Program creates common experience for freshman Liberal Arts majors

Should freshmen be encouraged to read the same book as part of a college-wide reading program?

The College of Liberal Arts thinks so and has nominated My Freshman Year by Rebekah Nathan as this year’s book for Common Ground, a program that aims to create a common first-year experience for incoming students.  

However, in her book Nathan challenges the idea of a book universally read by freshmen; she depicts the failure of a freshman seminar based on a common summer reading assignment.

“The fate of the freshman seminar… is a good example of what happens nowadays when efforts at building community compete with the demand for choice,” Nathan said.

At Texas A&M University, freshman liberal arts majors will have the choice to participate in a variety of opportunities based on the Common Ground reading. During the academic year, students can take courses, attend discussions and in January meet the author of My Freshman Year.

Several courses have been developed that include material or questions from the book.  Graduate students will lead small group discussions about issues in the book in a freshman introductory communication class. Two sections of economics classes will use Nathan’s book to consider how diverse social networks will affect future careers. Philosophy students in Scott Austin’s Contemporary Moral Issues class will examine the ethical issues surrounding My Freshman Year. English teaching assistants will participate in workshops on how to teach the book to their students.

“Ideally, the chosen book will provoke a lot of different conversations within the college among faculty and students,” said Pamela Matthews, associate dean of liberal arts. “These classes as well as future events will provide students the opportunity to engage in conversation about the book.”

My Freshman Year is a book about the culture of college from the point of view of a professor posing as a freshman student.

Nathan enrolled in her university as a response to her own students who seemed disinterested in class and college. She spent a year living in dorms and attending classes in order to close the gap between professors and students.

Nathan used her anthropological training and a pseudonym (her real name is Cathy Small) to study and publish her findings about students.

“One of the primary implications of the book is that universities and students must talk to each other more and recognize that ‘the same forces shaping the university are shaping student culture,’” said Dean Charles A. Johnson. “The Common Ground experience hopes to address that implication and create a smaller community that fosters intellectual and social development.”

Contact: Erin Wood, 979.862.4879, erinwood@libarts.tamu.edu