Books
Book Review: How To Succeed in College and Graduate
Book Review
by kam williams
“A
lmost half of the students who
get into college do not gradu-
ate… Students who succeed
have what is known as Emotional
Intelligence. This means that they are
resilient and know how to face obstacles,
manage time, take advantage of resources,
build networks, become self-aware, become
self-confident, learn from every experience,
focus on personal aspirations, and take
responsibility for themselves…
You can succeed and finish college if you
learn how these institutions work and how
they can work for you. This book is meant
to help you do just that. The goal is your
graduation.”
excerpted from the introduction (pg.7)
At my college orientation way back when,
an administrator intimidated the freshmen
by having us look at the person sitting on
our left as well as the one on our right,
before soberly prophesying that “one of the
three of you will not
graduate.” I was sitting
between my roommates,
both of whom, as it sadly
turned out, did eventually
leave the university with-
out getting a degree.
Today, I can’t help but
wonder how much their
prospects might have
been improved by a book
like I Can Finish College.
For this handy, how-to
guide supplies plenty of
great tips about identify-
ing and dealing with the
array of potential pitfalls lying in wait to
torpedo the promising careers of unsuspect-
ing undergrads before they even have a
chance to blossom.
The author, Dr. Marcia Young Cantarella,
is a veteran in the field of student affairs,
having done long stints as a Dean on the
campus of prestigious places like Princeton,
NYU and Hunter College. Such ivory tower
trappings notwithstanding,
she nevertheless has a
knack for breaking down
her sage advice into readi-
ly-digestible
layman’s
terms.
Dr. Cantarella fields prac-
tical questions on topics
ranging from how to pick
and pay for college; to how
to select your major and
courses; to how to study
and manage your time.
Designed more as a utilitar-
ian resource than as light
reading to be consumed in
one sitting, I Can Finish College is ideally
approached as an academia encyclopedia to
be returned to at any time during college
that a higher education issue suddenly sur-
faces.
To appreciate the degree of the author’s
selfless dedication to the next generation,
one only need consider that she is the
daughter of the late Whitney Young (1921-
I CAN FINISH COLLEGE:
The Overcome Any Obstacle and
Get Your Degree Guide
by Marcia Young Cantarella, Ph.D.
Lulu
Paperback, $17.85
248 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-0-557-71731-6
1971), the venerable Civil Rights Era icon
who served as the Executive Director of the
Urban League for over a decade. Ostensibly
inspired by her father’s lifelong commit-
ment to the disenfranchised, Dr. Cantarella
conveys on these pages the sense of a per-
son sincerely commited to alleviating the
escalating, minority student dropout-rate, a
crisis she refers to as the “Silent Epidemic.”
A common sense, college survival guide
designed with the most vulnerable demo-
graphics in mind, especially the endangered
Black male.
The Portland Skanner Page 7