This is an out-of-class activity completed by HSTEM students in response to the reading materials provided. Here, an HSTEM student’s responses to this activity are shown as a sample of what an HSTEM instructor may expect.

Materials

1. The Privileged Poor: How Elite Universities are Failing Disadvantaged Students, Anthony Jack
   • Introduction: Can Poor Students Be Privileged? pp 1-24; 24 pages
   • Conclusion: Beyond Access pp 181-198; 18 pages

Jigsaw Reading (read and complete summary, reflection, and quote pulling for just the
chapter assigned to you.)

1. The Privileged Poor: How Elite Universities are Failing Disadvantaged Students, Anthony Jack
   • “Come with Me to Italy!” pp 25-78; 54 pages
   • “Can You Sign Your Book for Me?” pp 79-131; 53 pages
   • “I, Too, Am Hungry” pp 132-180; 49

Beginning of Module Work

Please complete these to help build your academic foundation and prepare for active participation during our discussion.

Part 1: Summary

Please capture, using bullet points, your top 2-3 key points for each article.

Can Poor Students Be Privileged?

• The privileged poor are poor students who have been accepted into prestigious private high schools, and therefore have been exposed to the world of the rich.
• The doubly disadvantaged are poor students who came to prestigious universities straight from a poor neighborhood
• Both are harmed by many policies at elite schools, but the privileged poor are often overlooked by historians and policymakers

Beyond Access

• The differences between the privileged poor and the doubly disadvantaged highlight how much of an effect high school has on people, and illuminates how policymaking just lumps all poor people together into one homogeneous group
• We should not be taking smart students out of poor communities but bringing educational resources into the poor communities

Come with Me to Italy!

• Many poor students coming to college encounter a culture shock, and perceive
  things like eating at cafeterias differently because they feel like they do not
  belong in this world of the wealthy
• However, for some students like the privileged poor, the difference is not
  shocking, and their peers just invite them to share in the luxury. Therefore
  administrators should take efforts to educate students about each other to
  lessen the impact of cultural differences.

Part 2: Reflection

Choose one article and experiment with writing a one-paragraph response taking each of the following approaches.

1) “Believing approach”. Take a welcoming stance toward the arguments and evidence presented. Describe what meaning the material had for you. Find intersections between your own lived experience and the material. What really resonated with you?

• The intro and conclusion really opened my eyes to the discrepancy between experiences at different socioeconomic levels at college. It’s important to look beyond the brochures and numbers and realize how much of an impact culture has on students’ college experience, and take action to make sure students feel at home and able to succeed to their fullest potential.

2) “Skeptical approach”. Try to challenge the arguments (but not the human lived experiences). What did you find puzzling or confusing? (Try to dig beyond finding the material dense and jargony.) Were any claims inconsistent with your own experience or understanding of STEM? Can you propose alternative interpretations?

• While I agree that there are huge discrepancies between the privileged poor and the doubly disadvantaged, I do feel like this difference has shrunk in recent years, or at least it’s hidden from me. I had friends in high school who went to private schools, and while their families were wealthier and their schools fancier, they didn’t really seem to have such a large difference in culture. Some of their parents were professors like mine, just in slightly more lucrative fields. They had a larger house, and more luxury trappings, but not unimaginably more. However, maybe this is just because I live in a suburb, with a self-selecting population of middle class people, so the differences are not as stark.

Part 3: Reflections in preparation for authentically and respectfully engaging across differences in our HSTEM community (2-3 sentences each)

1) What would it look like to stand up for what you believe in, while being curious about understanding someone whose beliefs contradict yours or even call into question your humanity?

• If someone were to talk down or against something I believe in, I would start off by correcting their idea or view on that particular thing. If I have first-hand experience in that topic, I will share information that supports my beliefs without condemning the other person’s perspective and respectfully disagree with theirs, especially if they are going off hearsay. I would then hand the conversation over to them, asking why they have such a belief, hoping to find a common ground that can create a foundation for understanding and help with bridging the gap between our differing beliefs.

2) How do you want to show up as your authentic learning self in difficult conversations during this class?

• I will approach discussions with an open mind, practice active listening, contribute to discussions with thoughtful and constructive input, and reflect on my beliefs and perspectives while considering how they may evolve throughout the discussion.

3) Reflecting on the resources listed in 5-8, are there tools that you already have
experience with employing? Are there other tools that you have found effective in
helping you engage in difficult discussions? Identify at least three tools that you would
like to experiment with and why.

• Over the past year, I have participated in a lot of collaboration-based work within and outside the classroom. Those instances also call for active listening when peers share ideas or just talk. In that collaborative space once again, I have found micro affirmations to be very effective when targeted towards me or people around me. It helps ease off the stress and tension in the space when the conversation gets tense.
• Paying attention to self and others, appreciating community members when I practice active listening, and paraphrasing are tools that I would like to experiment with. After reading more about this, I noticed they re good ways to get away from conflict formation during hard discussions, one that I often find myself it.

4) Describe a time when you have witnessed, experienced, or perpetuated a
microaggression. How did you respond, and what might you have done differently?

• I have witnessed a lot of microaggression over Instagram due to the rapid increase in “keyboard” warriors. Sometime last year, there was an increase in the amount of people who ate this specific ethnic food, and everyone jumped on that trend. Major blogs started posting about this, but the comment section was very disgusting because a lot of derogatory terms were used, suggesting it looked unappetizing or using offensive language. While I have no problem with people not liking it, it would be another thing if they disregarded someone else’s culture by calling it names. My initial thought was to let them know it was disrespectful in a disrespectful manner, but someone else did it in a better way. They tactfully explained why such comments were inappropriate, delving into the food’s ingredients and health benefits. In the future, I would opt for a similar approach.

5) Describe a time when you have witnessed or experienced a calling-out. Suggest how it
could have been transformed to a calling-in.

• During the break, my sibling made a comment that inadvertently perpetuated a gender stereotype. In response, I quickly “cursed” him out. To transform this into a calling-in, I should have calmly expressed my concern about the comment’s impact and shared how it may reinforce harmful stereotypes.

6) Think about a conflict/disconnect at the individual or community level from your life.
See if you can describe its successful or unsuccessful bridging using the four phases of
the HSTEM process (Listening, Validating, Reflecting, and Partnering).

• Over the summer, I worked in a group where we had to develop a topic and do more research for a presentation. We were all very strong in our opinions, so we were focused on advocating for our specific ideas without considering alternative viewpoints. Our inability to listen led to tension and frustration, hindering our progress. To get past this, we each brainstormed different ideas and defended them. From there, we started recognizing the merit in each other’s ideas to find a common ground. When we got to the end, we collaboratively developed a presentation that incorporated the strengths of each team member’s ideas.