The Creation of the Future: The Role of the American University [Hardcover]

Frank H. T. Rhodes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2001 | ISBN-10: 080143937X | ISBN-13: 978-0801439377

...Frank H. T. Rhodes acknowledges that the university is an imperfect institution, but argues that it plays an essential role in modern society...he articulates strong opinions on a range of difficult issues

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (September 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080143937X
• ISBN-13: 978-0801439377
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #526,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make This Book Higher Education's Goals for a Real Future, February 8, 2002

By 

David Bradford (Merritt Island, FL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Creation of the Future: The Role of the American University (Hardcover)

Frank Rhodes' book should be purchased by every educator concerned about the future of higher education in this nation. This book cuts through 200 hundred years of ivory tower mentality and reminds educators that if higher education is not revolutionized soon, it will be replaced. Rhodes quotes noneother than the prescient Peter Drucker, who believed that, "Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics...Universities won't survive. It's as large a change as when we first got the printed book...Already we are beginning to deliver more lectures and classes off-campus via satellite or two-way video as a fraction of the cost. The college won't survive as a residential institution. Today's buildings are hopelessly unsuited and totally unneeded...I consider the American research university of the last 40 years to be a failure. The great educational needs of tomorrow are not on the research side, but on the learning side." To back up what he believes, Rhodes examined 125 major research universities and offers a blueprint for a future where learning is truly universal and useable. This is a profound book that is a must replacement to the 40 year-old, The American College and University: A History, a tome that has been used to train higher education administrators. Rhodes' views, while controversial, are refreshingly presented in a fast-paced and delightful book.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Blueprint Not Just for the Research University, October 5, 2002

By 

Jonathan Brown (Fair Oaks,, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Creation of the Future: The Role of the American University (Hardcover)

Frank Rhodes was a distinguished leader of higher education when he led Cornell. He set standards of excellence for institutions but equally he set standards that other presidents should follow - without personal agrandizement.

He argues that this book is addressed to the AAU (American Association of Universities - the 50 top research universities) members - but that is not accurate. What he does in a concise and readable text is explain two things. First, he explains several issues that higher education rarely is able to explain in clear terms. Yet, he does it with grace and elegance. Second he offers a list of changes that would make higher education an even more important resource.

If you are interested in higher education governance or finances or the contributions of research from universities - this is a good book for you. If you want to understand the role of the faculty, again this is a good resource.

Steve Sample's book on Contrarian Leadership - is also excellent but focussed more on the leader. This covers, both leaders and institutions, without flinching from the tradition of shared governance. Compared to the post presidential books like Derek Bok's book on Affirmative Action or Jim Duderstadt's book on leadership - Rhodes book is much more useful and much more concise.

5.0 out of 5 stars Universities and high schools, January 8, 2011

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Sanford Aranoff (NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Creation of the Future: The Role of the American University (Hardcover)

Yes, the above reviewers are correct. This is an excellent and important book. Without meaning to detract from anything said, there is one important omission. The focus of the book is solely on universities, graduate as well as undergraduate. Nowhere in the book are high schools mentioned. No mention is made for any responsibilities for professors to interact with high school students and teachers. We need to discuss this and institute changes. Due to the dichotomy between university and high school, many students enter college poorly prepared. Rhodes' only suggestion is that remedial courses should not be carried out by the university.

The change that I feel necessary is for university professors to visit high schools, to spend a day acting like a substitute teacher, following the teacher's lesson plans, with the teacher observing. This will help the professor to understand the raw material that enters the university. It will help the teacher in better understanding the subject and how to present it. It will open students' minds to more questioning and understanding.

My personal experiences in this I wrote in my book Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better: Things to Help Students Think and To Do Better in School and In Life.

I tell my mathematics students to always start at the beginning. University educators need to look at where their students begin their intellectual development.

Let us not forget that universities play an important role in developing rational thought, necessary for the survival of humanity. In recent decades it seems that Americans are losing rational thinking. Universities must focus on this. See Rational Thinking, Government Policies, Science, and Living. Rational thinking means starting from basic principles, applying logic, and checking with empirical verification. These are things univesities must develop in the new generation.