Reading Log #4 - Part 2

Reading Log, Nathan, Chap. 7
Summary:
Nathan begins this chapter by sharing the questions engendered by, and reactions to, her initial decision to re-enter college as a freshman in order to study undergraduate life, and her subsequent exit from the field at the end of her study. She is surprised, for instance, that three individuals let her know they see parallels between her study and the John Howard Griffin book entitled "Black Like Me."

Nathan reflects that the worlds of student and professor are bounded unto themselves, and hopes that her experiences serve as a means to look at each world from a perspective that considers both cultures and viewpoints.

Looking at the classroom as a teacher who recognizes the viewpoint of the student, Nathan attempts to organize her material, prioritize her teaching strategies and expectations in a way that more clearly addresses the realities of student life. She gives reading assignments as an example of the disconnect between faculty expectations and student time management decisions, showing a depth of understanding of both viewpoints that assists the reader in visualizing a clearer path toward integration of the two in the classroom. It is in this type of analysis that her book is most useful to practitioners of higher education. It also serves as an illustration of the benefits that can be realized from such a study, even when questions of ethics occur.

The author discusses the ways in which factions of the university, faculty and administrators on the one side, students on the other, impact one another. She then gives examples of the repercussions of cultural misunderstanding - from teacher burnout to student frustration with scheduling limitations. Within this framework, the idea of "liminality," or the place where normal rules of society are lifted, that should be the focus with regard to possible change within the university because it is in this state that creativity is allowed to flourish. As she states it, "college is at once an affirmation and a preparation for the world and a creative response and innovative challenge to that same world."

Chapter 7 concludes with descriptions of two freshman Welcome Week events, one designed to outline the ways in which education can inform the career goals of students, the other intended to foster academic pursuit and character formation. Nathan suggests that these diametrically opposed activities illustrate the extreme need for competing messages to be made known to stake holders on both sides of the academic divide in order to shape the modern univerity.

Reflections:
As always, I find Nathan more than a little deluded in her self-perceptions. She is amazed that colleagues would liken her study to Griffin's "Black Like Me." She states that such reactions serve to underscore the huge gap between the worlds of academicians and undergraduates. What she fails to consider is that the reactions may have far less to do with a perceived gap and much more to do with the notion of a deception perpetrated upon an entire population. Her colleagues rightly connect her masquerade as a freshman with that of Griffin's physical alteration in order to be accepted as a black man. It would seem that Nathan's ethical disconnect has gone so deep that she is often unable to see her actions as deceptive in any way!

On the other hand, she skillfully illustrates the need for more transparency between stakeholder groups within academe. Until these groups begin to understand one another's goals and necessities, the desired outcomes of academicians will stand in opposition to the culture of the student body. Though it might be flawed in many ways, Nathan's study serves well to illustrate the real cultural divide that exists within the academy, and the multiplicity of experience that is represented there.

Reading Log, Nathan, Afterword
Summary:
Nathan uses the afterword of her book to pose ethical questions for herself regarding her study, and then reveals her conclusions regarding relationships, privacy in conversation, disclosure of her identity, etc. She dismisses most concerns by admiting to revealing her identity in order to preserve relationships or avoid being openly dishonest. Rules for conduct, established by Nathan herself, appear to shift as she spends more time with students and is forced into situations where she must either disregard information or allow students to know she is a researcher.

Reflection:
Students in our class are clearly divided as to what constitutes harmful behavior with regard to student subjects. Nathan was not the person she portrayed to fellow students. She hid her credentials and her agenda. She listened to private conversations, that while she says she did not record or report, still inform her opinions regarding student life, priorities and behaviors. Nathan may reason that no one was harmed by this behavior. And, unlike many of my fellows, I would tend to agree for the most part. Random conversations regarding cutting classes or dorm room etiquette will not likely result in scar tissue.

It is Nathan's continual misinterpretation of her place within the student body, her willingness to accept as fact statements that cannot be verified or member-checked, and her increasing cloud of witnesses in the form of subjects to whom she has had to disclose her motives and identity that pose the most serious problems for me with regard to her study. How can the results not have been skewed when so many students actually knew they were being studied? Does she really believe that, having told one or two people in each situation, they would not share this information with others? If so, she learned very little about the truth of dorm life. If not, she has chosen to remain safely hidden behind false beliefs in order to maintain her ethical facade. Either way, the study is less valid than interesting, the results less credible than entertaining. I still regard the book as important and the study informative enough to be required reading.