Review by Booklist Review
Aronowitz, a sociology professor who has also been active in the labor movement, explores the confusion over whether universities should be offering "higher education" or "higher training," critiques the undergraduate curriculum and the fact that most schools depend on graduate assistants and adjunct professors to handle most undergraduate students, and notes that when universities aren't cutting costs to the bone, they're blathering about how their students (or their parents) are their customers. The author proposes an alternative approach: applying four key knowledge domains (history, literature, science, and philosophy) to "specific historical periods, with the goal of showing their interaction rather than a logical and traditional separation." Aronowitz spells out how this program might work, urging that, with the enormous changes ahead in the structure and content of work, what society needs from the university is this contribution to a shared culture as well as practice in critical thinking. Where "the idea of the university" still interests readers, this critique of the contemporary "corporate university" will circulate. --Mary Carroll
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
After taking a disparaging look at the current state of American universities, Aronowitz, a professor at the City University of New York (From the Ashes of the Old, etc.) who has long been active in the labor movement and educational reform, proposes a radical reorganization of American higher education. He reports that there is scarce evidence of "higher learning"--as opposed to "training" or "education"--taking place in our post-secondary educational institutions. Even in today's best universities, he contends, students are rewarded for uncritically regurgitating knowledge, rather than for participating in or challenging "established intellectual authority." Aronowitz further castigates colleges and universities for selling out to corporate America by offering themselves as training sites for businesses and for turning their presidents into full-time fund-raisers who resemble CEOs more than academic leaders. As a remedy, Aronowitz proposes a renewed emphasis on pedagogy and a curriculum centered around a transdisciplinary introduction to science, philosophy and literature within a historical framework. Throughout the book, Aronowitz provides abundant examples of actual policies at American universities and profiles several critical issues, including the unionization of graduate teaching assistants. While his Marxist-influenced rhetoric may put off some readers, Aronowitz should be commended for the high seriousness of his endeavor, which sidesteps the comparatively petty canon wars to ask: What is the true purpose of higher education and how can we restructure our universities to achieve it? (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Addressing what he sees as an overall "intellectual decline" in higher education, Aronowitz (sociology, Graduate Ctr., CUNY) argues that the American academic system has failed to meet its lofty goals of providing students with a well-rounded education. Instead, most colleges and universities offer specialized fields of study without requiring students to take courses outside those fields. The fundamental mission of higher education, Aronowitz says, should be to play a leading role in the development of general culture--a mission that is undermined when academic institutions allow student-athletes to slide through the system. Other factors Aronowitz ponders include the G.I. Bill--which, he says, allowed a broad base of the populace to attend college and to consider a college education a right instead of a privilege--and corporate partnerships, which can dilute an institution's integrity. He also suggests that colleges emphasize pedagogy. Even his old, familiar complaints are put in a new perspective. For academic and larger public libraries.--Terry A. Christner, Hutchinson P.L., KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
