My Freshman Year
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15
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Average rating4
After fifteen years of teaching anthropology at a large university, Rebekah Nathan had become baffled by her own students. Their strange behavioreating meals at their desks, not completing reading assignments, remaining silent through class discussionsmade 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 culture: 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.
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Rebekah Nathan writes a compelling pseudo-insider view of college life. As someone who works with college students, I found some of her observations insightful. What I think was most interesting, though, was seeing her perspective as a professor shift by becoming a student. I wish more professors would seek to learn about the world of their students. Nathan also seemed shocked by the proportion of learning students perceived they gain from the classroom, versus out-of-classroom experiences. I think her research would have been strengthened if she had reached out to university staff and administrators to better understand that learning.
