The Hidden Curriculum: First Generation Students at Legacy Universities

by Rachel Gable

A revealing look at the experiences of first generation students on elite campuses and the hidden curriculum they must master in order to succeed

College has long been viewed as an opportunity for advancement and mobility for talented students regardless of background. Yet for first generation students, elite universities can often seem like bastions of privilege, with unspoken academic norms and social rules. The Hidden Curriculum draws on more than one hundred in-depth interviews with students at Harvard and Georgetown to offer vital lessons about the challenges of being the first in the family to go to college, while also providing invaluable insights into the hurdles that all undergraduates face.

As Rachel Gable follows two cohorts of first generation students and their continuing generation peers, she discovers surprising similarities as well as striking differences in their college experiences. She reveals how the hidden curriculum at legacy universities often catches first generation students off guard, and poignantly describes the disorienting encounters on campus that confound them and threaten to derail their success. Gable shows how first-gens are as varied as any other demographic group, and urges universities to make the most of the diverse perspectives and insights these talented students have to offer.

The Hidden Curriculum gives essential guidance on the critical questions that university leaders need to consider as they strive to support first generation students on campus, and demonstrates how universities can balance historical legacies and elite status with practices and policies that are equitable and inclusive for all students.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

264 pages, Paperback

Published July 26, 2022

Reviews

[Leah]

A productive discussion of the experiences of first generation and continuing generation students at elite universities. This book highlights the heterogeneity of the term 'first generation' and prompts the reader to consider how we might move forward in the future to better identify students that need extra assistance. In the last chapter, the author suggests ideas to administrators of universities to better address challenges faced by first generation students, which I thought had potential to be high impact. However, many of these suggestions would require funding, ranging from small to large amounts. I think inclusion of ways to fund these ideas would make the suggestions in this book actionable.

[Mackenzie]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. As a first-gen college graduate, now first-gen graduate student who also works with the first-gen population on a college campus, this book gave fantastic insights into the unique challenges that come with being a student in this demographic. A must read for university professionals who work with students.

[Jack]

This book is really interesting it poses a lot of questions that I’m unsure have any good answers. How do you protect the educational floor of the whole while also allowing room for the gifted to achieve their potential?

[sam]

sorry to dnf this one, it's actually very good so far and quite interesting and i'd like to come back to it. i'm just already reading too much academic text rn. maybe one day!

[Christy]

Solid sociological exploration of first-gen college students at elite universities and the unique position they are in