Balderston.CLUEfinal+MS10-04-10

8/7/2019 Balderston.CLUEfinal+MS10-04-10

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Kris%ne BalderstonLiterature and Society

Dr. Sherry9/29/10


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Problem College is about social life and academics

How do college students create a balance?


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Proposed Response to Problem Summarizing studies of college culture:

My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a

Student by Rebekah Nathan (2005)

Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American Culture by

Michael Moffa (1989)

Interpre%ng ethnographic data

Describing the culture of college life at Bloomsburg University


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BackgroundStudies of College Culture

Who: Rebekah Nathan and Michael Moffa

What: Performed ethnographic studies of their colleges by enrolling as students

and living in the dorms Why:

To create an understanding of college culture through ethnographic studies

Where: Nathan: AnyU, Moffa : Rutgers University

When: Nathan: 2005, Moffa 1989


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Background Nathan:

Compared to students decades ago:

Todays public college students are both studying a li le less and socializingless. (Nathan, 2005, p. 33)

This means more students have jobs and are involved in clubs

Students social networks are important to college students

Many rela%onships are typically formed early in college or through a

common ac%vity

Students balance socializing and going to class and most mul%tasked

An example is watching TV while doing homework


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Background Moffa :

College is a combina%on of social life and academics

Students referred to extracurricular learning as social learning 4 in 5 considered extracurricular learning more important (Moffa , 1989, p.58)

All but 10 considered extracurricular learning contributed to their matura%on

in college (Moffa , 1989, p.58)

This means 90 of the students thought this type of learning allowed them

to make real-life decisions and work through real-life problems

Many students consider social learning more important than academics


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What About Bloomsburg? Do the students at Bloomsburg care more about sociallife or academics?

How do the students at Bloomsburg create a balance?


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Method Interpret ethnographic data by:

Visi%ng dorm rooms

Surveying people about a typical day

Observing a public space on campus

Interviewing people unlike you


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Findings Dorm Rooms: Dorm rooms could show if the student was more social or academic such as by neat vs. messy or books vs.

entertainment

The picture on the le shows a futon in a students room

The futon suggests the person is social and has an invi%ng room for friends and hallmates to come in and hangout

The student with the futon was more likely to have friends come over and therefore worked less on school

work

The pictures on the desk suggest the person loves to be reminded of friends and family all the %me

The student, even if they were alone in the room, was surrounded by pictures of their favorite people and

places

The picture on the right shows another students room

The room is clean and organized and this suggests that it allows the student to focus academically

The students I observed who were focused and diligent with their school work had clean and organized rooms

The students who had messy rooms were distracted and unable to concentrate on their school work

There are also books on the bed showing the student was recently doing homework or studying

This suggests that academics is important and comes before their social life


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Findings Surveying students:

Surveying students about a typical day could show more about how they spend their %me and their balance

between social life and academics

Student 1 (Le ):

The rst student I interviewed spent ve hours hanging out with friends and only an hour and a half doing

homework

The student spent more %me hanging out with friends than on homework which suggests social life is

more important to them

Student 2 (Right):

The second student I interviewed was in class for ve and half hours, did homework for two and half

hours, then worked for an hour and a half

This shows the students priori%es are academics and work

Students do priori%ze academics and others are required to spend %me doing school work because

their job takes up a good amount of %me

Ac#vity Time Spent

Sleep 7 hours

Class 3 hours

Lunch 40 min.

Homework 1 hour 30 min.Friends 5 hours

Ac#vity Time Spent

Sleep 7 hours

Class 5 hours 30 min.

Lunch 1 hour

Work 1 hour 30 min.Homework 2 hours 30 min.


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Findings Observing a public space:

Observing a public space on campus could relate to iden%fying students who are more

social or academic I went to the Commons at lunch and observed a majority of students were ea%ng with

friends or roommates

There were some students si ng with one other person but no one was si ng along

This shows students enjoy ea%ng with friends instead of ea%ng by themselves

The biggest group of students at a table could suggest that they are more social

I found when it comes to ea%ng lunch or dinner students, social or academic, enjoying

making %me to eat with friends

Tables

Desserts

Food

Drinks

Commons

4

6

3

4

10 11

7

5

4

2

2

22


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Findings Interviewing people unlike you: Interviewing people who you think are unlike you allows you to learn about how they par%cipate in

college culture

I thought the two students I interviewed were only focused academically because they always read,

went to class, and were working on school work I found they were actually more social and made %me to t in their school work

I asked: What is your favorite thing about college?

Student 1: My favorite thing about college is learning more about myself, mee%ng new people, and

the freedom

Student 2: My favorite thing about college is being away from family, freedom, independence, andclubs

Both students answers involved friends and mee%ng people instead of classes or academics

Also both students listed freedom

This suggests they enjoy the freedom college brings such as deciding how you personally balance

social life and academics


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Conclusion The culture at Bloomsburg is social life and academics Students consider both important

Academics is important in earning good grades and a degree

Social life is important to create friendships, rela%onships, and networks

Some students a end just for the social life, others for academics, or for a balance of social life and

academics

Nathan and Moffa s studies of college culture agree social networks and academics are equally important

The data shows the students who had jobs were more focused academically because they only had

%me to focus on school work

Students who formed rela%onships early were usually more into their social life to keep up their

network of friends

Student who were able to mul%task could focus both academically and make %me for their social life


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Conclusion (cont.) A students schedule can suggest how they would spend %me on academics or social life

College is a chance to make new friends and create social networks while learning and earning a degree

Students need a healthy balance of social life and academics in order to get the most out of college

The data I collected suggests a majority of students at Bloomsburg create a balance


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ReferencesMoffa , M. (1989).Coming of Age in New Jersey: College and American

Culture . New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Nathan, R. (2005). My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by

Becoming a Student . New York: Penguin Group, Ltd.

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