The Pleasures of Academe: A Celebration & Defense of Higher Education - Softcover

Axtell, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803259387 ISBN 13: 9780803259386

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1999

Synopsis

In this timely book, historian James Axtell offers a compelling defense of higher education. Drawing on national statistics, broad-ranging scholarship, and delightful anecdotes, Axtell describes the professorial work cycle, the evolution of scholarship in the past three decades, the importance of “habitual scholarship,” and the best ways to judge a university. He persuasively confronts the critics of higher education, arguing that they have perpetuated misunderstandings of tenure, research, teaching, curricular change, and professorial politics.

About this title

About the Author:

James Axtell is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities at the College of William and Mary. He is the author of numerous books, including the award-winning The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America.

From Publishers Weekly:

Today's critics of the academy charge that the barbarians are at the Western gates, the "feminazis," thought police, tenured radicals and PC totalitarians are attacking the noble traditions of our colleges and universities. Not only is the diverse student population (of ethnics and women) forcing changes in the "canon," but professors have become research scholars rather than classroom teachers, overpaid, underworked and with guaranteed employment. Such is the indictment, but Axtell, professor of humanities at William and Mary, believes the charges are false and attempts to prove it. His book is meant not only as a refutation of the criticisms but as a celebration of American higher education, its worth and its enjoyments. According to Axtell, the curriculum has always been in flux, faculty are still industrious, working at multifarious tasks, and research and teaching are false dichotomies. While he does mention genuine problems such as rising tuition costs, deficiencies in student writing, and excessive vocationalism, Axtell is nothing if not an optimist. He can spot the silver lining in most any dark cloud. The tone here is that of an avuncular club man who informs us (repeatedly) that he has been part of the professoriat at several elite institutions and knows that all is well with the academic world. Pangloss is expected momentarily.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0803259387
• ISBN 13: 9780803259386
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 293