Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk

Cover......Page 1
Contents......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 8
Foreword......Page 10
Introduction......Page 14
1 The Media: Degrees of Coverage......Page 24
2 Ready or Not? Where the Public Stands on Higher Education Reform......Page 36
3 College Admissions: A Substitute for Quality?......Page 52
4 Caveat Lector: Unexamined Assumptions about Quality in Higher Education......Page 60
5 Liberal Education: Slip-Sliding Away?......Page 74
6 Six Challenges to the American University......Page 90
7 Beyond Markets and Individuals: A Focus on Educational Goals......Page 110
8 This Little Student Went to Market......Page 126
9 How Undergraduate Education Became College Lite—and a Personal Apology......Page 144
10 America’s Modern Peculiar Institution......Page 158
11 Worlds Apart: Disconnects Between Students and Their Colleges......Page 168
12 Leaving the Newcomers Behind......Page 182
13 Talking the Talk: Rhetoric and Reality for Students of Color......Page 198
14 It is Only a Port of Call: Reflections on the State of Higher Education......Page 208
15 The Curriculum and College Life: Confronting Unfulfilled Promises......Page 222
Afterword: What Difference Does a College Make?......Page 242
Afterword......Page 246
About the Contributors......Page 250
C......Page 254
H......Page 255
S......Page 256
Y......Page 257