Culture is not a predetermined, static, bounded unit. Both its boundaries and what is considered cultural difference are constructed through social processes. Ray McDermott and Herve Varenne (1995) argue that only certain differences are noticed, usually according to what is regarded as meaningful difference in one's own society. For example, in a…

American Indian and Alaska Native students have a significantly lower college graduation rate than that of other ethnic groups in the United States. These students often face a variety of barriers to the completion of their education. Overcoming barriers for the achievement of an advanced education takes commitment, hard work, and dedication on…

The purpose of this research is to investigate the image of salespeople and of the selling function as perceived by business students across cultures. Of the several empirical investigations that exist in the sales literature, most are based on a single-country sample. This study extends previous knowledge on single-country perception of…

Social identity threat refers to the process through which an individual underperforms in some domain due to their concern with confirming a negative stereotype held about their group. Psychological research has identified this as one contributor to the underperformance and underrepresentation of women, Blacks, and Latinos in STEM fields. Over the…

This paper is a commentary to a paper by Anne Solli, Frank Bach and Björn Åkerman on how students at a technical university learn to argue as biotechnologists. Solli and her colleagues report from an ethnographic study performed during the first semester of a 5-year program in biotechnology at a technical university in Sweden. Their study…

The system of education exerts a substantial, positive influence on all social processes in society, and that includes upbringing. Owing to a number of specific causes, however (in particular, inadequate material, technical, and organizational support), the system has not performed that function very well for about ten years. Moreover, various…

Even though college students may be faced with developmental life tasks that might lead them to cognitive and emotional growth, little is known about how college students' life experiences are related to their cultural values. Understanding college students' life across culture requires both exploratory and confirmatory approaches to examine (1)…

Research with South Asian families of individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) suggests an increased fear of stigma and isolation from the community. Evidence on attitudes towards ID among the wider community is very limited and was the focus of the present study. Responses were collected from 737 college students aged 16-19 using the…

Few studies have critically examined pedagogical practices for ecological literacy at the tertiary level (Adomssent, Godemann, Michelsen, 2007). The purpose of this study is to critically examine how students and faculty in the Environmental Studies/Science programs at Trueblood College pursue ecological literacy through place-based pedagogy. Two…

This paper describes an exploratory study on the perceived value of higher education by Chinese students in Macao SAR, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Taipei. Using responses from 316 students, we find that the Sheth-Newman-Gross Theory of Consumption Values explains how students perceive the services offered by higher education institutions. Students…

This survey of American and Chinese students at a state university in the southern United States measures Social Media (SM) use and attitudes toward SM. The purpose of this study was to investigate student perception and motivation of social media communication and the relationship between student cultural values and their social media…

A professor and a group of student leaders initiated the Actively Caring for People (AC4P) Movement to establish a more civil, compassionate, and inclusive culture by inspiring intentional acts of kindness. This article explores the AC4P Movement in a first-year residence hall at Virginia Tech and a second-year residence hall at University of…

Students attending a Native Hawaiian-serving institution read statements from two hypothetical job candidates. The passages had equivalent meaning, but one incorporated Hawaiian leadership values (HLV) without identifying them as such. Participants judged the HLV candidate to have lower credibility, rationality, and effectiveness, and preferred…

This multilevel study extends the work of Pascarella, Ethington, & Smart (1988) and Rhee and Dey (1996) to investigate how student-level characteristics and organizational characteristics affect college students' civic values. Institutional variables found to impact civic values include institutional selectivity, institutional size, and attending…

The author challenges the current trend of seeing college as mandatory and questions whether schools and students alike might be better served by academic administrators, parents, and other well-meaning role models acknowledging that education has many forms, and that not every student will have the same aptitude or investment in the outcome.…