By Gerald Timian, November guest blogger
When Prometheus stole fire from Zeus for humans, he taught humans the arts of civilization — writing, mathematics, agriculture, medicine, and science. In today's society, Prometheus' fire is represented in the education we get by attending college.
Presumably when students have finished college, they have the knowledge and skills to begin a profession or career. But knowledge and skill are not enough to get by the gatekeepers. People must have the other trappings of the middle class to have the door opened.
My older brother was the first in our family to go to college. My father was a foundry worker and my mother was a waitress. They believed in the American Dream and that their boys would go to college.
My brother was a good student who received a teaching degree in History and Geography. He lived at home and put himself through school. Every evening after dinner when he and I were doing dishes, he would give me a lecture on history, geography, or current events. The topics were wide ranging — everything from the Armenian genocide to the history of Bolivia.
My brother was a passionate and knowledgeable teacher, but he was never able to break into the field. He received enough rejection letters to wallpaper a house. Like Martin Luther King Jr. he was able to see the Promised Land but was never able to enter.
When my brother died at the age of 41, he was making $8.50 an hour and working 60 hours a week as a short order cook. He spent his money on classes, books, beer and cigarettes. He was always hopeful that with just the right additional class, he could make another attempt at the Promised Land. Why was it that he was never able to get that career opportunity?
He was smart and well educated in his field. What he lacked were the other trappings of the middle class — he was unable to make the cultural shifts necessary to get by the gatekeepers. His language was not the language of the middle class.
At the University of Minnesota, he struggled to find a mentor who could show him the underlying rules of the middle class. He also lacked the ability to cut the ties that bound him to family, neighborhood and class. These anchors give a young person the stability they need to thrive but they are also a double-edged sword. They can pull you down when you are trying to make the leap to the middle class. The anchor ropes are so intertwined that if you cut one that is holding you back, you damage the others and are not able to return home again. You risk becoming the "other" in your parents’ home.
Unlike my brother, I was fortunate to find a professor at the University who took an interest in me. He invited me to his home to have dinner with his family. He schooled me on the ways of the middle class and invited me to parties to watch them discuss the world. He sent me on endless interviews of physicians, educators, business people and bureaucrats to listen and learn and understand their rules. When the time came to begin a career, I had learned enough about the middle class to fool the gatekeepers and begin a career.
College access programs represent a significant trend in education today. My concern with these programs stems from my own family's experience.
Helping low-income and working class students reach college is an admirable goal, but helping them achieve their full potential while there is quite another. It is not enough just to get young, low-income kids into college. What higher education needs to understand is that more and more students are going to need support systems and relationships with mentors so they can begin to understand how the middle class world operates and how to work toward success.
Historically, colleges and universities have assumed that by the time students enter college, they are young adults capable of managing both their educational and personal lives. However, students need more than a cursory understanding of middle class systems and structures in order for them to be successful in college and in future careers.
How do we identify the types of supports certain students need in higher education and then how do we go about creating the networks of people who can provide those essential supports for students' success?
This needs to be a combined effort on the part of colleges and universities and those programs designed to help low-income students obtain access to higher education. In other words, the supports must continue beyond gaining entrance.
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