Chickering And Chisser's Theory

From a personal experience, beginning on my first day of school, my vision was to fit in and be socially accepted. Sometimes, being socially accepted was more important than learning. As I got older, different people began to influence my goals and decisions. So it makes perfect sense to me, students are impacted significantly by the people they meet and their school environment. According to Widick, Parker, and Knefelkamp (1978), “Chickering sees the traditional-age college student as a person in a distinct psychosocial phase defined by the emergence of certain inner capabilities and needs which interact with the demands of a particular college environment” (p. 21). Author Chickering’s philosophical stance on developmental concerns offers an alternative focus on education and social situations.
Chickering and Reisser’s theory has been redefined and
Because I believe student involvement is so important, it is essential for institutions to create communities on campus where students can identify with other students with the same interests. From a personal experience, students who become involved in extracurricular programs and activities, clubs, and student organizations, tend to put more energy into their academics. When students have this sense of belonging, it fosters devotion, loyalty and pride in their school resulting in higher academic achievements. For example, there are two student organizations veterans can join: (1) the Student Veterans Organization; and (2) the Nontraditional Students Organization. One of the advantages to belonging to these organizations is, “it helps veteran’s to tie in better with the student body and helps them connect with the Student Life Community” (p. 5). Student Life fosters effective student learning on and off campus, which enhances interactions between students and faculty, academic engagement, and campus involvement (Frost, Strom, Downey, Schultz & Holland,