Declining by Degrees Higher Education at Risk

by Hersh, Richard H.; Hersh, Richard H.; Merrow, John; Merrow, John; Wolfe, Tom; Wolfe, Tom

• ISBN13: 9781403973160
• ISBN10: 1403973164
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-01
• Publisher: Griffin

Summary

Two decades agoA Nation at Risksounded a national alarm on K-12 education. Now, an equally urgent alarm is being sounded for higher education in America. InDeclining by Degrees,leading authors and educators such as Tom Wolfe, Jim Fallows, and Jay Mathews provide us with a valuable understanding of the serious issues facing colleges today, such as budget cuts, grade inflation, questionable recruitment strategies, and a major focus on Big Time Sports. Tied to the PBS documentary of the same name,Declining by Degreescreates a national discussion about the future of higher education and what we can do about it.

Author Biography

Richard H. Hersh is a Senior Fellow at the Council for Aid to Education (RAND). He is the former president of Trinity College and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. John Merrow is the Peabody Award winning president of Learning Matters, Inc. He is Host and Executive Producer of The Merrow Report on PBS and NPR. He is an education correspondent for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour on PBS.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Foreword	ix
Introduction	1	(144)
Richard H. Hersh and John Merrow
1. The Media: Degrees of Coverage	11	(12)
Gene I. Maeroff
2. Ready or Not? Where the Public Stands on Higher Education Reform	23	(16)
Deborah Wadsworth
3. College Admissions: A Substitute for Quality?	39	(8)
James Fallows
4. Caveat Lector: Unexamined Assumptions about Quality in Higher Education	47	(14)
Jay Mathews
5. Liberal Education: Slip-Sliding Away?	61	(16)
Carol G. Schneider
6. Six Challenges to the American University	77	(20)
Vartan Gregorian
7. Beyond Markets and Individuals: A Focus on Educational Goals	97	(16)
Howard Gardner
8. This Little Student Went to Market	113	(18)
David L. Kirp
9. How Undergraduate Education Became College Lite—and a Personal Apology	131	(14)
Murray Sperber
10. America's Modern Peculiar Institution	145	(10)
Frank Deford
11. Worlds Apart: Disconnects Between Students and Their Colleges	155	(14)
Arthur Levine
12. Leaving the Newcomers Behind	169	(16)
Roberto Suro and Richard Fry
13. Talking the Talk: Rhetoric and Reality for Students of Color	185	(10)
Heather D. Wathington
14. It is Only a Port of Call: Reflections on the State of Higher Education	195	(14)
Julie Johnson Kidd
15. The Curriculum and College Life: Confronting Unfulfilled Promises	209	(20)
Leon Botstein
Afterword: What Difference Does a College Make?	229	(4)
Richard H. Hersh
Afterword	233	(4)
John Merrow
About the Contributors	237	(4)
Index	241