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Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream
Degrees of How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream [ Degrees of How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream by Mettler, Suzanne ( Author ) Hardcover Mar- 2014 ] Hardcover Mar- 11- 2014
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
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559 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Mettler
15 books33 followersSuzanne Mettler is the John L. Senior Professor of American Institutions in the Government Department at Cornell University. She is the author of several books, including The Government-Citizen Disconnect; Degrees of Inequality: How The Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream; and The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Programs Undermine American Democracy. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship, and several book awards. In 2017, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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November 4, 2014
Forprofit colleges are harming every single citizen in America, and although politicians are aware of the damage it is doing to this country, they still fail to take any serious action. Suzanne Mettler looks at these flaws in our education system at the postsecondary level in her book, Degrees of Inequality. While many educational reformers tend to look at the inequality in education at the primary and secondary level, Suzanne Mettler points out the inequalities that exist at the postsecondary level by closely examining the costs of college. These costs place many disadvantaged students from achieving the same level of education as wealthy Americans, an issue portrayed in Waiting for Superman as well. The book Degrees of Inequality by Suzanne Mettler is a dry and often slow read, but it effectively proves, with thorough research, a strong thesis: inequality in the postsecondary level of education exists and forprofit schools are harming America without any effective political legislative stopping them.
In Degrees of Inequality, Suzanne Mettler argues that the postsecondary education system in America is flawed and prevents many disadvantaged students from being able to obtain a college degree. These issues start with the government and its refusal to increase aid for disadvantaged students. The value of Pell Grants have depreciated as inflation continues to grow and colleges raise the price of tuition. There has been little increase in the amount of money Pell Grants give to students since the program was established in 1972. The Obama administration has fought to “increase Pell grants...annually at the rates derived from the Consumer Price Index (CPI)” and “make Pell grants an entitlement...so that any student who met the eligibility criteria so that any student would receive a full grant” (147) but to little avail as many sweeping education reforms had to become more moderate in order to pass with Obamacare to avoid a filibuster. The average costs to attend a public four year institution has increased over time and is not affordable to many. Today, it costs “29% of income...for those in the middle income quintile” and “for those in the lowest income quintile...114% of income” (121) to attend a public four year institution. As a result, a quality education is only available to the rich, an idea also portrayed in Waiting For Superman. As the author explains it, “‘public' education has become, in reality, increasingly ‘private’ in its actual funding” (122). This is also true at the primary and secondary education level; public schools in less wealthy neighborhoods aren’t receiving as much aid, putting these schools behind other wealthier public schools. A quality postsecondary education is difficult to obtain due to the failures of the government, an intriguing argument presented throughout the book that provokes the reader.
Suzanne Mettler launches a full on attack, demonizing for-profit schools as degree factories only worried about making money. A for-profit school is a university or college that does not invest profits back into the school. Examples would include the University of Phoenix, Universal Technical Institute, and DeVry University. These schools “earned between 60.8 and 85.9 percent of their total revenues in 2010 from Title IV of the Higher Education Act, meaning predominantly student loans and Pell Grants” (168). The majority of large forprofit colleges have around 35% of their students repaying student loans, and “39 percent (of students) defaulted compared to 10 percent of those in the public and nonprofit sectors” (96) leaving the government to pay for the loans to the schools. This directly affects citizens who must pay, in taxes, for the defaulted loans and the financial aid funding these institutions. These taxes add up to tens of millions of dollars that American citizens must pay annually. Suzanne Mettler dedicates a large portion of the book to explaining how “the political relationships that have developed between public officials and the industry have promoted...extensive profits for company owners and shareholders, at the expense of students and taxpayers” (109). Like Waiting For Superman, the politics behind education are constant throughout. The author effectively shows how such injustices to the American public can continue without any intervention from the government. Just like teacher labor unions, the for-profit colleges spend a large amount of time and money lobbying against regulations that could harm their institutions and profits in the case of for-profit colleges. For-profit colleges are still able to be funded by the government and indirectly, taxpayers, by winning the support of politicians from lobbying. The in-depth look at politics may turn some readers away from the book and the overall message, but it is very intriguing for those who are interested in politics.
Degrees of Inequality by Suzanne Mettler is a slow read, but the information and knowledge gained from this book are well worth the challenge. The book reads as an academic study as Mettler elects to prove her arguments through stats and charts rather than personal stories. It would have been very simple for the author to find a deeply indebted low income graduate from a for-profit university to show that for-profits are making money off their students, but instead, the author writes the book as if it’s a thesis paper. Waiting For Superman proved how effective a story behind a message can be, especially regarding social reform. I could not recommend this book to any normal person; it takes a great deal of patience and interest in politics to be able to finish and fully appreciate the insightful and well-researched book that is Degrees of Inequality by Suzanne Mettler. ~ Student: Cameron P.
In Degrees of Inequality, Suzanne Mettler argues that the postsecondary education system in America is flawed and prevents many disadvantaged students from being able to obtain a college degree. These issues start with the government and its refusal to increase aid for disadvantaged students. The value of Pell Grants have depreciated as inflation continues to grow and colleges raise the price of tuition. There has been little increase in the amount of money Pell Grants give to students since the program was established in 1972. The Obama administration has fought to “increase Pell grants...annually at the rates derived from the Consumer Price Index (CPI)” and “make Pell grants an entitlement...so that any student who met the eligibility criteria so that any student would receive a full grant” (147) but to little avail as many sweeping education reforms had to become more moderate in order to pass with Obamacare to avoid a filibuster. The average costs to attend a public four year institution has increased over time and is not affordable to many. Today, it costs “29% of income...for those in the middle income quintile” and “for those in the lowest income quintile...114% of income” (121) to attend a public four year institution. As a result, a quality education is only available to the rich, an idea also portrayed in Waiting For Superman. As the author explains it, “‘public' education has become, in reality, increasingly ‘private’ in its actual funding” (122). This is also true at the primary and secondary education level; public schools in less wealthy neighborhoods aren’t receiving as much aid, putting these schools behind other wealthier public schools. A quality postsecondary education is difficult to obtain due to the failures of the government, an intriguing argument presented throughout the book that provokes the reader.
Suzanne Mettler launches a full on attack, demonizing for-profit schools as degree factories only worried about making money. A for-profit school is a university or college that does not invest profits back into the school. Examples would include the University of Phoenix, Universal Technical Institute, and DeVry University. These schools “earned between 60.8 and 85.9 percent of their total revenues in 2010 from Title IV of the Higher Education Act, meaning predominantly student loans and Pell Grants” (168). The majority of large forprofit colleges have around 35% of their students repaying student loans, and “39 percent (of students) defaulted compared to 10 percent of those in the public and nonprofit sectors” (96) leaving the government to pay for the loans to the schools. This directly affects citizens who must pay, in taxes, for the defaulted loans and the financial aid funding these institutions. These taxes add up to tens of millions of dollars that American citizens must pay annually. Suzanne Mettler dedicates a large portion of the book to explaining how “the political relationships that have developed between public officials and the industry have promoted...extensive profits for company owners and shareholders, at the expense of students and taxpayers” (109). Like Waiting For Superman, the politics behind education are constant throughout. The author effectively shows how such injustices to the American public can continue without any intervention from the government. Just like teacher labor unions, the for-profit colleges spend a large amount of time and money lobbying against regulations that could harm their institutions and profits in the case of for-profit colleges. For-profit colleges are still able to be funded by the government and indirectly, taxpayers, by winning the support of politicians from lobbying. The in-depth look at politics may turn some readers away from the book and the overall message, but it is very intriguing for those who are interested in politics.
Degrees of Inequality by Suzanne Mettler is a slow read, but the information and knowledge gained from this book are well worth the challenge. The book reads as an academic study as Mettler elects to prove her arguments through stats and charts rather than personal stories. It would have been very simple for the author to find a deeply indebted low income graduate from a for-profit university to show that for-profits are making money off their students, but instead, the author writes the book as if it’s a thesis paper. Waiting For Superman proved how effective a story behind a message can be, especially regarding social reform. I could not recommend this book to any normal person; it takes a great deal of patience and interest in politics to be able to finish and fully appreciate the insightful and well-researched book that is Degrees of Inequality by Suzanne Mettler. ~ Student: Cameron P.
May 19, 2014
The US at one time was distinguished for its commitment to universal primary and secondary education. And since World War 2, through the GI bill, the Pell Grant program, federally backed student loans, and government support of higher education, the opportunity for college education was put within reach for nearly all Americans, no matter what social class they came from.
Suzanne Mettler argues that during these years, this was accomplished by the creation of policies that formed a "policyscape" conducive to making this dream accessible to all. She contends that, just like the landscape around one's home, the "policyscape" requires continued maintenance in order to accomplish its desired outcomes.
What this book does is chronicle how, beginning in the 1980s a series of broader changes combined with sporadic maintenance of the policyscape has created a growing divide between the elite who can afford higher education at prestigious or flagship universities, and the rest of American society. Even for those from these backgrounds who do enroll, the story is one of increasingly high student debt, falling graduation rates, and growing default rates on loans.
What has happened? Mettler chronicles several factors. One is the decline in state support of public institutions, made up for in rising tuition bills. A second factor is the rapid rise of the for profit schools like the University of Phoenix, Kaplan University and others who propose flexible scheduling and appeal to many "non-traditional" students yet have dismal success rates measured by graduation and employment. Combine this with relaxed requirements by the Department of Education which has been heavily lobbied by the for profits, you have a situation where 80 to 90 percent of the money going to these institutions comes in the form of federally subsidized grants or loans, and yet only 35 percent or less of the students are graduating. And, in recent years, we have had a contentious and polarized Congress that has turned any legislative reforms into a political football resulting in either lop-sided policies supported by one party, or no policy reform.
Mettler's obvious prescription is for a return to rigorous, bi-partisan work addressing higher education funding policies at federal and state levels. She sees this as a vital national interest not only to serve all of our citizens but in fact the national interests and competitiveness of the country. And this seems good and right to me as far as it goes.
What I don't see Mettler addressing is the contribution of universities and colleges themselves to the rising costs of education. What I do not see addressed is the issue of the growing higher ed bureaucracies at many universities and the expensive conferences and retreats attended by so many administrators that are paid for on the student's and taxpayer's dime. While Mettler asks critical questions about whether for-profits are delivering what students and taxpayers are paying for, I don't see her asking these same questions of public and private non-profits. And while she alludes to admissions policies that give preference to the academically gifted who often come from affluent backgrounds, I think she could be far tougher on the question of how universities and colleges themselves are blind to their own elitism.
Mettler gives us an important critique of the failures of our public policy toward higher education and the game-changing impact of for-profit schools. However, she does this in a way that seems to absolve public and private non-profits from taking a hard look at their own contribution to the growing inequities in and lack of public support for higher ed. A public that witnesses lack of cost-controls, combined with revelations of sexual assaults on campuses and speech codes applied to commencement speakers may not readily be inclined to ante up for greater support to higher ed unless these institutions show that they have gotten their own houses in order.
Suzanne Mettler argues that during these years, this was accomplished by the creation of policies that formed a "policyscape" conducive to making this dream accessible to all. She contends that, just like the landscape around one's home, the "policyscape" requires continued maintenance in order to accomplish its desired outcomes.
What this book does is chronicle how, beginning in the 1980s a series of broader changes combined with sporadic maintenance of the policyscape has created a growing divide between the elite who can afford higher education at prestigious or flagship universities, and the rest of American society. Even for those from these backgrounds who do enroll, the story is one of increasingly high student debt, falling graduation rates, and growing default rates on loans.
What has happened? Mettler chronicles several factors. One is the decline in state support of public institutions, made up for in rising tuition bills. A second factor is the rapid rise of the for profit schools like the University of Phoenix, Kaplan University and others who propose flexible scheduling and appeal to many "non-traditional" students yet have dismal success rates measured by graduation and employment. Combine this with relaxed requirements by the Department of Education which has been heavily lobbied by the for profits, you have a situation where 80 to 90 percent of the money going to these institutions comes in the form of federally subsidized grants or loans, and yet only 35 percent or less of the students are graduating. And, in recent years, we have had a contentious and polarized Congress that has turned any legislative reforms into a political football resulting in either lop-sided policies supported by one party, or no policy reform.
Mettler's obvious prescription is for a return to rigorous, bi-partisan work addressing higher education funding policies at federal and state levels. She sees this as a vital national interest not only to serve all of our citizens but in fact the national interests and competitiveness of the country. And this seems good and right to me as far as it goes.
What I don't see Mettler addressing is the contribution of universities and colleges themselves to the rising costs of education. What I do not see addressed is the issue of the growing higher ed bureaucracies at many universities and the expensive conferences and retreats attended by so many administrators that are paid for on the student's and taxpayer's dime. While Mettler asks critical questions about whether for-profits are delivering what students and taxpayers are paying for, I don't see her asking these same questions of public and private non-profits. And while she alludes to admissions policies that give preference to the academically gifted who often come from affluent backgrounds, I think she could be far tougher on the question of how universities and colleges themselves are blind to their own elitism.
Mettler gives us an important critique of the failures of our public policy toward higher education and the game-changing impact of for-profit schools. However, she does this in a way that seems to absolve public and private non-profits from taking a hard look at their own contribution to the growing inequities in and lack of public support for higher ed. A public that witnesses lack of cost-controls, combined with revelations of sexual assaults on campuses and speech codes applied to commencement speakers may not readily be inclined to ante up for greater support to higher ed unless these institutions show that they have gotten their own houses in order.
June 25, 2016
This book almost destroyed me.
December 1, 2018
Insight into how greatly the influence of political interests affects education policy. Especially interesting in context of the current political environment since the book was published.
June 14, 2018
This book was reasonably good, but I found it a lot less interesting than I expected. I think that part of the problem was that I've read enough on this topic that there wasn't actually that much material I didn't know.
I was also a bit surprised by the degree to which it focused on for-profit colleges, and how they've avoided regulation. While this is an important topic, the way in which it dominated the second half of the book was unexpected and I think perhaps disproportionate.
I was also a bit surprised by the degree to which it focused on for-profit colleges, and how they've avoided regulation. While this is an important topic, the way in which it dominated the second half of the book was unexpected and I think perhaps disproportionate.
July 29, 2020
Good overview on higher education and the politics behind it with emphasis on how we got to the current state of disarray in which we find ourselves.
Basically, despite the intentions of good people, higher education has been hijacked by for profit schools who are draining the available money and not providing viable results for the people who can least afford it.
Basically, despite the intentions of good people, higher education has been hijacked by for profit schools who are draining the available money and not providing viable results for the people who can least afford it.
April 3, 2014
Suzanne Mettler, Cornell’s Clinton Rossiter Professor of American Institutions in the Department of Government, had several culprits in mind when she wrote “Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream” (Basic Books, 2014).
Government at the federal and state levels, for starters. And Congress – for enabling for-profit colleges that devour disproportionate levels of federal education aid while dumping debt-laden, degreeless students into an unimpressed job market – catches plenty of blame.
“Federal student aid has become less effective in promoting opportunity,” Mettler wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed. “Presidents beginning with Bill Clinton introduced costly new tax policies to help with tuition, but these have failed to improve access for the less well-off.”
State governments, burdened by the growing cost of Medicaid, K-12 education and prisons, “let higher education funding dwindle,” Mettler said in the same article. “For poorer students, graduating becomes all the harder as class sizes grow, online courses proliferate and support services are cut.”
Walking from her White Hall office to libraries on the Arts Quad, Mettler passes Morrill Hall, a reminder of the 19th-century public-policy initiative that began to open the doors of higher education to a broader cross-section of Americans. Following the Morrill Act of 1862, the post-World War II GI Bill put college education within the reach of millions of returning veterans, providing a path to upward mobility (documented by Mettler’s 2005 book, “Soldiers to Citizens: The G.I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation.”) Right up through the 1970s “golden age,” when Pell Grants began, opportunities continued to expand.
But that was then.
“After 1980 the nation fell away from this successful trajectory,” she writes. “Student aid policies became less effective in expanding the ranks of college graduates across the income spectrum,” and after the millennium, were sorely in need of updating. “Just when lawmakers began to ready themselves to engage in these tasks, partisan polarization soared and undermined their ability to do so effectively.
“The tragedy is that while public policies in the past helped mitigate inequality and open doors to college to more Americans,” she writes, “today they themselves play a crucial role in segmenting society. … College-going, once associated with opportunity, now engenders the creation of something that increasingly resembles a caste system.”
The government professor thinks “we need to revitalize the partnership between the federal and state governments that long promoted higher education,” noting that in recent years the federal government has, in fact, increased its commitment to students, “but the vast majority of states have declined to uphold their end of the bargain.”
Mettler fears that, as for-profits (once known as trade schools, before appending “university” to their names and advertising on national television) continue to make the cost of student aid balloon, lawmakers may decide programs like Pell grants “are unsustainable and curtail them for all students, including the majority who study at universities and colleges with far better records.”
Other Mettler books include “The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy;” “Dividing Citizens: Gender and Federalism in New Deal Public Policy;” and “Remaking America: Democracy and Public Policy in an Age of Inequality.”
When she’s not writing (her latest book took eight years of a “monastic existence,” she says), Mettler is teaching Introduction to American Politics (GOV1111) as well seminars on the Obama Administration and another on public policy and inequality.
Government at the federal and state levels, for starters. And Congress – for enabling for-profit colleges that devour disproportionate levels of federal education aid while dumping debt-laden, degreeless students into an unimpressed job market – catches plenty of blame.
“Federal student aid has become less effective in promoting opportunity,” Mettler wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed. “Presidents beginning with Bill Clinton introduced costly new tax policies to help with tuition, but these have failed to improve access for the less well-off.”
State governments, burdened by the growing cost of Medicaid, K-12 education and prisons, “let higher education funding dwindle,” Mettler said in the same article. “For poorer students, graduating becomes all the harder as class sizes grow, online courses proliferate and support services are cut.”
Walking from her White Hall office to libraries on the Arts Quad, Mettler passes Morrill Hall, a reminder of the 19th-century public-policy initiative that began to open the doors of higher education to a broader cross-section of Americans. Following the Morrill Act of 1862, the post-World War II GI Bill put college education within the reach of millions of returning veterans, providing a path to upward mobility (documented by Mettler’s 2005 book, “Soldiers to Citizens: The G.I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation.”) Right up through the 1970s “golden age,” when Pell Grants began, opportunities continued to expand.
But that was then.
“After 1980 the nation fell away from this successful trajectory,” she writes. “Student aid policies became less effective in expanding the ranks of college graduates across the income spectrum,” and after the millennium, were sorely in need of updating. “Just when lawmakers began to ready themselves to engage in these tasks, partisan polarization soared and undermined their ability to do so effectively.
“The tragedy is that while public policies in the past helped mitigate inequality and open doors to college to more Americans,” she writes, “today they themselves play a crucial role in segmenting society. … College-going, once associated with opportunity, now engenders the creation of something that increasingly resembles a caste system.”
The government professor thinks “we need to revitalize the partnership between the federal and state governments that long promoted higher education,” noting that in recent years the federal government has, in fact, increased its commitment to students, “but the vast majority of states have declined to uphold their end of the bargain.”
Mettler fears that, as for-profits (once known as trade schools, before appending “university” to their names and advertising on national television) continue to make the cost of student aid balloon, lawmakers may decide programs like Pell grants “are unsustainable and curtail them for all students, including the majority who study at universities and colleges with far better records.”
Other Mettler books include “The Submerged State: How Invisible Government Policies Undermine American Democracy;” “Dividing Citizens: Gender and Federalism in New Deal Public Policy;” and “Remaking America: Democracy and Public Policy in an Age of Inequality.”
When she’s not writing (her latest book took eight years of a “monastic existence,” she says), Mettler is teaching Introduction to American Politics (GOV1111) as well seminars on the Obama Administration and another on public policy and inequality.
June 11, 2014
This book presents a provocative argument that higher education in the US has strayed from its traditional role of fostering opportunities for advancement and reducing inequality and instead has served to reduce opportunities for advancement and increase inequality. The book's argument has several strands, most of which are well known to those that follow this sector. The key parts are:
1) The returns for completing college remain high;
2) College costs have risen sharply while the quality and quantity of student assistance financing have declined;
3) The likelihood of completing college in a timely manner is sharply skewed by income;
4) Growing student debt burdens are impairing the ability of students to realize gains from education;
5) The poorest students are much more likely to attempt a college education through a proprietary (for profit) institution. These schools generally provide a less effective education to their students (in terms of graduate employment and compensation) and are also associated with significantly highly student debt burdens.
The next effect of all this is that poorer students are not only having less success in gaining access to quality higher education but they are also leaving their encounters with proprietary schools less well off than if they had never enrolled. This leads to the conclusion that higher education is sharpening rather than reducing inequality in 21st century American society. This position fits nicely into a broader analysis of societal inequality and its consequences, such as the recent work by Piketty.
The style of prose in this policy studies is never a strong selling point, although this book is capably written. The statistical work and data presentation is a strong point in the clarity of the analysis and the presentation of results. I don't worry too much about the policy recommendations since there are no simple answers to this problem. Overall, this is a fairly effective book about a serious problem that is likely to get much worse before it improves.
1) The returns for completing college remain high;
2) College costs have risen sharply while the quality and quantity of student assistance financing have declined;
3) The likelihood of completing college in a timely manner is sharply skewed by income;
4) Growing student debt burdens are impairing the ability of students to realize gains from education;
5) The poorest students are much more likely to attempt a college education through a proprietary (for profit) institution. These schools generally provide a less effective education to their students (in terms of graduate employment and compensation) and are also associated with significantly highly student debt burdens.
The next effect of all this is that poorer students are not only having less success in gaining access to quality higher education but they are also leaving their encounters with proprietary schools less well off than if they had never enrolled. This leads to the conclusion that higher education is sharpening rather than reducing inequality in 21st century American society. This position fits nicely into a broader analysis of societal inequality and its consequences, such as the recent work by Piketty.
The style of prose in this policy studies is never a strong selling point, although this book is capably written. The statistical work and data presentation is a strong point in the clarity of the analysis and the presentation of results. I don't worry too much about the policy recommendations since there are no simple answers to this problem. Overall, this is a fairly effective book about a serious problem that is likely to get much worse before it improves.
June 18, 2014
Policy wank and an exploration about how polarization is ruining this country. It's like this book was tailor made for me!
Seriously though, this is a book highly based on policy, so if you don't enjoy a good look at how individual polices interact and bend and twist and change the way the world works, this book isn't going to be for you. It's also a historical look at America and Higher Education, so if you're looking for something that only talks about why serious reform didn't happen during President Obama's first term- it will happen, but it's at the end of the book.
If you're looking for personal stories about why people drop out of college, or fail to graduate- that also isn't a part of this book. This is a book created to decry the plutocracy and polarization of Washington, D.C. not to convince readers that it's a moral obligation of theirs to help support everyone's education, nor to create sympathy for students taken advantage of by for profit colleges.
Still, I really enjoyed it.
I highly recommend this for anyone interested in policy in general- this a good basic book with tenants that could be used to understand other places where old policies are minipluated to do the opposite of what they were created to do, or why 'fiscal' conservatives aren't so fiscally sound.
Seriously though, this is a book highly based on policy, so if you don't enjoy a good look at how individual polices interact and bend and twist and change the way the world works, this book isn't going to be for you. It's also a historical look at America and Higher Education, so if you're looking for something that only talks about why serious reform didn't happen during President Obama's first term- it will happen, but it's at the end of the book.
If you're looking for personal stories about why people drop out of college, or fail to graduate- that also isn't a part of this book. This is a book created to decry the plutocracy and polarization of Washington, D.C. not to convince readers that it's a moral obligation of theirs to help support everyone's education, nor to create sympathy for students taken advantage of by for profit colleges.
Still, I really enjoyed it.
I highly recommend this for anyone interested in policy in general- this a good basic book with tenants that could be used to understand other places where old policies are minipluated to do the opposite of what they were created to do, or why 'fiscal' conservatives aren't so fiscally sound.
November 23, 2014
Settler's astute political analysis is chilling. It will anger or depress anyone who cares about income inequality and higher education. I am sure if I saw the underbelly of how lobbying affects any industry or issue, I would be disgusted, but when it is my own, it is all the more difficult to stomach. Our dysfunctional political system has disenfranchised ordinary people, particular those of lesser means: "In an age of rising economic inequality, American government has grown so polarized that most efforts to respond to public needs end in stalemate." This is an important book, but one that I fear only those in higher education will read.
August 16, 2014
I loved Degrees of Inequality because it not only details the crisis of higher education in the US but focuses on the roll government has played in exacerbating inequality and relatively straight forward ways that they could start to fix the system. The book is a bit wonky, but is quite thorough in giving a detailed history of the government'a role in higher education in the past 100 years. This is an incredibly disturbing book but is one that policy-makers and students need to read.
April 3, 2014
An excellent overview of higher education and the issues which face it today, with particular focus on for-profit institutions and the politics which effect colleges and universities. Mettler provides a good analysis, places post-secondary education in a historical context, and presents a compelling argument for change. A good read for anyone interested in higher education.
October 9, 2014
Great explanation on why the education is the way it is
I read this book for a class. It was a well-written piece on the state of higher education in the United States. It was sometimes repetitive, but Mettler definitely got her points across. Great non-fiction read!
I read this book for a class. It was a well-written piece on the state of higher education in the United States. It was sometimes repetitive, but Mettler definitely got her points across. Great non-fiction read!
March 25, 2014
Unbelievable what has been occurring in the for-profit education sector. The author lays out the issues and what happened behind the scenes that led to such a sad state of affairs.
July 17, 2014
A troubling discussion of the increasingly unequal access to higher education and analysis of the pathetic state of American higher education policy.
November 19, 2014
Interesting and a good read, but depressing if you're a college student! Presents a history of higher education in the US and all the problems it faces now.
October 22, 2014
This book made me sad.
Read
July 9, 2015I was hoping this would be one of those somewhat anecdotal non-fiction works that blends narratives with hard fact, but it wasn't. It was all fact and it was terribly boring.
November 21, 2014
Intriguing read. A lot of generalizations but overall very well researched. Just be careful to read with a critical eye.
February 7, 2015
Depressing, but thorough and accurate.
February 19, 2015
An interesting take that is flawed as the author interprets legislative politics as being the only form of politics. Ignores the executuve branch. Would have been instructuve to examine rulemaking.
October 13, 2015
An excellent overview of college and the funding that goes into it as well as how that affects students.
February 25, 2016
Depressingly accurate analysis of what's wrong with our higher education system.
Read
April 25, 2014378.73 M595 2014
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews