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Dec 16, 2009

Joanna rated it:

An anthropological account of a professor at a state university who used her sabbatical year to go "undercover" as a student at her university: live in the dorms, take classes, and participate in student life, in order to study what the college experience is like. As a fairly recent college graduate I found it really fascinating, and I saw in her account things that were familiar to me about myself, and familiar frustrations I had as an undergraduate about my peers. She wraps the who More...

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Feb 24, 2008

Wellington rated it:

An anthropology professor decides become an undercover incoming freshman to understand student life. I remember a big newsbreaking story when we found out that the anonymous school was Northern Arizona University (a three hour drive from where I'm writing).

The chapters about trying to motivate students .. to build a sense of community ...spoke the most to me. It's a situation in the real world too - not just universities! Since most of our social and community activities do not have More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Tiffany rated it:

When I bought this book, I expected it to be anecdotal: funny stories about a professor acting as a college student, trying to fit in, having fun with classmates, trying to figure out the college life, etc. However, the book is instead an anthropological study of college life and college students, with very little retelling of actual interactions or funny moments.

While this book wasn't the kind of entertaining I thought it would be, it's very informative, and oftentimes amusing. Nat More...

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Dec 17, 2009

Carole rated it:

It was a nice, quick, easy read that made some valid points. It's by an anthropology professor who enrolls as a full-time student and moves into the dorms in order to better understand student culture. A couple of her "discoveries" made me think, "well, yeah, I could have told her that." Like when she went back to being a professor with a new-found understanding that for most of her students, her class isn't the only one they're taking. Come to find out, students are really b More...

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Apr 18, 2009

james rated it:

The author, after teaching at a college for 15 year, feels that she is out of touch with her students. Many of her coleagues on the faculty mention this as well. So she enroles as a frshman in the college. This is quite insightful into the current generation of students.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Andrea rated it:

This was a really interesting look at freshman life, especially since it seemed pretty different from my college experience (I never stayed in the dorms, and went to a religious university). But the book was hampered by the professor's ethics. I don't think the professor was wrong in choosing to keep people anonymouse and not include overheard conversations, but those conversations would have made the book so much more interesting. Still, I liked her analysis of student views on time manageme More...

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Mar 01, 2011

Shelley rated it:

I bought this book a few years ago when I had a graduate assistantship and was helping develop programs for the university to help retain first year students and first-generation college students. This book came recommended, and with the demands of graduate school and a loathe for reading for leisure (since I was reading oh so much already for school), on my shelf it sat. I really wish I had read it then, especially since I was teaching undergraduate courses simultaneously (no wonder i had no More...

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Apr 20, 2010

Amy L. rated it:

As someone who didn't go to a state school I think this was a great book for me and helped me to value my own education more than I already do. This is an excellent choice for anyone involved in academia at an American institution, either as a parent of a student, a faculty member, or even staff. It gives a clearer idea of the issues students face and why they behave the way they do academically. I do believe that Nathan could have addressed more of the problems behind the symptoms of current More...

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Sep 29, 2008

Kirsten rated it:

I skimmed this while I was at Alissa's house. Nathan (not her real name) is an anthropology professor who decided to go undercover as an entering freshman and study her students in their native habitat, so to speak. She saw a whole new perspective on their lives from what she was used to seeing from the front of the classroom. Pretty enjoyable, though she does get a little bogged down in anthro jargon occasionally. A good read for teachers and professors.

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Nov 29, 2008

Aimee rated it:

An interesting topic--written in a pretty dry ethnography style. I guess that makes sense though since she is an anthropologist doing an ethnography of a culture. To me the problem is more in the marketing of this book. Somehow it gives the impression that it will be a fun read with some zany anecdotes and its not that at all. Nonetheless I respect the book. At first I agreed with others who felt that most of her observations were obvious to anyone who has had any contact with college culture. A More...

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Feb 21, 2011

Jimmy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Oct 21, 2009

Chris rated it:

Warning:
These reviews are to help me process my reading and improve my writing. They may be useful to other readers, too; just don't be turned off by their personal nature.

I made a vow. No more books about college. Don't worry any more about college until you get there. Live a college-free life while you can.

The anti-college vow came after reading this book, but it wasn't because of it. I had just spent a few basically sleepless nights at Penn with friends, sat More...

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Nov 04, 2009

May-Ling rated it:

this book is about a professor that goes undercover as a college freshman to study college undergraduates and campus life today. she's an anthropologist and approaches it as a field study, paying tuition, living in a dorm, participating in IM sports and attending classes - all completely undercover. i like the concept, but i didn't find it hugely thorough (particularly at studying subcultures like greek life, black fraternities/sororities and christian groups - subsets where i find students real More...

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Jul 16, 2011

Lucy rated it:

this was pretty interesting. i ended up feeling guilty for not doing enough work/preparation in my classes, though. it was also somewhat comforting to see that most people weren't making big groups of close friends and having long, meaningful conversations all through undergrad either.

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Sep 04, 2010

Rachel rated it:

Written by an NAU anthropology professor, this book looks at mainstream American culture and university culture through the eyes of an undercover prof living as a freshman. Although some of her claimed disorientation in her adopted culture seem a bit unbelievable, she does an excellent job of pulling out how underclassmen experience university life and how that has changed in the last 40 years. Although she offers little in the way of solution, she talks frankly about some of the most problema More...

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Feb 08, 2011

Richard rated it:

I thought this book was pretty interesting. The author was a professor who spent a year as a college student and recorded her perceptions.

It's an interesting outsider's take on the topic, and I feel like I have more of an idea about how anthropologists think for having read it.

But, I was also surprised at how some of the analysis seemed fairly shallow. She didn't really recount many of her personal experiences. And I was surprised at some of the insights she spent time on. More...

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Nov 09, 2011

Stoiko rated it:

A thoroughly profound book.

The author, an anthropologist, makes use of some introductory anthropological vocabulary and as such the book is very useful for Anthropology 101 students.

The basic premise is that the professor goes on an undercover field research by becoming a student at her own university. Her research is prompted by her own difficulties in understanding her students.

Consequently, she reaches conclusions and realizations that are surprising and ey More...

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Oct 04, 2010

Barbara rated it:

I felt like I needed to do some professional reading, so after hearing several recommendations for this book, thought it would be helpful. While Nathan explains that this ethnography is unique to her institution, many of her observations are probably general in nature. I was struck by her insight into the differences between the perceptions and expected outcomes of the academic institution and the students. Working at a school that is dealing with retention issues and engaging students, I found More...

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Sep 01, 2010

Tiny Pants rated it:

This was a weird one but an easy read -- digestible in one long sitting. I was initially primed to dislike it intensely -- too much of the cutesy explanations of "going into the field" and how doing this in a familiar place was still just like doing so in a "remote village." Um anthropologists, when you do this, aren't you Othering, or exoticizing, or one of the many other "ing"s you are always trying to avoid? I think you are. Also, getting caught in the common roo More...

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Aug 10, 2010

Allie rated it:

I bought this book on a whim from a used book sale. The premise was fascinating: a college professor who takes the role of a student for a year, complete with living in the dorms, taking classes, etc. Well, unfortunately, instead of being an entertaining and humorous narrative like I thought it would be, it's a rather dull (admittedly, occasionally insightful) anthropological research paper. Personally, I think the author should have published this STUDY in a research journal and gotten someone More...

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Jan 28, 2012

Dan rated it:

I thought this book was helpful from the perspective of an aspiring college teacher. While it raises more questions than it gives answers about how to effectively engage today's college students in learning, it does accurately depict some aspects of college life and may help give teachers a student's view of academics in college. Here is a quote that I think is both illuminating and depressing:

"If class learning is exciting or self-revelatory, then all the better, but except w More...

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Dec 07, 2011

Davey rated it:

Initially assigned and partially read for a qualitative methods class, I wanted to go back to immerse myself in a tacitly foreign but demographically familiar ethnography. Military academy was college age kids, but it wasn't college. In completing it, I completed my own rite of passage but now live and work alongside folks who generally shared a separate experience. No ethnography can claim universal applicability at the level of the individual, but this book helps get my head in the right place More...

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May 10, 2011

Tara rated it:

A personally fascinating book about a professor stripping off the professorial role to become an undergraduate student. There is some fine ethnography here - and some outstanding theorization of ethnography. The only area that removed some of the shine from the book is that after the orientation week and the first few lectures and seminars, the rest of the experience was dealt with more superficially. However, as an understanding of U.S.-based undergraduate education and student culture, this More...

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May 25, 2011

Lee rated it:

I'm not sure why I picked this up, but I did enjoy it. I haven't been in a college dorm or classroom for nearly 20 years, but a lot of what she wrote held up to my memories. I attended both a really small school, and a very large one.

I came out with two main observations, the first was rather obvious to any student: students have lives outside the classroom, and faculty and staff are oblivious to those requirements. College life, like life outside, is about managing one's time to a More...

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Jun 17, 2008

Lani rated it:

I have been reading this book for quite literally at least a year. I started reading it after I bought it (back in my basement apartment), it got lost for months behind the bed, and then got put back on the to-read shelf because it was too boring to read.

Since I am making a concerted effort to read the books I've been avoiding, I'm glad I finally finished this not-even-200-page book.

Totally unimpressed. It's theoretically an ethnography written by an anthropology professo More...

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Apr 28, 2010

Rebecca rated it:

if i could give this book zero stars, i would.

nathan's account was biased and unrealistic and is mostly a middle-age account of what the hallways are like in a residence hall. anyone who considers nathan's findings as showing the true dynamics of university life has no idea what happens inside of a dorm room.

as someone who works as an administrator in higher education, i truly despised this book. the concept is great - and has been attempted in the past (see michael moffa More...

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May 02, 2008

Katherine rated it:

The first lesson of this book is that it is mis-publicized. It is promoted as a professor goes back to college and lives the life of a freshman and then tells all. Everything is true up until "tells all" which could more accurately be described as "writes a fairly unsurprising anthropological field study about it."

The book does have sort of a fun, novel premise, so I really had two major issues with it. First, it's not very well written - it doesn't really fl More...

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Nov 10, 2008

Rachel C. rated it:

About 50 pages in, my predominant thought was "Wow, this lady is really out of touch with America's youth if she thinks her observations are surprising." I also found myself thinking that while the author may be a good scholar, she really isn't much of a storyteller. The book has a very dry, academic feel to it. Fairly early on, I started skipping all paragraphs containing multiple statistics or any variants of the words "anthropology" or "ethnography," - and let More...

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Feb 17, 2008

Sharon rated it:

Quick read, very interesting. I was in college 10 years ago, but I think the most interesting part of the book was less about student culture than about the author's reactions to it-- I was really interested in the things that surprised a professor when she learned them about her students. Like the fact that what she thought was a convenient time for office hours (right before or right after class) probably wasn't, because most people scheduled their class time in solid blocks. Or just in gen More...

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Dec 24, 2007

Holly rated it:

Leaving aside the question of why it didn't occur to a 50 year old anthropologist to cover her ethical bases better (what the heck was she doing in her other field sites where people were less likely to call her out on it?), this book is utterly unrevealing if you spend any time with 18-25 year olds. That age group might find it interesting just because it is about their generation and it is relatively non-judgmental, older folks who don't get kids today might find it interesting if they actual More...

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