Nathan, Rebekah (2005). My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Rebekah Nathan, a professor at a large public institution, had been teaching for almost two decades. She was feeling increasingly disconnected from her students and was searching for a way to better understand the student culture. As an anthropologist she was trained to be observant, and it was frustrating to her that she did not feel like she was connecting with her students.

As a result she began to take a few classes outside her field and the idea for her ethnography study, My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student began to take shape. By taking on the role of a college student, she had access to a world that was not available to her as a professor. She decided to apply as a first year student and really become immersed in the world outside the classroom; live in a residence hall, participate in activities and take a full load of classes. What better way is there to understand student culture?

Research similar to this has been conducted, one example being Michael Moffatt’s book Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American Culture published in 1989. What distinguishes Nathan’s work is that she relinquished her official role with her university, created the pseudonym Rebekah Nathan, and applied as a first year student, therefore conducting her research from the perspective of a student. She went through the entire orientation process, lived in the residence hall, and enrolling in a full load of classes.

This study results in an interesting and insightful look into the lives of students. Nathan is trained as an anthropologist and conducts her research in the same way that she visited and studied villages overseas. She provides a visual description of residence life complete with insight into the importance of door decoration, flyers, jokes, photos and collages (p. 21). She explains how these rituals help to establish the student culture. Students use door displays as a way to communicate their interests, popularity, and the subcultures that they identify with.

Another important observation by the researcher was that student schedules and social circles are in flux. This is primarily a result of the many choices that students can make and when students exercise those choices they create a great deal of change. She states,

The University becomes, for individual students, an optional set of activities and a fluid set of people whose paths are ever shifting. Seen from the level of the institution, “community” is a lofty ideal but with few common activities, rituals, or even symbols to bind together its diverse inhabitants. (p.40)

Creating such a community is an important issue currently in higher education. Much of the programming is centered on connecting the student to the university community to insure retention rates. But as Nathan discovers students who value their independence are resistant to planned or required efforts at creating community. One example she discusses is a required book club experience. And although there are pressures to create such a community, the researcher found that many of these efforts although well meaning and thoughtful do often fail. She writes, “The same things that make us feel connected and protected are the things that make us feel obligated and trapped as individuals” (p. 48). This paradox is at the heart of the challenges of programming for community at the university.

The reality of community really centers on what researchers describe as “ego-centered networks” (p. 55). Students select their associates and then schedule around those selected others. There are really few open invitations. This observation provides understanding and insight regarding failed diversity efforts at universities. Students create insular networks, which are not as diverse as proponents would like. An example of this is offered by the researcher through her observations of the manner that students selected seating in the dining hall. She found that as students formed networks of dining partners “Although the networks of Caucasian students included more whites, and those of people of color more minorities, the total networks of minority students were primarily mixed” (p. 63). Nathan’s research reminds us that to build strong communities on our college campuses, administrators, faculty and staff must remain committed to addressing issues of diversity.

What follows the researcher’s observations on community and diversity is an interesting discussion of friendship especially from the viewpoint of international students. The theme of individualism runs strongly thorough an American definition of friendship. The international students describe the American definition of friendship as not being as deep or committed as their own. This was important in light of how networks were negotiated, favors were conducted and actions were reciprocated. The American students did not always follow through on promises of friendship. Relationships were often as fluid as the selection of a social group or ego group. If the student dropped out of an activity often times the ties to those people also were severed. The researcher’s observations of the international student experience were particularly informative and could be used to improve services to international students.

The most startling piece of discussion as well as the most difficult to process especially for faculty is that academic life does not appear to be very important to students. Classes and intellectual activity is just a minor part of a student’s day. “Non-class-related learning was reported as high as 90 percent for some, and few students ranked class activities as constituting more than 50 percent of what they learned in college” (p. 101). Most students stated that they learned the most from their social activities. The research revealed that classes were something to be managed. One popular “management” technique especially for first year and second year students included cheating, perhaps not outright plagiarism, but sharing answers, working together on assignments and getting help from former students (p. 124). This was probably one of the most insightful sections of the research. Nathan discusses how cheating is view as part of the “game” and she reveals that students compare cheating to stealing bases in baseball. Her research provides a look into how student view cheating, why they feel justified in doing it, as well as the fact that incidents of cheating tend to decline as students learn to manage the workload of college in their junior and senior years. The act of cheating appears to be more of a management technique than moral dilemma.

Nathan closes the book by providing the reader with her own lessons learned. It was a transformative experience for her especially when she tells the story of resuming her role as a professor the next year. Having sat in the giant classroom and become one of those in a sea of faces, she felt more empathy for those students who were juggling more than just her class material. Interestingly the experience also altered her teaching style, as well as several of her delivery methods. It is certainly a challenge to bridge the gap between faculty member and student. This book is one way to begin.

The book also includes an interesting discussion on ethnography and the ethical dilemmas faced by the researcher. This discussion is particularly helpful to those who are interested in ethics and ethnography. It is important to note that although the author did take steps to maintain the privacy of her students and school, her real identity and the school where she did her research was recently revealed.

This book is an excellent resource for individuals interested in college students, college culture, residential life, international students, ethics and ethnography.

References

Moffatt, M. (1989). Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American Culture. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Pages: 168     Price: $24.00    ISBN: 0-8014-4397-0

Reviewed by Nancy Donovan, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida