As students around the world deliberate their options for further education, only made more challenging in a pandemic, we’re reminded that getting in is only half the battle. In The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students, Anthony Abraham Jack asks how—and why—do disadvantaged students struggle at elite colleges? What can schools can do differently if these students are to thrive? As back to school season begins, we spoke to two university book clubs that read and discussed The Privileged Poor this summer.
Here’s what the entomology graduate student reading group at Michigan State University had to say about the book:
“Reading The Privileged Poor helped open my eyes to my own privilege and realize issues in academia that I hadn’t even considered. Jack directed my attention to barriers to a meaningful education that some students face, and I hope to improve these inequities when I become an educator myself.”
—Ellie Camarato
“Many of us grad students are lab instructors and teacher assistants to hundreds of undergrads that come from different backgrounds. And as an international grad student, there are many social issues that I wasn’t aware of. This book was eye-opening about how students experience the college life and all the ‘unwritten rules’ that many of us follow without even knowing it. Thanks to this book, I am changing some of my teaching approaches, and I now am aware that I can’t assume that all my students know how to navigate college.”
—Elizeth Cinto Mejia
“Reading The Privileged Poor has opened my eyes to the extent of socioeconomic imbalance in our upper education system. As a graduate student, it has made me re-evaluate how to mentor undergraduates most effectively and to make sure that I am reaching out to students, not waiting for them to come to me with questions or concerns. It has deepened my understanding of the hidden curriculum and puts into words things that I have noticed in passing, but not fully appreciated the importance of, such as faculty connections and familial economic support.”
—Kayleigh Hauri
“After I read The Privileged Poor, I could articulate parts of the unspoken guidelines of college, such as how to network and build references from faculty, that needed to be stated and incorporated explicitly while teaching and mentoring undergraduate students. Discussing this book with other students from all over the country and world has promoted honest discussions about how our personal backgrounds contribute to our participation and success in academia beyond ‘traditional’ classroom learning.”
—Daniel Turner
“For me, reading The Privileged Poor has reinforced that while we are coming into the same campus, college, or department, our different backgrounds and lived experiences strongly influence how students perceive and experience college and university life. Discussing the topics in this book with other graduate students in the department has been a huge eye-opener for me and has helped me better understand my peers and their experiences.”
—Allison Zahorec
At East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, the Office of Faculty Development created a virtual book club this summer and chose to read The Privileged Poor to assist faculty members talk about the issues of race, social class, and education in a way that they could directly recall in their own academic careers. Several members of the group are working to make changes at the medical school based on ideas sparked at the book club meetings.
“Reading this book has made me acutely aware of this distinction in background of our students that I never truly recognized before. More importantly, our group has used the book as a basis for discussion of how we can do better for our own students, discussions that have spilled over beyond those immediately involved in the group, with programs for real changes already being developed.”
—Kori Brewer, Associate Professor and Associate Chief, Division of Research, Department of Emergency Medicine
“I find I’m now more sensitive to the issues raised in The Privileged Poor than I was before. In the last week I’ve encountered two applications of points made in the book. The first is an article forthcoming in Academic Medicine on the way medical students learn the language of medicine. The authors, a few of whom are medical students, contend that medical students from more privileged backgrounds have an easier time picking up the silent messages and explicit language of clinical medicine. The other example relates to a student who is the first in the extended family on both sides to go beyond high school. This is a very capable student who did well on the first quiz last week, but still worries. Interesting how, now that I’m aware of something, I see examples of that something I’ve missed before.”
—Todd Savitt, Professor, Department of Bioethics and Interdisciplinary Studies
Thanks to the members of both reading groups for sharing their thoughts and comments.
