"The Student Learning and Development competency area addresses the concepts and principles of student development and learning theory" (ACPA/NASPA, 2015, p. 32). To break it down more, it addresses a professional's ability to comprehend and apply these theories to real-life situations that might be or are experienced. 

​

With so many theories, however, it’s understandable that not every theory applies to every student we come across, or fit perfectly. Students, and humans as a whole, are not meant to be put into neat little boxes. Just because Cass's (1979) sample size of gays and lesbians in Australia showed certain developmental signs, does not mean that gays and lesbians across the world show these same signs. Even Cass (1983-1984) recognized this: "[she] cautioned that not all gays and lesbians progress through all the stages, stressing that individuals make choices and play an active role in the development of their identities" (Evans, Fourney, Guido, Patten & Renn, 2010, p. 308). 

​

Knowing the strengths and the limitations of applying theory to practice is something I have made sure to do. As I said, humans are not meant to be put into neat little boxes. I've made sure to keep that in mind when working with students. A student may exemplify phase 2 of Baxter Magolda's self-authorship theory when they come to me and vent their struggles about their parents wanting them to major in mechanical engineering when they'd prefer to study brain and cognitive sciences, but that doesn't mean I'm going to say "You're stuck at a crossroads, but it's time to become the author of your own life!" One, that's a weird thing to say to someone, and two, they could have already made up their mind about changing their major, and were looking to just complain about it and possibly ask for advice on how to break the news.

​

The theories I rely on the most to work effectively with students are identity development theories. Particularly in college, identities such as race, gender, sexuality, religious belief, and others play a major role in how we develop. A white, cisgendered woman will not develop in the same way a Latinx non-binary individual will. These and other identities are recognized for the important role they play in our understanding of identity dimensions (Evans et al., 2010). 

​

In particular, racial identity is often something that plays a large part in the development of students today. Wijeyesinghe and Jackson (2012) wrote that, when viewing racial identity development from an intersectional perspective, it "is seen as complex and holistic, influenced by specific historical and social contexts, and framed by the dynamics of social power and privilege" (p. 3). To better understand that statement, first it helps to have an understanding of intersectional theory, which "maintains that we have many social identities with simultaneously interact and affect our experiences of power and privilege" (Wijeyesinghe & Jackson, 2012, p. 217). Essentially, when noting that all of our social identities combine, we each have varying degrees of privilege and that can affect how we view the world. Knowing how these social contexts influence our students, we can better help them navigate the developmental period that college is.

​

Another identity that can play a major role is mental health. Personally, I identify as having an invisible disability - major depression and anxiety. This has affected me since I was a child, though I was not formally diagnosed until college. In my Theories of College Student Development course, classmates and I were tasked with developing our own theory, and we chose to focus on the identity development of Bipolar students. Below, you'll find our Prezi, which explains more about Bipolar Disorder and how that can affect someone's entire life. I believe that having an understanding of the kinds of mental disorders that our students might struggle with is incredibly important - it will allow us to better serve them and know the kind of struggles they might face. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

As I mentioned, I struggle with major depression and anxiety, and that has affected my entire life and how I've come to be the person I am today. Like everyone else, though, I have many intersectional identities that have also influenced my life. And while some (meaning me) like or liked to believe that undergraduate was the end of the developmental journey, I have learned that this is not the case through my own experience. As we grow and learn, our life experiences and knowledge can have an effect on who we are. Being able to articulate one’s own developmental journey in relation to formal theories is a foundational outcome of this competency. 

​

In my Theories of College Student Development course, we were tasked with creating our own theory that applied to

our own life, and explaining which theories influenced us. To the right, you'll find the PDF version of my paper, where I

described my own life in a series of fake newspaper articles. On page 27, I explain that Chickering, Gilligan's Moral

Development, and Astin's Involvement Theory influenced my personal theory. I think that it is important to note that

this paper was written almost two years ago, at the very beginning of my graduate coursework. My identity has since

continued to evolve, particularly in terms of gender identity.

​

Two years ago, I identified as a woman because I believed that was the only option. I was not a man, I knew that much - and yet, for me, "girl" and "woman" felt like arbitrary labels applied to me, and I hated everything about them. They did not define me, and yet to the rest of the world they did (and in many cases, still do). Unfortunately, Transgender Identity Development is still not at all where it should be, as the majority of it comes from the clinical perspective (Evans et al., 2010).

 

That said, my experience identifies with what Z Nicolazzo (2016) defines as compulsory heterogenderism. Based on the term compulsory heterosexuality, compulsory heterogenderism is a way to explain how "gender identities and sexualities were consistently understood in and through each other" (p. 76). In Nicolazzo's study, ze explains that for students participating in the study, nontrans* individuals could only make sense of the participants' gender through sexuality. One explains that it was easier for them to identify as a lesbian for a time, because it was the only way others would understand.

​

All that said, I just want to reiterate that people are not meant to be in boxes. Each person has their own individual, unique life and just because they exhibit some signs of some developmental theories does not mean that they are the perfect example of that theory. I go into each of my interactions with students knowing that I can use my theoretical background as a method of informing my interactions, but I refuse to put my students in a box, because I know I would hate being put in one myself.

​

References

​

• ACPA/NASPA. (2015). Professional Competency Areas for Student Affairs Educators.

• Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F. M., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (2010). Student Development in College (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

• Nicolazzo, Z. (2016). Trans* In College: transgender students' strategies for navigating campus life and the institutional politics of inclusion. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

• Wijeyesinghe, C. L., & Jackson, B. W. (2012). New perspectives on racial identity development (2nd ed.). New York, NY: New York University Press.