Article: I Was a Low-Income College Student.

Classes Weren’t the Hard Part

Perspective taking: In what ways are the experiences and perspective of Mr. Jack
known to you? In what ways are they new to you? What resonated most with your
experience? What was most surprising? On your campus, or in your community, how are
the different experiences of students or residents raised with those in leadership
positions? In what ways are diversity of experiences reflected by those in leadership
positions? What opportunities do leaders have to seek out perspectives of those with
different lived experiences? What purpose would that serve?

As a straight-passing, young, white man, I cannot begin to say that I could ever truly
know the full magnitude of the discrimination and hardships that Mr. Jack has
experienced throughout the course of his life. While as an adult, I have become much
more aware of the difficulties of having limited income and no savings, I still grew up
with a steady home environment where I was told that my only responsibilities were to
do well in school and have fun with my friends. My own personal experiences have
shaped who I am as a person today and I have strived to work diligently to become as
aware as I can about those who have had drastically different upbringings and how that
has influenced who they are as a person, today. Established leaders, especially in
educational environments, have a great opportunity to work with students that need
different levels of support. Every case is different, some students with much more
privilege may need little to no support during the course of their educational career,
while others have no family that has ever attended college and need continuous support
to help them achieve their goals. This in no way means that any one person is smarter
or better suited to finish college and develop a career, it just means that some have
more ready access to resources that serve their best interest than others do.

Institutional leadership: What leadership is needed from colleges and universities to

address the realities and concerns Mr. Jack illustrates in this article? From whom? What
form might it take? Imagine what it would mean for an institution to “make a sustained
effort to understand the stress and isolation that can define everyday college life for
these more vulnerable students,” “ensuring that campus services meet the needs of all
students.” What would that look and feel like? How would you now it was a successful
effort?

Based on my own experience, I would say that leadership is most needed from financial
aid and academic advisors and counselors to best address the level of support that
needs to be established to help the student population. These are the people in
leadership positions that have the most personal interactions with students because
they are helping them navigate money, graduation and other very private and personal
aspects of their academic careers. The advisors and counselors are the people that
have the most knowledge and experience to identify what students need, how to
establish a connection to the appropriate resources and get them to the students are
rapidly as possible. In a perfect world, the way we would be able to tell if the support
was working is if graduation rates increase. The ultimate goal for all of these students
is to graduate, and many of the unseen barriers that stand in the way cause many to be
unable to finish their programs. If students were given a much more developed system
of support and access to resources, there is a much greater likelihood that they would
finish their program and graduate.

Being authentic: How does Mr. Jack’s article align with your understanding of authentic
leadership? In what ways is telling one’s own and true story, in service to a larger
purpose, an act of leadership? In what ways might holding a group or institution
accountable to its stated mission and values contribute to the integrity of the institution
and the authenticity of its leadership?

Using one’s own position of power in a way that illuminates that path for the next
person to traverse the world is a quality of an incredible leader. People are much more
likely to listen to someone in a position of power and are held in high regard, which
gives them an invisible podium to stand upon and discuss issues that may otherwise go
unnoticed to a vast majority of people. Mr. Jack is very self-aware and utilized his
position to tell his own story and bring light to a subject that many may be very unaware
of and completely oblivious to, otherwise. A true leader is going to hold others and
organizations accountable for doing what they can to support their community and
society as a whole, and that is just what Mr. Jack is doing by highlighting an issue that
needs more active attention. If an institution is not living up to its values, it’s up to
someone (even more so, a leader) to say something so that problems can be
recognized and change can be addressed.