Declining by degrees; higher education at risk

Reference & Research Book News, Nov, 2005

Declining by degrees; higher education at risk.

Ed. by Richard H. Hersch and John Merrow.

Palgrave Macmillan

2005

244 pages

$24.95

Hardcover

LA227

In this companion to the PBS documentary of the same name, 15 essayists, introduced by a forward by social commentator Tom Wolfe, examine why lowering academic standards cheats rather than helps students, how universities cheat them further by focusing on research rather than teaching, and how concentrating on rankings cheats them yet again because it siphons off resources better spent on raising the quality of education. Contributors examine the media. Public opinion, the admissions process, unexamined assumptions, the slow demise of a liberal education, six challenges to universities including the glut of information and commercialization, the rising dominance of marketing over educational goals, "dumbing down," student disassociation, the new elitism, and the idea that a higher education is only a way station on the road to getting a job.

([c] 2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)