Killing the Spirit: Higher Education in America - Softcover

Smiht, Page

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140121838 ISBN 13: 9780140121834

Publisher: Penguin Group USA, 1991

Synopsis

A critique of modern universities criticizes "publish or perish" policies, academic fundamentalism, misapplication of scientific method, and the growing dependence on research grants from the government and big business

About this title

From Library Journal:

Historian Smith is the author of the eight-volume "People's History of the United States." Here he has produced an excellent general history of American higher education, beginning with a discussion of its current problems. Smith's insights and controversial comments have the potential for upsetting those wedded to the status quo in higher education in the same fashion that A Nation at Risk did for K-12 public education. Approximately one third of the book deals with the "sacred cows," foibles, and fallacies of higher education: tenure; graduate assistants teaching instead of faculty; the publish or perish syndrome; women's studies; the nonscientific social sciences; and the inhumanity of the humanities. One oversight of the book is the lack of mention of the community/junior college movement. For eductors, administrators, and others concerned with the future of higher education. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/89.
- Scott Johnson, Meridian Community Coll. Lib., Miss.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Smith, who seeks to restore the modern university as a true "academic community," advocates a combination of Christian tradition and secular democracy. "To the continuing debate about the ills of American higher education, Smith . . . contributes probing, provocative insights," said PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Group USA
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0140121838
• ISBN 13: 9780140121834
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336