All the Essential Half-Truths about Higher Education

In its current incarnation, academia faces both challenges from within and the indifference or antipathy of much of the general public. Indeed, the American university system often seems adrift, unsure whether its purpose is to teach or to sponsor research, to train the country's young minds or to promote cutting-edge scholarship. Addressing the myriad problems currently besieging higher education, former university president George Dennis O'Brien looks forward by looking back. In contrast to many critics of present-day higher education, O'Brien attacks the institution itself rather than its ideals, arguing for a return to a bygone era of small denominational colleges. Unlike today's faculty-led research universities, these colleges were dominated by a powerful leader with a consistent moral vision, O'Brien writes; in returning to this model, colleges would enter a new "century of management," better equipped to handle the financial, technological, and social changes of the coming millennium. O'Brien's argument includes such radical solutions as transforming the tenure system and rethinking financial aid. Whether you agree or disagree with this line of thinking, All the Essential Half-Truths About Higher Education is a consistently engaging and thoughtful book couched in witty and winning prose.