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The Shaping of American Higher Education: Emergence and Growth of the Contemporary System
Reading history, says Arthur Cohen, is essential for those who would reform higher education.
From the earliest American colleges, debates have ranged over familiar issues in higher curriculum changes, faculty selection and review, student admissions, and institutional funding. Yesterday's practices underlie today's problems even as the system continues evolving. How has this evolution taken place? And to what degree have things changed or remained the same?
In The Shaping of American Higher Education, Cohen combines historical perspective with in-depth coverage of current events to provide an authoritative, comprehensive account of the history of higher education in the United States. From the colonial era to the present day--and with particular attention to the past 50 years--the book tracks trends in student access, faculty professionalization, curricular expansion, institutional growth, secular governance, public finance, research, and outcomes, placing them all in the context of contemporary society. Cohen organizes the book around a unique matrix of trends, topics, and eras that enables the reader either to proceed chapter by chapter through a chronological sequence of the entire history, or to easily follow a preferred topic, such as faculty or curriculum, by reading only that specific section in each era.
While other books have detailed the early history of the collegiate system, Cohen's work fulfills the need for an up-to-date account of American higher education that emphasizes the post-World War II era. Cohen synthesizes prevailing views of earlier eras in order to establish a solid background for his extensive examination of the past fifty years.
From the earliest American colleges, debates have ranged over familiar issues in higher curriculum changes, faculty selection and review, student admissions, and institutional funding. Yesterday's practices underlie today's problems even as the system continues evolving. How has this evolution taken place? And to what degree have things changed or remained the same?
In The Shaping of American Higher Education, Cohen combines historical perspective with in-depth coverage of current events to provide an authoritative, comprehensive account of the history of higher education in the United States. From the colonial era to the present day--and with particular attention to the past 50 years--the book tracks trends in student access, faculty professionalization, curricular expansion, institutional growth, secular governance, public finance, research, and outcomes, placing them all in the context of contemporary society. Cohen organizes the book around a unique matrix of trends, topics, and eras that enables the reader either to proceed chapter by chapter through a chronological sequence of the entire history, or to easily follow a preferred topic, such as faculty or curriculum, by reading only that specific section in each era.
While other books have detailed the early history of the collegiate system, Cohen's work fulfills the need for an up-to-date account of American higher education that emphasizes the post-World War II era. Cohen synthesizes prevailing views of earlier eras in order to establish a solid background for his extensive examination of the past fifty years.
495 pages, Hardcover
First published November 6, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 20, 2019
Textbook for class. It was fine enough.
April 9, 2024
another textbook in the …. books? I guess? anyways I really like how this one was sectioned out. It made it super easy to find the exact content I was looking for.
October 31, 2010
A great book that takes you from the colony period of America and all to way to 2008. As is the subject matter of higher education the book is a little contradictory, but has a nice consisted format in which it present material chronologically.
October 19, 2014
Useful text for History of Higher Education course. There is a lot of content here, but it is organized and applicable. Very readable once you understand the organization and headings carried through the book. I'd recommend it and will be keeping it on my bookshelf at work.
May 17, 2015
Reading for a doctoral program in Higher Education Leadership. I'm fascinated and geeking out. The book helps me understand academic culture, in terms of function and dysfunction.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews