Get real : 49 challenges confronting higher education / William G. Tierney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tierney, William G., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Education, Higher.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (227 pages)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, [2020]

Summary:

"Higher education always seems to be in crisis. Governments, foundations, professional associations, and the occasional scornful professor all tend to lament one or another problem plaguing America's colleges and universities. The more apocalyptic tracts claim that the US is a "Nation at Risk," that our students' minds have been closed, or that radical faculty have run-a-muck and are brainwashing America's youth. In Get Real, leading scholar of higher education, William G. Tierney cuts through this noise, drawing on his experience and expertise to ask readers the same question he asks his students-What do you think? In forty-nine short, engaging essays, Tierney aims not to stoke the flames of controversy or promote a particular stance but to provoke creative, forward-looking public discussion about what higher education could and should look like in the twenty-first century. Tierney clearly distills and offers his take on critical issues-from diversity and free speech to the rise of for-profit colleges and student debt. Still, the goal is always to give readers the background and tools to form their own opinions. Written in a conversational tone and laced with personal anecdotes, Get Real is informed by scholarly literature without being weighed down by it and includes suggestions for further reading based on areas of interest"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1 A Crisis Is a Terrible Thing to Waste

The Benefits of a Postsecondary Education

The Worth of Universities to Society

The Challenges That Exist

Cost

Time to Degree

Teaching and Learning

Working Conditions

Getting Higher Education's Groove Back

Mastery of Knowledge

Eliminate Transfer

Demand Transparency

Reduce Duplication

Reward Faculty

Prepare Students for Life in a Democracy

2 Canaries in the Academic Coal Mine

The Twenty-First Century Idea of a University

Is Higher Education an Aging Industry or a Hot Commodity? Or Both?

Why For-Profit Higher Education Grew

"It's None of Your Business." "Yes, It Is!"

"Good" Public Goods

3 The Kids Are Alright-No, They're Not

John Dewey, Meet Mark Zuckerberg

That Pesky Problem of the First College Year

Let's Get Real about the (Lack of) Importance of Attending Class

What's Changed

What's Not Changed

How Today's Classroom Is Different from Yesterday's Classroom

What's Going on Outside of Class

4 Safe Spaces, Trigger Warnings, and the Contours of Diversity

America's Love Affair with "Merit"

Safe Spaces for "Snowflakes"

The Imprint of Microaggressions and Trigger Warnings

Demands versus Conversations

5 Students as Customers

Universities as Amazon (or Whole Foods)

The Lords of the Manor: Faculty

The Parameters of a Good Idea: For-Profit Higher Education

The Flimflam Man Reexamined: For-Profit Higher Education

6 Tear Down That Wall: From High School to College

College for All?

College for Some?

Preparing for College

College Knowledge

7 Jobs, Jobs, Not Jobs

The Good Old Days: Before Anyone Was "Academically Adrift"

Reading and Writing and Arithmetic

Ahead at the Starting Line

Kicking the Learning Can Down the Road.

8 The Cost of Free Speech

Understanding Academic Freedom

The Psychic Cost of Free Speech

Fake News and Academic Freedom

The Monetary Cost of Free Speech

On Censoring Others and Oneself

9 Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Why Tenure Came into Existence

Why Tenure Is Going Away

The Color of the Academy

10 Paying for College

Understanding Costs

How Much Is a Degree Really Worth?

How to Avoid (or at Least Minimize) Debt

The Pluses and Minuses of Working in College

11 Noses In, Fingers Out: Rethinking Shared Governance

Shared Governance No More

Presidents at the Trough: Perks and More Perks

Boards Asleep at the Wheel

Monkey See, Monkey Don't

Leadership for the Twenty-First Century

12 Lessons Learned

Inconvenient Truths

Building a Community of Difference

The Way Forward

Notes

Further Reading

About the Author

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438481296

1438481292