Engineering Employment Characteristics (1985) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix C: The Social Context of Minorities in Engineering
Appendix C: The Social Context of Minorities in Engineering
Pages 59-62
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From page 59... ...
Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians faced particular cultural and social barriers to reaching the level of academic attainment required of science and engineering professionals. In the classic study of the American occupational structure published in 1967, Blau and Duncan pointed out that minorities were required to make many more sacrifices to stay in school but were much less motivated than majority This appendix was prepared in May 1984.
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From page 60... ...
After a decade it was notable how much had been achieved through the following: presentation of the "engineering story" to young people unfamiliar with the profession; early recruitment and guidance in high schools; precollege summer institutes; financial assistance to able students; special monitoring programs, including remedial work; social support systems for racial minorities and on-going consultation with engineering schools and minority engineering program directors; and research on problems remaining to be solved in minority engineering education. As a result of these activities, substantial gains in the enrollment and graduation of minorities in engineering took place.
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From page 61... ...
The literature suggests that most of these students expressed high hopes that they would be less apt to experience discrimination in a university setting, yet many perceived they had been rebuffed or misunderstood and felt isolated and rejected.4 The special needs for social support felt by minorities in engineering programs, especially in schools with low minority enrollment, were noted by NACME in considering the ways to help keep minorities in school through graduation. It was suggested that Hispanic, American Indian, and black student organizations are able to provide not only peer support but to serve as " culture shock absorbers" to offset any negative psychological effects on their academic performance that is derived from a sense of social and cultural isolation.
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From page 62... ...
As minority professionals have become more generally included in every kind of American enterprise, however, they work alongside some colleagues who are still intolerant of racial and cultural differences. Although a majority of minority professionals have learned to function relatively well in these settings, it has meant that many of them have been compelled to "commute psychologically" between the world of work and their home laase.5 In the cases of the minority engineers now employed by American businesses, they should be the indirect beneficiaries of the entrance of more minority engineers into the work force.
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