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My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student
After fifteen years of teaching anthropology at a large university, Rebekah Nathan had become baffled by her own students. Their strange behavior—eating meals at their desks, not completing reading assignments, remaining silent through class discussions—made her feel as if she were dealing with a completely foreign culture. So Nathan decided to do what anthropologists do when confused by a different Go live with them. She enrolled as a freshman, moved into the dorm, ate in the dining hall, and took a full load of courses. And she came to understand that being a student is a pretty difficult job, too. Her discoveries about contemporary undergraduate culture are surprising and her observations are invaluable, making My Freshman Year essential reading for students, parents, faculty, and anyone interested in educational policy.
186 pages, Paperback
First published July 29, 2005
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September 1, 2025
Making sense of the undergraduate college experience is tough enough for the college undergraduates who are going through that experience at the time. How are the professors who teach said undergraduates to make sense of that experience? Rebekah Nathan offers one possible answer in her book My Freshman Year. Nathan, an anthropology professor at Northern Arizona University (according to the book's frontispiece, "Rebekah Nathan" is a pseudonym for Cathy Small), found herself at mid-career feeling unable to understand her undergraduate students -- their norms, their lifeways. Accordingly, she decided that the way to understand her undergraduate students was, in effect, to become one of them.
Becoming a student involved Nathan's enrolling as an undergraduate student at the university where she had never been anything but a professor. Doing so meant not only taking undergraduate classes but also living in the dorms, eating in the dining halls -- all of this done in an "undercover" manner, with Nathan's dorm-mates being allowed to believe that Nathan was nothing more than an unusually old first-year student.
What Nathan found during her year living and working as a first-year student was most interesting. She found, for example, that attempts at encouraging an "official" undergraduate culture, on the part of deans, resident assistants (RA's), and other formal representatives of the university, stood at variance with the students' own ways of organizing their academic and social lives.
Nathan experiences this reality quite vividly when she learns that her dorm is hosting a heavily advertised Super Bowl-watching party with free pizza. She arrives early, to get a good seat, but finds that only four other people are there! Leaving the “party” at halftime, she gets another surprise:
[A]s I wandered the floors of my dorm, I could hear the game playing from numerous rooms. On my corridor alone, where there were two open doors, I could see clusters of people in each room eating and drinking as they watched the game together on their own sizable television sets. It seemed telling to me that so many dormitory residents were watching the same game in different spaces, the great majority preferring to pass the time with a carefully chosen group of personal friends in their own private space. (p. 54)
This Super Bowl Sunday observation relates to one of the main themes of the book. In the context of a quantitative analysis of student discourse about academic matters, Nathan expresses surprise at how little time students spent actually talking about aspects of intellectual life, and concludes that within undergraduate culture, “intellectual matters” were linked with “formal areas of college life, including organized clubs and dorm programs. 'Real' college culture remained beyond the reach of university institutions and personnel, and centered on the small, ego-based network of friends that defined one's personal and social world. Academic and intellectual pursuits thus had a curiously distant relation to college life" (p. 100).
Part of what may be most interesting in this book, especially for professors in their 40's and 50's who want to understand modern undergraduates, is to be found in Nathan's insights regarding how today's undergraduates face different social and economic circumstances from those that faced the college students of past years -- e.g., rising tuition, increasing rates of student debt, and a tightening job market that causes students to focus with laser-like precision on grades as a ticket to the career paths they intend to pursue. These undergraduates, in Nathan's formulation, generally do not go to college to “find themselves,” the way an undergraduate might have done in the 1970’s. There are other things that they need to find first – like a lucrative job that will help pay off those damnable student loans.
Nathan offers a perceptive historical look at how American undergraduate life and collegiate culture have changed, and remained consistent, since the beginnings of higher education in the United States. The manner in which she recalls her second undergraduate experience is detail-rich and thought-provoking.
My chief reservation with regard to Nathan's study has to do with the decision she made to enroll as an undergraduate at her own university. This decision leads to an awkward moment later in the book when Nathan encounters a former dorm-mate who learns that Nathan was a professor at the university, "pretending" in effect to be just another undergraduate student. The student's response -- "I can't believe that....I feel fooled" (p. 167) -- brings forth the ethical issues involved in Nathan's ethnographic study. Might it have been better for Nathan to have enrolled at a university other than her own, someplace where there wouldn't be a prospect of her having to encounter former dorm-mates and have to confess that she had, after a manner, deceived them? Interesting to wonder about.
When I first read My Freshman Year, ten years ago, I was at a mid-career stage in my own college and university teaching career, a stage that might have been similar to where Nathan was when she published this book. Now, ten years after, I am at the late-career stage, having taught at four universities and three community colleges over the course of my career. I never felt as alienated from my students as Nathan seems to have done.
Throughout my career, if I had a question regarding how my students felt about any aspect of college or university life, I simply asked them to talk with me about it. If there is one thing that hasn't changed for me since I taught my first university course in the fall of 1986, it is that undergraduate students are great informants -- witty, kind, perceptive, irreverent, committed, caring, curious, and direct. They gave me hope for the future in 1986, and they give me the same hope today. I didn't need to move into a dorm to find that out.
Still, My Freshman Year makes for a striking and attention-getting study of modern American undergraduate life. The book's subtitle -- What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student -- captures well Nathan's emphasis on the understanding she gained through her ethnographic participation in the undergraduate experience. Her book provides helpful insights for any reader who is interested in what is going on among undergraduate college students across the United States of America today.
Becoming a student involved Nathan's enrolling as an undergraduate student at the university where she had never been anything but a professor. Doing so meant not only taking undergraduate classes but also living in the dorms, eating in the dining halls -- all of this done in an "undercover" manner, with Nathan's dorm-mates being allowed to believe that Nathan was nothing more than an unusually old first-year student.
What Nathan found during her year living and working as a first-year student was most interesting. She found, for example, that attempts at encouraging an "official" undergraduate culture, on the part of deans, resident assistants (RA's), and other formal representatives of the university, stood at variance with the students' own ways of organizing their academic and social lives.
Nathan experiences this reality quite vividly when she learns that her dorm is hosting a heavily advertised Super Bowl-watching party with free pizza. She arrives early, to get a good seat, but finds that only four other people are there! Leaving the “party” at halftime, she gets another surprise:
[A]s I wandered the floors of my dorm, I could hear the game playing from numerous rooms. On my corridor alone, where there were two open doors, I could see clusters of people in each room eating and drinking as they watched the game together on their own sizable television sets. It seemed telling to me that so many dormitory residents were watching the same game in different spaces, the great majority preferring to pass the time with a carefully chosen group of personal friends in their own private space. (p. 54)
This Super Bowl Sunday observation relates to one of the main themes of the book. In the context of a quantitative analysis of student discourse about academic matters, Nathan expresses surprise at how little time students spent actually talking about aspects of intellectual life, and concludes that within undergraduate culture, “intellectual matters” were linked with “formal areas of college life, including organized clubs and dorm programs. 'Real' college culture remained beyond the reach of university institutions and personnel, and centered on the small, ego-based network of friends that defined one's personal and social world. Academic and intellectual pursuits thus had a curiously distant relation to college life" (p. 100).
Part of what may be most interesting in this book, especially for professors in their 40's and 50's who want to understand modern undergraduates, is to be found in Nathan's insights regarding how today's undergraduates face different social and economic circumstances from those that faced the college students of past years -- e.g., rising tuition, increasing rates of student debt, and a tightening job market that causes students to focus with laser-like precision on grades as a ticket to the career paths they intend to pursue. These undergraduates, in Nathan's formulation, generally do not go to college to “find themselves,” the way an undergraduate might have done in the 1970’s. There are other things that they need to find first – like a lucrative job that will help pay off those damnable student loans.
Nathan offers a perceptive historical look at how American undergraduate life and collegiate culture have changed, and remained consistent, since the beginnings of higher education in the United States. The manner in which she recalls her second undergraduate experience is detail-rich and thought-provoking.
My chief reservation with regard to Nathan's study has to do with the decision she made to enroll as an undergraduate at her own university. This decision leads to an awkward moment later in the book when Nathan encounters a former dorm-mate who learns that Nathan was a professor at the university, "pretending" in effect to be just another undergraduate student. The student's response -- "I can't believe that....I feel fooled" (p. 167) -- brings forth the ethical issues involved in Nathan's ethnographic study. Might it have been better for Nathan to have enrolled at a university other than her own, someplace where there wouldn't be a prospect of her having to encounter former dorm-mates and have to confess that she had, after a manner, deceived them? Interesting to wonder about.
When I first read My Freshman Year, ten years ago, I was at a mid-career stage in my own college and university teaching career, a stage that might have been similar to where Nathan was when she published this book. Now, ten years after, I am at the late-career stage, having taught at four universities and three community colleges over the course of my career. I never felt as alienated from my students as Nathan seems to have done.
Throughout my career, if I had a question regarding how my students felt about any aspect of college or university life, I simply asked them to talk with me about it. If there is one thing that hasn't changed for me since I taught my first university course in the fall of 1986, it is that undergraduate students are great informants -- witty, kind, perceptive, irreverent, committed, caring, curious, and direct. They gave me hope for the future in 1986, and they give me the same hope today. I didn't need to move into a dorm to find that out.
Still, My Freshman Year makes for a striking and attention-getting study of modern American undergraduate life. The book's subtitle -- What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student -- captures well Nathan's emphasis on the understanding she gained through her ethnographic participation in the undergraduate experience. Her book provides helpful insights for any reader who is interested in what is going on among undergraduate college students across the United States of America today.
June 2, 2019
I read My Freshman Year when it came out (more or less), but decided to reread it, to (re)think about the age and college experience. My Freshman Year was written by Cathy Small under the pseudonym of Rebekah Nathan. As Nathan/Small was writing about her experience living in the dorms and taking freshman-level classes, writing about real students – most of whom didn't recognize that she was an anthropologist undercover studying them – her choice made sense.
Nathan/Small's task was an interesting one. Rather than talking to students about their experience as a professor, with the inherent bias to that task, she lived it (although as an outsider, as she was about 50 at the time). She attended classes, lived in the dorm, and ate cafeteria food. She interviewed students, most of whom thought she was just another student doing research. She also counted who ate lunch with whom, what was posted on dorm doors and bulletin boards, collected attendance data from faculty, etc.
In other words, Nathan/Small developed a remarkably comprehensive "insider's" view of the college experience, as students actually experience it (rather than how we remember it). Those of us working at colleges and universities often think that the classes are the most important part of time at college. Nathan/Small concludes not so.
What did Nathan/Small find?
Students value "friendliness, youth, freedom, sexiness, sociability, irreverence, fun, humor, intensity, eccentricity, lack of limits, spontaneity" – at least if you look at door art (p. 27). Classes and thinking did not show up in overt depictions of student life, except when complaining about "the stupidity of the educational bureaucracy and authority" (p. 100). In fact, when studying with a friend from her French class, she found herself following student norms in saying, "Forget that... She said it's not on the test." (p. 142).
There are two things that are important to this interaction, Nathan/Small's easy falling into the culture's norms, but also her fellow student's response: "Is that the only reason you are learning this material... for the test?" (p. 142). Clearly, students are diverse and do not all follow these norms, although it is also clear that this norm can be coercive.
This coercive aspect of undergraduate culture was clearly demonstrated in Nathan/Small's description of a demonstration she uses in her own teaching in a unit on witchcraft. She tells her students "Whatever you think about the reality of witches, ... I want you to take out a piece of paper and identify three people in the room who could be the potential witch" (p. 90). Accusations tend to converge on a few students, those who Nathan/Small would describe as "the most engaged and prepared" (p. 91). Being too noticeable in class makes one a "witch." Ugh.
The kinds of student questions that bring a faculty member near orgasm are "What does that mean?" "Is there any other way of explaining this?" Definitely not the sort of questions that Nathan/Small saw students asking (again, would break group norms). Again, breaking norms.
What about other things that confuse faculty?
Students are pulled in more and more directions. Those Easy A classes? Necessary to do everything given work, social life, and class obligations.
Why cheating? First, not as frequent as believed, but she also suggests students value "mutual aid and reciprocity over scrupulousness" (p. 128). From a student's perspective, signing other students onto class lists, sharing test questions, and working together on assignments just makes sense.
Why poor class attendance? Students must "game the system" and focus their time and energy where needed. Attendance is poorer when readings aren't on the test, attendance isn't required, classes meet early in the day or on Friday, grades depend on papers rather than tests, or classes are boring.
In sum, this was a thoughtful and creative book, one that still makes an important contribution almost 15 years after it was first published.
Nathan/Small's task was an interesting one. Rather than talking to students about their experience as a professor, with the inherent bias to that task, she lived it (although as an outsider, as she was about 50 at the time). She attended classes, lived in the dorm, and ate cafeteria food. She interviewed students, most of whom thought she was just another student doing research. She also counted who ate lunch with whom, what was posted on dorm doors and bulletin boards, collected attendance data from faculty, etc.
In other words, Nathan/Small developed a remarkably comprehensive "insider's" view of the college experience, as students actually experience it (rather than how we remember it). Those of us working at colleges and universities often think that the classes are the most important part of time at college. Nathan/Small concludes not so.
What did Nathan/Small find?
Students value "friendliness, youth, freedom, sexiness, sociability, irreverence, fun, humor, intensity, eccentricity, lack of limits, spontaneity" – at least if you look at door art (p. 27). Classes and thinking did not show up in overt depictions of student life, except when complaining about "the stupidity of the educational bureaucracy and authority" (p. 100). In fact, when studying with a friend from her French class, she found herself following student norms in saying, "Forget that... She said it's not on the test." (p. 142).
There are two things that are important to this interaction, Nathan/Small's easy falling into the culture's norms, but also her fellow student's response: "Is that the only reason you are learning this material... for the test?" (p. 142). Clearly, students are diverse and do not all follow these norms, although it is also clear that this norm can be coercive.
This coercive aspect of undergraduate culture was clearly demonstrated in Nathan/Small's description of a demonstration she uses in her own teaching in a unit on witchcraft. She tells her students "Whatever you think about the reality of witches, ... I want you to take out a piece of paper and identify three people in the room who could be the potential witch" (p. 90). Accusations tend to converge on a few students, those who Nathan/Small would describe as "the most engaged and prepared" (p. 91). Being too noticeable in class makes one a "witch." Ugh.
The kinds of student questions that bring a faculty member near orgasm are "What does that mean?" "Is there any other way of explaining this?" Definitely not the sort of questions that Nathan/Small saw students asking (again, would break group norms). Again, breaking norms.
What about other things that confuse faculty?
Students are pulled in more and more directions. Those Easy A classes? Necessary to do everything given work, social life, and class obligations.
Why cheating? First, not as frequent as believed, but she also suggests students value "mutual aid and reciprocity over scrupulousness" (p. 128). From a student's perspective, signing other students onto class lists, sharing test questions, and working together on assignments just makes sense.
Why poor class attendance? Students must "game the system" and focus their time and energy where needed. Attendance is poorer when readings aren't on the test, attendance isn't required, classes meet early in the day or on Friday, grades depend on papers rather than tests, or classes are boring.
In sum, this was a thoughtful and creative book, one that still makes an important contribution almost 15 years after it was first published.
November 13, 2007
In many ways, this book reads as a 168-page statement of the blindingly obvious. Most students are not in school because they love American literature or writing. They are not in school because they love history or anthropology or whatever subject they're studying. They are here because this is a step in 1) becoming an adult, and 2) getting a job. Some students do love the subjects professors teach, but even if they do, there are a lot of pressures bearing down on them. She actually states in the final chapter that this experience has reminded her that students have lots of other classes besides hers:
"So it always comes as a surprise to me that students appear clueless about what happened in the last class, that only a minority of them have done the reading assigned, and that almost no undergraduates ever show up for my office hours unless perhaps they are failing.
I see now what I didn't see before. In the time between my Tuesday and Thursday classes in introductory anthropology I have taught only one other class, and I have spent at least some time on Wednesday arranging my Thursday class presentation. By contrast, my students have had at least four other classes in between, maybe more, and they have completed many other reading and writing assignments in the interim, in addition, perhaps, to working a job and attending residence hall or club programs.
If they were like me as a student, they feel virtuous that they're present for class, that they remembered to bring the right notebook, and that they managed to catch a bus that has delivered them on time. When class ends at 10:50, they will be off to another bus and another class, because they have designed a schedule, just as I did as a teacher, that apportions blocks of work and free time. While I am there for office hours right after class, they are taking another class with another professor who starts right on time to discourage lateness" (136).
Can I get a resounding DUH?! This passage represents precisely why I feel like this book is flawed. Nathan may address all the questions laid out in her introduction, but she does so with this attitude that the things she describes are interesting or new--or something. Sadly, however, although this book didn't do much for me, I can see it being useful for others because clearly there are lots of teachers (and administrators) who are completely disconnected from student life and who have completely forgotten what it's like to be a student.
"So it always comes as a surprise to me that students appear clueless about what happened in the last class, that only a minority of them have done the reading assigned, and that almost no undergraduates ever show up for my office hours unless perhaps they are failing.
I see now what I didn't see before. In the time between my Tuesday and Thursday classes in introductory anthropology I have taught only one other class, and I have spent at least some time on Wednesday arranging my Thursday class presentation. By contrast, my students have had at least four other classes in between, maybe more, and they have completed many other reading and writing assignments in the interim, in addition, perhaps, to working a job and attending residence hall or club programs.
If they were like me as a student, they feel virtuous that they're present for class, that they remembered to bring the right notebook, and that they managed to catch a bus that has delivered them on time. When class ends at 10:50, they will be off to another bus and another class, because they have designed a schedule, just as I did as a teacher, that apportions blocks of work and free time. While I am there for office hours right after class, they are taking another class with another professor who starts right on time to discourage lateness" (136).
Can I get a resounding DUH?! This passage represents precisely why I feel like this book is flawed. Nathan may address all the questions laid out in her introduction, but she does so with this attitude that the things she describes are interesting or new--or something. Sadly, however, although this book didn't do much for me, I can see it being useful for others because clearly there are lots of teachers (and administrators) who are completely disconnected from student life and who have completely forgotten what it's like to be a student.
November 13, 2019
這本書給我最強烈的一個感想是，即使是跨越了廣大的太平洋，美國學生多的或許是更自由的選課、聽起來更棒的宿舍生活，然而海的那一端的美國大學生和這一頭的台灣大學生卻非常地有志一同，一樣的晝伏夜出，也都喜歡選修比較營養的課程，這些片段讀來真是教人感到異常地熟悉，人性中的「懶」似乎並沒有因東、西方的差異而忘卻了它該做的事。
從書名便可以猜到這本書想要表達的，正是一名現任教授化身為大一新生所觀察的點點滴滴。讓教授重新透過學生的身份來看待���學教育，雖然說教授們常常會說：「我們也當過學生！」，只是或許是跟不上時代的變遷，抑或是在換了位子的同時，順便也換了個腦袋，教授想的和學生要的往往有些差距，教授們常常會覺得搞不懂（或者可以說是忘記...）學生到底是在想什麼？就好比說去年我們所上研究室搬遷的時候，研究室的座位就設計得很隨便，雖然空間是研究生在用，但使用者卻沒有得到任何的徵詢，完全是由教授們一手包辦，只是所設計出來的空間真的是差強人意，也讓人不禁懷疑教授們的知識是否也只停留在課本上，離開了課堂，那些什麼辦公室的最佳配置就都被遺忘了。
另外就是，老師礙於學生在選修課上的選擇性，而給予較寬鬆的評分標準或是較少的課業負擔，以吸引學生們前來選課，這似乎也是我們在台灣的大學中常常會看到的。只是這樣的一種現象，卻也代表了認真的老師並不受到學生的歡迎，反而是樂於給予高分的怠惰老師卻可以在校園中倖存，這不成了一種「逆向選擇」。在制度上可能需要有所變革，朝向能夠鼓勵老師認真教學的方向去修正。
這本書可能還有一個額外的功能--入學指南。為了進行研究的關係，書中對於美國大學校園中實際的生活景況多所著墨，這一點或許可以提供有志出國留學的人一些幫助，從中了解到美國的大學生活中比較細碎的事務，如迎新活動、宿舍、選課等。也許可以提早思考一下該如何因應與美國學生之間的差異。
January 9, 2026
I disagree with the premise that an adult can convincingly live with college students as part of an anthropological study
July 28, 2023
When I bought this book, I expected it to be anecdotal: funny stories about a professor acting as a college student, trying to fit in, having fun with classmates, trying to figure out the college life, etc. However, the book is instead an anthropological study of college life and college students, with very little retelling of actual interactions or funny moments.
While this book wasn't the kind of entertaining I thought it would be, it's very informative, and oftentimes amusing. Nathan analyzes the college culture around her, searching for explanations for why college students do the things they do and act the ways they do (For example, why they tend not to speak in class, or why dorm-wide activities were often ignored). The back cover of the book says that it is "essential reading for students, parents, and faculty alike," but I think it goes deeper than that. Many of her observations are really more about how Americans are, not just college students. While "college students" are the focus of the book, I think her observations can easily be applied to the overall American culture.
One drawback of the book, though, is that it doesn't represent everyone (obviously). At times, she makes a point of this, saying that "One reason is..." or some other caution, but other times, it seems that she's making generalizations that shouldn't be made. While a good portion of students may do a certain thing for one selfish reason, I'm sure many of the others do the same thing, but for a non-selfish reason, and yet (either for space, or because not a large enough segment was represented) she doesn't include that. As a former college student, I found myself taking offense to some of the conclusions she drew about the typical student. Still, though, it's an interesting study of the dynamics of university life.
While this book wasn't the kind of entertaining I thought it would be, it's very informative, and oftentimes amusing. Nathan analyzes the college culture around her, searching for explanations for why college students do the things they do and act the ways they do (For example, why they tend not to speak in class, or why dorm-wide activities were often ignored). The back cover of the book says that it is "essential reading for students, parents, and faculty alike," but I think it goes deeper than that. Many of her observations are really more about how Americans are, not just college students. While "college students" are the focus of the book, I think her observations can easily be applied to the overall American culture.
One drawback of the book, though, is that it doesn't represent everyone (obviously). At times, she makes a point of this, saying that "One reason is..." or some other caution, but other times, it seems that she's making generalizations that shouldn't be made. While a good portion of students may do a certain thing for one selfish reason, I'm sure many of the others do the same thing, but for a non-selfish reason, and yet (either for space, or because not a large enough segment was represented) she doesn't include that. As a former college student, I found myself taking offense to some of the conclusions she drew about the typical student. Still, though, it's an interesting study of the dynamics of university life.
December 24, 2007
Leaving aside the question of why it didn't occur to a 50 year old anthropologist to cover her ethical bases better (what the heck was she doing in her other field sites where people were less likely to call her out on it?), this book is utterly unrevealing if you spend any time with 18-25 year olds. That age group might find it interesting just because it is about their generation and it is relatively non-judgmental, older folks who don't get kids today might find it interesting if they actually care about such things. As a college professor I found nothing in it I couldn't have written just from what I hear every day at work, as an anthropologist, I'm disappointed at the shallowness of analysis and the tossed off feel of this. Even writing for a lay audience, there's a lot more of interest that can be said about youth culture (and has been said, often by perceptive journalists). If you're curious, this can be knocked off in an afternoon. If you want something more meaty (although dated now), check out Moffat's "Coming of Age in New Jersey," Holland and Eisenhart's "Educated in Romance," or Horowitz's "Campus Life." Among more current offerings, Seaman's "Binge" has more substance and more contentious claims to chew on.
June 17, 2008
I have been reading this book for quite literally at least a year. I started reading it after I bought it (back in my basement apartment), it got lost for months behind the bed, and then got put back on the to-read shelf because it was too boring to read.
Since I am making a concerted effort to read the books I've been avoiding, I'm glad I finally finished this not-even-200-page book.
Totally unimpressed. It's theoretically an ethnography written by an anthropology professor who decides to go back to school as a freshman - living in dorms, etc. Aside from the fact that as an older woman living in a dorm she will NEVER be totally privy to the living situation, she does attend classes, conduct interviews, and try to partake of an authentic freshman year.
She did not live in a freshman dorm, but in an upperclassman dorm. She noted that there was not the 'community' feel (something she spends an entire chapter addressing) that she had expected from dorm life. At least at W&M, it was really only the freshman dorms that had an active social feel since that was the only time you were really attached at the hip to your hallmates. Since your first few weeks are spent desperately grasping at any familiarity, you end up closer to freshman dorm mates than you do to many other people. She makes the point that college 'community' is hard to establish due to the sheer amount of choice. Class schedules, clubs, jobs, and other commitments make it difficult to synchronize schedules in such a way to develop and maintain new friendships. In my experience, freshman dorms were an exception simply due to the tendency to huddle up with those same 20 girls before you reached out to other areas of the college. Perhaps some of these observations would have been different had she lived in a freshman dorm.
She does have some valuable insights into the professor/student relationship. She is in a unique position of having experienced both situations at the same university. She certainly makes some very valid observations about how students structure their work habits and schedules, and suggests some ways for professors to make their assignments more valuable - and actually get their students to DO them. I appreciated that she didn't just write off students as lazy, and she recognized some of the reasons that students end up eating in class, or not coming to office hours.
The last couple of chapters are simultaneously the most enlightening, and the most frustrating of the book. She presents her final thoughts on her experience, and makes suggestions for both students and professors. As a former student, the suggestions seemed to ring true, but I'm not sure how a professor would receive them. Her last chapter addresses her research and writing methods, and confirmed my problem with the book - while at the same time, justifying her frustrating approach.
The author seems struck by a guilty conscience while writing up her experiences. She explains that she felt that she could not identify herself, or the university, and did not feel comfortable using many of the comments and experiences due to the amount of deception involved in her situation. She did reveal her situation to several students (for reasons she explains in this chapter), as well as to anyone she formally surveyed. But much of her 'college experience' was spent in classes, in dorms, or observing in public areas. Without any sort of consent, she doesn't feel she is able to reproduce many of these comments and conversations.
While I recognize the ethical dilemma, I believe her writing really suffers for it. Little of her book reads from the point of view of a student, but instead as a removed observer. This remove is evident throughout the book, and is really why I couldn't bring myself to care much as I read it. A book written about the college experience seems like it should include more straightforward quotes as opposed to overly vague interpretations of aggregate observations.
Overall, disappointed. The book comes from a unique perspective, but doesn't seem to go far with it. I could see how some of the points made towards the end would be valuable - perhaps to professors, and much of the book might be an interesting read for parents. But as a student, I found little value. Perhaps the reverse (student as professor) would be of more value for a student's reading.
Since I am making a concerted effort to read the books I've been avoiding, I'm glad I finally finished this not-even-200-page book.
Totally unimpressed. It's theoretically an ethnography written by an anthropology professor who decides to go back to school as a freshman - living in dorms, etc. Aside from the fact that as an older woman living in a dorm she will NEVER be totally privy to the living situation, she does attend classes, conduct interviews, and try to partake of an authentic freshman year.
She did not live in a freshman dorm, but in an upperclassman dorm. She noted that there was not the 'community' feel (something she spends an entire chapter addressing) that she had expected from dorm life. At least at W&M, it was really only the freshman dorms that had an active social feel since that was the only time you were really attached at the hip to your hallmates. Since your first few weeks are spent desperately grasping at any familiarity, you end up closer to freshman dorm mates than you do to many other people. She makes the point that college 'community' is hard to establish due to the sheer amount of choice. Class schedules, clubs, jobs, and other commitments make it difficult to synchronize schedules in such a way to develop and maintain new friendships. In my experience, freshman dorms were an exception simply due to the tendency to huddle up with those same 20 girls before you reached out to other areas of the college. Perhaps some of these observations would have been different had she lived in a freshman dorm.
She does have some valuable insights into the professor/student relationship. She is in a unique position of having experienced both situations at the same university. She certainly makes some very valid observations about how students structure their work habits and schedules, and suggests some ways for professors to make their assignments more valuable - and actually get their students to DO them. I appreciated that she didn't just write off students as lazy, and she recognized some of the reasons that students end up eating in class, or not coming to office hours.
The last couple of chapters are simultaneously the most enlightening, and the most frustrating of the book. She presents her final thoughts on her experience, and makes suggestions for both students and professors. As a former student, the suggestions seemed to ring true, but I'm not sure how a professor would receive them. Her last chapter addresses her research and writing methods, and confirmed my problem with the book - while at the same time, justifying her frustrating approach.
The author seems struck by a guilty conscience while writing up her experiences. She explains that she felt that she could not identify herself, or the university, and did not feel comfortable using many of the comments and experiences due to the amount of deception involved in her situation. She did reveal her situation to several students (for reasons she explains in this chapter), as well as to anyone she formally surveyed. But much of her 'college experience' was spent in classes, in dorms, or observing in public areas. Without any sort of consent, she doesn't feel she is able to reproduce many of these comments and conversations.
While I recognize the ethical dilemma, I believe her writing really suffers for it. Little of her book reads from the point of view of a student, but instead as a removed observer. This remove is evident throughout the book, and is really why I couldn't bring myself to care much as I read it. A book written about the college experience seems like it should include more straightforward quotes as opposed to overly vague interpretations of aggregate observations.
Overall, disappointed. The book comes from a unique perspective, but doesn't seem to go far with it. I could see how some of the points made towards the end would be valuable - perhaps to professors, and much of the book might be an interesting read for parents. But as a student, I found little value. Perhaps the reverse (student as professor) would be of more value for a student's reading.
May 2, 2008
The first lesson of this book is that it is mis-publicized. It is promoted as a professor goes back to college and lives the life of a freshman and then tells all. Everything is true up until "tells all" which could more accurately be described as "writes a fairly unsurprising anthropological field study about it."
The book does have sort of a fun, novel premise, so I really had two major issues with it. First, it's not very well written - it doesn't really flow logically, there are many, many dry spots, and some of the phrasing and story-telling is just awkwardly done. Second, and more importantly, the conclusions just aren't that interesting, and because they're presented without much in the way of specific detail or observation, they're not much fun to read. Maybe it's just because I was in college not that very long ago, but things like college students are over-scheduled and skip class to make time for other activities, or college students live lives focused on individualism and fun, didn't jump off the page. It felt a lot like reading an academic article for class - the kind where you read the abstract and think "Right, obviously, who would do a study on this" and then settle in for fifty pages of telling you something you already know.
The one thing I will say for the book is that the narrator is appealing and the stories she tells about her decisions to go back to school, and her ethical considerations in making friends among the freshman and then writing about them, were interesting and well done. If the book had had more detail like this, and less removed observation, I would have liked it a lot better.
The book does have sort of a fun, novel premise, so I really had two major issues with it. First, it's not very well written - it doesn't really flow logically, there are many, many dry spots, and some of the phrasing and story-telling is just awkwardly done. Second, and more importantly, the conclusions just aren't that interesting, and because they're presented without much in the way of specific detail or observation, they're not much fun to read. Maybe it's just because I was in college not that very long ago, but things like college students are over-scheduled and skip class to make time for other activities, or college students live lives focused on individualism and fun, didn't jump off the page. It felt a lot like reading an academic article for class - the kind where you read the abstract and think "Right, obviously, who would do a study on this" and then settle in for fifty pages of telling you something you already know.
The one thing I will say for the book is that the narrator is appealing and the stories she tells about her decisions to go back to school, and her ethical considerations in making friends among the freshman and then writing about them, were interesting and well done. If the book had had more detail like this, and less removed observation, I would have liked it a lot better.
May 16, 2007
An anthropological account of a professor at a state university who used her sabbatical year to go "undercover" as a student at her university: live in the dorms, take classes, and participate in student life, in order to study what the college experience is like. As a fairly recent college graduate I found it really fascinating, and I saw in her account things that were familiar to me about myself, and familiar frustrations I had as an undergraduate about my peers. She wraps the whole thing up with a brilliant discussion of where secondary education in the US is headed, pointing to the troubling, increasing de-emphasis on the liberal arts in favor of training students to be skilled employees in service of area corporations in order to bolster local & state economies. As a former university employee, the last chapter pinpointed for me the reason for my discomfort with some of the larger cultural trends in which the the university at which I was worked was participating.
April 28, 2010
if i could give this book zero stars, i would.
nathan's account was biased and unrealistic and is mostly a middle-age account of what the hallways are like in a residence hall. anyone who considers nathan's findings as showing the true dynamics of university life has no idea what happens inside of a dorm room.
as someone who works as an administrator in higher education, i truly despised this book. the concept is great - and has been attempted in the past (see michael moffatt's coming of age in new jersey: college and american culture).
the difference between nathan and moffatt's social experiment is that moffatt was close in age to the average residence-hall-living college student. nathan was not. at the time of his experiment, moffatt appeared to be in his early twenties and faked being a transfer student. nathan did not.
not to sound ageist, but if you are a forty-year-old college student who asks a lot of questions about dreams, goals, hopes, the future and is constantly writing things down - i have serious doubts that any college-age student is going to give you truthful answers or take you seriously. you're branded a weirdo, or a narc - and are not looked at as a peer.
you become that older weird lady who lives in the residence halls. without a roommate. and isn't in anyone's classes. but who tries to engage nineteen year olds in conversation. her account was a great testament to the experience of an adult student living on campus and attempting to fit in, but not to what real college life is inside of a residence hall.
nathan dedicates an entire chapter on 'community' in her residence hall and speaks about how hard it was to find that on campus. she lived in an upperclassmen dorm, not a freshman dorm. usually in your first year you would have that transition period where you gain that sense of community (usually when you see an entire floor of students going to eat dinner at the caf together).
she writes, sounding almost shocked, about that supposed lack of community. if nathan had actually looked around at the upperclassmen that she was living next door to, she would realize that they formed that sense of community already, which is why she was on the outside. she was new. they were not. if she was able to speak with her neighbors, i am willing to bet that they would remark that they have those ties to the university.
she dedicated a large amount of space in the book to analyzing what students hung on their doors and what was on bulletin boards in the halls. the students who hung photos on their door probably didn't put as much thought into their decor as nathan did. for a large part of the book, nathan focused on the minutia rather than what life in a residence hall is like INSIDE of the residence hall rooms, rather than what they hung on their doors.
this book lacks any kind of ethics that come with a true research project. nathan told some students about her situation - and didn't tell others. the reader sees quotes and scenarios from various students, but we are not informed of which students knew and which did not.
professors and higher ed admins are no longer nineteen, no matter how hard they try. students are not yet professors, no matter how hard they try. in an academic setting, what we formerly called the average college-age student is never going to really connect with someone who wore jean shorts and a polo shirt to orientation and thought that they would fit in.
i agree with the author's notion that inside of a classroom, it can be difficult to feel connected with students. this does not mean that faculty need to move into the res halls and write terrible accounts of their observations - it is as simple as stepping outside of the classroom.
faculty should eat lunch outside of their department/office and observe what students talk about/do in the common areas of their campus. if more faculty attended campus events or spoke to their students about their lives, they could feel more "in touch" with the current generation of students. somehow this is expected of most administrators on campus but not faculty.
i have nothing against faculty, but i would really like to see a young residence hall director attempt an experiment like this and see what they note. somehow, i doubt the findings would be shocking but would be closer to the truth than nathan's account.
in closing, i don't recommend reading this book. it should not be held up as a credible body of research - nor an account of what happens on campus outside of the classroom.
nathan's account was biased and unrealistic and is mostly a middle-age account of what the hallways are like in a residence hall. anyone who considers nathan's findings as showing the true dynamics of university life has no idea what happens inside of a dorm room.
as someone who works as an administrator in higher education, i truly despised this book. the concept is great - and has been attempted in the past (see michael moffatt's coming of age in new jersey: college and american culture).
the difference between nathan and moffatt's social experiment is that moffatt was close in age to the average residence-hall-living college student. nathan was not. at the time of his experiment, moffatt appeared to be in his early twenties and faked being a transfer student. nathan did not.
not to sound ageist, but if you are a forty-year-old college student who asks a lot of questions about dreams, goals, hopes, the future and is constantly writing things down - i have serious doubts that any college-age student is going to give you truthful answers or take you seriously. you're branded a weirdo, or a narc - and are not looked at as a peer.
you become that older weird lady who lives in the residence halls. without a roommate. and isn't in anyone's classes. but who tries to engage nineteen year olds in conversation. her account was a great testament to the experience of an adult student living on campus and attempting to fit in, but not to what real college life is inside of a residence hall.
nathan dedicates an entire chapter on 'community' in her residence hall and speaks about how hard it was to find that on campus. she lived in an upperclassmen dorm, not a freshman dorm. usually in your first year you would have that transition period where you gain that sense of community (usually when you see an entire floor of students going to eat dinner at the caf together).
she writes, sounding almost shocked, about that supposed lack of community. if nathan had actually looked around at the upperclassmen that she was living next door to, she would realize that they formed that sense of community already, which is why she was on the outside. she was new. they were not. if she was able to speak with her neighbors, i am willing to bet that they would remark that they have those ties to the university.
she dedicated a large amount of space in the book to analyzing what students hung on their doors and what was on bulletin boards in the halls. the students who hung photos on their door probably didn't put as much thought into their decor as nathan did. for a large part of the book, nathan focused on the minutia rather than what life in a residence hall is like INSIDE of the residence hall rooms, rather than what they hung on their doors.
this book lacks any kind of ethics that come with a true research project. nathan told some students about her situation - and didn't tell others. the reader sees quotes and scenarios from various students, but we are not informed of which students knew and which did not.
professors and higher ed admins are no longer nineteen, no matter how hard they try. students are not yet professors, no matter how hard they try. in an academic setting, what we formerly called the average college-age student is never going to really connect with someone who wore jean shorts and a polo shirt to orientation and thought that they would fit in.
i agree with the author's notion that inside of a classroom, it can be difficult to feel connected with students. this does not mean that faculty need to move into the res halls and write terrible accounts of their observations - it is as simple as stepping outside of the classroom.
faculty should eat lunch outside of their department/office and observe what students talk about/do in the common areas of their campus. if more faculty attended campus events or spoke to their students about their lives, they could feel more "in touch" with the current generation of students. somehow this is expected of most administrators on campus but not faculty.
i have nothing against faculty, but i would really like to see a young residence hall director attempt an experiment like this and see what they note. somehow, i doubt the findings would be shocking but would be closer to the truth than nathan's account.
in closing, i don't recommend reading this book. it should not be held up as a credible body of research - nor an account of what happens on campus outside of the classroom.
November 11, 2008
About 50 pages in, my predominant thought was "Wow, this lady is really out of touch with America's youth if she thinks her observations are surprising." I also found myself thinking that while the author may be a good scholar, she really isn't much of a storyteller. The book has a very dry, academic feel to it. Fairly early on, I started skipping all paragraphs containing multiple statistics or any variants of the words "anthropology" or "ethnography," - and let me say, there were A LOT. By comparison, "Nickel and Dimed," written by a journalist, was a much more readable and entertaining account of going undercover.
David, first, thanks for the loan. Second, I agree that the chapter on international students was the most interesting. As a former international student myself - shut up, Canada IS a foreign country - I must say that more than half of my college friends were other foreigners or ABCs. (NerdBowlers accounted for the rest.)
One of the author's take-away lessons was that college is more about time-management than it is about learning the material for any one class (even if the class is in one's major). I'm sure that's a sad realization for any professor with a passion for their subject, but good time-management and prioritization skills are surely more important lessons to learn. Isn't the key to being a fulfilled person, as well as a good friend, partner or parent based on precisely that?
(Btw, if you're curious who the author really is, or what school AnyU is, that info is readily available - just Google.)
David, first, thanks for the loan. Second, I agree that the chapter on international students was the most interesting. As a former international student myself - shut up, Canada IS a foreign country - I must say that more than half of my college friends were other foreigners or ABCs. (NerdBowlers accounted for the rest.)
One of the author's take-away lessons was that college is more about time-management than it is about learning the material for any one class (even if the class is in one's major). I'm sure that's a sad realization for any professor with a passion for their subject, but good time-management and prioritization skills are surely more important lessons to learn. Isn't the key to being a fulfilled person, as well as a good friend, partner or parent based on precisely that?
(Btw, if you're curious who the author really is, or what school AnyU is, that info is readily available - just Google.)
February 24, 2008
An anthropology professor decides become an undercover incoming freshman to understand student life. I remember a big newsbreaking story when we found out that the anonymous school was Northern Arizona University (a three hour drive from where I'm writing).
The chapters about trying to motivate students .. to build a sense of community ...spoke the most to me. It's a situation in the real world too - not just universities! Since most of our social and community activities do not have deadlines, they tend to get pushed aside in the hustle-bustle of our lives. Our intentions are good but often I think our lives run us - we don't run our lives.
Sometimes, I wonder what we're all rushing around for. Given the choice, I would rather have time than money. What's the fun of having money if you have no time to enjoy it? My car is eight years old and my living room is still mostly barren .... but hey, it's 9 PM and after work, I've already took a nap, went to yoga class, made myself dinner, and now looking forward still to the best and brightest three hours of my day.
The chapters about trying to motivate students .. to build a sense of community ...spoke the most to me. It's a situation in the real world too - not just universities! Since most of our social and community activities do not have deadlines, they tend to get pushed aside in the hustle-bustle of our lives. Our intentions are good but often I think our lives run us - we don't run our lives.
Sometimes, I wonder what we're all rushing around for. Given the choice, I would rather have time than money. What's the fun of having money if you have no time to enjoy it? My car is eight years old and my living room is still mostly barren .... but hey, it's 9 PM and after work, I've already took a nap, went to yoga class, made myself dinner, and now looking forward still to the best and brightest three hours of my day.
October 4, 2022
An insightful and creative effort to comment on the college experience. She makes keen observations from both sides -- the faculty and bureaucracy that is academia, and young student perspectives. She particularly devotes space to discussions surrounding international students and cheating. I identified with much of what she said from my own college experience. Some things feel dated now (AOL messenger), but most of what she observes still applies to colleges in 2022. She rightly draws attention to the ways that activities compete for students' time, and how scheduling is a nightmare for most college students. Still, I think overall she could have made more effort to really immerse herself into college life, but also, what really can you expect from a 50 year old professor?
June 4, 2023
The kind of book that's all pitch - professor goes back to college as a freshman! - and then you find, after you sign the contract, that you've got to publish the thing.
The relevant critiques have all been made in the reviews here. Core to my concern is that, as Nathan acknowledges, she is simply, superficially much older than the other students. This fundamentally changes their relationship to each other and completely undermines the sense that this text can tell us anything about "the secret lives of freshmen." The fact that she didn't disclose the fact that she was a professor doing a study doesn't do anything to change that. Some worthwhile insights but something of a project in search of a purpose.
The relevant critiques have all been made in the reviews here. Core to my concern is that, as Nathan acknowledges, she is simply, superficially much older than the other students. This fundamentally changes their relationship to each other and completely undermines the sense that this text can tell us anything about "the secret lives of freshmen." The fact that she didn't disclose the fact that she was a professor doing a study doesn't do anything to change that. Some worthwhile insights but something of a project in search of a purpose.
June 7, 2024
this book is a little repetitive but i absolutely loved reading about the differences in perspective between professor and student and how it changed throughout her year. i was also most interested by the stories and perspectives shared by foreign students on how different the US college experience and life in general is from that of different parts of the world. it was kind of depressing though bc it made me feel a little bit doomed socially. it was also crazy just to learn about the offerings and policies of a different university(also very different size) than mine!
Read
September 25, 2018I enjoyed the chapter on community, diversity and friendships. Nathan made interesting points about ego- friendships and their connections to the lack of community in Western universities.
BUT, it wasn’t an easy book to get through and she has a pseudo-intellectual, patronizing tone at times that was hard to swallow.
BUT, it wasn’t an easy book to get through and she has a pseudo-intellectual, patronizing tone at times that was hard to swallow.
November 3, 2022
Hey look! Bridget read nonfiction outside of an academic setting! Someone give me a gold star.
This little ethnography was recommended to me by a very dear person and I’m thankful that they shared it. It almost reads like a novel: the enterprising professor masquerading as a college freshman and trying to maneuver the rollercoaster of undergraduate life. But it’s also anthropological research. So for a senior getting a Bachelor’s in anthropology, this was really interesting for me. It perhaps has given me some empathy for my professors after reading this one’s frustrations and viewpoints on college students, as well as helped me note the major and minor changes of undergrad life since 2003 and “post” pandemic.
I also appreciate that it was quick, compelling, and insightful. I forget that reading ethnography is supposed to be fun. Ultimately, it gives me a little hope for the university system and maybe eases some of my college-induced cynicism. Four stars!
This little ethnography was recommended to me by a very dear person and I’m thankful that they shared it. It almost reads like a novel: the enterprising professor masquerading as a college freshman and trying to maneuver the rollercoaster of undergraduate life. But it’s also anthropological research. So for a senior getting a Bachelor’s in anthropology, this was really interesting for me. It perhaps has given me some empathy for my professors after reading this one’s frustrations and viewpoints on college students, as well as helped me note the major and minor changes of undergrad life since 2003 and “post” pandemic.
I also appreciate that it was quick, compelling, and insightful. I forget that reading ethnography is supposed to be fun. Ultimately, it gives me a little hope for the university system and maybe eases some of my college-induced cynicism. Four stars!
October 4, 2017
Underwhelmed. Outdated. No real insights. Happier to stick with Grown and Flown blog.
March 29, 2013
Underwhelming is the best word for this book. I think she was so concerned about being a scholar that she didn't take full advantage of her own immersion (which, in the end, seemed relatively light) in the experience. (Compared to, say, Picking Up, by Robin Nagle, an anthropology of the DSNY by an author who was also a scholar who worked as a sanitation worker.) Nathan did have a few interesting things to say about the culture and context of cheating/plagiarism in college, but nothing as nuanced or interesting as My Word!, a book about plagiarism by a scholar/administrator.
I thought perhaps the most interesting and thought-provoking part of the book was her observation that college is a "rite of passage," which can be defined cross-culturally as being marked by "severance from one's normal status, entrance into a 'liminal' state where the normal rules of society are lifted, and finally reintegration into society within a new status" (146). However, she does very little with this observation in terms of the very interesting questions it raises for society and higher education professionals about what the goals of higher education should be (i.e., how this informs the "hidden curriculum") and how we might be more transparent and honest about that. She points out that such liminal experiences can be profoundly creative and transformative, helping people slip out of normal societal roles, to "catch glimpses of themselves when not embedded in structure, unleashing uncanny new visions" (146). She points out that society and its rites of passage should not be replicas of each other, but should be dialectally opposed, in creative tension. To me, this put a more sensible frame around the alcohol-soaked nature of much undergraduate life.
She also made several interesting sociological observations. Public funding for education has been falling for years; tuition at public schools has risen 26 percent since 1991 *after* inflation is taken into account. "At the same time, students constitute an increasingly less elite economic segement of society" (150). She suggests that this explains students' increasing focus on vocation and immediate acquisition of a well-paying job, as well as the increased time they spend working during college.
I thought perhaps the most interesting and thought-provoking part of the book was her observation that college is a "rite of passage," which can be defined cross-culturally as being marked by "severance from one's normal status, entrance into a 'liminal' state where the normal rules of society are lifted, and finally reintegration into society within a new status" (146). However, she does very little with this observation in terms of the very interesting questions it raises for society and higher education professionals about what the goals of higher education should be (i.e., how this informs the "hidden curriculum") and how we might be more transparent and honest about that. She points out that such liminal experiences can be profoundly creative and transformative, helping people slip out of normal societal roles, to "catch glimpses of themselves when not embedded in structure, unleashing uncanny new visions" (146). She points out that society and its rites of passage should not be replicas of each other, but should be dialectally opposed, in creative tension. To me, this put a more sensible frame around the alcohol-soaked nature of much undergraduate life.
She also made several interesting sociological observations. Public funding for education has been falling for years; tuition at public schools has risen 26 percent since 1991 *after* inflation is taken into account. "At the same time, students constitute an increasingly less elite economic segement of society" (150). She suggests that this explains students' increasing focus on vocation and immediate acquisition of a well-paying job, as well as the increased time they spend working during college.
July 3, 2012
This book says it's written by Rebekah Nathan but it's actually written by Cathy Small, a professor at Northern Arizona University, who an attempt to better understand students decided to live in the dorms for a year and learn about the culture of college students. This ethnography was written when I was a senior in high school so the freshman she talks about are only one year older than me. I really felt it was interesting to hear what she learned about students although I primarily thought about things from the students' perspective and wondered what they thought about having an older woman live in their dorms. How weird! Also, she had a private room and I think that the majority of craziness in college happened in the dorms with roommates and suitemates. She made a lot of meals in the common kitchen and, at least in my college, no one did that. Cathy recognized that she was never truly one of the students however, she became close with other students who didn't quite fit in and her stories from international students' points of view were very interesting. I would like to learn more about what college is like in other cultures. Overall, I have been recently interested in reading memoirs and this book makes me interested in reading more ethnographies too.
February 17, 2008
Quick read, very interesting. I was in college 10 years ago, but I think the most interesting part of the book was less about student culture than about the author's reactions to it-- I was really interested in the things that surprised a professor when she learned them about her students. Like the fact that what she thought was a convenient time for office hours (right before or right after class) probably wasn't, because most people scheduled their class time in solid blocks. Or just in general, that students did the minimal amount of work in many contexts because it was truly the best way to coordinate all the demands that are made of them. That students today have to factor a paying job into their schedule, which gives them less time for other things, and that students today see school as an independent experience and a path to a good job in the real world, not as a place of experiencing new ideas and learning for the sake of knowledge (she was shocked by this seemingly obvious tidbit).
Very much more pop-anthropology than memoir, but for a 5-hour read, this was totally worth it.
Very much more pop-anthropology than memoir, but for a 5-hour read, this was totally worth it.
November 29, 2008
An interesting topic--written in a pretty dry ethnography style. I guess that makes sense though since she is an anthropologist doing an ethnography of a culture. To me the problem is more in the marketing of this book. Somehow it gives the impression that it will be a fun read with some zany anecdotes and its not that at all. Nonetheless I respect the book. At first I agreed with others who felt that most of her observations were obvious to anyone who has had any contact with college culture. And while it is surprising to me what things a professor couldn't surmise without gaining the experience, I think that many of her conclusions are important, particularly those that have to do with the future directions of higher education. She also affirmed my instincts about cheating--that its not primarily caused by a decrease in moral or laziness, but a lack of incentive to do otherwise in a world that makes so many demands. Anyhow, I don't know that I recommend this as a recreational read, but I think that anyone involved in higher ed should read her research even if you think you already know what she has to say.
February 14, 2016
I first read this book when it came out ten years ago. I am teaching a grad seminar in teaching academic writing this semester, and thought it might be helpful for us to begin with a close look at the people we are here to help and teach: undergraduates.
What I admire most about this book is its focus on the experience of being a student. Many of the other readers on this list are disappointed in Nathan's failure to recount the parties and friends and romances that make up so much of college life—but for me that's her point: She wants to talk about how people manage a particular social role of being an undergraduate student.
In doing so, Nathan offers a set of useful observations of how students strategically manage their time and workload through various kinds of skimming: skipping reading when possible, lying low in class discussion, even occasionally cheating. She doesn't defend such behaviors, but in trying to describe the reasons for it, she offers faculty ways of addressing it.
What I admire most about this book is its focus on the experience of being a student. Many of the other readers on this list are disappointed in Nathan's failure to recount the parties and friends and romances that make up so much of college life—but for me that's her point: She wants to talk about how people manage a particular social role of being an undergraduate student.
In doing so, Nathan offers a set of useful observations of how students strategically manage their time and workload through various kinds of skimming: skipping reading when possible, lying low in class discussion, even occasionally cheating. She doesn't defend such behaviors, but in trying to describe the reasons for it, she offers faculty ways of addressing it.
August 4, 2007
It was a nice, quick, easy read that made some valid points. It's by an anthropology professor who enrolls as a full-time student and moves into the dorms in order to better understand student culture. A couple of her "discoveries" made me think, "well, yeah, I could have told her that." Like when she went back to being a professor with a new-found understanding that for most of her students, her class isn't the only one they're taking. Come to find out, students are really busy and a lot of their decisions are based on optimizing their time so they can sometimes sleep.
I think one sign of a good, thought-provoking book is that it makes you want to talk to the author and tell them where you agree and disagree. This book really succeeds in that respect.
But I also think that everything she accomplishes here could have easily been done with a really well-written magazine article.
I think one sign of a good, thought-provoking book is that it makes you want to talk to the author and tell them where you agree and disagree. This book really succeeds in that respect.
But I also think that everything she accomplishes here could have easily been done with a really well-written magazine article.
December 27, 2008
This would have been better as a memoir, but instead this anthropology professor does an "ethnography" of her hall mates. She spends a year living in a freshman dorm and taking classes and tries to pass it off as "research." She's fifty-something years old and shows up to freshman orientation wearing jean shorts and a polo shirt. Did she really think she was going to blend in with 18 year olds? So why live in the dorm at all? She does a very academic survey of the bulletin boards in the dorm, and an equally intelligent look at the types of photographs students put on their doors. Boring! I didn't make it any further, because it just wasn't worth it.
December 18, 2007
This was a really interesting look at freshman life, especially since it seemed pretty different from my college experience (I never stayed in the dorms, and went to a religious university). But the book was hampered by the professor's ethics. I don't think the professor was wrong in choosing to keep people anonymouse and not include overheard conversations, but those conversations would have made the book so much more interesting. Still, I liked her analysis of student views on time management, race relations, cheating, and what students really learn from college.
September 30, 2008
I skimmed this while I was at Alissa's house. Nathan (not her real name) is an anthropology professor who decided to go undercover as an entering freshman and study her students in their native habitat, so to speak. She saw a whole new perspective on their lives from what she was used to seeing from the front of the classroom. Pretty enjoyable, though she does get a little bogged down in anthro jargon occasionally. A good read for teachers and professors.
November 20, 2015
Thick reading, but such is the nature of an anthropological study.
The book raised many issues and questions that I believe should be discussed in a forum of students and university faculty in an open forum where students and faculty (at least in those discussions) are considered as peers or equals.
Teachers and professors should give Nathan's book a read.
Check out more on my blog:
https://unklethan.wordpress.com/2015/...
The book raised many issues and questions that I believe should be discussed in a forum of students and university faculty in an open forum where students and faculty (at least in those discussions) are considered as peers or equals.
Teachers and professors should give Nathan's book a read.
Check out more on my blog:
https://unklethan.wordpress.com/2015/...
December 7, 2014
I read this hoping for enlightening insight into students. Instead I confirmed much of what I already know. I think it would be a good read for university administrators who create the university initiatives based on national statistics rather than understanding the reality and expectations of an 18 year old.
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