Reading Log #4 - Part 1

Reading Log, Nathan, Chap. 6
Summary:
Nathan begins the chapter with a discussion of student roles, and campus cultures, as defined in a classic text by Horowitz. Nathan reasons that, while the culture in college has retained its historical archetypes, such as the "rebel" and the "outsider," there is a "new outsider" that, contrary to past students who felt free to criticise and oppose the professoriate, operate out of a desire for grades and must therefore manage their relationships with faculty in a different way.

The title of this chapter provides a roadmap to the remainder of it's content: The Art of College Management. Territory covered includes a comparison of the time management approach used by college administrators with the actual approach of managing the college experience used by students. This approach relies on several aspects, each of which Nathan describes in detail.

First is the students' need to manage their time by creating the perfect schedule - balancing blocks of time, course load, and classes known to be easy in order to allow time for harder courses to be accommodated. This need results in the popularity of online courses and the rush to be first to register for classes in any given semester.

The next component necessary for managing college (as mentioned above) is use of the student/professor relationship. Nathan characterizes this as "playing" ones professor, often seen by students as parallel to a "boss-worker relationship." Nathan sees grades as the top driving factor in students' academic life and the currency with which professors and students operate. Students use their relationship with the professor to negotiate academic exceptions, garner favor, and influence recommendations to grad schools.

The third part of a well managed college life is concerned with limiting workload. This strategy is broken down by Nathan into sections labeled Attendance, Preparation, and Cheating. These are presented in order of their frequency and acceptability within the student population Nathan studied - from least frequent to most utilized. In each category, the reader is presented with the stark picture of a student body utterly uninterested in academic pursuit of knowledge and wholly invested in aqcuiring grades as a means toward the ultimate goal of obtaining a degree, rather than an education. Particularly disturbing is the portrayal of students as embracing cheating as a major means of controlling their workload. Though Nathan attempts to soften the picture somewhat in terms of her experience and the dominant college culture, she supports her overall conclusions with data from national studies, making the picture that much more bleak.

Nathan concludes chapter 6 with a look at senior classmen and women, used as examples of students who are successful at managing their college experiences. This section offers some encouragement to those invested in higher education. Students who are successful have become less prone to use management strategies such as skipping class and cheating, have been able to prepare for careers they will enjoy, and have begun to be more invested in their academic, rather than social, pursuits.

Reflection:
At this point in the book, Nathan's conclusions and assumptions seem quite negative and cynical. While she acknowledges that some students must certainly be truly invested in learning and gaining more than simple grades, she also characterizes such students as outsiders who are a fringe element at best in the larger composition of the student body. Given her stance, and the student commentary she provides, the reader is asked to conclude that the purpose of higher education is completely at odds with the outcomes desired by the student body.

Nathan does allow for some hope in the conclusion of the chapter, by offering the notion that seniors have begun to embrace more than parties and social activities as important in college life. However, she does not discuss or consider retention rates in this equation. Her assertion that students will have begun to embrace acadmics by their last year in college does not factor in the reality that many of their peers will have dropped out before making it to senior year.

Nathan admits that, as a student, she used many of the same strategies - from cutting class to omitting required readings - to manage her college life. Given her acknowledgment of the perceived need to utilize these strategies, it would seem that she should also feel the need as a professor and professional in higher education to redirect her efforts with regard to teaching and class organization. It would be most interesting to take a class from her and assess whether she is able to create an environment where actual learning occurs rather than simple management of information.