Bright College Years: Inside the American College Today [Paperback]

Anne Matthews (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0226510921 | ISBN-13: 978-0226510927 | Edition: 1

As the price of higher education escalates and the number of Americans seeking a college degree steadily rises, it is now more important then ever to think about higher education in a different way. In Bright College Years, Anne Matthews paints a provocative yet evenhanded portrait of the American campus. With each chapter dedicated to sections of the academic year, Matthews puts students, professors, and administrators under the magnifying glass. She conducts her investigation in four-year universities all across the country, from enormous state schools like the University of Texas to specialized colleges like Cal Tech. Bright College Years is a fascinating look at the changing face of the American university that will be of interest to prospective students, their parents, and anyone interested in higher education.

"Matthews writes with sympathy and substantial understanding of the dilemmas colleges face these days."—Tara Fitzpatrick, Chicago Tribune

"A wide-ranging, well-written and lively account of contemporary academia."—Christian Wiman, Dallas Morning News

"Notable Book of the Year." New York Times

"An eye-opening, startling exposé;. . . . Matthews' energetic and well-written report provides a dismal yet concise insider portrait of college life."—Booklist

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226510921
• ISBN-13: 978-0226510927
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,356,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars College may look the same as 40 years ago, but things have c, August 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Bright College Years: Inside the American College Today (Paperback)

My soon-to-be-college bound daughter recently dropped this little book by me and before I knew it, I had read it through to the end. Somehow, I felt that this book was written especially for me, a 60's college grad who wondered just exactly what's going on behind the walls of ivy. Visiting colleges over the past couple of years made me aware that things are not quite the same as when I was in school which Matthews makes abundantly clear in her concise, well-written, and sometimes humerous prose. So how do I feel now? Am I relieved? Worried? Suicidal? Or just confused? I have a clearer picture of the overall college experience but I'm not sure that I feel any better for it. The typical campus today probably would shock a 60's Rip Van Winkle: the commercialization, students who sleep in class, the Internet, the angst, etc. This well-crafted book is fun to read, entertaining, and loaded with great little nuggets of insight. Her up-close-and-personal visits to Sinte Gleska U. in South Dakota and her tagging along with President Sanders of the College of Charleston were interesting, revealing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read with many pithy insights., May 28, 1999

By 

Jonathan Engel (Millburn, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bright College Years: Inside the American College Today (Paperback)

The description on the back of the book calls Anne Matthew's look at higher education "affectionate," but I would say "acerbic" is more accurate. In fluid prose she relates incidents and vignettes which illustrate the contradictions and inconsistencies of higher education today, leaving the reader with a sense of the waste, irresponsibility, and hypocrisy endemic to the enterprise. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you want to know how college life works, read this book., November 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bright College Years: Inside the American College Today (Paperback)

As a college teacher I am hugely enjoying Matthew's book. Along with the recent _Alma Mater_ it gives a view of college life that I can testify is right on the money. It is very well researched by a (former?) college instructor (possibly one of the army of adjuncts that are so accurately and sadly described in her book)and win well crafted but unobtrusive prose. It has innumerable factoids and examples that I particularly enjoyed. Did you know that there is a body in upstate New York charged with overseeing academic regalia? Did you know there are 4 times as many profs today as there were students in 1900? I have a couple of cavils with the work. The most important of which is the author's dismissal of student course evaluations as insignificant. At my campus and I suspect at many others, these evaluations are (for better or worse) scrutinized with great care by provosts and tenure committees. Any faculty members with consistently low student evaluations would find themselves without a job where I teach. Secondly, though I have not finished the book,she seems to give short shrift to the agonizing debates over what I might call "the canon" though it is in fact much larger than this: what should we be reading (especially in the social sciences and lit), and so, what should we value, how should we speak to one another, but this is such a large topic perhaps it is better left largely alone. But without taking serious account of this matter, one is missing a major sea change in academia. All that aside, this is a wonderful, and easy read for anyone who wants to understand the glitzy surface and the soft underbelly of the huge enterprise called "higher education."