Declining by Degrees. Carnegie Perspectives

Declining by Degrees. Carnegie Perspectives
Author: John Merrow
Publisher:
Total Pages: 3
Release: 2005
Genre:
ISBN:

Prompted by a student comment that college lacked intellectual challenge, the author and colleagues sat in on an English class described as "a brain dump." The teacher had assigned students to write parodies of "The Road Not Taken," knowing that to do the assignment well, they would have to read and understand Frost's poem. The instructor was meeting students at their level, trying to push them to go beyond it, and lead them in new directions. Noting that most of the students seemed to view college as a passport to professional and economic security, with learning as a secondary consideration, if at all, the disconnect between expectations of students and expectations of professors, the author discusses the genesis and consequences of a shift to a view of education as a social contract that treats students as consumers. The author admires students who squeeze as much as they can from the college experience, and salutes teachers who dedicate their energies to seeing students succeed. Too much is left to chance, however, writes Merrow, and attention must be paid at a national level to maintain a leading global position in educational attainment.

Declining by Degrees

Declining by Degrees
Author: Richard H. Hersh
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1466893389

What is actually happening on college campuses in the years between admission and graduation? Not enough to keep America competitive, and not enough to provide our citizens with fulfilling lives. When A Nation at Risk called attention to the problems of our public schools in 1983, that landmark report provided a convenient "cover" for higher education, inadvertently implying that all was well on America's campuses. Declining by Degrees blows higher education's cover. It asks tough--and long overdue--questions about our colleges and universities. In candid, coherent, and ultimately provocative ways, Declining by Degrees reveals: - how students are being short-changed by lowered academic expectations and standards; -why many universities focus on research instead of teaching and spend more on recruiting and athletics than on salaries for professors; -why students are disillusioned; -how administrations are obsessed with rankings in news magazines rather than the quality of learning; -why the media ignore the often catastrophic results; and -how many professors and students have an unspoken "non-aggression pact" when it comes to academic effort. Declining by Degrees argues persuasively that the multi-billion dollar enterprise of higher education has gone astray. At the same time, these essays offer specific prescriptions for change, warning that our nation is in fact at greater risk if we do nothing.

Birthright. Carnegie Perspectives

Birthright. Carnegie Perspectives
Author: Ray Bacchetti
Publisher:
Total Pages: 3
Release: 2007
Genre:
ISBN:

Noting that it is easy, especially for those inside higher education, to take it for granted, the writer notes that none of his grandparents had the opportunity to go to college, let alone graduate. Among parents, aunts and uncles, a single bachelor's degree was earned. It was the next two generations, benefited by the GI Bill, the subsequent knowledge explosion, and some luck, that caught the wave of opportunity afforded by higher education. Bacchetti notes, however, that while educational aspirations may remain high, many American families today cannot look forward to the same upward spiral. Three years ago, it was estimated that at least 250,000 prospective students were shut out of higher education due to rising tuition or cutbacks in admissions and course offering and nothing suggests that the number will shrink in the normal course of events. Education is irreversible, advocates the writer: having tasted the pleasure and hard work of learning, the joy of knowledge, one cannot imagine life without it. The education of any enriches all. On the front edge of a new century, the task before the nation is to make sure that young people get the opportunity to attend and complete college.

College (Un)Bound

College (Un)Bound
Author: Jeffrey J. Selingo
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2013
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0544027078

Jeff Selingo, journalist and editor-in-chief of the Chronicle for Higher Education, argues that colleges can no longer sell a four-year degree as the ticket to success in life. College (Un)Bound exposes the dire pitfalls in the current state of higher education for anyone concerned with intellectual and financial future of America.

Scholarship Reconsidered

Scholarship Reconsidered
Author: Ernest L. Boyer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2015-10-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1119005868

Shifting faculty roles in a changing landscape Ernest L. Boyer's landmark book Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate challenged the publish-or-perish status quo that dominated the academic landscape for generations. His powerful and enduring argument for a new approach to faculty roles and rewards continues to play a significant part of the national conversation on scholarship in the academy. Though steeped in tradition, the role of faculty in the academic world has shifted significantly in recent decades. The rise of the non-tenure-track class of professors is well documented. If the historic rule of promotion and tenure is waning, what role can scholarship play in a fragmented, unbundled academy? Boyer offers a still much-needed approach. He calls for a broadened view of scholarship, audaciously refocusing its gaze from the tenure file and to a wider community. This expanded edition offers, in addition to the original text, a critical introduction that explores the impact of Boyer's views, a call to action for applying Boyer's message to the changing nature of faculty work, and a discussion guide to help readers start a new conversation about how Scholarship Reconsidered applies today.

Our New Public, A Changing Clientele

Our New Public, A Changing Clientele
Author: James Robert Kennedy
Publisher: Libraries Unlimited
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2008
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN:

This book explores the pervasiveness of change: in personnel selection and training; budget planning; marketing and promotion; fund raising; health issues for staff and clientele; retirement and recruitment; staying current; inter-library and inter-agency cooperation joint-use facilities; furnishing and refurnishing; evaluating and selecting new format materials and technologies; and lifelong learning.

When Access Is Not Enough. Carnegie Perspectives

When Access Is Not Enough. Carnegie Perspectives
Author: Vincent Tinto
Publisher:
Total Pages: 3
Release: 2008
Genre:
ISBN:

The author writes that for too many low-income students the open door to American higher education has become a revolving door. In examining what can be done, he recognizes the centrality of the classroom to student success.