Our Higher Calling: Rebuilding the Partnership between America and Its Colleges and Universities

by Holden Thorp, Buck Goldstein

There is a growing sense of crisis and confusion about the purpose and sustainability of higher education in the United States. In the midst of this turmoil, students are frequently referred to as customers and faculty as employees, educational outcomes are increasingly measured in terms of hiring and salary metrics for graduates, and programs are assessed as profit and loss centers. Despite efforts to integrate business-oriented thinking and implement new forms of accountability in colleges and universities, Americans from all backgrounds are losing confidence in the nation's institutions of higher learning, and these institutions must increasingly confront what has proven to be an unsustainable business model. In Our Higher Calling, Holden Thorp and Buck Goldstein draw on interviews with higher education thought leaders and their own experience, inside and outside the academy, to address these problems head on, articulating the challenges facing higher education and describing in pragmatic terms what can and cannot change--and what should and should not change. They argue that those with a stake in higher education must first understand a fundamental compact that has long been at the heart of the American a partnership wherein colleges and universities support the development of an educated and skilled citizenry and create new knowledge in exchange for stable public investment and a strong degree of autonomy to pursue research without undue external pressure. By outlining ways to restore this partnership, Thorp and Goldstein endeavor to start a conversation that paves the way for a solution to one of the country's most pressing problems.

Genres: Nonfiction

271 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 18, 2018

Reviews

[Willie Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

My colleague shared this book with me and as a university administrator it speaks plainly to the issues that higher education is having with the greater U.S. population in delivering on the promise that college is the credential to walk towards the American dream. I appreciate Holden and Buck's clear prose, specific messages to the different audiences within higher education, and providing actionable items for each audience to take. In a lot of ways, this book scratches the service and is a great opener to a grander conversation and actions that are long overdue.

[Jenny Lamberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of the ideas are outdated, the underlying sentiments in this book are very thought-provoking and incite some important considerations for reforming higher education. This is more relevant than ever today in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is a quick read, and a "must-read" for all members of the higher education community, including administrators, faculty, trustees, and other stakeholders.

[Jeri Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the senior writer at a private university in North Carolina, I have to plow into tomes on higher education. Some are dull and as dry as reading a chemistry textbook. "Our Higher Calling" is not. it delivers what it proposed. It gives tangible moves to create a better town-gown situation and creates a fictional conversation with a handful of stakeholders at a fictional public university p to show what every university and every college is facing nationwide. Nice touch, that is.

I came away not bleary-eyed, but better off in having read it. It's a quick read, just under 150 pages, and it ends this way:

"It is a gift, a higher calling, to be a part of American higher education and thereby a part of the important conversation about rebuilding the partnership. Second, because the partnership is with the public, all must be invited to join in the conversation. As one faculty member said, “If students are not strictly customers, then who is our customer?” The answer is the American public: virtually every American has a direct or indirect stake in our system of higher education.

Third, and most important, it is critical to the national interest that American higher education grow and flourish in the face of the obstacles it is now facing. There is no more important manifestation of American ideals, there is no set of institutions more successful at discovering new knowledge, and there is no comparable force better positioned to tackle the world’s problems."

Amen to that.