Chapter 4. A Quantitative Representation (and Explanation) of Exceptional Academic Achievement Achievement
4.3 Research Participants’ Responses to the Findings from Phase 1
4.3.2 Race and gender
Explanations pertaining to the relatively decreased odds of exceptional academic achievement for African female students were offered in two of the three focus group discussions.
Explanations for these decreased odds arose mostly from the African male focus group participants, who suggested that African female students were probably less likely to excel because of their relationships with men. Some of the male focus group discussion participants agreed that African female students’ relationships with men tended to have adverse
consequences on their academic performance. Mzolisi remarked, “Our sisters, they get pregnant and go back home” (Mzolisi, FGD 1, 317), highlighting what he perceived as a high incidence of pregnancy among African female students, and the subsequent need for them to “go back home.”
Although there may be a number of reasons why African female students need to desist from continuing their studies and return home after falling pregnant, it was implied from Mzolisi’s comment that the impact of pregnancy on African female students studying and academic achievement and progression could be detrimental. When another focus group participant rationalised that perhaps there were more Africans at UKZN, and so pregnancy in African female students was logically more prevalent and noticeable, another participant contested that
“African people. We do those things! They do fall pregnant more. Even if they reduce the number and increase whites, I think we still fall pregnant more!” (Sindi, FGD 1, 363). In closing
60 Underscored text within a verbatim transcription denotes stress or emphasis as indicated by the
speaker’s tone, pitch, or expression (see Appendix 15 for a description of the transcription symbols used).
61 A dot in parentheses indicates a gap in conversation that the researcher assessed as not being adequately catered for via usual punctuation. The length of these gaps is usually between one and three seconds (see Appendix 15).
the discussion on the issue of pregnancy in African female students, Mzolisi (FGD 1, 405) reiterated, “Our sisters they’re moving in too much with the guys.” By “moving in”, I suggest that Mzolisi was referring to associating with and being involved with men, rather than physically moving in to shared accommodation.
The presentation of the findings from Phase 1 to the focus group participants also implied that on average, female students (when not stratified by race) academically outperformed male students.
In response to this, Lethiwe explored the possibility that women were “more focused in their studies [also suggesting that] they can multitask better than guys” (Lethiwe, FGD 2, 168).
Nqobile agreed with Lethiwe saying, “I think women are strong, when it comes to coping with stress. But ja62, what I can say is that we can multitask” (Nqobile, FGD 2, 173). Lethiwe and Nqobile indirectly referred to three study strategies (i.e., focus, coping with stress, and
multitasking) within their contributions to the focus group discussions. They perceived that these characteristics may assist female students to excel academically, and Lethiwe later reinforced this with reference to her perception that, “Females have the drive to perform better” (Lethiwe, FGD 2, 254). In further discussing what they perceived as strong feminine characteristics that may enhance academic achievement in female students, Lethiwe and Nqobile also introduced a historical dimension to the discussion. In elaborating on female students’ focus, multitasking, and stress-coping abilities, Nqobile went on to say,
… looking at my background, my mother’s background, my grandmother’s background. They were not exposed to this stuff as women. They were put below. So I’m given this opportunity to come to university, to do well (.) to focus on here (.) the academic. (Nqobile, FGD 2, 174)63
Nqobile’s latter comment links and contrasts two constructs. In relaying a personal and study strategy (i.e., focus) that she attributes to female students, she simultaneously contrasted this with previous generations of women being oppressed (“put below”), and not having the
62 “Ja” is a common South African expression for “yes”
(http://www.southafrica.info/travel/advice/saenglish.htm#.Ur1B8vuzIpo).
63 Where research participants’ own words are included and these exceed a 40-word count, this has been distinguished via double indentation and single spacing.
opportunity to focus on higher education studies. As identified above (see subsection 4.3.1), Lethiwe concurred with the notion that women excel today as a reaction against being denied opportunities in the past. She suggested that, “…now with the access to education and everything that they [women] can do, they are more driven and want to succeed” (Lethiwe, FGD 2, 256).
Participants in the third (Howard College) focus group discussion did not seem to respond to the invitation to explain why the findings from Phase 1 positioned African female students as the least likely to excel academically when compared to white female students. In fact, when referring to African female students whom he studied with, Bongane indicated,
…I’m studying with older [African] females who are married, and I’ve been inspired by them. They’ve also been getting merit certificates since our first year and I’m quite (.) my experience, it’s contrary to this [the Phase 1 results]. We’ve been competing with them for the past years. (Bongane, FGD 3, 51)
Although also referring to their age and marital status (“older females who are married”), Bongane nonetheless questioned the findings from Phase 1 of the study, offering his experience as being different from these findings.
The most striking finding from the logistic regression model was that female students in general outperformed their male counterparts at the exceptional level; however, when stratified
according to race, this advantage did not hold for African female students. In responding to this finding, the focus group participants offered a layered explanation and interpretation. In
particular, they brought to the fore their perceived relationship between “early” pregnancy in African female students and the effect this has on the level of their educational achievement. In contrast, explanations were also offered as to how and why female students in general managed to outperform male students. For example, several characteristics (e.g., capacity to multitask and coping with stress) were attributed to women by the focus group participants, and identified as possible reasons why female students excel. In addition, some of the female focus group
participants highlighted the drive that they had to excel as being grounded in their maternal and family histories. It was explained that they realised they had more educational and career
opportunities than their mothers and grandmothers did, and so did not want to waste these opportunities with mediocre performance or through failure.
The focus group participants provided several explanations as to why they perceived white students (regardless of gender) as being at a relative advantage when it came to exceptional academic achievement. Although this advantage was not explicitly stated when the findings from Phase 1 were presented to the participants, it was probably inferred via the use of white female students as the reference group for the logistic regression, and white male students having the next closest odds of exceptional academic achievement in relation to the reference group.
The focus group participants perceived that white students had “an advantage when it comes to resources” (Lethiwe, FGD 2, 138). Lethiwe further clarified that by resources she meant “having people to help you when it comes to understanding something that you can’t grasp at school.”
Although Khulekani and Nqobile identified that white students also appeared to have more financial resources (and could therefore buy relevant study aids such as laptops and textbooks), they also focused on the “people” resources referred to by Lethiwe above. Khulekani remarked,
“White families; their background is informed by being educated, so there is that support which comes from their families” (Khulekani, FGD 1, 314). Similarly, it was identified that familial support is very important while studying, and this was linked to white students by virtue of “the fact that their [white students’] parents are educated” (Nqobile, FGD 2, 155). Nqobile went on to explain her experience where, “Even if you [an African student] call at home, they don’t
understand what you are talking about; this academic thing of yours. Our parents are not
educated. If they [white students] talk to their parents, there is this relationship” (Nqobile, FGD 2, 157).