For the Spring 2009 semester, we read and discussed Tim Clydesdale’s “The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens after High School,” which is a critical, ethnographic study of fifty students transitioning into college. Our conversations centered around whether there is a ‘dominant culture’ among college students at KCC, whether we accept Clydesdale’s view of the ‘ideal student,’ and whether we believe his methods were appropriate to his research questions. Of course, we used these as a platform for discussing our own experiences in the classroom and with students.

Below are some questions that we used to facilitate discussion of the book:

Reading guide questions

Reading guide questions 2