In chapters four and five, Nathan explores how international students view the American culture. The first chapter explores relationships between Americans and their family and friends, while the second chapter explores how foreign students view our American education system.
As a group, we disagree with Nathan’s decision to use international opinions to categorize us as overly independent: “International students saw ‘individualism’ and ‘independence’ as characteristic not only of roommate interactions but of relations with family and friends as well” (Nathan 73). While it is valuable to use these opinions in order for Nathan to gain an outside view, these evaluations generalize our culture based on the particular international student’s handful of experiences with only a few American students.
It was interesting for us to see Nathan discover the dedication of college students after exploring what the value of a college degree meant to them—especially since Nathan presents herself as a distinguished anthropologist throughout the book. Nathan surveyed 38 college female freshmen with the question “If the university would hand you a bachelor’s degree, provided you pay for all your credits and left the dorms, would you take the degree and leave?” (Nathan 101). Two-thirds of the survey participants expressed that they would choose to stay in college and finish the degree properly, rather than take the degree without doing the work. As a group, we agree with this result—all four of us would choose to obtain the degree after the required work was completed. We feel as though the experience of college is crucial to the development of young adults, and we would not want to skip one of the potentially most important development times in our life.
In chapter six, Nathan explores the subject of time management in college culture. We agree with her observation that students join organizations that are going to boost their resumes and make them appear more presentable to a future employer: students “often show little interest in extracurriculum apart from professional club activities that bolster their resumes” (Nathan 109). We have observed this directly on campus among a majority of students. Although some students do not fall under this category and participate in clubs that are not specially geared towards their major, the majority of our observations display students seeking prestigious opportunities to better their chances in the professional world.
Another area that we agreed completely on Nathan’s observations of the college culture is when she analyzes the components that create “the perfect schedule” for students (113). Her collected research describes the perfect schedule with rules such as “don’t take early classes, defined as ‘anything before 11am,’ don’t take classes on Friday, and don’t take classes with an unknown professor” (Nathan 113). We can apply these rules directly to the experiences that we have had while scheduling our own classes. A fellow student who does not have class until noon is usually envied, a classmate who does not attend classes on Friday is a student who always has a three-day-weekend with more opportunities to party on Thursday night if desired, and a student who has inside information on his or her professors for next semester has an inside look at future course work and course difficulty (although, in 2004 when this study was conducted, ratemyprofesssor.com was not popular like it is to students today).
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