Discussion Leader Ch. 1 Natalie

Why does she decide to undergo this process of being a freshman in college?

While sitting in on some of her colleague’s courses she begins to see and hear things she didn’t previously notice and she has “gone through a looking glass”. She was sitting in classes talking notes as she overheard discussions of students as well as the topic of the class conversations. As she wrote she realized she was “starting to do ethnography.” During this moment she got the idea to become a student and do a research project for her sabbatical year. She says, “My interest in American culture, in the changing American university, and in the undergraduate student culminated in a research proposal to study, as a freshman, at my own university” (pg 4).


What are some things she learns about college life that her eyes were not previously opened to?

She overhears things about kid’s writing papers drunk at 3am, parties, unfair grading, etc. She also takes a tour of the campus and learns many things on the tour about struggles of college students. She hears about meal plans, class registration, tutoring, tuition, etc. She says that “as an anthropologist I was humbled at how little I as a professor knew of my student’s academic world” (pg 8).


How does she represent herself?

As she began preparing to be a college student she began a “delicate balance act between truth and fiction about my life” (pg 6). She has to figure out what in her life is okay to tell the truth about and what she needs to lie about. She can’t give her identity away no matter what. She has to figure out a new identity to take on including why she is there, who she is, and what her profession is.


What does she have to learn to fit in better with college life?

After attending Previews in the summer she learns that if she wants to fit in she needs to dress different. She attended the camp dressed like all the adults in her denim shorts, baseball cap, and golf shirt instead of like the students in flip flops, short t-shirts, and jeans. She also realizes she needs to learn the rules of dorm life such as not drinking in public places as well as the fact that she needs to learn the lingo and speed of conversation (pg 13).
dergo this process of being a freshman in college?