Crosnoe, R. (2011) Fitting in, standing out: Navigating the social challenges of high school to get an education, Cambridge: Cambridge University, 267 pages.

Much of political discussion lately, has targeted the number one variable in the success of an individual student, it is the talent and the role of the teacher. However,  Crosnoe reminds the reader that the other side of the same coin is that of the informal system. Majority of research deals with curriculum and teachers. Crosnoe contends that the school environment including peers, subcultures, families and social stigma. This makes  the other side of the coin a robust consideration.

Crosnoe draws from the subfield of Sociology called “symbolic interaction” which include definitions individuals in a group setting and what  they  interpret from others. This includes the “looking glass self” (what one thinks that others think about them.) It also includes “reference group”, “definition of the situation”, “stigma” and others.

Crosnoe uses two sources. One is a large area wide  random sample and the other is local individual and focus interviews. What he finds, that there are many aversive stimuli that students in high  school have to or need to conquer. However, many are debatable so he selects two groups that there is very little disagreement: gays and obese. They are the most likely to be socially marginalized. Thus, scheduled questions were asked with the allowance for asides that were in-depth. This was the second avenue.  

On the issue of gays. For many, the tension is living two lives, gay and straight. The second is obesity of which females have more trouble than males. At the end of the study, the author then suggests how to create inexpensive longitudinal studies that schools can use to measure the social environment for all the students, including the socially marginal. A school in Texas was chosen that he named ” Lamar high school.” It is predominantly white, with a third of the student population including Hispanics and people of color.

There appears to be an informal tracking system that favors students who come from upper middle class backgrounds where parents have professional occupations. Therefore, he suggests numerous strategies, groups, and even internet websites that can help both parent and student of other backgrounds.  He suggests that the social environment can be as strong or stronger than the formal or strict educational variables.

This  is not utopian. He acknowledges that a high school can now be the home of killings, guns, porn transmitted by electronics from one  cell phone to another, rapes, sexual harassment, beatings, bullying and gangs. Thus, many of his suggestions are of one’s of coping rather than  perfecting an ideal system. After indicating various strategies even including parents, outside voluntary associations and religion, he ends with an underlying statement.

Students are more resilient if they believe that high school is one phase in a journey  and that there really is a life after high school.

This is an excellent book for numerous reading populations and must be included in the curriculum of future educators. If one looks back at high school as the best time in one’s life, high schools have changed and memories have a way of distorting the days back then.  Nostalgia is for alumni and not current students.

Prof. Joel Snell

Kirkwood College