Introduction to My Freshman Year

My Freshman Year is a book where the author is a professor from a large university enrolls as a freshman and examines college culture first hand. Rebekah Nathan covers seven main topics in her book. These topics include welcome week, living in the dorms, community and diversity, how other people see college students, academics, managing college work, and lessons she has learned.

I am a freshman student from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. I thought the author's description of college students is not 100% accurate and is somewhat biased towards the drinking and cheating students. Other than over emphasizing cheating and the amount of drinking in college, I believe Nathan's book is accurate. My experience of being a freshman college student did affect how I read the book. I was comparing what she wrote to my personal experiences as I read.

I was excited to read this book because I wanted to see what a college professor thought about being a student before, during, and after becoming a college freshman. That is exactly what this book does, however I did not enjoy reading this book because her thoughts, opinions, and things she experiences are very biased. It seems that she looks for all the negatives in things, whether it be decorations people have on their doors, or the way they manage and spend their time. She seems to rip on the "average" freshman, put the exchange students on a pedestal, and praise the seniors for all they have accomplished. The good honorable freshman that many of us are, are never mentioned. If i wrote about my freshman year it would be a very different book.

Before reading this book I didn't really know what a professor would do immersed in the life of a college student, but now, after reading this book I have gained a different perspective on life as a college student and also saw the problems that a college campus possesses. One of the problems on campus that I was vaugley aware of before I read this book was the lack of diversity present on a typical American campus, but now after reading this book I became aware of what problems do exist and what needs to be done to change them. Altogether Nathan both surprised me by her research results as well as her conclusions on this topic.

I wanted to read this book because I was interested in what an outsider would say about my culture. I never seemed to notice the negative sides of the college experience, but I also believe that Nathan had a somewhat different experience than me due to her age. This book describes the freshman life pretty accurately apart from the social aspect. Kids tend to hang around people similar to themselves, so when someone is older they tend to be left out. I very often compared my own freshman year to her experience and besides a few little things it tended to be right on.

10 Sources for More Information

Bomar, Chuck. “Campus Subcultures: Part 1.” Collegeleader.org. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://www.collegeleader.org/articles-campus-details.php?articlesID=57

Bomar, Chuck. “Campus Subcultures: Part 2.” Collegeleader.org. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://www.collegeleader.org/articles-campus-details.php?articlesID=58

Bomar, Chuck. “Campus Subcultures: Part 3.” Collegeleader.org. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://www.collegeleader.org/articles-campus-details.php?articlesID=59

Bomar, Chuck. “Campus Subcultures: Part 4.” Collegeleader.org. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://www.collegeleader.org/articles-campus-details.php?articlesID=60

Barrik, Audrey. “College Students and Sexual Addiction.” Collegeleader.org. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://www.collegeleader.org/articles-campus-details.php?articlesID=33

Jaschik, Scott. “The New Student Excuse.” Insidehighered.com. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/05/corrupted

Brady, Jonann. “Binge Drinking Entrenched in College Culture.” abcnews.go.com. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=1085909

Northcutt, Frances, Mark W. Bernstein, and Yadin Kaufmann. How to Survive Your Freshman Year. Atlanta, Ga.: Hundreds of Heads, 2008. Print.
http://books.google.com/books?id=WzYjMmIbeEgC&pg=PA296&dq=my+freshman+year&cd=3#v=onepage&q=my%20freshman%20year&f=false

Been There, Should've Done That: 995 Tips for Making the Most of College. Lansing, MI: Front Porch, 2008. Print.

Malone, Michael S. The Everything College Survival Book. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2005. Print.

“Debunking the Myths of American College Culture.” Yaleherald.com. Web. 11 May 2010.
http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxxii/09.07.01/opinion/p9vider.html

Afterword: Ethics and Ethnography

Ch.8 Organizer - Natalie

Before going into this project Nathan knew she would need to blend in to experience college life as well as not blend in when she wanted to interview people for research and such. After beginning her work she realized it was much easier to withhold information about her real non-student life. There were only three instances in which she shared her personal information. She also struggled with what she could wright down as to the fact sometimes what she heard was because of eavesdropping not information that was actually directed toward her. She had to keep in mind her students many times when writing especially when writing about the topic of cheating. Because she wanted to be conscientious of the students at AnyU not all her experiences are written in her book, but they are, and will be in her heart forever.

Discussion Leader for Ch. 8 by Chip Fox

1.) What do you think was the main point of her experiment?
We think the main point of her experiment was to get a better understanding of the students she was teaching and to research a particular culture that seems to be completely different than when she went to college.

2.) What do you think was the hardest part of going back to college for her?
We think the hardest part of going back to college for her was being social. Since she is considerably older than the general population in that particular culture, it might have been difficult and scary to have to go out and meet people, rather than just staying in her room.

3.) Overall, do you think Nathan had a positive experience during her experiment or a negative experience?
We thought that Nathan had sort of a mixed experience. She had a positive experience because she learned a lot and had some friends that she talked to and got together with. But she had a negative experience because what she learned about the students had a negative tone when she was describing it, and we think she might have been disappointed when she found out how students have their own set friends and usually do not stray from the group.

4.) If you were in her shoes, a professor at a big university, would you go back to college for a year?
Our group voted unanimously “no”. We think it would be very difficult and outside of our comfort zones to go back to college as a grown individual, and have to be around and converse with students much younger than we are.

Chapter 8 - Summary (Beka W.)

The afterword of Nathan's book was very poignant and wrapped up her research and experience very well. It was interesting to note Nathan's commitment to honesty and ethics in regards to her researching. Most researchers would definitely consider the fact that their actions needed to be careful, however, Nathan was devoted to morals and wanted to pursue the highest ethics possible. Nathan also illustrated the fact that it is hard to keep a hidden identity in the course of the school year if one truly wants to make friends. Although she did tell one journalism student who she really was, she made it her motto "don't ask, don't tell" and that would definitely affect the results one has when researching with students. How could she really know the life of a student if she was trying to pretend she was someone else and keep her guard up? Nathan also acknowledges the fact that she must keep the confidence of her friends and also let some individuals know, such as her RA, so that she wouldn't be needlessly worrying the entire year about her. Altogether Nathan wrapped up the book in a nice way and provided helpful information, however, it would have been more beneficial to read some of the information in the introducion, instead of learning more about anthropology than the actual project.

Reading 8 Vocabulary Mr. Pesavent

Mitigate-to lessen in force or intensity, as wrath, grief, harshness, or pain- 158
Fabricate-to devise or invent-159
Immersed-plunged or sunk in or as if in a liquid-160
Entails-to impose as a burden-161
Divulged-to disclose or reveal -162
Titularly-pertaining to, or of the nature of a title-162
Privy-private; assigned to private uses-163
Albeit-Even though; although-164
Bolster-pillow, cushion, or pad-165
Auspices-Protection or support; patronage-166
Voyeurism-A person who derives sexual gratification from observing the naked bodies or sexual acts of others, especially from a secret vantage point-167