fighting forces. Fighting forces describes the push and pull of balancing contradictory values related to structure and challenges they have to push through. Fighting forces was formed out of these two subthemes: Conforming and feeling forced which had everything to do with being first-generation which are summarized in Table 5. Students had trouble being pinned down and were “not a huge fan of rigid order.” Moreover, students did not like the idea of attending class every day.

Table 5. Theme 2: Fighting Forces Subthemes:

Conforming Feeling Forced

Many expressed the need for more leisure time, time off, and free from constraints being forced on them. This theme was named fighting forces because it was found to stem directly from the first-generation background where students experienced conflict related to their expectations of

how things should be and how things actually are. Repelling forces of structural rules, hard work, and accountability that caused stress and influenced how students viewed the community

college. The fighting forces theme subthemes are show in Table 5.1 and discussed in detail below.

Table 5.1. Fighting Forces Subthemes

Subtheme Example Quote Quantity

Conforming I need to be free to decide what I want to decide. 10

Feeling Forced My parents never forced me. 11

Conforming. FGS have been notorious for low attendance rates not showing up for class

on many occasions. Words from these participants show a struggle with the college student role which requires class attendance, being focused and organized, and doing the hard work it takes to be successful. Most put leisure time in a high priority category and most viewed college as burden without it. For example, Carl came right out and said that “I'm trying to struggle with adding some order to my life without making it terrible for me so it becomes more of a burden.” Carl said he is too “spontaneous” and “not a huge fan of rigid order and stuff. Monotony doesn't work well with me. It makes me easily bored and distracted.” Carl was also known to oversleep for his 8:00 class as heard in his conflicting feelings about that:

Sometimes, my Calc 3 and Differential Equations class were in the evening and I would go to take a nap and oversleep. When I was tired, I'll just oversleep. I don't know why this happened, but I always used to wake up at 8pm when the class ends. I'm like what's the use? Yeah, I'll just wake up and I'm like, oh my god, why didn't I hear the alarm? Whatever caused me to not wake up? And I'll just look and it's like eight [o’clock], and

suddenly all that rush just goes away and I just feel the disappointment.

Other students struggled with a fast pace work load. Deb made a point to mention how her summer was going to be spent: “16 weeks crammed into 8 weeks. I’m nervous about that. It will be a sacrifice! I don’t know why they wouldn’t just create it as an 8 week program instead of

trying to make it this way.” Ed preferred a slow and easy pace and could not understand why everything moved so fast: “Not necessarily in the student center, but when you're like towards the building [#] where I go a lot and you see people running in and out, drinking energy drinks, in a rush, it's crazy!” Stephen et al.’s (2012) cultural mismatch exists between being independent as seen in individualistic cultures and being interdependent in collectivist cultures. Similar to Carl’s need for more direct help from an instructor, Frank also showed trouble with the needing more from the instructor rather than being told to go study on your own. Carl also rated their teaching abilities from more of a collectivist viewpoint similar to high school:

I would say that the one who doesn't care if you learn or not, their lesson quality is a lot lower. It's just read right off the PowerPoint, videos. You fall behind; it's like, "Just go to the Academic Achievement Center." And I stop by during office hours, and they say, "I'm busy.

Of all the students, Ann seemed to have the most trouble conforming to the rules and systematic structures of a college. She said she needed to be “free to decide what I want to decide” and felt like “a little leeway would be a little better.” These words revealed her conflict:

One thing that I have kind of a problem with here is that attendance is a huge thing. At [Midwest] State, there are a lot of lectures and they don't base a lot of things on attendance points. So if you need to take the day for yourself, you can do that. But with here, you have to be in the classroom every single day to get full points and be successful. There is a lot of group work and participation points here that make me feel a little anxious when I have to miss class.

Time off and missing class started to be a theme with Ann. After experiencing a year of independence at a large four-year university, perhaps her expectations were lowered:

But I feel like I'm here. I'm kind of paying for my education. I feel like I should be able to control when I'm here and when I'm not; Just the sense of responsibility and individuality and that aspect. If I'm sick, I just wanna be able to take the day to myself without having to worry, "Oh my gosh; I'm gonna fall behind.”

Feeling forced. Similar to having trouble conforming the structure and rules in college,

Ann as another example, she talked about how she changed her major six times and how there comes a point when you just need to decide on a major: “because you're gonna need to get out of here sometime.” Barb on the other hand, boasted that “My parents never forced me” and

explained that “I feel like I belong in culinary arts. I'm doing what I love instead of being forced to actually take classes you don't want to do” and that “I feel like if you really don't want to be here, you don't have to be here. I was like ….. I want to.” Carl felt the same way. He said his father “pressured” him into the math and sciences field but seemed to enjoy those subjects. Carl’s previous reflection on conforming shows a little more detail in this next explanation of how college could become a problem for him if he was overloaded or did not like his major:

I don't want to ever think of school as a burden. Once I start doing that, it just has a negative toll. I think it's going to have a negative toll on my college experience because then it's more of a job for me and I don't do it with passion. I think passion is a big deal because if you do have passion, if you have a why, then you'll be able to keep on pushing through obstacles. If it's just a job for you, you hit a really stubborn road block or something, you're just like eh, I guess I can't get through this one—let’s just quit.

Research Question 2: What role does the community college play in the perception of first- generation students?

 Theme 3 – Student growth