My
Freshman Year: What A Professor Learned by Becoming A Student by Rebekah
Nathan (2005).
This book is one professor’s report of the
difficulties and frustrations in understanding the thoughts and behaviors of
college students. Rebekah Nathan, an
anthropology professor in her fifties, decided to become a college student to
better understand the college experience and culture of students. The professor observed the various
circumstances and experiences of students such as living in the dormitory, attending
the classes, participating campus activities. As a participant observer, the professor was
able to have a more in-depth analysis through the direct, hands on experiences
as a student. The study broadened her
understanding of students’ behaviors and also provided practical advice or
solutions that addressed the specific needs of students.
First, her diverse research method skills used to
conduct this study is impressive. This
book is based on her long-term personal relationship with college students as a
freshman through her anthropological lens (in analysis of the undergraduate
life-both her own and others’-over the course of that year). She conducted forty formal interviews with
American and international students, two focus groups (one with freshmen and
one with seniors), and diverse informal conversations. She kept “descriptive records of dorm
meetings, events, and incidents, as well as daily field notes” about her
personal experiences, observations, and discussions (p. 16). Although the author used these various
qualitative research skills, she gave addressed the weakness of the qualitative
research. For example, she said,
“As anthropologists learn in their overseas
experience, one can never really “go native” or expect that one’s own experience
is indicative of the experience of others born in the culture. At the same time, it is the experience of
living village life that offers the insight and vantage point needed to ask
relevant questions and understand the context of the answers given. It is this that I hoped to accomplish by
becoming a freshman” (p.15).
Second, through the book, I learned her genuine
passion and compassion with scholarly efforts to observe college experiences of
students and improve their college life through the qualitative research. Her integrity or authenticity to conduct the
research was more powerful than excellences of her research methods and skills
because humanity was alive for both the participant observer and subject
students through the research. The
authenticity and genuineness of the author opened new opportunities to
understand the experiences of college students.
Thus, through her efforts to research in a way never done before, she
vividly conveys an account of realities faced by students that is missing in
the general research and studies done before. This is why her book offers more than
simple data, presenting a fresh and unique approach to learning about the
issues students face.
Third, the author gives people like me who are
unfamiliar with the American college experience, an inside look through her
observations of various student behaviors.
The author’s analysis of the college community has given me new insights
to the student lifestyles and development during their collegiate years. One
example in which I was interested was ‘community’ topic in this book because it
had different meaning that I understood before.
As it were, the author discovered that while the campus (environment)
encourages building a community and it is ultimately up to the individual to
make relationships and get involved in the campus life. Engagement with the communities provide
opportunities for students to participate in the different groups and classes,
but also leave it up to the student as “one can easily opts to move out of the
dorm, drop the class, change majors, or quit the club, resulting in a social
world that always seems to be in flux (p. 39). Therefore, the author said the university ‘community’
becomes both elusive and unreliable. However,
she examined that more often than not, students do not take advantage of the
resources or opportunities to connect. Instead,
they often stick to what they know and who they know, joining communities they
are familiar and comfortable to be a part of. This was prevalent when she asked students in
interviews whether they felt they had a community, most said yes. So she identified the community with the
followings,
“what
they meant by community were these personal networks of friends that some
referred to as my ‘homeys.’ It was these
small, ego-centered groups that were the backbone of most students’ social
experience in the university. … The intense reciprocity of ego-based groups
helped explain a problem about campus traffic that had long puzzled me” (p.
55).
In conclusion, I agree with
the author’s perspective following her study that in order to reduce the
ignorance, misperceptions, and intolerance between professors and students,
empathy and understanding. I wish that “more
teachers could see students and student culture from the other side. … As for
students, I wish they could more readily see that classroom bureaucracy arises
from the recurrent behavior of the thousands of students who have gone before
them” (p. 145).
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