Character Development for Underrepresented Students

Introduction

Integrating character virtues into the higher education classroom nurtures increased academic success and community engagement. For minoritized students especially, this can lead to a greater sense of resilience, empowerment, and social mobility. Developing character virtues like perseverance, teamwork, and hope can be essential in overcoming the structural barriers that underrepresented students undergo while facilitating civic engagement and leadership within their communities. In this article, I will break down the benefits of incorporating teaching civic, moral, and intellectual values in the classroom, with a special emphasis on their impact on minoritized students.

Civic Virtues and Community Engagement

Let’s start with the research on civic virtues, often defined as the qualities that support responsible citizenship and community engagement, such as empathy, integrity, and a commitment to justice. Research has shown that college attainment strongly correlates with civic engagement (Astin & Sax, 1998; Coley & Sum, 2012), and participation in racial and cultural awareness workshops enhances post-college civic involvement (Bowman, Densen, & Park, 2016). Furthermore, studies have shown that first-generation college students are less likely to engage in civic activities post-college. For instance, they are less likely to vote in elections. However, participation in study abroad experiences increases first-generation students’ voter participation (Mitic, 2019). Given the costs of studying abroad, it may not be feasible for many first-generation students to study abroad, so integrating civic virtues in the classroom may lead to higher civic engagement more equitably.

Additionally, research shows that service learning and internship experiences lead to increased academic success for underserved students. Black students and Hispanic students report significant learning gains from engaging in service-learning opportunities (Valentine et al., 2021). These results show the importance of integrating civic virtue development into higher education curricula, with a focus on a community-engaged approach, to empower minority students in social change through future civic engagement.

Moral Virtues and Resilience

Moral virtues such as love, spirituality, and self-regulation contribute to personal resilience, especially in the face of systemic inequities. Studies on Black Americans show spirituality and perseverance as key strengths that promote well-being and success despite adversity (Mattis et al., 2016). Similarly, virtues such as honesty and perseverance improve students’ ability to reflect critically on issues of social justice, as shown in a sample of college students engaging in refugee simulation experiences (Anderson et al., 2023). This shows the necessity of developing moral virtues in higher education in order to help minority students strengthen their resilience and enable them to navigate challenges that may come up post-college.

Intellectual Virtues and Academic Success

Curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking are intellectual virtues that are crucial for academic achievement and lifelong learning. Research is limited in this area in how underrepresented students specifically benefit through developing intellectual virtues. However, engagement in internships for Black and Hispanic students leads to increased academic success (Valentine et al., 2021). More studies should explore how developing intellectual virtues directly in the higher education classroom can benefit minoritized students. Community-focused and culturally-sensitive practices should tailor learning programs that align with students’ backgrounds and lived experiences.

Limitations and Recommendations

When conducting a literature review for this article, it was difficult to find studies that focused specifically on character development for underrepresented students in the higher education classroom. I was able to find the most empirical evidence for the relationship between civic engagement and civic virtues for minority students in the classroom, but the research was sparse for moral and intellectual virtues. Additional studies centered on all three virtues are necessary to explore how students from underrepresented backgrounds can benefit from character development in the higher education classroom.

Furthermore, there were not any recommendations in the literature about how we can cultivate culturally-responsive character development in the classroom. My unique positionality as a university student from an underrepresented background lends me an opportunity in this article to share my suggestions on how to cultivate character development in a higher education classroom. I would like to make it clear that this is one student’s perspective, and my viewpoints are not representative of all underrepresented students. To make conclusive claims about how character development can benefit minority students broadly, a large sample of students from a variety of backgrounds should be studied.

In my experience, a culturally-responsive classroom that values character development, begins at the relationship between the teacher and the student. Simple things like meeting a professor during office hours to talk about post-college plans and identifying character strengths, comments made on an assignment highlighting what was done well, or creating an environment within the classroom where students feel comfortable to contribute to discussion at their leisure–those are the things that can make a difference. When you come from an underrepresented background, oftentimes, you don’t see people who you look like or identify with in positions of authority, so as a result, you feel less adequate. But through developing strong character virtues, you can overcome these feelings of limitations and those are built through someone in your life who believes in you and nurtures your success which is why professors should be cognizant of the special role they play in their students’ lives. My recommendations to cultivate these skills in professors is to identify character strengths verbally or in writing when they can. It made a world of a difference when a professor commented on my final exam, discussing my perseverance despite a very difficult semester and how insightful I was. Even though it isn’t always feasible for professors to provide detailed feedback on assignments and it is easier to delegate that work to a teaching assistant, it can help with identifying and nurturing character strengths.

More broadly, I believe that professors shouldn’t require speaking participation as a grade because it can inadvertently disadvantage students from marginalized communities. Some students from cultural backgrounds are raised not to speak unless spoken to, and this practice can hurt how students view themselves. I had a professor who specifically discussed how participation and character strengths look different for everyone, whether it is intently listening to what others are discussing, sharing in smaller groups or asking questions. This professor also made it clear that students who tend to share a lot in the larger group should make space for students who might be more reluctant to share, because that may also be a prohibitor. Although I understand how participation can be used to increase engagement within the classroom, it is not always the most equitable practice. Through allowing students to share at their own pace, we were able to recognize our character strengths individually. This enabled a culturally-responsive development of character which allowed students to succeed academically without the pressure of trying to fit into a specific mold.

Conclusion

While further research is needed to fully understand the impact of character development in higher education classrooms for underrepresented students, existing data indicates that cultivating civic, moral, and intellectual virtues has positive effects for minoritized students, fostering resilience, academic success, and civic engagement. Creating more equitable opportunities for character development within the classroom itself will facilitate academic success and positive student outcomes. However, equity considerations must be central to discussions of character development in higher education, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to thrive and contribute to their communities. Institutions must recognize the diverse impacts of experiential learning and implement programs that incorporate student voice.