Models of minority college-going and retention: Cultural integrity versus cultural suicide

This article maintains that Tinto's theory of college student retention mis ses the mark for minority students. With its implicit suggestions that such students must assimilate into the cultural mainstream and abandon their et hnic identities to succeed on predominantly White campuses, Tinto's framewo rk is faulted not only for overlooking the history of ethnic oppression and discrimination in the U.S. but also for being theoretically flawed. An alt ernate model based on cultural integrity and Bourdieu's notions of cultural capital and habitus is delineated. A program that instills these qualities in inner-city Black and Hispanic adolescents as they prepare for college i s described.