Never Good Enough: Health Care Workers and the False Promise of Job Training

Acknowledgments

In the years spent writing this book, I have acquired many debts. In the first phase of this project, there are the colleagues, mentors, and friends from the City University of New York Graduate Center. Patricia Clough, Stanley Aronowitz, and Barbara Katz Rothman made a lasting impact on me, intellectually, personally, and politically. Patricia encouraged me to think faster and provided a rare space for experimentation and creativity. Stanley made it possible for me to pay for food and shelter while doing research—indeed, he gave me the gift of time. From Barbara I learned how to be a compassionate and critical academic—which is not always encouraged—as well as how to teach and breathe medical sociology. MostimportanttomewastheextraordinarygroupwithwhomImarked all significant personal and academic events for about six years: Jeffrey Bussolini , Penny Lewis, Lorna Mason, Ananya Mukherjea, Gina Neff, Michelle Ronda, and Elizabeth Wissinger. Among the many others (mostly at the Graduate Center) to whom I am indebted are the late Robert Alford, Chun-Mei Chuang, Melissa Ditmore, Deborah Gambs, Heather Gautney, Acknowledgments x Acknowledgments Karen Gilbert, Jean Halley, Hosu Kim, Micki McGee, Michael Menser, Grace Mitchell, Nicole Rudolph, Jennifer Smith Maguire, Joel Vandevusse , Jami Weinstein, Dominic Wetzel, Craig Willse, Jonathan Wynn, and Margaret Yard. Thanks are due as well to Michelle Fine, Colette Daiute , and the Spencer Foundation Social Justice and Social Development in Education Studies Training Grant, of which I was a recipient. And from my student days at the University of Minnesota I’d like to acknowledge John Archer and my friends Carrie Rentschler and Jonathan Sterne. I am also grateful to my colleagues at the University of Calgary, who have been so welcoming and provided invaluable support. In particular, Tom Langford, Daniel Béland, and Arthur Frank each read portions of this manuscript as it was under preparation and provided substantive comments , in addition to much practical advice. The graduate students at the University of Calgary have also been a joy to teach and get to know. I have learned much from Dominika Boczula, Mike Corman, Jessica Gish, Becky Godderis, Roland Simon, and Stephanie Talbot and their stimulating projects . Sophie Bonneau and Mike Corman provided research assistance for this book. I would also like to thank several people who have been involved (as participants or observers) with the health workforce training and education industry and helped me carry out my research or pointed me to questions that were important and interesting: Nick Bedell, Helen Chappell, Judy Cicurel, Niev Duffy, Bill Ebenstein, John Garvey, Fran Boren Gilkenson , Dr. Samuel Heller, Betty Jaiswal, Ruth Leon, Kate Quinn-Miller, and most especially, Natalie Hannon and Judy Wessler. In addition, I am thankful to everyone who allowed me to interview or observe them for this study—for their thoughtful and open attitudes toward me and my questions. Several other people read portions of this manuscript. Particularly crucial was the encouragement and editorial direction of Grey Osterud, who steered the project through a difficult passage. I also learned much from the comments of Robb Burlage, Jonathan Cutler, and Steve Early. Three reviewers from Cornell University Press—Eileen Boris, Gordon Lafer, and Steven Lopez—also made invaluable suggestions, providing both criticism and encouragement at each stage of the publishing process. Then, of course, there are the editors at Cornell—Fran Benson, whose support for Acknowledgments xi this project gave me the will to go on, and the series editors, Sioban Nelson and Suzanne Gordon. Suzanne is an inspiration and her guidance made this project, finally, into a book. Naturally, none of the people who have shared their advice and comments are to blame for any faults in what follows , but they can share in its strengths. I was exposed to the ethnographic eye early in my life, from my father, Michael Ducey, sociologist and incessant observer of the world. My sisters Aimee Ducey and Jeni Houser, mother Emily Osborn, and second father, David Houser, have always given me sound advice, even when I was too stubborn to listen. Finally, I am fortunate to have had the support and love of my husband, Ty Eggenberger. He is my connection to honesty and absurdity , and a second pair of eyes. He is also the reason I enjoy the company of such a wonderful (and expanding) pack—Rita and Rayen, of course, but now too our son, Terrence, who will always be perfect to me. This page intentionally left blank. ...