- Author
- James E. Cote and Anton L Allahar
- Publisher
- University of Toronto Press, Toronto
- ISBN
- 9780802091826
- Table of Contents
-
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Canada's World-Leading University System: Image versus Reality
Who Should Read This Book?
ch. 1 Troubles in Paradise
The Disengaged Student
Higher Expectations, Lower Effort
Credentialism and Grade Inflation
Credentialism and Academic Disengagement
Roots of Student Disengagement
The New Functions of Higher Education
Sorting, Weeding, and Cooling
The Obsession with High Grades: Grade Inflation Up Close
Conclusion
ch. 2 The Professor as Reluctant Gatekeeper
How the New Functions Have Affected the Interpersonal Dynamics of Teaching and Learning: Faculty Disengagement
The Growth of Education as a Business
Life in the Credential Mart
Deskilling of the Professoriate
The Cult of Self-esteem and Other Sources of the Sense of Entitlement
Learning to Live with Student Disengagement
Awareness of the Issues: Sliding Standards
Perceptions of Student Engagement: Institutionalized Indifference
The Downward Spiral: The New Normal
Job Satisfaction and Job Stress: Being Thick-Skinned
Student Evaluations: Necessary Evils?
Sharing the Blame
Conclusion: Higher Education as a Big Business
ch. 3 The Student as a Reluctant Intellectual
   The Hazardous Passage to Adulthood
The Millennial Generation
The Gamut of Student Engagement
Voices of Disengagement
Student Empowerment
The Retreat of Faculty
Grade Inflation and the Democratization of Education
Education as a Commodity
Standards and Criteria
Edubusiness: University as Corporation
Conclusion: System Failure of Students
ch. 4 Parents as Investors and Managers: The Bank of Mom and Dad (BMD)
Education as an Investment
Setting the Right Goals
Estimating Costs
Baby Boomer Parents and the Experiences of Their Children
The Mini-Me and the Helicopter Parent
In Defence of the Helicopter Parent
How Parents Influence and Support Their Children
Aspirations
Finances: The Bottom Line
Conclusion
ch. 5 Policy Implications: So What Is University Good For? What Is Added beyond Alternatives?
Credentialism Revisited: A Brief History
You Can Lead Them to Water, but...
Grade Inflation Revisited: Underlying Causes
The Science of Grade Inflation and the Route to Reform
The University Graduate Revisited: What Is Added beyond Other Trajectories to the Workplace and Adulthood?
Show Me the Numbers: What Science Says about the High End of Benefits of Higher Education
Monetary Rates of Return
Looking beyond Statistical Averages: What Science Says about the Low End of the Benefits of the University Education
Underemployment Revisited
The Accessibility Issue
The Relative Merits of Soft and Hard Sorting Systems: Dealing with Accessibility
Conclusion: The Idea of the University - Education versus Training
Appendix
Methodological Considerations
Defining and Measuring Grade Inflation
Notes
Index
The present state of the university is a difficult issue to comprehend for anyone outside of the education system. If we are to believe common government reports that changes in policy are somehow making life easier for university graduates, we cannot help but believe that things are going right and are getting better in our universities. Ivory Tower Blues gives a decidedly different picture, examining this optimistic attitude as it impacts upon professors, students, and administrators in charge of the education system.
Ivory Tower Blues is a frank account of the contemporary university, drawing on the authors' own research and personal experiences, as well as on input from students, colleagues, and administrators. James E. Côté and Anton L. Allahar offer an insider's account of the university system, an accurate, alternative view to that overwhelmingly presented to the general public. Throughout, the authors argue that fewer and fewer students are experiencing their university education in ways expected by their parents and the public. The majority of students are hampered by insufficient preparation at the secondary school level, lack of personal motivation, and disillusionment. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no administrative or governmental procedure in place to maintain standards of education.
Ivory Tower Blues is an in-depth look at the crisis facing Canadian and American universities, the factors that are precipitating the situation, and the long-term impact this crisis will have on the quality of higher education. (From the Publisher)
Ivory Tower Blues is a frank account of the contemporary university, drawing on the authors' own research and personal experiences, as well as on input from students, colleagues, and administrators. James E. Côté and Anton L. Allahar offer an insider's account of the university system, an accurate, alternative view to that overwhelmingly presented to the general public. Throughout, the authors argue that fewer and fewer students are experiencing their university education in ways expected by their parents and the public. The majority of students are hampered by insufficient preparation at the secondary school level, lack of personal motivation, and disillusionment. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no administrative or governmental procedure in place to maintain standards of education.
Ivory Tower Blues is an in-depth look at the crisis facing Canadian and American universities, the factors that are precipitating the situation, and the long-term impact this crisis will have on the quality of higher education. (From the Publisher)