All the Essential Half-Truths about Higher Education

O'Brien (God and the New Haven Railroad: And Why Neither One Is Doing Very Well; What to Expect from College) believes that the institutional assumptions governing higher education are just as important as issues of pedagogy. In the process of unmasking these assumptions, O'Brien--former president of Bucknell University and the University of Rochester--presents something to rankle just about everyone. He lambastes the tenure system; urges teachers to focus more on ""service work,"" including administrative advocacy and oversight; attacks efforts to promote diversity and multiculturalism; urges the reinstatement of ""moral"" purpose in education; and suggests the creation of ""distinctive, mission-driven institutions"" to replace liberal arts programs that offer students an unfocused smorgasbord of intellectual options. While he underestimates the impact of part-time, adjunct faculty--now at 43% nationwide--on university functioning, and assumes that students enter college with adequate scholastic preparation, O'Brien's historical overview of the transition from 19th-century denominational colleges to 20th-century research-driven and largely secular ones is provocative. Cleverly written and well focused, the book addresses the financial pressures facing higher education and asks vital questions about cutbacks and curricula. O'Brien's nine-chapter assessment of the state of higher education and the myths, half-truths and former truths he believes education is mired in--while arguable--fan the flames of this already blazing conflagration. (Dec.)