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Charles J. Sykes
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Profscam Audio Cassette – Audiobook, December 12, 1991

by Charles J. Sykes (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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Journalist Sykes examines the academic culture of the American professoriate and finds it distinctly lacking in redeeming traits. 6 cassettes.
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Blackstone Pub
  3. Publication date
    December 12, 1991
  4. Dimensions
    9.61 x 6.75 x 1.28 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0786102276
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0786102273
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Blackstone Pub (December 12, 1991)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0786102276
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0786102273
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.61 x 6.75 x 1.28 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

About the author

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Charles J. Sykes

Charles J. Sykes

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Charles J. Sykes, is the author of eight previous books including "A Nation of Victims," "Dumbing Down Our Kids," "Profscam," "The Hollow Men," "The End of Privacy," "50 Rules Kids Won't Learn in School, "A Nation of Moochers," and "Fail U."

Charlie identifies as a conservative, but in "How the Right Lost Its Mind," he presents an impassioned, regretful and deeply thoughtful account of how the American conservative movement came to lose its values. How did a movement that was defined by its belief in limited government, individual liberty, free markets, traditional values and civility find itself embracing bigotry, political intransigence, demagoguery and outright falsehood? This book looks hard at the Trump era to ask: How did the American conservative movement lose so many traditional values?

Until he stepped down in December 2016 after 23 years, Sykes was one of Wisconsin's top-rated and most influential conservative talk show hosts. He is now an NBC/MSNBC contributor and a contributing editor for The Weekly Standard, where he also hosts the magazine’s daily podcast. In 2017, he was co-host of the national public radio show, "Indivisible," which originated from WNYC. Sykes has written extensively for The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Politico, New York Review of Books, Newsweek, Time.com, and other national publications. He has appeared on Meet the Press, the Today Show, ABC's This Week, Real Time with Bill Maher, as well as on PBS, CNN, Fox News, the BBC, and NPR.

Sykes is a member of the Knight Commission on Trust, Media, and Democracy and sits on the Advisory Committee for the Democracy Fund.

He lives in Mequon, Wisconsin with his wife and three dogs. He has three children and two grandchildren and spends way too much time on Twitter.

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Top reviews from the United States

  • William G.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, thought-provoking rant about problems in higher education.
    Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2018
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    Charles Sykes is a conservative radio host and commentator much seen these days on MSNBC. This early book by him is a fun read: an amusing rant, not always fair, against certain abuses he sees in (especially) public higher education. Thought-provoking even when you disagree.
    2 people found this helpful
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  • Ronnie Gonzalez
    5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST to Read
    Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2013
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    This should be MANDATORY reading for ALL families and pre-college students who have been brainwashed into thinking that college is any kind of haven of maturity and intellectualism. College is a snake-pit of pettiness and shallowness, light years beyond anything students and family ever complained about, in public school
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Richard Francke
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2014
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    A clear view of academic mediocrity.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • John Richard Schrock
    2.0 out of 5 stars Narrow Political Viewpoint, Mostly Wrong
    Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2023
    “Profscam: Professors and the Demise of Higher Education” by Charles J. Sykes; Regnery Gateway; © 1988; 304 pages, hardcover.

    This is the first of many books by Charles Jay Sykes (1954--), a political commentator with extensive background in journalism, and involved since 2018 with the news and opinion website “The Bulwark.”

    As a teacher in schools in Kentucky, Indiana and Hong Kong for ten years, and then as a biology professor who trained 266 secondary biology teachers for more than 30 years, I find some of Sykes early observations only partially correct. He paints with a broad brush and 100% condemnation when the actual problem is far more complex and there remain many good aspects he fails to recognize.

    He states that professors “are overpaid, grotesquely underworked, and the architects of academia’s vast empires of waste…have abandoned their teaching responsibilities and their students.” Wrong, wrong and wrong! I am a retired professor and my salary at the end of 30 years, and at full professor level, was less than a beginning high school teacher’s salary at one of our wealthier state districts. Underworked? Late nights updating course content, rewriting and grading tests and quizzes, serving on committees (admitting reduced faculty input to governance). Not my situation. Abandoning students? I remain in regular contact with the several hundred of former student teachers who remain in the classroom.

    But his descriptions are not totally incorrect for some research universities. But his outside observations that he than generalizes for all professors at all colleges and universities was wrong in 1988. A “corporatization” of state universities was indeed underway, but it was a small proportion then. It has grown, but it is still not the overwhelming disaster he portrays. In my own studies at public universities (B.S., M.S. Ph.D.), many of my professors knew me well and communicated with me after my graduation. And yes, the research universities are becoming more grant-driven. But if we shift to the smaller liberal arts colleges, Sykes criticisms rarely apply at all.

    In 1988, many more universities offered tenure than today, and the shift to non-tenure short term contracts is increasing. But teaching adjuncts are the victims of administration that seeks “financial flexibility.” They are not the cause of this growing problem.

    In this book, Sykes’ references to various leaders, such as Robert Maynard Hutchins and the Great Books falls far short of understanding the in-depth rationale behind these reforms. While I criticize the Great Books for focusing only on Western writings, his portrayal and dismissal of Hutchins does not in any way match with Mary Dzuback’s 1991 biography of Hutchins.

    His accusation that academics “have cloaked their scholarship in stupefying, inscrutable jargon” shows little understanding of the precise and stable definitions of an ever-more-complex science vocabulary.

    Yes, there is a constant turnover of educationist jargon where there is no paradigm and language is poorly defined. But the advancement of true higher education sans educationism, is not jargon and the use of this term reflects on the writer/reader, and not the advancing intellectual effort.

    Sykes does provide cases of abuse of power in the classroom, intrusion of corporate interests into research, and pseudoacademics. These are much better covered in “University Inc.: The Corporate Corruption of Higher Education” by Jennifer Washburn (2005). The vast expanse of private online programs in the 1990s would increase these problems although the dramatic failure of online education during the pandemic has likewise seen considerable shutdown of many such schools, although the ability to buy degrees continues. For that, consult Bear and Ezell’s “Degree Mills: The Billion-Dollar Industry That Has Sold Over a Million Fake Diplomas” (2012). More practical corrections of our higher education system are in As If Learning Mattered: Reforming Higher Education” by Richard Miller (1998).

    Sykes continues his attacks on education with “The Hollow Men: Politics and Corruption in Higher Education” (1988), “A Nation of Victims: The Decay of the American Character” (1992), “Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can’t Read, Write, or Add” (1995), “50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School: Real-World Antidotes to Feel-Good Education” (2007) and “A Nation of Moochers: America’s Addiction to Getting Something for Nothing” (2012).
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  • John V. Karavitis
    5.0 out of 5 stars As true today as it was when it was written in 1988. "Plus ca change..."
    Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2010
    John V. Karavitis is reviewing this book. As noted at the very beginning of Chapter 1: "H. L. Mencken had a simple plan for reforming American higher education. He suggested that anyone who really wanted to improve the universities should start by burning the buildings and hanging the professors." This book is spot on 100% accurate as to how colleges and universities STILL operate in America. If anything, the problems regarding professorial incompetence and misconduct, the death of the undergraduate college education, the whoring of the university to Corporate America, the foreign students who come here for grad school yet can barely speak English, all of this and more has actually gotten worse. I John V. Karavitis refuse to be taken in by apologists for what has to be one of the greatest scams perpetuated on the American People. I graduated college back in 1985, how I dearly wish this had been available to me in my Senior year of high school, I would have made different choices. This book need not be updated for the year 2010 - everything written herein is as true now as it was back in 1988. John Karavitis.
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  • John H. Hwung
    5.0 out of 5 stars Its' true: Just ask your neighbor's sons and daughters
    Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2000
    This book is excellent. Just cross reference Loren Pope's two books--"Colleges that change lives", "Beyond Ivy League" and you'll see that this books is right on the mark. The negative reviews for this book from the professors are not objective.
    You need to check with college students and graduates to get objective viewpoints. I checked with many of my friends' sons and daughers who are or were in college. Most of them said that in 4 year colleges their are or were taught by TAs during the first two years (freshman and sophomore) of their college education.
    I have a friend who is a high power research professor. He distains undergraduates.
    Also, MIT has started a program to have college seniors teach college freshman. This is even worse than having TAs teaching freshman and sophomore.
    This book is a must read for all parents and college-bound students. Don't be lured by college rankings--they don't tell you if professors teach undergraduate and how many of they do. Don't rely on your high school counselors. Do your own research. Your children are diamonds. You want colleges that will do the polishing work, not just admiring the diamonds or worse yet, letting the diamonds collect dust.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Witold
    1.0 out of 5 stars unbalanced and biased
    Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2013
    Is the book true? - yes....Is it the whole truth? - absolutely NOT! Is this anything but the truth? - well, it is much more than the truth...:-) It is called propaganda, manipulation of facts, numbers, and so on...

    Let's say there are two statements. Statement no. 1: "Many professors make a lot of money". Statement 2: "Many professors make very little money". Both statements are absolutely true. The author wrote a book based on statement no. 1. A big unbalanced, unfair book, which probably sold very well...A teenage fantasy.

    Do professors "frequently demand' sexual favors in exchange for grades? Really????

    And teaching three classes for one professor means no work, but teaching one class for an adjunct is slavery, abuse, and overwork? Really?

    And so on.
    7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Stephen Elliott
    5.0 out of 5 stars Prescient writing from a very careful and engaging writer on the future if universities and the purpose of education.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2017
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    A prescient piece of writing by Charles Sykes. Almost 30 years later the university has become a glorified marketing agency which values research (no matter how irrelevant) over teaching. Mr Sykes even gave warning of the rise of global league tables using inappropriate metrics to promote the university at the expense of integrity. I recommend this book to anyone considering the cost or value of a university degree today
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