There are three statistics that stood out to me while reading this chapter:
“Twenty-four percent of our students indicated that in the past month they did not have enough money to buy food, ate less then they felt they should, or cut the size of their meals because there was not enough money.” – Sara Goldrick-Rab (1)
and
“When asked if they ever wen without eating for an entire day because they lacked enough money for food, 6 percent of students said yes.” Sara Goldrick-Rab (2)
also
“the survey revealed that one in five students was hungry, and 13 percent were homeless.” – Sara Goldrick-Rab (3)
It is jarring to see how prevalent hunger is among college students. Thinking about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (which Sara brings up), how can we expect our students to engage in critical thinking when their physiological needs are not being met? I was pleased to read that there’s a growing number of food pantries aiming to address this issue, but the fact that some students must forego food and shelter to attend college is ridiculous.
Sara also unpacks the psychological aspect of these realities, describing a positive reinforcement cycle:
“Scarcity imposes psychic costs, reducing mental bandwidth and distorting decision making in ways that make their situations worse, not better.” – Sara Goldrick-Rab (4)
With significant student populations attending class under these conditions, I’ve been considering what the best approaches would be for instructors in the classroom. One idea I heard that seems viable is making fruit available to your students. I know this would have benefited me because I recall having packed class/lab schedules that periodically meant skipping lunch. So, access to fruit would have made a difference for me.
Finally, if you haven’t experienced SPENT yet, you need to attempt the challenge. It fits well with chapter 5 of Paying The Price.
Discussion Questions
- How can we expect our students to engage in critical thinking when their physiological needs are not being met? (Reflective)
- How can instructors help students who experience hunger in their courses?
- What resources, like Single Stop, food pantries, etc., are available on your campus?
- If you played SPENT, what was your experience like? How did it make you feel?
The featured image is provided CC0 by Juan José Valencia Antía via Unsplash.
- Sara Goldrick-Rab, Paying the Price, Loc 2619 (Kindle Edition).
- Sara Goldrick-Rab, Paying the Price, Loc 2621 (Kindle Edition).
- Sara Goldrick-Rab, Paying the Price, Loc 2644 (Kindle Edition).
- Sara Goldrick-Rab, Paying the Price, Loc 2794 (Kindle Edition).