Saving State U: Fixing Public Higher Education by Folbre Nancy (2010-02-23) Hardcover

by Nancy Folbre

Once upon a time, students who were willing and able to work hard could obtain an affordable, high-quality education at a public university. Those times are gone. Intensified admissions competition coupled with opposition to public spending has scorched every campus. Budget cuts, tuition hikes, and debt burdens are undermining the best path to upward mobility that this country ever built. But despite all of this, Americans still embrace ideals of equal opportunity and know that higher education represents a public good. Students, faculty, staff, and advocates are beginning to build political coalitions and develop new strategies to improve access, enhance quality, and simplify financial aid. This book celebrates and will fortify their efforts.In Saving State U, economist Nancy Folbre brings the national debates of education experts down to the level of trying to teach--and trying to learn--at major state universities whose budgets have repeatedly been slashed, restored, and then slashed again. Here is a brilliant firsthand account of the stakes involved, the politics, and the key debates raging through public campuses today. In a passionate, accessible voice, Folbre also offers a sobering vision of the many possible futures of public higher education and their links to the fate of our democracy while looking at the practical ways in which change is now possible.

Genres: Education

Unknown Binding

First published January 5, 2010

About the author

Nancy Folbre is an American feminist economist who focuses on economics and the family, non-market work and the economics of care. She is Professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Reviews

[Charles Morantz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book but it is incredibly depressing.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't rate it higher because it is just a book I liked; it's an important topic, but it is not a pleasant topic to read about, especially if you are in higher education. It is a must read book, but it is the kind of book that most people who need to read it probably will not. Folbre basically makes a plea for higher education and argues for the need to go back to the idea of a common good and a common social contract where we all took care of each other. That is in contrast with the current "I got mine Jack" attitude going around these days where people, as long as they themselves are taken care of, pretty much don't give a hoot about society or anyone else. An education is probably one of the best investments a society can make. Invest in the education of a young person now, and the society stands to reap the rewards in the future. And yet the United states as a society has pretty much moved to take funding away from education (not just higher education; take a look at a lot of public schools as well), make higher education more expensive and inaccessible, and then the nation wonders why the rest of the world does so much better in terms of educational achievement and why corporations have to hire foreigners on visas for technical and highly skilled jobs (the ethics and morality of that move are another debate). The bottom line is that there is a crisis in higher education. It is more expensive. It is becoming more inaccessible to young people who should go to college. In addition, the book provides a pretty good overview of how things have changed from the 1960s or so (time of the Great Society, so on) to today (going through the 80s and Reagan and the Republicans pretty much doing their best to dismantle funding for education and give all they could to the rich, with a stop on G.W. Bush, who was certainly no better). The book is pretty current (covers the first part of Obama's election), but it does not leave much hope to be honest. For all of Obama's rhetoric, a lot of what he has done so far in terms of education seems little. We need a hell of a lot more, and as a society we need to really decide where the priorities are. If nothing else, this book will make you think, if you care that is.

[Matthew Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally a good book and well laid out. Dr. Folbre goes about unpacking the difficult situation facing higher education in a way that one can easily understand and grasp. However, her last chapter is brief and offers little more than more opinions and little action. Her recommendations are so grandiose that little can be accomplished. Also she is very obviously biased to the left and makes her opinions of Republicans transparent. Democrats walk on water for this author. Additionally I noted enough typographical errors to make one wonder about the editing process. Nonetheless, I consider this book a good introductory guide to understanding the complexities of higher education.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good (if one-sided) argument for saving public university education. Although short and seemingly somewhat superficial, the book's argument is buttressed with a wealth of scholarly literature on the subject.