One of the hard parts of qualitative research is "gaining entree" -- getting people to accept you and let you study them. Nathan is in a strange position in her research: she is posing as a student, but she is obviously older than the other freshmen she is studying. In some ways that's a good thing -- you don't want to get TOO close to your subject because you could lose objectivity. But you also don't want people to treat you like a total outsider because you won't find out much.
She goes to all the dorm activities and all the stuff her RA promotes (not many students do, though, and I remember a similar pattern when I was in college). She finally starts to get accepted when she participates in pick up games of touch football -- she's seen as more like the other students (or rather less unlike them). But back to the RA events. She talks about a "script" that they all follow: ask a controversial question and then let each participant offer a response. No one responds to anyone else's answer. Everyone is just waiting for their turn to talk (or to HAVE TO talk). That's the way a lot of class discussions go, too, and I definitely don't remember that being true when I was in college. Maybe I'm romanticizing my experience, but I remember having truly interesting discussions in class and also outside of class. Does this happen anymore?
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As a student in college it is very hard to become close with classmates. There is simply not enough time in a semester with classes are are held every M/W/F or only T/TH. Where as in high school most people had the same classes every day for the whole year. This semi-acquaintance atmosphere, in my view, makes it hard to feel comfortable with having more of a discussion atmosphere in the classroom. Not to mention most students have been socialized in the classroom to raise ones hand and direct the discussion at the professor. As for discussing material outside of the classroom students are not intimate enough, in my opinion, to be comfortable continuing the ideas discussed. Also, as Nathan mentioned most students are hurrying off to other classes and there mind has already wondered on to the next class or social activity. As for me, if I find something particularly interesting in one of my classes I tent to share it with my close friends. They tend to do the same with me.
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