The Wiley Handbook of Gender Equity in Higher Education

11International First‐Generation Students: Current Issues and Trends in the Research

Michael J. Siegel

Consider the following two scenarios. In the first, two colleagues set off on a rather challenging hike in the morning with the goal of summiting a local mountain by nightfall. One has hiked in this region before and has a fairly sophisticated working knowledge of the terrain; indeed, she grew up in a family of outdoors types. While she has never been on this particular trail before, she feels prepared for the adventure ahead, understands the risks and challenges, and is confident in her ability to navigate the trek successfully. The other hiker is new to exploring the outdoors and has never undertaken an adventure such as this. She knows very few people who have gone hiking and has very little working knowledge about the culture of hiking in general. In this endeavor, her family can offer very little help as she prepares for the task ahead. As a result, her expectations are low, and she has little confidence in being able to keep up with her colleague and successfully reach the summit. Since neither one of the hikers has experienced this particular trail, they are both considered novices.

The second scenario hits closer to home. At the time of this writing, I had recently attended one of my son's Little League baseball games. On his team was a boy who had never played the sport before. In fact, he was quite unfamiliar with the elements of baseball and brought to his first ...