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Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More
by
Derek Bok
Drawing on a large body of empirical evidence, former Harvard President Derek Bok examines how much progress college students actually make toward widely accepted goals of undergraduate education. His conclusions are sobering. Although most students make gains in many important respects, they improve much less than they should in such important areas as writing, critical t...more
Hardcover, 413 pages
Published
December 27th 2005
by Princeton University Press
(first published 2005)
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Derek Bok is one of the most thoughtful observers (and participants) in higher education today. As president of Harvard for 20 years (1971 - 1991) he had many opportunities to see first hand how an elite university works--or doesn't. Many years ago I read his book "The State of the Nation", which I found to be a reasonable analysis of many of the difficult issues facing the country. In "Our Underacheiving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More", B...more
This book represents a courageous effort by Harvard University's former president Derek Bok who offers a critical examination of America's underachieving colleges. Drawing from his own experience and supported by concrete (albeit occasionally dubious) empirical research, Bok goes to great lengths to explain why he thinks America's undergraduate education is not living up to its reputation and potential, and offers his own recommendations on what he believes the goals of undergraduate education s...more
I was not too impressed with this book. Maybe it is because I am an experienced teacher, and I have been in higher education long enough to see the points Bok is making about complacency in academia and the entrenched conservative ways that prevent change. After reading for a while, you can easily end up despairing at a system that pretty much refuses to change while the rest of the world is at the gates besieging them. Some of what he writes I have seen elsewhere in bits and pieces. The fact is...more
Jan 25, 2008
Irami
added it
Bok's best contribution to the higher education debate is his acknowledgment that undergraduate colleges have a multiplicity of goals, and like Greek Gods, those goals are noble and warring. An undergraduate University should help students express themselves with more clarity and grace, foster habits of careful moral deliberation and the courage to act on ones deliberations, and in addition, impart a skill that's amenable to earning a decent wage. The problem is that these manifold aims are ofte...more
Jun 06, 2008
Tiffany
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people interested in the higher-education system
Shelves:
booksabouteducation,
wtfiswrongwithus
Why Colleges Suck or Why College Is Broken.
This book is a good critique of how colleges are failing, or at least how they can better serve students. Some of Bok's ideas are reasonable, but some just seem overly idyllic. Still, even if his ideas aren't 100% feasible, the book is an interesting analysis of the college system, from the need to give students better communication skills (especially writing) to the idea of the college environment as a lesson in multicultural awareness.
The book also m...more
This book is a good critique of how colleges are failing, or at least how they can better serve students. Some of Bok's ideas are reasonable, but some just seem overly idyllic. Still, even if his ideas aren't 100% feasible, the book is an interesting analysis of the college system, from the need to give students better communication skills (especially writing) to the idea of the college environment as a lesson in multicultural awareness.
The book also m...more
This book strikes a nice middle ground between those who believe the modern university is fundamenally flawed, and those who don't see a reason to change anything. Bok reviews both arguments and more importantly, evidence on all of the core components of general education, including critical thinking, communication, character, citizenship, appreciation of diversity, and global perspective. He shows that higher education works (there are gains in all of these areas in most undergraduates), but th...more
This is why I want to go to grad school, to study this sort of thing. The title is a bit depressing, colleges aren't "failing", but they have a lot of room for improvement, which Bok details very well. His suggestions are common sense initiatives directed at undergraduate education. It is good to know that SHC does some things well, such as writing skills. Large institutions just can't handle teaching good writing to 30-50,000 students. But small schools I think do this well, at least mine does....more
A clear voice that describes what we already know about American universities - we are far less interested in education than we think we are. Read it and despair. Or be willing to do something about it.
Yes: a book about the future of education that is not hysterical. In fact, it's remarkably clear, practical, and balanced.
Good book. Derek Bok is smart.
May 15, 2013
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Derek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator, and the former president of Harvard University.
Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Stanford University (B.A., 1951), Harvard Law School (J.D., 1954), and George Washington University (A.M., 1958). He taught law at Harvard from 1958, where he served as dean of the law school (1968–1971) and then as un...more
More about Derek Bok...
Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Stanford University (B.A., 1951), Harvard Law School (J.D., 1954), and George Washington University (A.M., 1958). He taught law at Harvard from 1958, where he served as dean of the law school (1968–1971) and then as un...more
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Jan 26, 2008 07:39am