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• Social Class Supports: Programs and Practices to Serve and Sustain Poor and Working-Class Students Through Higher Education ed. by Georgianna L. Martin and Sonja Ardoin
• Krista M. Soria

One of the most powerful, pervasive, and dangerous myths in American society is that every individual is afforded an equal opportunity to achieve upward social mobility. The myth of meritocracy purports that one’s own merit, dedication, constitution, and resolve is sufficient to achieve success in society regardless of family origins, social conditions, or personal circumstances (McNamee & Miller, 2009). We are socialized to believe that we can—and should— pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps through our own headstrong self-determination, self-reliance, and strong work ethic. If an individual experiences failure in pursuit of the American Dream, the blame rests entirely on the individual, who might be somehow deficient or lacking in desired qualities, must not have worked hard enough, or may not have sincerely yearned for social mobility in the first place. As not only a poor, working-class, first-generation student in higher education but also an academic advisor, Trio advisor, researcher, and faculty, I have long contended with the myth of meritocracy as I have struggled to feel a genuine sense of belonging in higher education, worked to support poor and working-class students as a practitioner and educator, and sought to illuminate the experiences of poor and working-class college students in my research.

The myth of meritocracy is inescapable in higher education institutions. From admissions applications to graduation ceremonies, college students are repeatedly judged and valued for their individual accomplishments. The myth conveniently absolves higher education institutions of any responsibility for college students when they do not successfully complete their degrees. When poor and working-class students are not successful in higher education environments, which were designed by and for elite middle- and upper-class individuals, staff, faculty, and administrators do not engage in rigorous self-examination of the institutional conditions that may have served as obstacles to those students. Instead, the narrative focuses on students’ presumed deficits. As a result, the institutional conditions that are unwelcoming or serve as obstacles to poor and working-class students remain unexamined and uncritiqued.

In their edited volume, Georgianna L. Martin and Sonja Ardoin reject those deficit frameworks and draw attention to the institutional obstacles commonly experienced by poor and working-class students in higher education by thoughtfully curating examples of strategies, partnerships, programs, and practices that higher education practitioners can implement to better support poor and working-class students. As some of the most predominant scholars examining social class in higher education, Martin and Ardoin have steadily drawn attention to the experiences of poor and working-class students in higher education in their research. In this volume, they shift their attention toward effective opportunities to support poor and working-class students that can be implemented on campuses. They have organized their edited volume into six major sections, each with a theme and different chapters in which authors share strategies, programs, and practices to assist poor and working-class students in their educational journey.

Part 1 includes three chapters in which the authors address how to support poor and working-class students’ access to higher education institutions. Of the six chapters in Part 2, four are dedicated to meeting poor and [End Page 385] working-class students’ basic needs through food pantries, rental assistance, open educational resources, meal swipe donation programs, transportation discounts, and clothing and hygiene resources. In the fifth chapter, the author describes a program to increase poor and working-class students’ ability to engage in cocurricular activities at free or reduced costs. In the sixth chapter, the author addresses trauma and adverse childhood experiences and offers not only reflective exercises for practitioners but also recommendations for how to work with students experiencing adversity.

Part 3 includes five chapters related to academic and learning supports, including a McNair Scholars Program, two community college workforce training and work-based learning...

审阅者：

• 社会阶级支持：通过高等教育服务和维持贫困和工人阶级学生的计划和实践ed。作者：乔治安娜·L·马丁和索尼娅·阿多因
• 克里斯塔·M·索里亚

美国社会最强大、最普遍、最危险的神话之一是，每个人都有平等的机会实现向上的社会流动。精英管理的神话声称，一个人自己的优点、奉献精神、体质和决心足以在社会上取得成功，无论家庭出身、社会条件或个人情况如何(McNamee & Miller, 2009)。我们的社会观念让我们相信，我们可以而且应该通过自己的任性、自力更生和强烈的职业道德，靠自己的力量来提升自己。如果一个人在追求美国梦的过程中遭遇失败，责任完全归咎于这个人，他可能在某种程度上有缺陷或缺乏所需的品质，一定是工作不够努力，或者可能一开始就没有真诚地渴望社会流动性。作为一名贫困的工薪阶层第一代高等教育学生，同时也是一名学术顾问、三重奏顾问、研究员和教师，我长期以来一直与精英管理的神话作斗争，因为我一直在努力感受到真正的精英管理意识。我属于高等教育，致力于作为实践者和教育者支持贫困和工薪阶层的学生，并试图在我的研究中阐明贫困和工薪阶层大学生的经历。

精英管理的神话在高等教育机构中是不可避免的。从入学申请到毕业典礼，大学生的个人成就不断受到评判和重视。这个神话很容易地免除了高等教育机构对未能成功完成学位的大学生的任何责任。当贫困和工薪阶层的学生在由中上阶层精英个人设计并为之服务的高等教育环境中未能取得成功时，工作人员、教师和管理人员不会对可能导致其失败的制度条件进行严格的自我审查。都成为了这些学生的障碍。相反，叙述的重点是学生的假定缺陷。因此，

在他们编辑的书中，Georgianna L. Martin 和 Sonja Ardoin 拒绝了这些赤字框架，并通过深思熟虑地策划了战略、伙伴关系、计划和实践的例子，提请人们注意贫困和工薪阶层学生在高等教育中普遍遇到的制度障碍。教育从业者可以更好地支持贫困和工薪阶层的学生。作为研究高等教育中社会阶层的一些最著名的学者，马丁和阿尔多因在他们的研究中不断关注高等教育中贫困和工人阶级学生的经历。在本卷中，他们将注意力转向可以在校园实施的有效机会，以支持贫困和工人阶级学生。他们将编辑的卷分为六个主要部分，

第 1 部分包括三章，其中作者讨论了如何支持贫困和工薪阶层学生进入高等教育机构。在第 2 部分的六章中，有四章专门讨论穷人和[完第 385 页]通过食品储藏室、租金援助、开放教育资源、刷餐捐赠计划、交通折扣以及衣物和卫生资源来满足工薪阶层学生的基本需求。在第五章中，作者描述了一项旨在提高贫困和工薪阶层学生免费或降低成本参与课外活动能力的计划。在第六章中，作者讨论了创伤和不良童年经历，不仅为从业者提供了反思练习，还就如何与经历逆境的学生合作提供了建议。

第 3 部分包括与学术和学习支持相关的五个章节，包括麦克奈尔学者计划、两个社区大学劳动力培训和基于工作的学习……