Anthony Jack’s motivation for writing a book came from more than his experience as a former low-income, first-generation college student—it was fueled by his frustration with elite universities’ lack of awareness.
“It was almost as if they were finding out they had poor and vulnerable students on their campus for the first time when COVID came and shut the campus down,” Jack said.
Boston College’s Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics hosted Jack on Nov. 6 to share the inspiration behind his recently published book, Class Dismissed: When Colleges Ignore Inequality and Students Pay the Price.
Jack discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic had an especially negative impact on low-income students who were suddenly left without access to campus resources like dorms and dining halls.
“I wanted to show how COVID exacerbated the very inequalities that universities ignored,” Jack explained.
While students from more affluent backgrounds were able to take on unpaid internships and further their careers during lockdown, lower-income students were often forced to find work and help support their families, Jack said.
“What actually was the most pernicious was just a level of security and safety that money provided, not all equally, because the racialization of money was real,” Jack said.
Jack rebuked the misconception that if first-generation students cannot fit in or handle attending a university, it is not the best choice for them.
“That’s one of the dumbest approaches to this I have ever seen, because you cannot cherry pick so much that everything will be perfect,” Jack said. “The job of teachers is to educate, to expand the minds, to push through this road to higher depths.”
Jack also examined the successes and struggles of academically successful students coming from low-income backgrounds, highlighting the results of the Boston Globe’s “The Valedictorians Project,” which evaluated how Boston-area valedictorians fared following high school.
“Something like one in five face housing insecurity after college,” Jack said. “They are asking the wrong question. The question was, ‘How many were housing and food secure before?’”
Universities are admitting more diverse student populations, but their policies and decisions—specifically those affecting financially vulnerable students—have yet to adapt to the needs of this changing student body, Jack said.
“You have adopted these expansive programs to recruit lower-income students—what have you done to your campus policies to reflect that?” Jack probed.
Jack highlighted the behind-the-scenes policies surrounding campus closures and resource allocations that can disproportionately impact disadvantaged students. For example, universities shut down their dorms and dining halls for a week during spring break, leaving many low-income students without access to basic necessities like housing and food.
“The ultimate goal of the book is that it’s a mirror that reflects back our unequal policies that make it harder for our most vulnerable students,” Jack said.
One of his rules in writing is that he must use language that can be easily understood by the intended audience, Jack said.
“What I really want in my work, when I’m exposing these inequalities, is for a parent, a principal, to be able to pick it up and better serve a student in their life,” Jack said.
Concluding his lecture, Jack offered a piece of advice for students to achieve future success.
“Never see asking for help as a sign of weakness,” Jack said. “Asking for help shows you are inspired enough and aware enough that you are approaching a boundary of your own understanding.”
