The Influence of Social Status in Finishing College Education residing in Science

City of Munoz and Quezon, Nueva Ecija

Shaine Anne Candelaria

Mica Angela Isidro
Jessa Mae Oriol
Karl Andrei Razon

A research proposal presented to the STEM Department of Munoz National High

School Main-Senior High School
Science City of Munoz, Nueva Ecija

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the subject Practical Research II

September 2019
 Chapter I

Introduction

Background of the study

Finishing college education in perspective of financial problem are now quite

easy, thanks to a new law titled Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act of

2017 that provides free colleges education in all public universities and state colleges.

As the proportion of young people attending an institution of higher education

approaches half of the 18 to 21 age group (Karabel & Astin, 1975)

One of the most important issues in educational research has centered on the

controversy concerning the effects which social class segregation of school in different

areas may have on students from low status families. Researchers have tried to

determine whether attendance at schools in which most of the students are low in social

status constitutes an additional disadvantage over and beyond the direct association

between social class and educational performance. Since aspirations for further

education provide an indication of whether youth are being motivated to achieve

educational and social mobility through the schools, college aspirations frequently have

been utilized to determine whether school social status has an independent effect on the

motivation of students in public schools.

According to Saria and Bultmann (2014), the lack of consensus on social class

definitions coupled with differing contextual meanings of them complicates proper-

based cohort identification for educational researchers.

 A ton of scholarship was annually offered by different government agency,

some of it were; DOST-SEI Government Scholarship, OWWA Scholarship, CHED

Scholarship, and DENR Scholarship. Also, a wide variety of private sector offers

scholarship in limited area.

Statement of the problem

This study aims to determine and assimilate the factors how social status greatly

affects their dream to finish college education

1. Find out if students from different social class can get a scholarship both public and

private.

1.1. Students from upper class

1.2. Students from middle class

1.3. Students from lower class

2. Comprehend the benefits of college scholarship in different perspective of students.

2.1. Cash assistance

2.2. Given materials

3. Articulate the issues and problems in getting or having a college scholarship whether

from government or private sector.

3.1. Scholarship from public government

3.2. Scholarship from private sectors/company

 Significance of the Study

The study signifies how the social status of different families affect the dreams

of their beloved children in attaining college education. Knowing the fact that we have

a law for free college education in public universities and colleges, and some

departments of government like Department of Science and Technology offers

scholarship.

This study aims to give clear answers to a worthwhile questions concerning

about the topic. It also gives guidance for: incoming college students, parents in

different social status, concerned members of Commission on Higher Education, and

future researchers.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

The subject of this study are incoming college student, currently enrolled

college students, college graduates, and parents of college students who are residing at

Science City of Munoz and Quezon, Nueva Ecija. They will be selected randomly as

participants of this study, means there was no control over the selection for the study.

Regarding to the test and participants, the respondents will give twenty-four

hours to answer the questionnaire to think deeply for the appropriate answer base on

the vision.
 Hypotheses of the Study

There is a significant difference when it comes to social status in finishing college

education.

There is no significant difference when it comes to social status in finishing college

education.

Conceptual Framework of the Study

Socio-economic status easily divided into ‘identity compatibility’ and

‘academic achievement’ as secondary independent variable. The illustration clearly

shows the connection of two main different variables. It is also important or weighty

rather to have a clear conceptual framework in order for future researchers to

understand our research more effortlessly.

 Chapter II

Review of Related Literature

Helping professions include a broadly knit collection of professionals, each

fitting a particular need or segment of society. Professional helpers are identified with

a professional organization, their use of an ethical code and standards of practice and

their acknowledgment of an accrediting body that governs training, credentialing and

licensing of practice. Helping professions are considered relationship-intensive careers.

As such, helping professionals like the psychologists, guidance counselors, and

teachers in general must possess certain traits, competencies, and skills that facilitate

the development of interpersonal relationship. Stebnicki asserts that throughout the

history of the helping profession, compassion and empathy have been the wellsprings

of establishing rapport, building a relationship and achieving optimal levels of the

therapeutic functioning with clients/consumers. It is a tool to build the foundation for a

trusting, genuine, and therapeutic relationship. Its intention is to build a strong working

alliance with others. It requires the professional helper to be an active participant during

therapeutic interactions and to be deeply involved with others in a powerful way.

If clients are expected to develop the capacity to understand; express their

thoughts openly, honestly and directly; resolve problems on their own, and make good

decisions in life, then a high level of empathic communication must be at the foundation

of therapeutic alliance. Skilled helpers such as professional counselors use empathy to

build the foundation of a trusting relationship for the purpose of establishing an

effective working alliance with others. It is also a means of increasing practitioner’s

interpersonal effectiveness and in enhancing outcomes with their clients. Thus,

empathy can be used as therapeutic leverage. Actually, many in the counseling field

suggest that possessing the skills of empathy is needed for one to become a competent

helper. Carl Rogers defined empathy early on as the ability to perceive the internal

frame of reference of another person with accuracy including its emotional components

and meanings as if one were the person concerned, but without ever losing the “as if”

conditions.

In the later part of his work, he describes it as the ability to enter the private

perceptual world of the other person and thoroughly be familiar with it. It means

temporarily living in the other’s life, moving about in it delicately without making

judgments. This implies that for the time being a person lays aside his own personal

views and values so as to understand Another’s world without prejudice. It involves

being sensitive, moment by moment, to the changing felt meanings of the other person

or whatever that person is experiencing.

Rogers (1959) as cited in Hakansson and Montgomery explained further that

the state of empathy or being empathic is to sense the hurt or pleasure of another as he

senses it and to perceive the causes thereof as he perceives them, but without ever losing

the recognition that it is as if he himself was hurt or pleased and so forth. Empathy as a

way of being according to Rogers is also a form of communication that involves

attending, listening, observing, understanding, and responding to the concerned others

with a deep respect and genuineness. Empathy involves being aware of the other’s

meta-communication through eye contact, body language, silence, tone of voice,

gestures, facial expressions, physical space, and many other methods.

Goleman frequently refers to empathy as an essential trait in people who are

emotionally intelligent. In tests with more than 7,000 people throughout the world, it
was found that those people with empathy proved to be better adjusted emotionally,

more popular, more outgoing, and perhaps not surprising – more sensitive. He also

pointed out that having the ability to understand how other people feel can help a person

in all walks of life: friendship, romance, parenting, teaching, coaching, sales, managing,

counseling, ministering, and so on. In addition, Goleman states that much evidence

testifies that people who are emotionally adept – who know and manage their feelings

well, and who read and deal effectively with other people’s feelings – are at an

advantage in any domain in life.”

Empathy is the fundamental “people skill.” Empathy is the ability to vicariously

put oneself into another person’s position and feel what he or she is feeling. This feeling

can be one of great joy or sadness. Stebnicki also affirms that it builds a relationship

that is open and honest. If facilitated appropriately, empathy can build the client’s self-

awareness, be an impetus for personal growth and change, and spark new ways of

thinking and learning. The intentional and conscious use of empathy during client-

counselor sessions appears to be integral to the helper’s way of being with the client

both verbally and nonverbally.

Empathy is not simply responding to what the other person feels for people can

never really totally understand and sense another’s pain and suffering. The underlying

premise of acting empathetically is that compassion for another human being moves a

person so deeply that he/she instinctually has a desire to help that individual. If

compassion is the true motivation to help others, then one can act compassionately

using the skills of empathy. Despite the fact that one can never totally experience the

other Person’s grief, pain or loss, it is critical that he/she forms an understanding and a

working definition of the individual’s unique emotional experiences as it relates to that

individuals life.
 Indeed, empathy is important since every person has differing perspectives. We

all experience moods, pain and hurt, joy and sadness, and we tend to be so limited when

we only see our own perspective. Without taking a moment to assess another, it is easy

to make assumptions and jump to conclusions. This often leads to misunderstandings,

bad feelings, conflict, poor morale, and even separation or divorce. People do not feel

heard or understood. When one uses empathy to understand why someone is angry or

when a child is acting out, for instance, he/she might learn that something happened at

home that is upsetting. Instead of reacting to the emotions of another or becoming

defensive, questions may be asked about their behavior or emotional state. There still

may be a need to discipline them as consequences to their behavior, but by being

empathetic first, the person feels valued and heard; therefore they will more readily

accept responsibility for their actions.

Empathy might be the missing link in families, in schools, and in workplaces.

As they grow up, kids can often be mean to each other. If empathy is taught early in life

then perhaps children would grow up being more loving and tolerant and understanding

of each other Donley. Empathy has been described in a variety of ways, such as “an

end result, a tool, a skill, a kind of communication, a listening stance, a type of

introspection, a capacity, a power, a form of perception or observation, a disposition,

an activity, or a feeling.” Nash discussed that with the need for parental care for

mammals in order to survive, grow and develop empathy, must have evolved in

mammals evidently can be traced back in mammalian evolution.

Empathy may have developed since parental care is required for the

development of all mammals and transmitted the emphatic genes to the next generation.

As social psychologist, Martin Hoffman said, “empathy” is actually the human concern

for others, the glue that makes social life possible. Hoffman concurs with Nash idea
that as early as 1981, empathy has been shown to be a result of heredity. Like

intelligence, empathy is a heritable trait but its expression or development is basically

dependent on the organism’s environment. Similar to intelligence, one’s “empathy

quotient” is the result of the interaction of nature and nurture. Empathy is wired as an

instinct in the human brain; however, due to the plasticity of the brain, empathic skills

development is influenced by environmental circumstances.

Accordingly, to be competent and effective communicator, it is essential that

professional helpers hold positive beliefs about themselves have healthy self-concept,

possess values that respect other people and cultures, are able to truly listen and

understand others, and possess the skills of empathy. The participants in the study as

professional human helpers must possess emphatic skills so that they will be effective

in their work since the presence of empathy is an important component of all therapeutic

relationships. Thus, there is a need to determine their profile as well as their level of

empathy. These data from the graduate students engaged in helping professions can be

used as bases for coming up with intervention programs in graduate education such as

the conduct of empathy development trainings, improving and or reviewing curricular

programs including career guidance and counseling.

This is in view of the fact that empathy as articulated in the counseling and

psychology literature is a skill that can be both developed and learned if facilitated by

a competent professional. (Barone, et al. 2005, as cited in Stebnicki). Therefore, it is of

primary importance that counselor education including other helping professions such

as teaching, guidance and counseling medical professions, social work, community

development worker, etc. look into how the development of empathy can be

incorporated in the pre-service education and training provided to these group of

professional human helpers.

 According to the International Council of Nurses (2004), “Poverty is a human

condition, a way of life that affects all interactions a person has with the world” (p. 5).

For decades policy makers, educators, and concerned citizens across the world have

joined forces to address this complex and pervasive problem that seems to be the

elephant in the room. Most people see the elephant and admit that it is difficult to ignore

such an all-encompassing issue, but the steps taken only slightly combat the obvious

truth that continues to go unaddressed: lower socioeconomic status tends to negatively

affect academic success.

The achievement gap in the educational setting of economically disadvantaged

and non-economically disadvantaged students is well documented. The gap is hefty and

unrelenting; this fact is recognized and widely accepted (Barton, 2003; Crooks, 1995;

Leach & Williams, 2007; Ross, Smith, Slavin, & Madden, 1997). The issue was brought

to the public forefront during the 2000 presidential campaign as candidates from both

parties vowed that if elected they would take action to close the gap (Barton). Three

days after President George W. Bush’s inauguration in January 2001, action came in

the form of the bipartisan supported No Child Left

Behind Act (NCLB). The Act’s 1,100 pages set forth requirements forcing

school systems to be accountable for all subgroups in the population, including students

recognized as coming from a low socioeconomic background. According to NCLB

legislation, all students must be performing at a proficient performance level in

mathematics, language arts, and science by the year 2014. If any subgroup fails to

progress at the expected rate, the school as a whole is considered as failing

(Federal education policy and the states, 2006). In an educational setting so

strongly focused on standards-based accountability for students in all subgroups

(Archibald, 2006), systems must not only be aware of the problems present when

students grow up in poverty, they must also be aware of and willing to implement

programs and initiatives designed to combat the problem and narrow the achievement

gap, while ensuring success for students from all economic backgrounds.

Definition of Terms

 Social Status- refers to a position one holds in a society or group.

 Scholarship- academic study or achievement; learning of a high level

 Upper Class-the social group that has the highest status in society, especially

the aristocracy.

 Middle Class- the social group between the upper and working classes,

including professional and business workers and their families.

 Lower Class- the social group that has the lowest status; the working class.

 College- an educational institution or establishment, in particular one providing

higher education or specialized professional or vocational training.

 Courses- a prescribed number of instruction periods or classes in a particular

field of study.

 Empathy- the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

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