Breaking the Silence PREVIEW

for Students at Baruch College, ANT1001 TV24A Sp 2010

 I’d like to be acknowledged for
working hard in all my classes Just because I'm undecided doesn't mean I'm
stupid or that I'll fail at life
(this goes out to parents and teachers, too).

I would love to acknowledge the

fact that I was able to attend
college.

I’d like to be acknowledged. I am

first generation in my family to attend
college and hopefully graduate.

I would like to be acknowledged.

I had many odds against me, but I
made it and I am very proud of
myself.

I would like to be acknowledged. I have

volunteered and helped others with daily
life problems but to others it may seem
insignificant even to those I helped.

culture Traditions and customs that govern behavior and beliefs; distinctly
human; transmitted through learning. Time to invent new ones.
I don't enjoy most of my classes because the professors have not one clue what my name is.
-- an anonymous Baruch student

A cow that is given a name generates

more milk than a cow that’s treated as
an anonymous member of the herd.

The very act of naming transforms.

Based on Newcastle University research according to Rob Brenzy quoted in Margolis 2009

Honor
Respect
Trust
DEDICATED TO STUDENTS

This is a book for you, written by you. Bet you didn’t know you wrote a book, huh? Well as
a student you have stress, work, ideas, complaints, revelations, experiences, and a number of teachers that
you are constantly thinking about. All of this has been hidden inside that head of yours dying to be heard.
That’s why students just like you have broken their silence!

Here are 28 accounts of real students that WILL be heard to make Baruch College and all college life better.
By sharing personal and unique stories that matter to us, we hope students (and faculty) get who Baruch
College really is.

We hope you relate to at least one of these stories and be inspired to speak up about what matters to you. It’s
a good exercise. And it might be fun to start your own riff at your college or university. By virtue of speaking
what matters individually and collectively in a free e-book, we can begin to upgrade what college means for us
and perhaps for impact what higher education is about with millions of individual voices.

How do you make college an adventure rather than just a requirement for the future? BREAK THE SILENCE.

Honor
Respect
Trust
 \ What Students Say Would Make a This e-book is a collaborative auto-ethnography examining
what is of interest to a small community of students in an
Difference in college Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course I taught, The
textbook for our course is Mirror for Humanity by Conrad
Kottak (7th ed.).

Ethnography is a key activity that defines the field of cultural

Data from 44 responses collected with a Google Docs Anonymous Survey conducted
April-May 2010. We started with members of our class and a random network of friends and students.
anthropology. Traditionally, ethnographers lived in small
communities and studied local behavior, beliefs, customs,
social life, economic activities, politics, and religion (Walcott
2008 quoted in Kottak 2009, 13).

• It would be a big relief if attendance was not taken in class. A LITTLE ABOUT BARUCH: Baruch has been recognized as
the most ethnically diverse campus in the nation by both
We could show up at our own discretion, with the exception U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review more
of exams & finals. times than any other college in the United States. Located at
24th and Lexington Avenue in New York City, 160 countries
are represented in our student body of 15,700.
• Feeling more like adults with a
few extra hours a week to cope with This “diversity” is somewhat visible in my Spring 2010
ANT1001 course but it’s rarely heard. I have 27 students who
stress. collectively speak Punjabi , Hindi, Russian, Spanish, Hebrew,
Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Urdu, Bahasa Indonesian,
Arabic, Italian, Malayalam, Portuguese, and Sinhalese fluently
• Humor. in addition to English.

ONE DAY after class, a Mexican student sent this email: “A

• A professor that will take the time friend of mine and his father were just killed yesterday; my
to make it clear that it is grandfather used to live there. I feel fear for my mother.” Is
strict lecturing distracting students’ from what they really want
okay to make mistakes. to learn--how to make a difference? Lecturing on top of such
matters contributes to boredom, absenteeism, the act of
• I don't enjoy most of my classes because the professors have surviving school; it masks what really matters to listeners. This
e-book is about engaging what matters to them.
not one clue what my name is.
What if the college classroom became a collaborative space
where each and every person pursues what is of interest or
• They give out grades but not one word of encouragement. matters to them as an adult learner? 21st century leadership
A simple "good job" would have made all the difference to me. for mothers and fathers as well as CEOs and global citizens
demands it. Let’s teach young adults rather than subjects.

• Nothing. I don't come to school to enjoy class. I dedicate this project to the emergent transformation of higher
education in the liberal arts. The great students you’ll hear
from are becoming consumers of their own productivity and it’s
our job to listen and empower that. Welcome to SPEAK!
(Breaking the Silence)!

Kyra D. Gaunt, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Black

Studies and Music at Baruch College, co-editor of SPEAK!
 There are 15,700 students at Baruch as of Fall
2009. If the students in this survey are
representative of the average student body,
then unused textbooks could be costing 20% of
the student body something like $400,000 -
700,000/semester for a loss of up to
$200/person.

Another 18% may be spending upwards of

$450,000/semester for a loss of over
$250/person.

Thatʼs a lotta a cheddar. You could pay for

400-600 NY state residents to attend Baruch
College full-time for one semester ($2,300/
semester for in-state FT).

Data collected from a Google Docs Anonymous Survey (44 respondents) conducted
April-May 2010. We started with members of our class and a random network of friends and students.