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First-Generation Students

Does College Success Mean Giving Up Home?

1-28-99: Howard London interviewed 15 students who were the first in their family to attend college. His article, "Breaking Away: A Study of First-Generation College Students and Their Families" (American Journal of Education [Feb. 1989:144-170]), details each of three kinds of "leaving" that pressure such students, parallelling categories suggested by Helm Stierlin, a psychoanalyst:

	Parents want to keep the student under their thumbs.
	Parents let go only if the student keeps sharing the family's values.
	Parents write off the student, even if it's too soon for the student.

Summarized from a review in The Teaching Professor 9.2 (Feb. 1995):3. This summary first appeared in Teaching Network News 3.6 [March]1995:1.

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