Samantha Martinez

Professor Kare McManama-Kearin

ANTH-1010

6/7/2021

First-Generation Students

According to (Antonelli et al., pg. 68), first-generation students refer to students who

have gone to college as first students from their families. For instance, a student whose previous

generations and parents have never gone to college. First-generation students describe a variety

of educational situations in families. Students whose parents had enrolled and never graduated,

one parent graduated, and the other parent never attended college can be considered first-

generation students. A family might be having two people who are first-generation students. For

instance, assuming one's parents never attended college, and the family has three children, the

older sister in the family is in the second year, the second born is filling applications to join

college, the second-born child is taken as a first-generation student. Both of my parents are first

generation students, which is the main reason why I wanted to focus my signature assignment on

this subculture, but I do know many people around me who are first generation students. Many

first-generation students are faced with a lot of challenges compared to those whose members of

the family attended college (Ives et al., pg. 146). As a result, students belonging to the first-

generation rarely do apply to attend college. Therefore, schools should be conscious of that and

balance their body of students with more first-generation students. There’s first generations

students all around us, whether its passing them in the hallways of school, or at the football

games, honestly anywhere you can be interacting with a first generation student and not even

know it. Balancing students' bodies will encourage more first-generation students to join

colleges. There should also be scholarships explicitly made for first-generation students to make

more of them attend colleges. First-generation students understanding of class work by first-

generation students are also not faster than other students due to obstacles they encounter, like

failure to know how to utilize technology (Graves et al., pg.1). A lot needs to be done to break

the gap between first-generation students and compete fairly with other students. Colleges should

also be willing to admit first-generation students when they seek those accommodation slots

without any discrimination.

Articles chosen

Antonelli, Janeen, et al. "Understanding the self-regulated learning characteristics

of first-generation college students." Journal of College Student Development 61.1

(2020): 67-83.

I chose this article since it first gives the definition of first-generation students and

their transition to college.

Graves, Stephanie J., Sarah LeMire, and Kathy Christie Anders. "Uncovering the

information literacy skills of first-generation and provisionally admitted students." The

Journal of Academic Librarianship 47.1 (2021): 102260.

I chose the above article to depict how first-generation students struggle in college

in the wake of new technology in some of the facilities like libraries.



Ives, Jillian, and Milagros Castillo-Montoya. "First-generation college students as

academic learners: A systematic review." Review of Educational Research 90.2 (2020):

139-178.

I chose the above article since it shows the challenges undergone by first-

generation students in the quest to attain a college education. It has really given me a

more understanding if the subject matter.

Works cited

Antonelli, Janeen, et al. "Understanding the self-regulated learning characteristics of first-

generation college students." Journal of College Student Development 61.1 (2020):

67-83.

Graves, Stephanie J., Sarah LeMire, and Kathy Christie Anders. "Uncovering the information

literacy skills of first-generation and provisionally admitted students." The Journal of

Academic Librarianship 47.1 (2021): 102260.

Ives, Jillian, and Milagros Castillo-Montoya. "First-generation college students as academic

learners: A systematic review." Review of Educational Research 90.2 (2020): 139-178.