By reframing academic rigor, we can encourage greater success of students

What is it about?

This chapter describes academic experiences of graduate students of color in different disciplines to demonstrate how different notions of academic rigor influence student success and identity. The experiences of students of color in engineering show how traditional notions of rigor in academia (e.g., time spent in lab, quantity of work) can have negative implications for mental and physical health of students of color. By contrast, the examples of reframed rigor show how deep, inquiry-based learning that challenges and encourages all students can support the identities of graduate students or color and promote their success.

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Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This chapter illuminates how the traditional, Eurocentric notions of academic rigor miss important rigorous experiences that students - particularly students of color - deserve in graduate school. When we define rigor more broadly as an academic challenge that supports learning and growth in students, the American higher education system will focus more on learning processes for all students, rather than on learning outcomes for “selected” students. Although the examples presented in this chapter are of graduate students, these examples are the ultimate manifestation of the higher education system in general, and therefore, provide implications for undergraduate education as well.