Higher Education?

October 25, 2010
Hacker, author of Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal, and Dreifus, who teaches in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, scathingly discuss the current state of American colleges and universities and argue that tenure and sabbaticals are outdated institutions that cost too much and serve poorly. The authors also claim that the cost of some schools and programs (medicine; sports) far outweighs the gain; teaching is a low priority, they say, blaming administration, committees, and amenities for the spiraling costs of Bachelor's degrees. Though they fail to mention how employment trends might affects students' choices, they do provide some suggestions for cost-cutting: reduce sports and travel of teams, kill tenure and reduce sabbaticals and research, and make medical schools and research centers independent institutions. While some good ideas can be pulled from the polemic, readers will be left waiting for a cool-headed, logical examination of our major institutions of learning.

June 15, 2010

New York Review of Books contributor and former university professor Hacker (Mismatch: The Growing Gulf Between Women and Men, 2003, etc.) and New York Times columnist Dreifus (Interview, 2003, etc.) present their combined "vision for higher education."  

The authors believe that many colleges are sacrificing purpose and priority in favor of "self-interested management," misguided professors and a disrespect (by instructors themselves) for the precious art of teaching. They cite the tenure process as one of the reasons professors appear lackadaisical and disillusioned about their craft, along with slumping salaries ("higher education knows that low-cost labor is there") and becoming engulfed by the "multiversity" (educational "behemoths" with a much wider, unrestrained focus). Fiscally influenced collegiate leadership is partially at fault for this, the authors write, along with a tiered, hierarchy class system of instructors, a problem that Dreifus, an adjunct journalism professor at Columbia University, experienced firsthand when her prized office space was indifferently eliminated. The authors note that, compared to a generation ago, tuitions at both public and private schools have "more than doubled." They question whether the education offered is, therefore, twice as good, especially at more esteemed Ivy League universities. At colleges around the country, Hacker and Dreifus expose poorly assessed teaching skills, a general deficiency in personal attentiveness to students and the changing landscape of degree majors and student demographics, and they offer damning commentary on the machinations of intercollegiate athletics. If their dense, comprehensive analysis has a weakness, it's the overwhelming amount of factual information wedged into the narrative. Around these facts and figures, however, a valid argument takes shape about the problematic causes behind increasingly unaffordable college tuitions. Hacker and Dreifus effectively, and wittily, present their contemporary dilemma, and closing chapters focus on their choices for best colleges (MIT, Notre Dame, "Ole Miss" et al) alongside intelligent, practical solutions to the college conundrum.    

Plenty to ponder in this forceful, solid report on the shifting climate of American higher education.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2010
No question the cost of college education is enormous. What is questionable is whether or not the education is worth the cost, according to sociologist Hacker and New York Times columnist Dreifus. Too many colleges have strayed from the mission to produce thinking adults and are instead focusing more on vocational education, they lament. After visiting colleges across the nation, prestigious and little known, the authors offer a thoughtful assessment. They criticize the caste system at many colleges and the power of the professioriate, which is used to make life easier for tenured professors, often by reducing their contact with and obligation to students. One result: while parents pay exorbitant tuition, many tenured professors are taking yearlong sabbaticals at full pay, leaving teaching assistants and visiting professors to do the actual teaching. Among other questionable practices: student-to-faculty ratios bloated by inclusion of administrative staff and diverting money from academics for the amenities arms race. The authors also identify schools that manage to put the solid ideals of liberal arts education first and give students and parents their moneys worth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)