Yale Needs Women by Anne Gardiner Perkins

YALE NEEDS WOMEN by Anne Gardiner Perkins was just released this week and I am actually reading this book in tandem with Paul Tough’s new work about college, The Years That Matter Most. It is truly fascinating to reflect on changes and the differing experiences across generations. Perkins is writing about “How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant,” chronicling the experiences of several women who were among the first of their gender to attend Yale. For some of our students, it may be hard to believe that Yale and many other schools were only integrated gender-wise in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a generation or so ago.  Perkins does an excellent job of describing the feelings of those pioneering co-eds and her work could readily apply to events at other schools, like Union College.  In fact, Booklist says that YALE NEEDS WOMEN is “recommended for teens [because] teens approaching college age, especially those involved in social justice, will enjoy this window into a not-actually-that-distant past.”   

Perkins' book, though, is not just about the decision to admit women, but about what happened next and how subtle (or not so subtle) traditions and rituals impacted their experiences: “‘The worst part was being constantly conspicuous, which is something you don’t think about until it happens to you,’ said one freshman girl.”  Extremely well-researched, YALE NEEDS WOMEN contains a chart about the sources for oral histories and interviews, plus extensive notes (50+ pages), an index, and some black and white photos from the time.  Please look for a copy on our shelves soon – I am looking forward to having many conversations with interested readers. We still have much to do, as Perkins emphasizes through a number of statistics in her epilogue: “Women students today graduate at a higher rate than their male classmates, but their bachelor’s degrees earn them just 74 cents on the dollar compared to what men with the same credentials are paid. En route to that degree, one in five women is sexually assaulted. Nationally, women represent just 32 percent of full professors, and 26 percent of college and university presidents. … The battle … is not yet done.” 

The Years That Matter Most by Paul Tough

THE YEARS THAT MATTER MOST by Paul Tough has been generating quite a bit news lately. Please NOTE that Paul Tough will be a FAN (Family Action Network) speaker at 7:00pm on Monday, Sept. 16 at the Cornog Auditorium on our Northfield campus; more details here.   

Tough is known for his earlier best-selling work, How Children Succeed, and he contributes regularly to The New York Times, such as with this recent and very popular article: “What College Admissions Offices Really Want” which itself is adapted from this new book where Tough writes about “How College Makes or Breaks Us,” compiling anecdotes and statistics.  He begins the book with a student waiting to hear admissions decisions from Princeton and University of Pennsylvania who says, “It feels like everything is depending on this. Which sounds dramatic, I know. But it’s true.” That emotion is certainly consistent with attitudes from our students and some parents, too. Tough empathizes and goes on to argue that “in sharp contrast to other ages and other cultures, mobility in the United States today depends, in large part, on what happens to individuals during a relatively brief period in late adolescence and early adulthood.” He outlines the studies which Raj Chetty has conducted about social mobility and the role of college.  One point I found particularly interesting was Tough’s summary that “in prewar [WWII] America, it may have taken pluck and elbow grease [i.e., entrepreneurship] to rise above your birth, but in postwar America, what it usually took was a college degree.” What about the future? Is this situation changing yet again in the 21st century?   

Tough also offers an entire chapter on fitting in, describing the experiences of first generation students at Princeton, Amherst and elsewhere. He later addresses the Graduation Gap, plus feelings of belonging and inclusion in a chapter titled “Staying In.” Tough describes a variety of higher education programs and approaches in a very engaging and thought-provoking manner. He moves between individual stories to a societal lens, looking, for example, at the role of the federal government and contrasting proposals from FDR and the Obama White House. I have already been recommending this new book to teachers, parents, and administrators, including our Post-High School Counselors. It is fascinating. Student researchers will appreciate the over 30 pages of notes and useful index. THE YEARS THAT MATTER MOST received starred reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.

Added: here is a video of his interview (aired Sept. 13 and lasting about 10 minutes) on PBS NewsHour:

My Time Among the Whites by Jennine Capó Crucet

MY TIME AMONG THE WHITES by Jennine Capó Crucet is a series of essays about the author’s Latinx experience. I have been moved by her writing in the past, particularly the difficulties of being a first generation college student which she featured in her earlier novel, Make Your Home Among Strangers. Here, she revisits some of that time and those feelings as well as writing about events like how her name was chosen and about her marriage to a white man with the difficulties of honoring both of their families’ traditions at the ceremony. Crucet also comments on the American Dream (especially as a child of Cuban immigrants), on her relationship with her father, and on wanting to be a writer and professor. These essays, which the author calls "notes from an unfinished education," will provide another perspective as we continue to work on ideas related to equity this year at school. Here are just a few examples of comments that will prompt reflection: “How many times did you see version of yourself in charge of your learning community?” and “If something feels unfair to you as a white person, it’s likely that equality is actually being achieved in that moment.” Crucet writes openly and frankly about belonging and about being viewed as different; she thereby elicits a range of emotions from humor to anger to hope. Booklist recommends MY TIME AMONG THE WHITES for teen readers, saying “Crucet's culture clash with her foreign-born parents and school experiences will resonate with young people of color.”

10/11/19 Update: Crucet's novel was assigned for Freshman classes at Georgia Southern.  Hard to believe that some students had such an extreme and negative reaction.  They need a second semester assignment - and a chance to discuss Crucet's newest work along with DiAngelo's White Fragility.