Reader Reactions

Theory and the School-to- Work Transition: Are the Recommendations Suitable for Cultural Minorities?

Duane Brown

The special June 1999 issue of The Career Development Quarterly that dealt with school-to-work transitions was an admirable attempt to link theory to practice. However, both the theories used and the practices suggested failed to take into account the special concerns of cultural minorities. Suggestions for improving theory and practice to make them more culturally sensitive are made in this reaction.

The June 1999 issue of The Career Development Quarterly addressed an important issue, applying career development theory to the school- to-work-transition (STWT). The result was a highly readable and in many ways useful issue of the journal. Articles by Lent, Hackett, and Brown (1999), Krumboltz and Worthington (1999), Savickas (1999), and Swanson and Fouad (1999) showed how social cognitive career theory (SCCT), Krumboltz’s (1996) learning theory, Super’s developmental theory (Super, 1990), and the trait-and-factor theo- ries of Holland (1997) and Dawis (1996) can be applied to explaining the phenomenon involved in the STWT. What prompted my reac- tion regarding ths article was the failure of the authors to consider in their discussions the issues involved in facilitating the STWT of cultural minorities. In the Introduction to the issue, Lent and Worthington (1999) did mention the criticisms that career develop- ment theories are insensitive to contextual issues such as socioeco- nomic status and culture, but they seem to have taken the position that current theories may have overcome these criticisms. I n addi- tion, Lent, Hackett, and Brown (1999) make the now obligatory recommendation that researchers need to study the issues involved

Duane Brown is aprofessor in the School of Education at the Uni- versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Correspondence regard- ing this article should be sent to Duane Brown, CB #3500, UNC- CH, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (e-mail: dbrown4@email.unc.edu).

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in the STWT of many groups including racial minorities. However, career development researchers have learned much about providing career development services, including career counseling, to cul- tural and ethnic minorities. This information should have been in- cluded in this special issue. Moreover, some of what researchers have learned has implications for career development theories- implications that have not yet been incorporated into these theories. Both theoretical and practical issues relating to the STWT of cul- tural and ethnic minorities are discussed in this reaction.

ARE CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORIES CULTURALLY SENSITIVE?

As just noted, Lent and Worthington (1999) seem to defend the cultural sensitivity of current theories of career development. They say, “Although such criticisms have been historically well-taken, they tend to minimize the potential of recent efforts to revise old and develop new theories that account for the complex interplay between developmental, contextual, learning, and cognitive in- fluences in the career development process” (pp. 293-294). Of the theories discussed in the special issue on STWT, only one, SCCT, qualifies as a recent theory. Holland’s (1997) latest revision does little but restate and clarify his earlier positions and makes few references to the importance of culture, race, and ethnicity in the career choice and development process. In fact, his first proposi- tion implies that i n this country there is one culture. He stated, “In our culture [italics added], most persons can be categorized as one of six personality types” (Holland, 1997, p. 2). Nowhere in the third edition of Holland’s theory is there a n in-depth consid- eration of the possibility that culture, race, or ethnicity may in- fluence career decision making or satisfaction. The same can be said for the other trait-and-factor theory used as a potential theo- retical base for explaining STWT, the theory of Work Adjust- ment (Dawis, 1996). Swanson and Fouad‘s (1999) conclusion that one of the assumptions underlying trait-and-factor theory is that “individuals seek out environments that are congruent with their characteristics” (p. 339) is accurate. It is also illustrative of how culturally insensitive trait-and-factor theories are because they focus on individuals who prefer independent decision-making styles. Leong (1991) found that Chinese American college students pre- ferred a dependent decision-making style. If students are depen- dent decision makers, someone instead of the student will be match- ing the person with the environment, that is, making the deci- sion. Super (1984, 1990) struggled with the potential role of race, culture, and ethnicity in the career development process, both because he was concerned about it and because he was asked to do so as he drafted his contributions to the first and second edi- tions of Career Choice and Development. In 1990, Super concluded, “The applicability of current data on career maturity to ethnic minorities has been looked into but is still in need of further study” (p. 235). Although Savickas (1999) seemed to conclude that

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Super’s developmental theory can serve as theoretical underpin- ning for STWT, it is unclear what Super’s position might be on this matter.

The article by Krumboltz and Worthington (1999) in the special issue linking career development theory to STWT was not grounded in Krumboltz’s (1979) theory of career choice. Rather the article was based on Krumboltz’s (1996) learning theory of career counsel- ing. Neither the theory nor the article written for the special issue (Krumboltz & Worthington, 1999) incorporates the recommenda- tions regarding culturally sensitive counsehg advanced by authorities in the field (e.g., Sue & Sue, 1990). Finally, the SCCT theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1996) was used as the basis for their article by these authors. Lent, Hackett, and Brown (1999) have posited that race and ethnicity are important in the career development process in that they influence the individual’s learning opportunities as they interact with sources of efficacy information. However, their dis- cussion of the role of self-efficacy expectations and goals leaves little doubt that their theory is based on the assumption that the indi- vidual will act independently in the decision-making process. For example, Lent, Hackett, and Brown (1999, p. 300) stated, “Goal- setting is a critical mechanism through which people exercise per- sonal control or agency.” As was noted earlier, not all students opt to exercise personal control. One question unanswered by SCCT along with many others is “What is the nature of the career development process if the student holds a collective social value and chooses a dependent approach to decision making?” I would add that although SCCT does not seem to provide a satisfactory answer to this ques- tion, neither do the other theories that were used as a basis for the articles in the special issue. Are theories of career development that were used by the authors

of the articles in the special issue culturally sensitive? I do not be- lieve that they are. If this assumption is accepted, the inevitable conclusion is that the recommendations for practice regarding fa- cilitating STWT advanced by the authors of the major articles may need to be redrafted to some degree to fit students from ethnic and cultural backgrounds other than European American.

CULTURALLY S ENS ITlVE STRATEGIES FOR FACILITATING STWT As I stated at the outset, the special issue linking STWT and career development theories contains many excellent ideas about practice. However, the list of suggestions needs to be broadened and in many instances tailored specifically to minority students. One obvious suggestion is that language issues should be given primary consid- eration when dealing with minority clients. Career counselors have long been concerned about issues such as the reading level of tests and inventories, but language issues in the provision of services to facilitate STWT go far beyond those involved in reading level (Isaacson & Brown, 2000). Concerns about language should extend to factors such as students’ ability to communicate in the workplace, the in-

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fluence that occupational stereotypes may have on the results of instruments that are used to assess variables such as Holland’s (1997) personality types, and the potentially deleterious impact that poor proficiency in the use of the English language may have on the results of employment screening devices such as tests and inter- view behavior. Career counselors may need to become advocates for students who have the potential to make the successful school-to- work transition but who lack the ability to communicate that po- tential. They will most certainly have to adapt career development assessment strategies to the language and worldviews of students (Hartung et al., 1998; Ibrahim, Ohnishi, & Wilson, 1994; Leong & Hartung, 1997). Contrary to what Savickas (1999) suggested, ca- reer counselors cannot use instruments developed using samples of White middle-class students to measure Super’s constructs when dealing with students from different cultures (Hartung, et al., 1998).

Perhaps no issue in facilitating the STWT of culturally different students is more important than their use of the English language. However, the use of appropriate intercultural communication style is another important concern, particularly for counselors who en- gage in cross-cultural career counseling. Linguists have documented important differences among the cultures in both verbal and non- verbal communication. Rapidity of speech, verbal expressiveness, use of interpersonal space, tolerances for silence, and many other variables differ across cultures. I t is the counselor’s responsibility to understand and master the rules of intercultural communication (Okun, Fried, & Okun, 1999). Career counselors must also be sensi- tive to issues relating to self-disclosure that vary tremendously across cultures if they are to establish viable relationships with students (Sue & Sue, 1990). Krumboltz and Worthngton’s (1999) failure to take cultural differences in communication style and language into account in their recommendations regarding career counseling is a major omission. In the second section of this article, I suggested that the career

development theories used in the special issue on fachtating STWT assume that people will act independently. This position is consis- tent with the Eurocentric social value of individualism, whch holds that the individual is the most important social unit. However, it is likely that many cultural minorities subscribe to a collective social value and as a result endorse the idea that the group is the most important social unit (Carter, 1991). Hartung et al. (1998) and Ibrahim e t al. (1994) stressed the importance of ascertaining the social val- ues of individuals who are receiving career development services. Although there are many reasons for determining students’ social val- ues, one may be more salient than others (Isaacson & Brown, 2000). If career counselors are to facilitate the career decision-making process, it is essential that they first determine who the decision-maker will be. The parents or family members of students who hold a collective social value are likely to play a significant role in these students’ career choices. At the very least, the career decision is likely to be mutually agreed on by students and parents in these situations. Career counselors must be aware of this likelihood and make con-

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certed efforts to involve family members in STWT activities. In ad- dition, if students hold a collective social value, it has been sug- gested, but not empirically demonstrated, that some of these stu- dents are more likely to benefit from group procedures than from individual approaches (Herring, 1996).

Students’ social values are not the only cultural values that may influence STWT. Values regarding time, activity, self-control, and one’s relationship to nature may have important implications for designing activities to facilitate STWT (Ibrahun et al., 1994; Isaacson & Brown, 2000). For example, Savickas (1991) observed that suc- cess in the career development process requires a future orienta- tion, a cultural value not shared by all students (Carter, 1991).

CONCLUSION

Herr (1999) and Blustein (1999), two of those who reacted to the theory-based articles on STWT, raised questions regarding the ad- equacy of the theories that were used by the individuals who authored the major articles listed in the introduction to this article. Both con- cluded that the theories have major shortcomings that need to be addressed, and Blustein cautioned against generalizing extensively &om theories developed in the past to current students and contexts. Blustein and Herr recommended that theory building proceed by including the experiences of work-bound youth as sources of infor- mation. Herr concluded his remarks by declaring rather emphati- cally that the theories that were presented were not up to the task of explaining STWT. I would concur with the observations and sugges- tions made by Blustein and Herr. However, I would also suggest that in the future both career development theorizing and practice need to be founded on culturally sensitive constructs and practices.

REFERENCES

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