Chickering & Reisser's Vectors: Initial Thoughts

Whew! So I just finished reading about all the vectors last night but I wanted to post something about the readings before class. As I mentioned in my post after reading Ch. 1, I made a list of what I saw as my "biggest" college developmental gains, experiences and challenges, as well as my thoughts about my undergraduate college's role in supporting student development and continued reading Ch. 2-8 with this in mind. I will post these thoughts in forthcoming blog (probably tomorrow), but right now I want to give my overall view of Chickering & Reisser's vectors.

1) The vectors were extremely general with great overlap. I often felt that as I read through the book, the exact same thing had been mentioned when discussing a previous vector. I had many moments of "Didn't I just read this?" Granted, many of the vectors are interrelated and complex and lines must be drawn somewhere to define the vectors. My reason for saying the vectors were general and had great overlap was that I was reading through the chapters with my college experiences in mind and one particular experience I had was almost (but not quite) an all-vector encompassing experience. -Is this possible? Is this right? (I promise to clarify this in a future blog).

2) The actual "process" of movement among, within, and between vectors isn't discussed. The authors go through (at great length) examples that occur within vectors, nothing was carried through. I think that in addition to reading this book that has information and experiences split into vectors, it might be interesting to "follow" a single student's college experience to see what the interplay is between the vectors - what vectors are experienced when and how.

3) Role of college environment (institution type, etc.) - The more I thought about the vectors and my experience, the more I thought about how students' experiences may differ depending on the type of institution they attended. For example, I see my college as fostering development and identity exploration and perhaps not quite as focused on helping us find a job after college whereas, an institution like Johnson & Wales (self-proclaimed as “America’s Career University”) aren’t as focused on student development as they are on internships and job-linking. Stan and I discussed this – what’s better, knowing yourself and not having a job, or having a job and not knowing who you are? (Personally, I think it’s all relative. I’d like to think that one who has a strong sense of self and direction will be capable of finding meaningful employment and that one who is gainfully employed will be able to continue down their path of self-discovery.)

4) College as a context. I think it’s important to remember that college is a context for development. My interpretation of these vectors is that college is kind of the “first-pass” through at least some of the vectors. Let me explain. I think many people have some of the building blocks for these vectors before college. Then they go to college where they face a new experience and must adjust to change in many ways and on many levels. Students come out of high school and their relationships with friends and families (Chickering and Reisser mention the role of the parents several times) with preconceived notions and ideas of who they are and what they value. In college, they break these down and are able to reconstruct and re-build in several areas. However, I also think students will exit college and enter the “real world” which will once again give them cause for re-evaluation and re-examination. After all, though one may be more developed as a result of college, aren't their college experiences still preconceived notions but just now based on a new experience? Adjusting to change – whether it is moving to a new city, a new relationship, a new job, or some type of crisis may all incite further deconstruction, further rebuilding, and further growth. This led me to thoughts such as, “Must it be college?” What if someone graduates from high school, enlists in the military and goes off to bootcamp? I’m sure the experience is different from college, but I don’t think it can be denied that people will grow (in one way or another) from their experience in the military.

5) I’ll buy it. While I find the vectors to be almost too general in some aspects, I think it serves a good purpose and I can see its utility and how application of this knowledge by colleges and universities can help to promote healthy and holistic development. In fact, I think this is the way Chickering and Reisser’s vectors were intended to be used. I do not think they wanted their model to be the DSM-IV of college student development upon which you are to “diagnose” development on a scale. I think they wanted it to serve as a guide for institutions and administrators to use and show examples of how complex student development is, and that there is something that can be done to guide students down their own developmental pathways. In this aspect, I think it is and can be quite effective.