Education Commons^™

Toward A "Formula For Success"--Using Oral Histories To Help Students Succeed When Everything Seems To Be Working Against Them, Michelle Navarre Cleary

Michelle Navarre Cleary

Many of the students at Olive-Harvey College, a community college on Chicago's south side, are struggling to balance their education with low income, service sector jobs and family needs while living in communities plagued by drugs and violence. The question is how teachers can help these students to attain their educational goals, despite their life crises. To find the answer, one instructor turned to the students who had successfully completed her English 102 capstone writing course the previous fall--students who are the exception and not the rule. She interviewed 13 out of 20 students in the class and found that …