Most studies focus on working-class students and the ways in which they act or do not act. Yet, the ways in which interactions with middle-class students as well as university administrators and faculty make first generation students feel uncomfortable have not gained similar attention. (Lareau & Ferguson, 2017, p. 1)
I came across this quote when it was referenced in another article and it stuck in my mind. The study it is taken from was titled Cultural exclusion of upwardly mobile college students and published in 2017 in The American Sociological Association. The interactions that my stakeholders have with their peers and university staff is something that I had not thought about. The lack of support for working class students may not just be the lack of a visible support system but in being stereotyped by the people that are meant to be teaching them, whether knowingly or unconsciously.
This is definitely something that I will be discussing with my stakeholders. I am curious how they feel about their interactions with their tutors and peers, and whether this quote is actually true or just speculation.
However, a problem with asking this question is that my stakeholders could become more self conscious about the interactions they are having with their peers. Therefore I think that I will need to do some follow up with them after asking this to see if they have become more aware of the content of their interactions or if it has limited their interactions in any way.
Later on in this article it talks about how some of the students in a study felt inferior to their more privileged peers. This stems from the perceived academic superiority of the middle and upper class students. A few of their participants spoke about being intimidated by their classmates who came from more privileged backgrounds.
“So the last thing you want to do is open your mouth, because you know that they’re going to be talking about you afterwards, saying “my god, she’s so stupid.” So you’re just so scared. And so as a result I virtually said nothing, I was really intimidated, I was really, really scared […] I didn’t want to open my mouth. And it’s that sense of “I’m the bottom of the pile. They’re so much better than me, and I can’t open my mouth because of that, because I’m so scared.” (Interview, UK, 2007, Nicole, 20 years, law student)“
From my own experience, I relate to this. The first term at CSM I was so intimidated by my cohort – I thought everyone was smarter than me and had more valid points to raise in class. I was described by one classmate as shy, because I never spoke. But the truth is, I didn’t want anyone to think I was stupid and wonder why I was there. I didn’t feel worthy to be at such a prestigious school and reading this study has made me realise how many other students across the country could potentially feel like that. It’s an awful feeling and one that isn’t conducive to good mental health.
“The students were constantly engaged in an exhausting process of self-surveillance in order to monitor their behaviour and conform to unfamiliar, and sometimes inexplicable codes of behaviour. As they struggled with a sense of not fitting in socially, of failing to find a place to belong culturally within elite higher education, the least stressful option was often to remove themselves physically from the causes of their discomfort—the privileged majority at Southern university.“
This is something I have planned to asked my stakeholders about – whether they are hyper-aware of how they act around those of their peers who are from a higher social class, and if this is having a negative affect on their university experience. I find the study that these quotes were taken from fascinating. I think that Diane Reay, Gill Crozier and John Clayton have published a study that is very different from the other research that I found about working class students in higher education and it is very thought provoking. As a working class student, now I find myself analysing how I am acting around people from my cohort and wondering if I am experiencing uncomfortable interactions with others and not realising it.
References:
Reay, D. (2021). The working classes and higher education: Meritocratic fallacies of upward mobility in the United Kingdom. European Journal of Education, 56(1). doi:10.1111/ejed.12438.
Lareau, A. and Ferguson, S., 2017. Cultural exclusion of upwardly mobile college students. American Sociological Association August, 12, p.2017.