singco,colina

1. Begin a paragraph showing the organization of your chapter, varied sources that discuss the different ideas..
2. …education so they can train for a proper career in the future. (check construction)
3. This includes colleges that the student is already familiar with and those he (gender bias, she/he)
4. Thirdly, it is best for the student to let himself (himself/herself) be accompanied by trusted people
5. as “an occupation or profession which one trains for or pursues as a life work”. (p. 214) (period after the parenthesis)
6. person because if shapes much of his life (check construction)
7. But now, humans also need “satisfaction from a sense of service, and professional status (p.17)”. (parenthesis outside quotation)
8. er interests. (Gardner & Jewler, 2000) (period should be after parenthesis)
9. Robert Hoppock (as cited by Taghoy 1994) presented (tense consistency, you had used past erlier)
10. Parents sometimes expect too much from (of) their children,
11. Jones (1963) defines guidance as “the assistance given to individuals in making intelligent choices and adjustments”. (page no.)
12. “engaged in the performance of the service role and share in the discharge of coordinating functions and supportive roles (p.6)” (parenthesis outside quotation)
13. Good closing paragraph


CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Every year, many high school graduates attempt to get into different universities and colleges in the country to advance to the tertiary level of education so they can train for a proper career in the future. Calvert Jr. and Steele (1963), assert this by stating that a college education is important economically (because it is one thing employers look for in their employees in order to make sure their companies flourish) and socially (school boards, organizations and agencies for example, usually appoint college graduates as their leaders or their representatives). Through this, college training develops a person both academically and personally. Yet in the process of planning a college education, one of the biggest issues always comes up: choosing a course. To understand this issue, we first have to look at things taken into consideration when planning to go to college: understanding one’s motive for going to college, and then choosing what university to enroll in. After these is where choosing a course comes in, which is not easy to do, because a lot of factors—family pressure and guidance counseling included—influence this decision, and these factors need to be analyzed.

Going back to the start of the college application process, students are aware of the benefits of a college education, and these learners have a wide variety of reasons for trying to get one. Hettich (1998) says that when one decides to go to college, he or she always has certain motives for doing so, and these motives are classified as either intrinsic or extrinsic. To put Hettich’s thought into other words, one’s motive for going to college might be centered on one’s self, or it can be centered on other factors such as the people and environment around him.

Once the student has decided that he does want to go to college, he then starts making decisions about how to go about his college life. With the vast array of choices presented in the world of college, decision-making becomes very important. Thagard (2001) stresses the significance of decision making by explaining that one cannot make the right decision by purely relying on either “gut instinct” or on “systematic models on decision-making” presented by psychologists and the like. Thagard explains that to attempt making the right choices, decision-making should come in not just one, but three levels: decision as intuition, as calculation, and as coherence.

The first of these important decisions that the student will have to make is selecting which university to enroll in. According to the American Educational Guidance Center (2000), there are three certain guidelines one needs to follow in the process of deciding where to go for college. Firstly, one should avoid finalizing a college choice without investigating other universities first. This includes colleges that the student is already familiar with and those he doesn’t know much about. Secondly, applying for a particular college just because one’s friends are planning to go there must also be avoided at all costs. Thirdly, it is best for the student to let himself be accompanied by trusted people, such as family, when exploring the different universities, so he can readily consult other opinions rather than merely his own. Lastly, the AEGC also avers that discussing his observations and options with his family and/or a counselor is also useful to maximize the information he has gathered so far.

After choosing a university, another essential thing to consider in planning for college is choosing one’s course. Choosing the right course is important because it determines ones future career. But first, the word ‘career’ must be defined clearly. Based from Guralnik, (as cited by Drummond & Ryan, 1995), a career can be defined as “an occupation or profession which one trains for or pursues as a life work”. (p. 214)

Calvert Jr. and Steele (1963), stress the importance of sensible career planning:

College training, however, must be properly harnessed to be of value. A college degree does not of itself provide the necessary vocational direction. College graduates frequently flounder, changing jobs and direction, with consequent personal and financial dislocation. As the opportunities increase, so do the chances of making a wrong choice. The wider the choice of jobs, the more important career planning becomes. (p. 7)

Fredrickson (1982) supports Calvert by saying that planning a career is crucial both for a person and his community. Career planning is useful in a person because if shapes much of his life, according to him. He says that it also benefits the community, because the community thrives on its members who use their abilities to foster growth within, and to answer to the community’s needs. Sadly, a lot of career planning is done without thorough knowledge. Fredrickson phrases it this way:

Would you buy a used car after just walking around it and kicking the tires once or twice? Certainly not. You would want to know something about the history of the car and its mechanical condition. But “kicking the tires” is what many people do in making the most crucial decision in their lives: that of choosing an occupation.(p.1)

Calvert and Steele (1963), on the topic of vocational objective, also emphasize the importance of choosing a career for the choice will eventually affect the individual’s life largely. Decades ago, people strove to fulfill only the most basic needs: food, clothing and shelter. But now, humans also need “satisfaction from a sense of service, and professional status (p.17)”. Calvert and Steele also advise that students who plan on maximizing their professional education should already be aware of their career goals during their early college days.

Usually, this process of choosing a college course is subjected to many factors, related to the person involved and his or her interests. (Gardner & Jewler, 2000) These include the individual’s “interests, skills, aptitudes, personality, life goals and work values” (p. 197).

Robert Hoppock (as cited by Taghoy 1994) presented a few guidelines that serve as the framework of his theory on “occupational choice”:

1. The occupation that we choose is the one that we believe will best meet the needs that most concern us.

2. Information about ourselves affects occupation choice by helping us recognize what we want, and by helping us to anticipate whether or not we will be successful in the contemplated occupation.

3. Occupations are chosen to meet needs. Every individual has many needs. Some of them are essentially physical such as, the need for food, rest and shelter. Other needs can be more properly described as psychological in nature, such as the need to maintain contact with others, and to feel a sense of success or accomplishment.(p.5)

There are also other theories on the various bases for one’s career or course decisions. Edwin Herr (1968) explains that there are “several models of decision-making that add insight to the process of college-choice” (p.64). The first is the “trait and factor” model, which involves an individual matching his characteristics with a career choice which requires the traits he possesses. The second model is founded on an economic principle, which assumes that the student selects a college which will “maximize his gain and minimize his losses” (p. 65). These gains and losses do not necessarily have to be financial—rather, they are subject to the individual’s personal views. The third model or the “social structure” model concentrates on the limits presented by a person’s social class (especially those who are not in the upper classes of society), concentrated on the lack of knowledge on educational opportunities available to the individual. This is mainly because the person can also gather only a little “supportive information” from his community. The fourth model is the “information processing” model, where the person is overwhelmed with a wide array of choices and information, and as a result, makes an impulsive choice without truly weighing the factors properly and thinking them through. Herr’s last model is the “need reduction” model, which assumes that a person already possesses an image of himself, or a concept of his interests or personality. The individual then applies this image of himself when choosing a college career to make sure that it compliments his interests.

A related study on choice of college course was conducted by Carla Camille Faustino Basa- Martinez and Odinah Navasquez Sagun (2002), entitled “Factors Affecting the Choice of Mass Communication as a Course Preference Among Mass Comm Students in Cebu City”. Their study aimed to find out the various reasons why Mass Communication students from different schools in Cebu took this particular course. They also wanted to determine if ability, interest, social, fallback and economic factors affected the decision to take up Mass Comm.

Basa-Martinez and Sagun employed the Correlational Survey design, coupled with random sampling. The respondents were first asked to answer a 4-part questionnaire, and were afterwards divided into focus groups to probe for more details that could not be answered by the questionnaires alone.

Their results showed that majority of the students decided to take up Mass Communication primarily because it was where their skills and abilities lay. They were aware of their capability in this field, although it wasn’t really what they wanted to take. The study also revealed that the students did not have sufficient knowledge about the course as “most of them just want to be seen on television and apparently believe that taking Mass Communication will lead them to that dream”. (p.14)

Basa-Martinez and Sagun’s study is related to our own inquiry because it seeks to find out the possible factors that affect students’ decisions in selecting their college course. However, their study is limited to exposing these factors, without mentioning how the factors affect the students taking up the course. This is where it differs from our study, because our study also wants to learn how these factors affect the students’ academic performance.

However, a lot of new students are confused when deciding what course they should take up in college (Gardner and Jewler, 2000). In fact, a lot of students have tried shifting to another course before they finally graduated. Gardner and Jewler also explain that many factors cause this uncertainty, such as the students being presented with vast and more advanced ‘fields of study compared to high school’, family or peer pressure, and the allure of a certain course because of the benefits it offers, although one lacks the interest, understanding, and/or propensity for it.

Nowadays, one of the most pressing of these factors is family pressure, particularly parental pressure. One of the conflicts between parents and their children in college deals with the parents’ expectations (J. Deese and E. Deese, 1957). Parents sometimes expect too much from their children, and this can result to problems especially if the child’s grades in college have considerably lowered compared to the ones he/she usually received in high school. J. Deese and E. Deese state that as a result, the parents might demand the student to do better, although they usually aren’t aware of the academic and social pressures their child is also facing at school itself.

J. Deese and E. Deese (1957) also point out another predicament between students and their parents, wherein the parents decide a college course for their child that mirrors their aspirations. Sometimes, these parents do not understand why their child wants to do something that doesn’t follow their footsteps, as J. Deese and E. Deese seek to point out here:

The engineer who can’t understand why his son is taking courses in art and music, the artist who is horrified by his daughter’s enthusiasm for economics and accounting, the physician who insists that his son follow a premedical curriculum, the lawyer who is upset because her daughter has no professional aspirations, the mother who is shocked because her daughter wants to be an electrical engineer are all cases in one point. (p. 8)

College students who allow their parents to choose their course for them end up dissatisfied and unhappy at some instant in their lives, to the point that some of these students eventually go back to college and pursue their own ambitions this time (J. Deese and E. Deese, 1957).

Yet in the light of recent studies, not all parents impose this kind of attitude on their children. Based on a study conducted in Chapel Hill, North Carolina by J. Taylor, Harris and S.Taylor (2004), parents are aware of the extent of their influence over their children on the process of choosing what college course to take. When asked to rate their views on their influence, 38.5% said that they do not possess that much authority on their children’s career decisions. A larger number of parents, 45.4%, deemed they should have little or minimal influence instead. The remaining 8.1% were the only ones who emphasized that they should have a huge part on their children’s career choice. These outcomes tell us that most parents look at career decision-making as something which they haven’t got much control over.

Other factors which influence students’ career decisions are also guidance counselors. In his “Principles of Guidance,” Jones (1963) defines guidance as “the assistance given to individuals in making intelligent choices and adjustments”. It is stated that every person has the freedom to choose his path, yet his capability to choose is not as inherent as this freedom—it must also be cultivated properly. Jones further expounds that guidance plays an important role in the development of this ability to make choices. It avoids making decisions for people, but instead trains them to learn how to make good choices independently without needing help from others.

A study conducted by Richard J. Light, (as cited in Gardner and Jewler, 2000) asked students from Harvard University what characteristics they sought in academic advisors. The results showed that males wanted an advisor who was knowledgeable about the facts or someone who could give them outright suggestions which they are then “free to accept or reject”. Females, on the other hand, prefer academic advisors who take the time to truly examine them and listen to their concerns on a personal basis.

On the subject of guidance counseling, a graduation dissertation entitles “Role Perceptions, Actualizations and Expectations Among Administrators, Counselors and Teachers in Relation to the Guidance Programs of Secondary Schools in Cebu City” (1974) by Veronica Tallo proved to be insightful.

Tallo used the descriptive survey method with a 3-part questionnaire, a 52-item checklist, and a few open-ended questions. The respondents were administrators, counselors and teachers selected on the basis of the existence of a structured guidance program in their respective schools.

Her study’s findings revealed that school counselors expected to be “engaged in the performance of the service role and share in the discharge of coordinating functions and supportive roles (p.6)”, which extremely differs from the principals’ and teachers’, who believe they should deal with administrative roles and supportive tasks, respectively. Tallo then suggested that school counselors should “present a clear-out definition of roles” they carry out in their job.

These findings are helpful because they give a concrete idea of what school guidance counselors expect of themselves and their job, especially because guidance counseling has its own role to play in career guidance for high school students soon to take up college. Of course, it still raises questions such as, “How huge then is the impact of guidance counseling on course preference?”

There is still another issue concerning the college life of the student, however, and that is continuity of his college education. For example, according to Borow and Lindsey (1959), many surveys in the USA based on “college mortality rates” show that about fifty percent of college students suspend their studies without receiving a bachelor’s degree. However, the percentage is different in each institution and the fifty percent average may not be exactly accurate because students who quit from a certain college may end up continuing their studies in other colleges. Nevertheless, the number shows us that a lot of students who start college do not complete their education.

Although financial problems might be the cause of abandoning college, it might be helpful to keep in mind that a college education offers much more job opportunities and useful contacts compared to “a high school diploma”, states Whitbourne (2002). In attempting to earn money, Whitbourne advises that it is best to choose a job that doesn’t drive you away from your schoolwork—preferably a part-time stint just within the school grounds.

There are still more factors which can be considered in the process of planning and getting a college education. Making the decision to go to college, selecting what colleges to apply for and choosing one’s course are not easy tasks, and if one has to do them, one must consider all the various variables and factors which make up college choice. These factors might be personal, emotional, sociological, economical or cultural. Although these factors have been touched by the studies mentioned in this review, we aim to take them a step further by also studying how they can possibly affect the academic performance of the college student as a whole.