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

David Schultz
that they are attending school and working, but I cut little slack for them. Many
students before them have grunted out work and school, and they too should be
able to do that. They are expected to deliver and perform. This is the message
I learned from my experiences, and that is the message I impart—it is about
performance. My blue-collar students understand this message and thrive with it.
But I have also learned about my favorite type of teaching. For 5 years,
I taught at an inner-city community college where my students were mostly
people of color, poor, on public assistance, or the working poor. This was the
best and most enjoyable teaching I ever did. I could talk in my own language,
share common stories, laugh about those who have it easy, and connect to
students in ways I have never done elsewhere. Years later, I see the students who
graduated, and we have great affection for one another. I made a difference.
But I teach in a public administration program located within a business
school. The orientation of the program is generally pro-business. They preach
entrepreneurship, wax eloquent about stories of great business leaders, and gush
over tax cuts for the wealthy. I favor labor, emphasize the importance of evaluating
policies from the perspective of how they help the least advantaged, and seek to
examine the ways the American political economic system favors the haves over
the have-nots. I can competently discuss and explicate pro-business arguments,
but also see and discuss the other side. All my courses raise questions about power
and powerlessness, describing and integrating discussion of the major fault lines of
American politics into all subjects. Yet I shock many students with the workingclass
language I occasionally use—many of them think I am biased or a little raw
in my approach. I can use the language of the white-collar world, but often opt to
make my students confront a different language and perspective on the world.
CONCLUSION: LESSONS LEARNED
So what lessons can be gleaned from my experiences and this article, and
why should public affairs faculty care? Let us review the argument of this article.
America is a nation of declining social mobility where it is difficult to
move from a lower socioeconomic class to a higher one. Economic privilege
in America translates into the ability of parents to place their children in
better schools, and that gives them an advantage to secure admission to more
elite universities. Declining financial aid has also made it more difficult for
blue-collar students to attend college. One result of all of this is the increased
stratification of universities to be composed more and more of students, faculty,
and administrators who are at least second-generation college, at the decreasing
inclusion of working-class faculty and students. The result is that higher
education is more economically stratified than it was even a generation ago.
These are the facts, but facts rarely move anyone—stories do.
I tell my story uncomfortably. I am proud of my roots and accomplishments,
but I do not wear them on my sleeve. Moreover, I am not resentful of the
80 Journal of Public Affairs Education