Benjamin L. Castleman - The 160-Character Solution: How Text Messaging and Other Behavioral Strategies Can Improve Education

THE 160-CHARACTER SOLUTION

How Text Messaging and Other Behavioral Strategies Can Improve Education

BENJAMIN L. CASTLEMAN

2015 Johns Hopkins University Press

All rights reserved. Published 2015

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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Library of Congess Cataloguing in Publication Data

Castleman, Benjamin L.

The 160-character solution : how text messaging and other behavioral strategies can improve education / Benjamin L. Castleman.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4214-1874-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4214-1875-9 (electronic) ISBN 1-4214-1874-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 1-4214-1875-4 (electronic) 1. School improvement programsUnited States. 2. Educational changeUnited States. 3. Academic achievementPsychological aspects. 4. Educational psychology. 5. Rational choice theory. 6. Decision making. 7. EducationAims and objectivesUnited States. 8. Education and stateUnited States. 9. Educational equalizationUnited States. I. Title.

LB 2822.82. C 378 2015

371.2070973dc23 2015010632

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

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To my grandparents,

LEONARD and ANITA CASTLEMAN ,

whose high expectations and even stronger love

provided the foundation on which this book and all

else I have achieved have been built

H ARVARD U NIVERSITY IS HOME to some of the most talented students in the world. Admitted freshmen often have amassed accomplishments by the age of eighteen which many of us would be hard-pressed to match over the course of our lifetimes (yours truly included): scientific patents; orchestral performances with world-famous musicians; the creation of tech startup companies or multinational nonprofit organizations. Especially as Harvard has expanded its need-based financial aid, the university is also home to incredibly bright students who have overcome daunting adversity in their lives: students who participated in national science competitions and attained near-perfect SAT scores despite being homeless throughout high school; undocumented students who arrived in the United States as teenagers and who excelled in school at the same time that they were working to support their families, serving as translators for their parents, and taking care of younger siblings.

Harvard is also home to a tremendous array of support resources to ensure that all students achieve academic success. These include graduate student and university staff who serve as residential advisors in every freshmen dorm, faculty advisors, peer advisors, tutoring and writing centersall of this in addition to the many instructional resources offered by each academic department.

And yet, even at a university so infused with natural talent, achievement, and comprehensive supports, incoming students sometimes struggle to make informed decisions about the educational pathway they pursue. I witnessed this firsthand; for four years I served as a residential advisor (or freshman proctor, in Harvard-speak) while completing my own doctoral work. At the beginning of every academic year I would meet with all the students in my Grays Hall entryway to discuss the courses they would take during the fall semester. What struck me every year was the vast diversity of life experiences among the twenty-seven young people living within this single entryway at Harvard. We had direct descendants of the Founding Fathers, whose parents and brothers and cousins had attended the university for untold generations. In the same suite as them were students who were the first in their family to complete high schoollet alone collegeand who had bounced among various shelters for most of their high school career.

Some students would come into these advising meetings having scoured the course catalog and generated a ranked list of the twenty-five courses they would explore during the first semester. But a surprising number of students had a much more difficult time choosing their courses. The sheer wealth of optionseverything from Sanskrit to biomedical engineeringwas intimidating for some. Others had a hard time determining which course level was appropriate for freshmen (since every department had its own approach to course numbering) or deciding how to balance required courses, major prerequisites, and intellectually stimulating electives.

More often than not these decisions were particularly challenging for students from lower-income backgrounds or who were the first in their family to go to college. Students from college-educated families had spent hours over the summer looking over the course catalog with their parents. Low-income and first-generation students parents were in some cases reluctant to provide any guidance, for lack of personal experience choosing college courses. In other instances these parents provided their children with guidance that had a certain logic (for example, get all of your requirements out of the way freshman year), but which stood in contrast to Harvards advising philosophy.

Lacking access to informed familial guidance and in the midst of transitioning to a world that was profoundly different from their home communities, students often resorted to simplifying strategies to make decisions. One student took a full load of premed requirements because her extended family had always wanted her to be a doctor, despite the fact that her interests were mainly in politics and government. Several students decided to take a popular course called the Science of Cooking, not because they had any interest in science or cooking, but rather because they had friends enrolling in the course. Others were drawn to courses featuring material from popular culture ( HBO s show The Wire, for instance) even if they lacked interest in the underlying disciplinary lens through which the pop culture material would be analyzed.

Some might say that the challenge of finding ones intellectual pathway is part of the collegiate experience. But in my experience as a residential advisor, these simplifying strategies for choosing classes often led students into courses that were not aligned with their academic interests or goals. This, in turn, resulted in lower grades and heightened stress and anxiety. For some of the low-income or first-generation students, frustration and dissatisfaction with courses exacerbated the cultural and psychological challenges of fitting into the Harvard community. Most students eventually found their footing and thrived at the university. For many, however, the challenge of choosing courses contributed to an emotionally wrought freshman year.

As my work has focused on student and parent decision making in education, I often think back to these advising conversations. If students at the most highly endowed university in the world struggle with complex decisions, imagine what its like for students and families in underresourced communities to make decisions about their own education.