When Giftedness and Poverty Collide and Why it Matters: Gifted, Poor, Black Males Majoring in Engineering

This article empirically contributes to the growing body of literature focusing on the experiences of gifted Black males, particularly those who are from low socioeconomic backgrounds and majoring in engineering, by examining their perspective of academic successes. More specifically, this article e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of African American males in education Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 1 - 22
Main Authors Flowers, Alonzo, Banda, Rosa M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Tempe Journal of African American Males in Education 01.10.2018
Subjects
Academic Achievement
College Preparation
College students
Educational Quality
Engineering
Families & family life
Influence
Low income groups
Males
Perceptions
Poverty
Qualitative research
School dropouts
Society
Socioeconomic factors
STEM education
Student attitudes
Student Experience
Success
United States > US
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Summary:This article empirically contributes to the growing body of literature focusing on the experiences of gifted Black males, particularly those who are from low socioeconomic backgrounds and majoring in engineering, by examining their perspective of academic successes. More specifically, this article examines the experiences of gifted, poor, Black male engineering majors as they navigate the terrain where their giftedness and poverty intersect. For this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were used to gather in-depth information about the participants' self-identities and academic experiences. Based on participants' responses, four categories emerged to identify aspects of their experiences in college: (a) self-perceptions, (b) financial obstacles, (c) engineering as a major, and (d) the students' perceptions of the institution. Based on the findings, institutions of higher education must understand the various factors (e.g., students' perceptions of achievement, financial iss ues, and institutional congruence) that influence the academic and social integration of academically gifted, poor, Black male college students.
ISSN:2153-9065