Searching for Utopia : universities and their histories / Hanna Holborn Gray.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gray, Hanna Holborn.

Series:

The Clark Kerr Lectures On the Role of Higher Education in Society

The Clark Kerr Lectures On the Role of Higher Education in Society ; 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Education, Higher--Aims and objectives--United States.

Education, Higher.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (133 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In Searching for Utopia, Hanna Holborn Gray reflects on the nature of the university from the perspective of today's research institutions. In particular, she examines the ideas of former University of California president Clark Kerr as expressed in The Uses of the University, written during the tumultuous 1960s. She contrasts Kerr's vision of the research-driven "multiveristy" with the traditional liberal educational philosophy espoused by Kerr's contemporary, former University of Chicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins. Gray's insightful analysis shows that both Kerr, widely considered a realist, and Hutchins, seen as an oppositional idealist, were utopians. She then surveys the liberal arts tradition and the current state of liberal learning in the undergraduate curriculum within research universities. As Gray reflects on major trends and debates since the 1960s, she illuminates the continuum of utopian thinking about higher education over time, revealing how it applies even in today's climate of challenge.

Contents:

The uses of the university revisited

The university idea and liberal learning

Uses (and misuses) of the university today.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9786613369727

9781283369725

1283369729

9780520951709

0520951700

OCLC:

768081842