These quick exercises provide an opportunity for students to interact with the local community and to continue research of topics discussed throughout the chapter. 

1. Contact your local ProLiteracy volunteer program or search the organization’s national website. Identify a program in your state. If a program does not exist in your community, find the one nearest you (your local library may have information on literacy programs). What services or activities does the program provide for students? Does the program have data regarding the number and types of students it has served? On its effectiveness? What skills are necessary to become a literacy tutor?

2. Interview a student who is a first-generation college student. The student can be from your social problems class or any of your other classes. What challenges do first-generation college students face? Do you believe their challenges are different from those of students who are second- or third-generation college students? Does your college provide programs for first-generation students? If not, what type of services or support might be valuable for this group of students?

3. Investigate whether your local school district supports educational outreach programs for girls or minority students. Select one program and answer the following: What group does the program serve? What educational “gaps” does the program address and how? How effective is the program? Contact the local school district, the Young Women’s Christian Association, or the American Association of University Women (log on to Study Site Chapter 8) for more information.

4. Investigate how many female and male students are declared majors in math, engineering, English, nursing, and sociology at your university. Is there a difference in the number of female majors in engineering versus English? Math versus nursing? What sociological perspective(s) might best explain the gender gap in majors?