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The William G. Bowen Series
American Higher Education since World War II: A History
A masterful history of the postwar transformation of American higher education
American higher education is nearly four centuries old. But in the decades after World War II, as government and social support surged and enrollments exploded, the role of colleges and universities in American society changed dramatically. Roger Geiger provides the most complete and in-depth history of this remarkable transformation, taking readers from the GI Bill and the postwar expansion of higher education to the social upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, desegregation and coeducation, and the challenges confronting American colleges today.
Shedding critical light on the tensions and triumphs of an era of rapid change, Geiger shows how American universities emerged after the war as the world’s most successful system for the advancement of knowledge, how the pioneering of mass higher education led to the goal of higher education for all, and how the “selectivity sweepstakes” for admission to the most elite schools has resulted in increased stratification today. He identifies 1980 as a turning point when the link between research and economic development stimulated a revival in academic research―and the ascendancy of the modern research university―that continues to the present.
Sweeping in scope and richly insightful, this groundbreaking book demonstrates how growth has been the defining feature of modern higher education, but how each generation since the war has pursued it for different reasons. It provides the context we need to understand the complex issues facing our colleges and universities today, from rising inequality and skyrocketing costs to deficiencies in student preparedness and lax educational standards.
American higher education is nearly four centuries old. But in the decades after World War II, as government and social support surged and enrollments exploded, the role of colleges and universities in American society changed dramatically. Roger Geiger provides the most complete and in-depth history of this remarkable transformation, taking readers from the GI Bill and the postwar expansion of higher education to the social upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, desegregation and coeducation, and the challenges confronting American colleges today.
Shedding critical light on the tensions and triumphs of an era of rapid change, Geiger shows how American universities emerged after the war as the world’s most successful system for the advancement of knowledge, how the pioneering of mass higher education led to the goal of higher education for all, and how the “selectivity sweepstakes” for admission to the most elite schools has resulted in increased stratification today. He identifies 1980 as a turning point when the link between research and economic development stimulated a revival in academic research―and the ascendancy of the modern research university―that continues to the present.
Sweeping in scope and richly insightful, this groundbreaking book demonstrates how growth has been the defining feature of modern higher education, but how each generation since the war has pursued it for different reasons. It provides the context we need to understand the complex issues facing our colleges and universities today, from rising inequality and skyrocketing costs to deficiencies in student preparedness and lax educational standards.
400 pages, Hardcover
Published July 2, 2019
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January 23, 2020
to get my minor quibbles out of the way first...
--psychologist associated with the "self-actualization" concept was Abraham (not "Herbert" per p. 300) Maslow.
--author is, per the jacket copy, an emeritus professor, so he's got to be at least my age. I can't believe he ok'ed this tiny print. My eyesight is still decent, and I don't complain about menus in restaurants etc., but this was microscopic. Annoying to read and probably contributed to my skimming speed.
More substantively, this is fine as an overview of major trends in enrollment, prominent developments in admissions such as rise [and backlash to it] of affirmative action, culture wars as they play out on campus, relevance of student loan policies to tuition increases, etc. For reasons I didn't quite follow he's especially interested in waxing and waning federal support for university-based research, with consequences for issues such as the prominence of certain stand-alone medical centers. Nothing wrong with that as an observation, but it seems remote from most people's experience of college.
Doesn't do a whole lot with curriculum except to sound skeptical of the adequacy of HS student preparation in recent years, and a quick hit on the Stanford Western Civ course brouhaha.
Overall, I'd say if you haven't been following these issues, you'll get a reasonably objective, chronologically organized take on big-picture trends. If you work in, or take a strong interest in, higher ed, most of it will not be new or illuminating.
--psychologist associated with the "self-actualization" concept was Abraham (not "Herbert" per p. 300) Maslow.
--author is, per the jacket copy, an emeritus professor, so he's got to be at least my age. I can't believe he ok'ed this tiny print. My eyesight is still decent, and I don't complain about menus in restaurants etc., but this was microscopic. Annoying to read and probably contributed to my skimming speed.
More substantively, this is fine as an overview of major trends in enrollment, prominent developments in admissions such as rise [and backlash to it] of affirmative action, culture wars as they play out on campus, relevance of student loan policies to tuition increases, etc. For reasons I didn't quite follow he's especially interested in waxing and waning federal support for university-based research, with consequences for issues such as the prominence of certain stand-alone medical centers. Nothing wrong with that as an observation, but it seems remote from most people's experience of college.
Doesn't do a whole lot with curriculum except to sound skeptical of the adequacy of HS student preparation in recent years, and a quick hit on the Stanford Western Civ course brouhaha.
Overall, I'd say if you haven't been following these issues, you'll get a reasonably objective, chronologically organized take on big-picture trends. If you work in, or take a strong interest in, higher ed, most of it will not be new or illuminating.
Displaying 1 of 1 review