First Gen Students, COVID, and Culture
Higher education functions as a giant social sorting mechanism. It tends to reproduce existing social inequalities. Yet there is no denying that it also enables some individuals very real upward mobility.
Often, as a university professor, I’ve witnessed first-generation students strive to improve their social positions by working much harder than their peers. Rightfully so, as such students are more likely to assume large debt in order to attend college, need to maintain their GPA to qualify for scholarships and aid, and are far less likely to have robust social networks that can help them secure jobs after graduation. In short, the stakes are high and clearly recognized for first-gen students (who make up 1/3 of all students).
One of the largely occluded mechanisms that keep the university operating as a reproducer of social inequality is cultural. It is often stated in academic studies that first-generation students are less prepared socially for college, but very little is explained by what is meant by social “unpreparedness.” Vague as it may be, I don’t see first-gen students approaching academic culture with the same tenacity as, for example, understanding Plato’s cave or how to parse etre and avoir in French. This is a major oversight.
Based on my own experience as a professor as well as the work of sociologists such as Pierre Bourdieu and Samuel Bowles, as well as Nobel prize-winning economist James J. Heckman, one of the major difficulties for first-generation students is a lack of knowledge when it comes to what Mary-Ann Winkelmes calls the “unwritten rules of college.” In short, many students who are coming from social contexts that are very far removed from the world of academia and so don’t know the rules of the academic game (or that there are any to learn int he first place).
Professors, despite their best efforts to be as objective as possible, will tend to favor (in measurable ways) students who have mastered the non-cognitive skills needed to play the academic game, those who are versed in the unwritten rules of college. It’s not just how well a student can perform on this or that test, its how well a student performs when confronted with the everyday test of participation and other soft skills needed to navigate the institution. It’s more than merely speaking in class, it’s speaking in the right ways, asking the right questions, and demonstrating sincere concern for the material over and above concern for grades, displaying what we might call “academic good faith.”
How can students be expected to navigate a culture and a set of cultural games that are foreign to them? First, by recognizing that the culture of their gatekeepers — higher education faculty — do in fact inhabit a different culture with different values from their own. Second, just as we can prepare ourselves for travel to foreign lands by reading up on the local customs and taboos, so too can first-gen students prepare for their embarkation by reading some guides or otherwise preparing themselves.
The real difficulty is that many of the socio-cultural inequalities that prevent first-gen students from graduating on time or simply enjoying the time spent in college are more affective than intellectual. More a matter of knowing-how than knowing-that. One cannot simply memorize soft skills or increase their emotional intelligence through rote drills. These things can absolutely be learned, but not using the traditional scholastic methods. Learning the cultural sensibilities needed to flourish in college is more akin to learning a sport than learning chemistry or math. It takes practice, repetition, and guidance.
COVID-19 presents special challenges for first-gen students unequipped to navigate academic culture. The fact that most classes will be online means that it’s even more difficult to demonstrate or even learn the unwritten rules of college success. The alienating nature of online learning also makes it far easier to give up, get distracted, fall behind, or become discouraged. My advice to first gen students this coming semester is not to treat your classes like a continuation of high school or some other familiar context, but to take the time to work on your soft skills and learn about academic culture in order to boost your grades, maintain engagement, nurture relationships with your professors, and weather the storm of the pandemic.
I wish you nothing but the best of luck and hope that these suggestions will make Fall 2020 more manageable and successful.
For more on how to get the most out of the college classroom (online or off), check out www.habitusedu.com, @habitus_edu on Twitter, habitus_edu on Instagram, or like Habitus on Facebook.
