University extracurricular activities

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COMMUTER STUDENTS

According to recent research, approximately 86 percent of college and university students are defined as commuter students, that is, students not living in university-owned housing. The commuter student population is a diverse group, which encompasses full-time students who live with their parents, part-time students who live in off-campus apartments, parents with children at home, and full-time workers. Commuters range in age from the traditional college student (eighteen to twenty-four years old) to the older adult. They attend every type of higher education institution, including two-year and four-year public universities or private colleges. Typically commuter students walk, ride bikes, take public transportation, or drive to campus to attend classes. They often attend classes and then go home or to work, rarely spending additional time outside of the classroom on campus.

Students commute to campus for several reasons. Unlike many full-time residential students, commuter students may have competing responsibilities outside the academic classroom, such as family, home, and work interests. For those students who are working full-time, raising a family, or caring for an elderly parent, campus residency is not a viable option. Also, commuting may be economically beneficial because many commuter students cannot afford to live on campus. Despite residing off campus, most commuter students have high academic aspirations and a strong commitment to learning.

Also, commuter students encounter many challenges that residential students do not. Commuter students, particularly first-year students, often have a difficult time ‘‘fitting in’’ to the campus community. Commuters often find the task of meeting students challenging because their only point of contact with other students is in the classroom, a small part of the total college experience. Residential students live, eat, study, and socialize together in residence halls, thus having greater opportunities to make friends and to become socially integrated into the campus community.

A great amount of socialization for college students also occurs in the cafeteria, student center, recreation center, through extracurricular activities, or during late-night study sessions. This peer group interaction positively affects critical thinking skills, cultural awareness, leadership development, and academic development. As a result of not living in residence halls or spending a substantial amount of time on campus, commuter students miss out on these opportunities to ‘‘connect’’ to the university and other students and to enhance their learning and development. Not only is frequent contact with students outside the classroom difficult to obtain, but commuters often face limited contact opportunities with faculty and staff members as well. Commuters must make additional trips to campus to meet with faculty members during their designated office hours. Unlike residential students, commuter students rarely have the opportunity to observe faculty and staff members on campus involved in nonclassroom activities, such as playing sports in the recreation center or interacting with students in the student center.

These informal student-faculty interactions have been linked to academic performance and to personal and intellectual development for students. The interaction time for commuters with faculty members is often limited to a few minutes between classes or briefly during office hours, leaving commuter students feeling disconnected from the academic system of the university. Commuters often find forming relationships with faculty and administrators difficult because of these limited interactions outside of the classroom.

Transportation issues are a large part of commuter concerns. First, because of limited parking availability on most campuses, commuters have difficulty finding parking spaces and must often allow extra time to do so. Further, commuters often readjust their course schedules to attend classes in large blocks of time, again reducing the hours spent on campus outside of the classroom and the opportunity to become socially and academically integrated into the college community. Some classes may be scheduled at difficult times for commuters to attend, such as early morning or midafternoon. Because of long commutes to school, these students may encounter difficulty attending such classes, which are easily accessible for residential students. Because of the short amount of time spent on campus each day, commuter students have a limited knowledge of the university itself, including the location of buildings, functions of university departments, campus policies and procedures, and current events. Residential students become familiar with the university by spending a substantial amount of time on campus, taking part in student forums, and discussing current campus events in the residence hall or in small groups. Therefore, residential students often have a better understanding of the status of the university, because commuter students must wait to receive pertinent information through mailings or newspaper articles. In addition, greater proximity gives residential students more frequent occasions to establish personal relationships with faculty and staff, who serve as resources and mentors. These mentors may provide assistance and information regarding new policies and procedures. Finally, research indicates that commuter students have lower retention rates than those living on campus. Because commuter students spend limited time on campus and limited time creating relationships with other students, faculty, and staff, they have fewer opportunities to engage in quality interactions with these individuals. Therefore they are less likely to make a strong commitment to the university or its programs and are more likely to drop out of school than residential students (Encyclopedia of Education).

√Decide if each statement is true (T) or false (F) according to the information from the text.

1. A commuter student is a student living in university-owned housing. T /F

2. Commuter students attend only some types of higher education institution. T /F

3. For those students who are working, raising a family, or caring for an elderly parent, campus residency is a viable option. T /F

4. Residential students encounter many challenges that commuter students do not. T /F

5. Commuter students become socially integrated into the campus community. T /F

6. Residential students rarely have the opportunity to observe faculty and staff members on campus. T /F

7. Commuter students have limited time for interaction with faculty. T /F

8. Commuters have their own parking spaces. T /F

9. Because of the long time spent on campus each day, commuter students have a boundless knowledge of the university itself. T /F

10. Commuters must wait to receive pertinent information through mailings. T /F

11. In some countries to be a commuter student is much worse than to be a residential one. T /F

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, many universities have a broad educational mission: to develop the ‘‘whole student.’’ On college campuses, extracurricular involvement is a key tool in this personal development. For the majority of college and university students, involvement in extracurricular activities plays an integral role in the collegiate experience. Students become involved in extracurricular activities not only for entertainment, social, and enjoyment purposes, but most important, to gain and improve skills. A wide and diversified range of extracurricular activities exists on campuses, meeting a variety of student interests. The importance of extracurricular activities on university campuses is well established. The primary goals of extracurricular activities focus on the individual student level, the institutional level, and the broader community level. These activities exist to complement the university’s academic curriculum and to augment the student’s educational experience. Extracurricular activities provide a setting to become involved and to interact with other students, thus leading to increased learning and enhanced development. Specifically, a student’s peer group is the most important source of influence on a student’s academic and personal development. By identifying with a peer group, that group may influence a student’s affective and cognitive development as well as his or her behavior. As the development of the well-rounded individual is a principal goal of extracurricular activities on college and university campuses, the numerous experiences these activities afford positively impact students’ emotional, intellectual, social, and interpersonal development. By working together with other individuals, students learn to negotiate, communicate, manage conflict, and lead others. Taking part in these out-of-the-classroom activities helps students to understand the importance of critical thinking skills, time management, and academic and intellectual competence. Involvement in activities helps students mature socially by providing a setting for student interaction, relationship formation, and discussion. Working outside of the classroom with diverse groups of individuals allows students to gain more self-confidence, autonomy, and appreciation for others’ differences and similarities.

Students also develop skills specific to their career path and imperative for future job success. Students have opportunities to improve their leadership and interpersonal skills while also increasing their self-confidence. Extracurricular involvement allows students to link academic knowledge with practical experience, thereby leading to a better understanding of their own abilities, talents, and career goals. Future employers seek individuals with these increased skill levels, making these involved students more viable in the job market. Specifically, participation in extracurricular activities and leadership roles in these activities are positively linked to attainment of one’s first job and to managerial potential. Student involvement in extracurricular activities also positively impacts educational attainment.

Students who are actively engaged are more likely to have higher educational ambitions than uninvolved students. Finally, extracurricular activities focus on institutional goals, such as building and sustaining community on campus as well as student retention. As campuses become more diverse, students desire an environment in which they feel connected to others and to the university. Extracurricular activities provide a place for students to come together, discuss pertinent ideas and issues, and accomplish common goals. Within this community, where students feel comfortable with one another, learning and development are enhanced and student retention is positively impacted.

Through extracurricular participation, students frequently interact with peers who have similar interests, providing social integration into the college environment. As a result, involved students view their college years as a positive experience and feel they are a vital part of the university, resulting in higher retention rates (Encyclopedia of education).

√ Match the synonyms together.

1. practice	A. self-confidence
2. groupmates	B. to interact
3. progress	C. student
4. taking part	D. campus
5. profession	E. educational
6. programme	F. out-of-the-classroom
7. extracurricular	G. experience
8. influence	H. curriculum
9. instructive	I. impact
10. university grounds	J. career
11. learner	K. involvement
12. to communicate	L. development
13. self-assurance	M. peers

Дата добавления: 2014-11-29