21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
Voices to be heard, 2001-05-02
I read a selection from this book for a class, which prompted me to read the rest of the book. Really interesting narratives written by a number of first generation university students from a number of races and cultures, all from working class backgrounds. A common theme is the feeling of living in two worlds - home and school - worlds which seldom intersect. Students speak of trying to fit in with peers who were more well off, explaining why they didn't have money to go out on the weekend, or why they couldn't attend various events or spring break flings because they had to work.
Entitlement - not quite feeling like they belonged at the university... watching peers walk around like they owned the place and were born to it.
Identity - being changed by the college experience, and wondering how the experience would change their relationship with family/community who seemed, by comparison, so unchanged. Several spoke of becoming bi-lingual - speaking one way at the university and another at home. Communication styles that were vital to being understood and accepted both places.
The irony of higher education being such a point of pride for the family, who made huge sacrifices for the student to be the first in the family - not knowing that the college experience would potentially pull the student away from identifying with that family/community working-class culture.
University values - While schools are at least talking about racial unity, there was less attention given to class unity. Many struggled with the idea that the whole purpose of getting a university education was to "get a brighter future", a "better opportunity", to "escape" having to work a blue collar job. If blue collar is who I am and who my famliy is, why is that something to escape? These were conflicting messages for many... be inclusive and sensitive to differences, but the white collar world is a higher, more worthy pursuit.
The only reason I gave it 4 out of 5 stars is the length of the book. The narrative format is engaging, but I felt the collection was a little lengthy to hold my interest through the entire book because the themes were repeated quite often in each narrative. Still worth the read, this perspective needs to be heard!