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

What’s a Girl Like You
and operate their own business. My grandparents had parties; they ate foods
we did not eat at home. My grandparents had one or more of us kids staying
with them every weekend. They sold the bar when I was about 10 years old
and moved to a cottage on a lake in lower Michigan, thus providing us with a
vacation destination until my grandmother required assisted living.
My parents were part of the White flight out of an inner-city neighborhood
(with down-payment help from my father’s father) and from the age of 8, I was
raised in a good, mixed-class neighborhood. A few fathers on the block had other
than working-class jobs, including, for example, a veterinarian and a newspaper
reporter. As a result, we were exposed to other ways of living. Most fathers,
however, worked at the Jeep plant not too far from the neighborhood.
I do not know why my older sister and I went to college and our three
younger siblings have not. My sister and I were not encouraged to go to college
by either parent. My older sister and I did well in K–12; perhaps there were
teachers or counselors who encouraged us toward college, but I do not recall
any in particular who did. I do not remember that our high school had staff
members whose job was helping get kids to college; only about 10% of my
graduating class went to college. I do know that teachers and the minister
at the church I attended encouraged me toward leadership positions (youth
representative for the church; school paper editor, etc.). I also sang in the choir
and acted in school plays—these experiences gave me “stage presence” skills and
a sense of efficacy that contributed to future school and career decisions.
After high school, I enrolled at the local university as a nursing student.
It was a bad fit, and I left to become a secretary. After a year of that work and
my father’s death, I hightailed it back to college. Two professors during my
undergraduate studies inspired me toward completing my degree and fueled
my passion for research. Both are also responsible for my choice of major—
psychology. That major, along with my love of research, led me to graduate
school. My terminal master’s degree led to my first professional job as a policy
researcher for the phone company. At that job, I learned a great deal about
middle- and upper-class life and what it takes to be a professional. I worked with
economists and sociologists, traveled extensively, nationally and internationally,
learned how to dress and act in a corporate environment, and learned the
language of middle- and upper-class interactions. Policy research led me to
public administration.
I did not come to class consciousness until I was in my late thirties, after
I finished my doctorate. In other words, I went through all my schooling
and a great deal of professional socialization without consciously realizing the
differences between me and most of my peers. I knew I was different; I knew
I was not a “renaissance person,” like so many of my colleagues. I did not read
the newspapers, magazines, and popular books or see the foreign films my peers
discussed. I was not skilled in argumentation; I was not an intellectual warrior.
Journal of Public Affairs Education 55