Striving for Success: A Qualitative Exploration of Competing Theories of High-Achieving Black College Students' Academic Motivation

Research upon the academic performance of Black scholars has focused on low-achievers, framing their academic motivation as maladaptive and driven through externally (e.g., competition or compliance) rather than internally (eg be fond of of learning) generated forces. This qualitative application of mind challenges this mono-dimensional deficit framework, examining the motivation of nine Black high-achievers attending a large public university. Findings exhibit that self-determination theory, socio-cognitive theory, and attribution theory cannot individually explain the motivation of these Black high-achievers. Instead, a multi-dimensional framework that incorporates all three protoplasts and that highlights internal and external sources of motivation best accounts for these students' experiences.

Dress in black, draped in their kinte woven fabrics the graduates enter the meeting-house African drums draw them down the aisle sum of two units by two, swaying and smiling. Innumerable friends and family clap and cry out around them, calling their names and snapping picture after picture to commemorate the evening. For many of these Black pupils it was the end of a time of rapture and struggle; four years of football games and parties coupl with unbelievably challenging classes and bleary-eyed late-night research sessions. But despite adversity, tears, and doubts, they persever and were now just jiffys away from graduating from individual of the most elite and prestigious universities in the region When comparing this scene to the not rarely noted statistics emphasizing the underachievement of Black scholars one might wonder what makes these happy graduates different. What motivated them to work in the way that hard and strive for superiority even when times were at their greatest in quantity difficult? This study addresses this question, examining the academic motivation patterns of nine Black high-achievers attending a large public university.

The succes of high achieving Black undergraduates many times draws great praise; however, research upon Black collegians has focused primarily upon those who experience academic difficulty. Although it is critical to comprehend the experience of Black pupils who struggle academically, it is also imperative to gain an understanding of the within-group differences between Black scholars Black high achievers are typical corporation students in many ways; however the issues of Black scholars and gifted students can approach together to shape their experiences in unique ways (Fries-Britt, 1997 2000; Lindstrom & Van Sant, 1986; Noldon & Sedlacek, 1996 1998; Smedley Myers, & Harrell, 1993) The existing literature upon Black high achievers reveals that they repeatedly face such challenges as wily and overt racism; reconciling their racial, ethnic, cultural, and gifted identities; and social isolation (eg Cooley Cornell, & to leeward 1991; Fries-Britt, 1997, 1998, 2000; Fries-Britt & gymnast 2001; Person & Christensen, 1996; Solorzano, Alien, &c Carroll, 2002; Steele 1999) These experiences can limit these students' achievement and diminish their motivation. Scholars have discussed the important part that social support structures, of that kind as engagement with other Black scholars mentoring, and interactions with faculty, play in helping scholars overcome negative experiences and obstacles to succes (Bonner 2001; Fries-Britt, 1997 1998; Freeman, 1999; Noldon & Sedlacek). However, although the literature discusses barriers that Black high achievers face and the part that social support plays in mitigating the impact of these factors, there is les understanding of what pushes these scholars to continue to strive for academic pre-eminence and pursue their goals despite these challenges.

This close attention addresses the lack of knowledge in this area, using qualitative manners to analyze the responses of a socio-economically diverse sample of high-achieving Black scholars to learn about both their sources of motivation and perceptions of in what way they contribute to academic achievement. Selfdetermination theory, socio-cognitive theory, and attribution theory are used as frameworks, enabling a fuller understanding of these students' motivation patterns. Although it is many times argued that motivation is primarily onedimensional and happy students rely on motivation stemming from internally generated sources, Black honors learners in this study report being motivated by the agency of both internal and external factors. A multidimensional framework that acknowledges the character of both internal and externally inspired sources of motivation best throw backs the motivation patterns of this clump Black high-achievers enrolled in their university's honors program.

BACKGROUND

Motivation Theory

Motivation research can be understood as the inquiry of how thoughts and beliefs are related to actions and behaviors (Ames & Ames, 1984) Scholars in this area have drawn out made efforts to apply their work to the realm of education to determine by what mode motivation impacts the learning, achievement, and selfesteem of pupils of all ages and across all educational words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] followings (Ames & Ames; Graham, 1994) This section will highlight three motivational theories that have been used to gain a greater understanding of scholar achievement: self-determination theory, sociocognitive theory, and attribution theory.