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

FROM THE EDITOR
In the symposium introduction, Kenneth Oldfield points out a class bias
in public affairs teaching. Increasingly, blue-collar professors—those who are
first-generation college—are disappearing from the academy. The loss of their
perspective is a threat to educational diversity.
This symposium presents articles, all from professors who are first-generation
college and have working-class backgrounds, documenting their paths to college
and illuminating what their experiences can tell us about teaching. The articles,
as more ably previewed by Oldfield in his symposium introduction, feature
Heather Wyatt-Nichol, “A View from the 50th Street Gate on Washington
Avenue: Reflections of a Working-Class Academic”; Cheryl Simrell King,
“What’s a Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?”; Gary Wamsley, “Moving
Forward by Looking Back”; Kenneth Oldfield, “Class Rooms”; and David
Schultz, “Blue-Collar Teaching in a White-Collar University.” Each author
describes a set of unique experiences demonstrating how blue-collar students
and faculty experience higher education. All of the articles offer advice on how
their experiences can inform others who are teaching and working with faculty
and students.
Beyond the class symposium, this issue of JPAE presents articles covering
aspects of teaching public affairs that move beyond the traditional classroom and
student. For example, teaching statistics is never easy. For many students, it is
the class they dread the most. This situation is even truer when it comes to many
nontraditional students and practitioners. But are there teaching pedagogies that
do work? This is what Amy Smith and Ignacio Martinez-Moyano investigate in
“Techniques in Teaching Statistics: Linking Research Production and Research
Use.” Using a Delphic method, the authors interview professors who have
developed effective research methods and teaching techniques to uncover some
secrets of success that can be employed in other programs.
The importance of social capital in fostering civic engagement has been
the focus of much recent scholarly research, especially since the revival of the
concept by Robert Putnam in the last decade. But how important is social
capital to academic success for students? In part, this is what Bin Chen, Feng
Wang, and Jianmin Song study in their article, “Are They Connected? Exploring
Academic and Social Networks Among MPA Students at a Chinese University.”
The authors focus on the important role of social networks and interactions
in support of academic learning. They do this by examining the lives of MPA
students at a Chinese university. Their research demonstrates that social capital
does exist, and it does affect learning. The results of their case study raise
important questions and lessons for public affairs programs not just in China,
but across the world.
Good public affairs programs nurture and produce good student research,
especially in capstones or master’s theses. But often we overlook the value
that this research may have to others, including scholars or others working in
Journal of Public Affairs Education iii