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Documentary Analysis: The First Generation

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The 2011 documentary, First Generation, follows four students’ journeys during the last few years of high school as they strive to be the first in their families to attend college. All four featured students, Cecilia, Keresoma (“Soma”), Jess, and Dontay, have the grades and the determination to succeed but they lack the financial support which ultimately hinders their college application process. Other low income students struggle with the college application process as well and they tend to navigate it on their own. Unlike a lot of students, low income students usually don’t have the parental support at home. Most of the time, their parents aren’t familiar with the college application process seeing as they haven’t gone through it themselves. …show more content…

Essentially, for first generation college striving students, the odds are not in their favor. Among the 146 most selective colleges in the United States, 74% of the students come from high income families while only 3% come from low income families. Of the low income students that are eligible for a first-tier university, 59% end up enrolling in less selective schools or forgo college all together while 67% (2/3) don’t even bother applying. At the end of the documentary, the featured students end up going to various schools. Dontay attended Sacramento State, Jess went to Bakersfield Junior College, Soma transferred to a local community college, and Cecilia studied at California State University, …show more content…

My mom, being a college graduate herself, understands the importance of higher education and so I had her preparing me for college at a young age. Growing up, she (and my father before he passed) would look over my homework, attend parent-teacher conferences, and keep me accountable for my grades. When it came time to apply to colleges, my mom was there was again to edit my entrance essays, help me apply for scholarships, and financially support me with application fees and eventually

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Tina Rosenberg, a recipient of the MacArthur Grant, winner of the Pulitzer and the National book award for her book The Haunted Land, writes an unforeseen piece about the challenges first-generation college students face when going through the college and financial aid application process. Rosenberg has shown herself more than approved to explore and reveal to the world the struggle of applying to college for first generation students in her article “Guiding a First Generation to College.” With her novels, “Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World’ and "Children of Cain” it is clear that she has a tendency of exploring sensitive issues around the world. Moreover, being the mother of three daughters, who will soon face the college application process themselves, she is more than qualified to explore the topic of college applications.

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Did you feel like this was an effective method of presenting information? Yes, I feel that “Vegucated” did a very good job of explaining the difference between veganism and vegetarianism. It also used real life examples of actual individuals making the transition from “meat-eater” to living a vegan lifestyle, and the journey they experienced through their transition of eating. I also liked seeing the effects that it had on the families of those deciding to make such a big life change (to not eat meat).

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Especially if you are the first in your family to attend college which can make each step of the way a difficult. Students with parents who did not attend college are unable to turn to their parents with questions, in regards to the college application process, college resources, financial aid, therefore they are unable to rely on their families in academic support. Gloria, et al. (2012) study indicates that Latinas face many barriers and stresses including lack of finances, limited familial support, few mentors, cultural stereotypes, cultural, low expectations, and lack of knowledge about the available programs in higher education and. All these factors play a great role into first-generation Latinas academic success in an already challenging environment, yet, research demonstrates that although they face all these barriers and stresses, Latina students continue earning more bachelor’s degrees than Latino male students in recent years ( Crisp, et al., 2015;, Gloria, et al.,

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949 Words | 4 Pages

The Film I watched is called “A Place at the Table” which was released in March 1, 2013, and the directors are Lori Silverbush and Kristi Jacobson. The documentary is about how 50 million Americans are struggling with food insecurity, and offer some solutions to the problem. The documentary mainly focuses on these three Americans, who are struggling with food insecurity. The First person is a single mother, who is from Philadelphia and her name is Barbie. She grew up in poverty and is trying to provide a better life for her two kids.

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As I look back on my journey to college, I faced many different problems and disadvantages even before taking my first steps on campus. In Linda Banks-Santilli’s “Guilt is one of the biggest struggles first-generation college students face” many first generation students view being the first one in the family as a major flaw before entering college (Banks-Santilli, 2015, Par. 4 &7). The lack of self-respect makes it difficult for students to achieve success without help or motivation. The students have to change their viewpoint about being the first to go to college in their family as a weakness and make it a strength to help motivate them to be better students.

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Research indicates that students whose parents did not attend college are more likely than their non-first-generation counterparts to be less academically prepared for college, to have less knowledge of how to apply for college and for financial assistance, and to have more difficulty in adapting themselves to college once they enroll. They are also more at risk for not completing a degree because they are more likely to delay enrollment after high school, to enroll in postsecondary education part-time, and to work full-time while enrolled. (Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Pasacrella & Terenzini, 1991; Tinto, 19931), First-generation students, may lack the cultural and social capital, which may account for the difficulties they face in academia (Perna, 2000). Targeted intervention efforts that reach out to first-generation students both before and during college can help alleviate the barriers and challenges first-generation students face and help colleges reach their goal of recruiting and retaining all students. Academic Barriers Research has shown that low-income and first generation students are less likely to be engaged in the academic and social experiences that foster success in college, such as studying in groups, interacting with faculty and other students, participating in extracurricular activities, and using support

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948 Words | 4 Pages

The documentary, ‘Say it Plain’ is a vocal collection of speeches that have transpired in a century of a fight that the African American have had to put up in their own country. The speech is nabbed from various activism functions and out rightly airs the concerns of the African American (Boyd, 2010). The essence of the documentary in the history of America is that it serves as documented evidence of the black people’s fight for their right and the elimination of racial injustice in the United States. Through the documentary, it is evident that the African American are still fighting for their ownindependence despite the country being granted independence long time ago. The analysis of the documentary will provide a detailed insight of how the lack of people movement has gone down in the United States Review of “Say It Plain” Documentary

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FGCS face the problem of not being supported on what decisions they make throughout their college years. That being because “Unfortunately, not many graduates receive a key element of that support while in college(Busteed).” FGCS don’t get advice from parents or relatives, because they face the problem of going to college blind. “First-generation students are largely

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Fed Up is a documentary made in 2014 that is based on the issues caused by the American food industry. Fed Up, uncovers America’s true secrets about the food people consume every day. More specifically, it reveals the affect sugar has on people’s bodies. As a result, the amount of sugar in food, the bodies consent of glucose, and the satisfying taste it brings, too much sugar could cause certain sicknesses causing the body to not work the way it supposed to. To start off, the amount of sugar put in America’s food is predominately high.

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Minding the Gap is a 2018 documentary that follows the lives of three young men Bing Liu, Keire Johnson, and Zack Mulligan who are growing up in Rockford, Illinois and are brought together by their love of skateboarding. The film explores the complex situations and relationships between peers and caregivers that are prevalent in many 21st century cultures, and watches the three friends develop emotionally, physically, and cognitively as they do their best to bridge the gap between adolescence and adulthood. The film uses footage that is taken over a large span of time and captures many key moments in which each respective boy is faced with a new challenge or opportunity. There isn’t a lot that is left up to the imagination, but one is drawn

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As the importance of post-secondary education continues to increase, it is critical for professionals to be aware of first-generation students. These students are the first in their families to attend college and often are at a disadvantage compared to their peers. First-generation students often lack knowledge about college in general and are challenged when it comes to degree completion. Although first-generation students are said to be at a disadvantage, with support they can be given an opportunity to achieve academic success. One way first-generation students can access information about higher education is through college access programs.

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College is one of the most significant times in a person’s life. Every year high school kids will visit many different colleges so that they can be confident in their college decision. Some kids will follow in their parent’s foot steps and base their decision on where their mom or dad went, though, not all kids are fortunate to have help from their parents. Many kids nowadays may be the first in their family to take on higher education. The article, “First Generation College Students: Unprepared and Behind” by Liz Riggs explains that kids who are the first in their family to take on college are at a disadvantage compared to kids with parents who attended college.

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The documentary titled, “ A Class Divided” introduces us to the experiment made in an elementary school in Iowa by the schoolteacher named Jane Elliot. The documentary begins with Mrs. Elliot reuniting with the students who she did this experiment with the first time. The students are much older now, and they willingly want to watch the experiment that they were part of when they were elementary kids. The experiment was done days after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Mrs. Elliot has always thought about doing the eye color experiment, but she was never sure of when to do it. She asked her third grade student if it would be interesting to see what would happen if they were judged by their eye color.

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The documentary “Chasing Zero” reflects on the importance of quality care and patient safety. From the video, a child presents with jaundice, but the hospital fails to recognize immediate treatment. As a result, the child develops further complications such Kernicterus, which results in brain damage from jaundice (Quality and Safety Education for Nurses, 2014). Unfortunately, there were many devastating instances such as this, which could have been greatly prevented.

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As a first generation student to attend college from a family of seven, the journey to a higher education has been arduous and overwhelming. My family gives me all the encouragement I need and are very optimistic about pursuing a higher degree. Unlike myself, my parents did not have the opportunity to attend college. My parents were born and raised in a small town in Mexico where the highest level of education they received was fifth grade. I have worked since I was 14 years old to support my parents with bills, and also saving for college and my own vehicle.

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