December 2006

Briefly speaking: Encouraging 'cultural capital'

Professor Jay Mechling of American Studies is winner of the 2006 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement. (Karin Higgins/UC Davis)

College years are a rare, privileged time in a student's life. In addition to gaining preparation for a career or graduate school, students should also come away with 'cultural capital,' says Professor Jay Mechling, recipient of the 2006 UC Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.

He urges students to absorb cultural experiences through reading -- fiction and nonfiction -- and through attending live performances of music, dance, and theater and visiting art museums and galleries.

"One of the problems with student writing is that they don't do a lot of reading outside of assigned textbooks," Mechling says. "Readers make better writers."

Types of reading

Every year in his freshman seminar in American Studies, Mechling shares a piece of advice he received from a debate coach in high school: Ask for a magazine subscription for a holiday or birthday gift. He recommends The New Yorker, Mother Jones, Scientific American, even Vanity Fair or Rolling Stone -- anything but Time or Newsweek. Choose a magazine of opinions because the writing will be better, he says.

Students ought to be reading daily newspapers as well and staying informed about current issues. Reading Web-based news doesn't count, Mechling says. "Students need to understand what a longer written piece can do that a shorter Web piece cannot," he says.

Mechling also encourages students to read fiction for fun. He admits to receiving odd looks from students -- like, "Who has time for that?" But, he says, students can make it a habit to open up a paperback when eating lunch, waiting in line or instead of watching television.

In fact, whatever the topic in American Studies that Mechling teaches each quarter, he always assigns a novel. For his recent freshman honors course on religion in American lives, Mechling had the students read Russell Banks' The Sweet Hereafter.

Finding time

When Mechling found himself not reading fiction, he made a New Year's resolution to read mysteries -- the only resolution he's ever kept.

"Even I had to make a disciplined decision to fit more reading into my schedule," Mechling says. "You just have to make it a habit."

With the numerous offerings from the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Department of Music, students have a range of choices for attending live performances, some of them free. Several art galleries on campus also carry changing exhibits throughout the year.

"Students get swept up in homework and forget they can take an hour at lunch and experience these things," Mechling says.

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