WINTER 2012 - National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and ...

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Heather Wyatt-Nichol excuses. A “trust but verify” policy is useful. House burnt down? There’s likely to be a news report about the incident. Cousin was shot? It is in the crime report of the local paper. Power cut off? Show me the bills (students have done this). The information some students share displays their trust in me. Students affected by drug addiction in their own families sometimes confide in me. I am not a licensed therapist. I cannot solve their problems. However, I can relate to their challenges and I listen to their concerns. I can provide encouragement and link students to necessary resources. Increase Awareness Increase awareness of social class issues in the classroom and in the field. As teachers and scholars, we have a responsibility to critically examine assumptions about mobility and meritocracy. Students should be introduced to the concept and measures of social mobility. We must consider the effect of declining mobility on public administration in terms of falling revenues and increased demand for public services. We must understand the social and democratic implications of diminishing mobility within American society. I have attempted to increase awareness on issues of social class through conference presentations and publication. For example, I have authored or coauthored various articles, including “Social Class and Socioeconomic Status: Relevance and Inclusion in MPA/MPP Programs”; “The Enduring Myth of the American Dream: Mobility, Marginalization, and Hope”; “Blue-Collar Mother/White-Collar Daughter: A Perspective on U.S. Policies toward Working Mothers”; and “Diversity across the Curriculum: Perceptions and Practices.” I have also participated in several panels that address issues of social class at conferences such as the National Academy of Public Administration Social Equity Leadership Conference, National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, Public Administration Theory Network, and Teaching PA. Paradoxically, students from humble origins are often the strongest disciples of meritocracy because they became successful despite the odds against them. We cannot discount their hard work by suggesting meritocracy does not exist. Nor can we ignore the data showing that when it comes to college admissions, some students are more equal than others are. Instead, we must encourage all students to understand the profound effects our circumstances of birth, just like other major demographic categories, have on our lives. Ideally, candidates chosen under a merit system are selected based on qualifications only. Realistically, “qualifications” derive from investments in social capital in the first place. We might refer to this problem as the commodification of merit. The quality of schools and after-school programs often reflects the socioeconomic status of neighborhoods. Some studies (Corcoran, Evans, Godwin, Murray, & Schwab, 2004; Phillips & Chin, 2004; Stringfield & Yakimowski-Srebnick, 2005) have documented the disparities between children 26 Journal of Public Affairs Education
Reflections of a Working Class Academic attending high-poverty schools compared to children attending low-poverty schools. The likelihood of admissions into the top universities is a reflection of access to social and financial capital. Children born into poverty are least likely to attend college. Fifty-three percent of children of the top fifth of income earners will finish college, compared to only 11% of those from the bottom income quintile (Eckholm, 2008). The children of top income earners are overrepresented at Ivy League institutions—they constituted 75% of Harvard’s freshmen class in 1999 (Raines &McAdams, 2006). Similarly, only 3% of freshmen among 146 selective colleges and universities in the United States represent families at the bottom quarter of the income distribution (Oldfield et al., 2006). A blatant example of the commodification of merit is the legacy admission. The Chronicle of Higher Education has reported on legacy admissions for some time now. One can hardly argue that a meritorious system exists when students with average or below average grades are admitted to Ivy League institutions because their parents are alumni and/or large benefactors. In these instances, money and status buy access. We can pretend such decisions are based on merit, or we can counter such gross inequities by providing equal or special consideration to first-generation students. CLOSING REMARKS Legitimacy is warranted on issues of social class in the field of public administration. The National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) includes class as a social identity category in its definition of diversity. In addition, social class is relevant to social equity, particularly the harmful effects of increasing income inequality among Americans. Public administrators may offer “policy proposals to reduce social and economic problems . . . to address the effects of discrimination based on personal characteristics or the restricted prospects produced by inadequate socioeconomic resources” (Svara & Brunet, 2005, p. 254). Public administrators, particularly academics, should work to eliminate the barriers perpetuating classism in higher education, including raising awareness of inequities in the K–12 public education system and proposing and studying innovative initiatives to level the playing field. As first-generation academics, we owe it to ourselves and our students. FOOTNOTE 1 Although my mother never remarried, we resided with this individual for 9 years. Journal of Public Affairs Education 27
Page 1 and 2: JPAE VOLUME 18 NUMBER 1 JOURNAL OF
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Page 5 and 6: FROM THE EDITOR In the symposium in
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Page 9 and 10: Leading by Example: Modeling Global
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Page 19 and 20: on other fronts, certainly it can h
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Page 35 and 36: Class Rooms Kenneth Oldfield Univer
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Blue-Collar Teaching One may argue
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Blue-Collar Teaching graduation in
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Blue-Collar Teaching advantages oth
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Carrizales, T. (2010). Exploring cu
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Oldfield, K. (2010). Socioeconomic
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Moving Forward by Looking Back Gary
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Moving Forward My father married my
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Moving Forward became apparent that
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Moving Forward to Duane, because he
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Moving Forward by this contaminant.
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Moving Forward quite by chance to b
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Moving Forward Federalist 51 detail
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Moving Forward their profession, in
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Moving Forward as the study shows,
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REFERENCES Ashwander v. Tennessee V
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics:
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Many researchers have explored the
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LITERATURE REVIEW Techniques in Tea
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics b
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics T
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics l
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics i
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Table 1. Downloads of Papers at Sel
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Figure 2. Expanded Model of Researc
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics o
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Figure 3. Expanded Model of Researc
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics L
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Techniques in Teaching Statistics o
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Felbinger, C. L., Holzer, M., & Whi
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Snee, R. D. (1993). What’s missin
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Are They Connected? Exploring Acade
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Exploring Academic and Social Netwo
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Figure 2. Career Advice Network Fig
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Table 1. Descriptive Statistics of
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network density, and network recipr
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Figure 5. Academic, Career Advice,
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Open Access Digital Repository: Sha
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Sharing Student Research with the W
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Table 1. Downloads of Papers at Sel
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Table 2. Top 10 Most Downloaded App
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Analysts also determined the number
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Topical categories. As shown in Tab
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negative impact on ARP downloads (
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Knowledge and Skills for Policy Mak
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Stories from Local Public Managers
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and writing the proposal for the co
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Another echoes: Stories from Local
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I think communication is one of the
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Creating Quality Online Course Desi
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it was achieved. The assessment of
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Fulbright Program for Foreign Stude
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Review of Moral Controversies in Am
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application of those foundations to
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Journal of Public Affairs Education
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Information for Contributors The Jo
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