ERIC Number: ED415787
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1998
Pages: 243
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-0-226-61654-1
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
All the Essential Half-Truths about Higher Education.
O'Brien, George Dennis
This book contrasts two models of institutions of higher education in the United States: the faculty-controlled research university and the administration-led traditional college, and offers recommendations for the development of higher education which draw on the strengths of both. In the beginning, American higher education was predominantly religious and denominational, with the authority of the president and board undoubted. With the advent of the research university, authority shifted away from the president to the faculty, whose specialized skills gave them a new importance. The clash between the traditional and the modern research university has given rise to questions such as, "How will ambiguously governed institutions respond intelligently to the financial, technical, and cultural changes beginning to affect higher education? or "Who will decide which departments should be shut down?" Valid goals and ideas are significantly altered once they are incorporated into practical form: what may have been "truths" become "half-truths." Chapters address many institutional assumptions, suggesting that while they are essential, they might also be treated as half-truths. Chapters are: (1) "Anyone for Higher Education?" (2) "The Faculty Is the University"; (3) "Tenure Is a Necessary Condition of Academic Freedom"; (4) "Universities are Neutral on Moral Value/Universities Teach Moral Value"; (5) "The Liberal Arts Curriculum Aims at Distribution/Diversity"; (6) "Teaching Is the Primary Task of Higher Education"; (7) "The Problem with Higher Education Is the Administration"; (8) "Low-Cost Public Education Benefits the Least Advantaged"; (9) "The University Is the Axial Institution of Modern Society"; (10) "Synthetic Morality"; and (11) "Ultimate Synthesis: Money, Mission, and Management." Appended is a section of chapter-by-chapter references, acknowledgments, and afterthoughts. (BF)
Descriptors: Academic Freedom, Administrator Role, College Faculty, College Presidents, College Role, Decision Making, Educational Philosophy, Faculty College Relationship, Higher Education, Institutional Characteristics, Institutional Mission, Institutional Role, Liberal Arts, Power Structure, Private Colleges, Public Education, Research Universities, Small Colleges, Tenure, Traditional Schools, Values
University of Chicago Press, 5801 South Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637; phone: 800-621-2736 ($19.95)
Publication Type: Books
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A