Book Review: Rebecca D. Cox The College Fear Factor: How Students and Professors Misunderstand One Another. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. $24.95 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-67403-548-5

Abstract

Rebecca D. Cox The College Fear Factor: How Students and Professors Misunderstand One Another. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009. $24.95 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-67403-548-5.When I think back my undergraduate experiences, I mostly remember college as the beginning of independence, the genesis of a career path, and the social bridge into adulthood. After a few minutes, memories of assessments, papers, essays, and study groups make me realize that along with the positive, exhilarating moments, something else was also lurking - anxiety. 77ie College Fear Factor: How Students and Professors Misunderstand One Another provides an in-depth account of the fears of students entering community college and how they are exacerbated by interactions with college faculty members.Some may say that can serve as a motivator, heightening the intensity of a student's achievement and creative output. However, this book examines from the student perspective and how it causes students become disengaged learners, driving them to the point of quitting (p. 39). The College Fear Factor mixes analysis from qualitative research studies with a pedagogical insight, helping the reader understand the disconnect between student and faculty perceptions of learning styles and the learning process. Cox's view of community college issues reflects rigorous scholarship and research methodology from major qualitative studies over a 5-year period. During that time, she observed student-professor interactions and analyzed more than 120 personal interviews at a large sampling of community college campuses so as create educational theories related the disconnect between the teaching styles of professors and the needs of community college students. The data provide a detailed account of student aspirations, individual student perspectives on learning, and how college falls short of, meets, or exceeds student expectations.Cox reviews student behaviors and classroom dilemmas, providing the reader with an understanding of community colleges specifically and higher education generally. She further defines the college fear factor by focusing on the students' perspectives on college and then showing how these beliefs influence dynamics within the classroom. The qualitative themes that emerge from the study allow the reader fully understand the tensions and miscommunication that can occur in the community college classroom. The book explores the gap between faculty understanding of college-level coursework and the work that students are prepared do by drawing from and analyzing common threads from past studies at the community college level. This gap often leads faculty members assume that those students who enter college unprepared do work are just not capable of success. Cox examines the disconnect between what teachers teach and what students expect, and she explores the challenges for college professors with regard student anxiety and a lack of college preparedness.Divided into three major segments, the book investigates and analyzes student fears, classroom dynamics, and gatekeeping as they relate the control of student academic progress. Throughout the book, Cox utilizes ethnographic accounts of classroom observations and student interviews support the analysis. Using the actual transcript records and field notes, Cox affords the reader the opportunity make connections by viewing the raw account from the student and faculty subjects. In the first part of the book, chapter 1 describes students' reasons for choosing matriculate at the community college, and Cox dissects anxieties, stressors, and perceptions of factors that cannot be controlled by the college (e.g., financial hardship, family obligations). In chapter 2, Cox uncovers student concerns about their educational trajectories, in particular, their ability succeed regardless of age, ethnicity, academic background, goals, or high school preparation. …