My Freshman Year : What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student

by Nathan, Rebekah (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780143037477
• ISBN10: 0143037471
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-07-25
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

A revealing look at the college freshman experience, from an insider’s point of view After fifteen years of teaching anthropology at a large university, Rebekah Nathan had become baffled by her own students. Their strange behavior—eating meals at their desks, not completing reading assignments, remaining silent through class discussions—made 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 Yearessential reading for students, parents, faculty, and anyone interested in educational policy.

Author Biography

Rebekah Nathan is a pseudonym for Cathy Small. She has been a professor of anthropology at Northern Arizona University for fifteen years.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Welcome to ``AnyU''	1	(18)
Life in the Dorms	19	(22)
Community and Diversity	41	(26)
As Others See Us	67	(23)
Academically Speaking	90	(17)
The Art of College Management	107	(25)
Lessons from My Year as a Freshman	132	(26)
Afterword: Ethics and Ethnography	158	(11)
Notes	169	(8)
References	177	(4)
Index	181