All the Essential Half-Truths about Higher Education [Hardcover]

George Dennis O'Brien (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226616541 | ISBN-13: 978-0226616544 | Publication Date: January 19, 1998 | Edition: 1

In this refreshing and original exploration, George Dennis O'Brien looks at higher education in America. O'Brien argues that to debate intelligently the future of education we must stop focusing on its ideals and look instead at its institutions. He does this by addressing nine half-truths, such as whether "low cost public education benefits the least advantaged in society," and goes on to examine how accurately they reflect the true state of higher education. The result is a thought-provoking discussion of the present challenges and future prospects of American higher education.

"O'Brien's historical overview of the transition from 19th-century denominational colleges to 20th-century research-driven and largely secular ones is provocative. Cleverly written and well-focused, the book addresses the financial pressures facing higher education and asks vital questions about cutbacks and curricula."—Publishers Weekly

"Lively, engaging, and richly suggestive." —Francis Oakley, Commonweal
"O'Brien employs calm, powerful reason, without sensationalism. His perspective is illuminating. . . . All the Essential Half-Truths About Higher Education is one of the wisest and most useful treatments of American higher education." —John Attarian, Detroit News

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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.

Review

When All the Essential Half-Truths About Higher Education remains at the level of abstraction, its nostalgia can be appealing. When it turns to particulars, it becomes quite chilling.... Although O'Brien is careful to hide his conservative cards, he displays them at the end when he calls for diversity between, rather than within, institutions, a language invoked not too long ago to limit equal educational opportunity. -- The New York Times Book Review, James Shapiro

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 266 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (January 19, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226616541
• ISBN-13: 978-0226616544
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,858,978 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Provocative, insightful and, yes, even funny, June 8, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (New Haven, Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All the Essential Half-Truths about Higher Education (Hardcover)

O'Brien's title references what he terms the "half-truth" that the faculty is the university. His answer is, "of course, but ..." Drawing on his presidency at Bucknell, and his Hegel scholarship, O'Brien argues that an institution represents something else more difficult to identify but just as important: an ethos, a culture, a set of binding ideals, all of which are continually (re)created by the interaction of faculty with institutional tradition. While others like Donald Kennedy have also briefly noted the idea of a greater degree of centralized direction, if not control, O'Brien takes the idea much further both theoretically, and practically, by proposing specific faculty positions intended to strengthen in the long-term an institution's intellectual culture. Finally, O'Brien argues, in an academic version of Michael Porter's doctrine of "competitive advantage," that institutions ought to capitalize on their differences rather than accentuate their sameness. All in all, a provocative, insightful and, yes, even funny meditation on the relationship between institutional structure and institutional character.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book!, September 28, 2002

By 

Robert Paterson (New York, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All the Essential Half-Truths about Higher Education (Hardcover)

I highly recommend this book whether you are a student, parent of a soon-to-be college student, are considering a career in academia or are just plain curious. It is very well written, witty and highly informative. I always recommend it to my friends in academia, especially when the subject of tenure comes up, which he discusses at length. He also discusses the history of the university, which I find very fascinating. All in all, an excellent read.