Description
Former President of Harvard University and education expert, Derek Bok, presents a comprehensive analysis of the current state of America's colleges and universities. Eighteen chapters are divided into five parts: the context; undergraduate education; professional education; research; and a final reckoning. Parts one and two cover academic values; look at the stagnation of graduation rates, the quality of education, and the potential conflict between the two. Part three treats practical teaching for the professional schools' medicine, law, and management, the ever-burgeoning overload of information, skill acquisition, teaching ethics and social responsibility, and achieving success and happiness in one's profession. Part four deals with research universities and the need to retain strong academic values in the face of enticements from the marketplace, maintaining a balance between research and teaching, the need to share responsibilities, and receiving support from the administration. Bok believes that, while the problems are real, hope lies in technology, cognitive psychology, and new methods of teaching, among other things. There are notes and statistical tables. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
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A sweeping assessment of the state of higher education today from former Harvard president Derek BokHigher Education in America is a landmark work--a comprehensive and authoritative analysis of the current condition of our colleges and universities from former Harvard president Derek Bok, one of the nation's most respected education experts. Sweepingly ambitious in scope, this is a deeply informed and balanced assessment of the many strengths as well as the weaknesses of American higher education today. At a time when colleges and universities have never been more important to the lives and opportunities of students or to the progress and prosperity of the nation, Bok provides a thorough examination of the entire system, public and private, from community colleges and small liberal arts colleges to great universities with their research programs and their medical, law, and business schools. Drawing on the most reliable studies and data, he determines which criticisms of higher education are unfounded or exaggerated, which are issues of genuine concern, and what can be done to improve matters.Some of the subjects considered are long-standing, such as debates over the undergraduate curriculum and concerns over rising college costs. Others are more recent, such as the rise of for-profit institutions and massive open online courses (MOOCs). Additional topics include the quality of undergraduate education, the stagnating levels of college graduation, the problems of university governance, the strengths and weaknesses of graduate and professional education, the environment for research, and the benefits and drawbacks of the pervasive competition among American colleges and universities.Offering a rare survey and evaluation of American higher education as a whole, this book provides a solid basis for a fresh public discussion about what the system is doing right, what it needs to do better, and how the next quarter century could be made a period of progress rather than decline.
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