Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream

The long-running debate on higher education in America is masterfully served by Cornell political scientist Mettler’s carefully researched study, which roams between history, polemic, and analysis with aplomb while championing the positive legacy of equal opportunity in education. Mettler (The Submerged State) arrays an impressive arsenal of statistical data to bolster her claim that for-profit educational institutions are not only overpriced, but fail to deliver the promise of higher education to students who leave disproportionately saddled with debt and diminished job prospects. Though the book orbits the central theme of the for-profits and their outsized political influence, she frames this with a history of higher education and its attendant laws, as well as an excellent introduction to political science that explains—in approachable language—the myriad impacts of law and the ways in which the intentions of legislators are often deformed. In one memorable passage, she avoids facile conclusions in examining the role of money in influencing politics, concluding that while money matters, its impact is far more complex than popular cynicism would imagine. These ideas are informed by a sincere belief in the power of education on Mettler’s part, but her analysis does not suffer. She avoids easy sloganeering and instead focuses on plutocracy, partisanship, and how we might end education policy’s “politics of drift.” Agent: Lisa Adams, Garamond Agency. (Mar.)