Literature Review Blog#2

Speaking of Race and Class: The Student Experience at an Elite College

(Book)
 This book is written by Elizabeth Aries and Richard Berman. In this book Aries Interviews 58 undergraduates  from class of 2009 at Amherst University. She interviewed the students since they were freshman and completed this study in four years. In the interviews the students express their experience and thinking about the role of racism and class-difference in college. She presents the student's personal perceptions of their experiences. The coauthor Richard Burmen extends the concept of racism by exploring the concepts of "Stereotypes", "Inter-racial dating" and the effects of racism and class on a student's social life.Moreover, the authors look at race and class as two independent variables rather than one concept. So, the authors use the concept of intersecting race and class to examine the experiences of poor whites to that of wealthy blacks. It gives a challenge to the universities to handle and manage formal and informal learning. Elizabeth Aries is a professor of psychology at Amherst University and she has a PhD from Harvard. The co-author Richard Burmen is an independent scholar and singer/songwriter. Hence, they collaborated to work on the role of race and class in colleges. Aries quotes Harvard University President, who states " In our world today, it is not enough for us and our students to acknowledge, in an abstract sense, that other kinds of people, with other modes of thought and feeling and action, exist somewhere. . ." (Chapter 1, page 2). This quote illustrates one of the importance or benefit of diversity at a campus, which is that students from different backgrounds get to interact with each other and change their perceptions about others . The author further quotes Emily a student, who states, " I kind of feel like i have been dropped on Mars. . . I mean, it's so different" ( Chapter 1,page 1).  It describes the feelings of students when they experience different races at their college campuses.The Harvard University President also says ". . . No formal academic study can replace continued association with others who are different from ourselves,and who challenge our preconceptions,prejudices,and assumptions, even as we challenge theirs." (chapter 1,page 2). This means that students can't change their perceptions about stereotypes and racism by studying , rather they need to experience it in their actual life. I think this book is also good for my topic as it describes the role of race and race talk at college.

Elizabeth, Aries, and Burmen Richard. "Speaking of Race and Class: The Student Experience at an Elite College [e book]." N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013
(still have to get the e book version but i'm putting up a link to it's review)