Higher education in America, still thought to be the world leader, is in crisis. University students are falling behind their international peers in attainment, while suffering from unprecedented student debt. For over a decade, the realm of American higher education has been wracked with self-doubt and mutual recrimination, with no clear solutions on the horizon. How did this happen? In this stunning new book, Christopher Newfield offers readers an in-depth analysis of the "great mistake" that led to the cycle of decline and dissolution, a mistake that impacts every public college and university in America. What might occur, he asserts, is no less than locked-in economic inequality and the fall of the middle class.
In The Great Mistake, Newfield asks how we can fix higher education, given the damage done by private-sector models. The current accepted wisdom--that to succeed, universities should be more like businesses--is dead wrong. Newfield combines firsthand experience with expert analysis to show that private funding and private-sector methods cannot replace public funding or improve efficiency, arguing that business-minded practices have increased costs and gravely damaged the university's value to society.
It is imperative that universities move beyond the destructive policies that have led them to destabilize their finances, raise tuition, overbuild facilities, create a national student debt crisis, and lower educational quality. Laying out an interconnected cycle of mistakes, from subsidizing the private sector to "the poor get poorer" funding policies, Newfield clearly demonstrates how decisions made in government, in the corporate world, and at colleges themselves contribute to the dismantling of once-great public higher education. A powerful, hopeful critique of the unnecessary death spiral of higher education, The Great Mistake is essential reading for those who wonder why students have been paying more to get less and for everyone who cares about the role the higher education system plays in improving the lives of average Americans.
This book is even better than Newfield's excellent _Unmaking the Public University_. The framework of the 8-stage cycle of decline makes the analysis of the current problem really accessible without being reductive. The book shows the complex interaction of different aspects of neoliberal ideology and related policies, provides great concrete examples of their effects, and finally provides a general set of principles to fix the problem. It's a very depressing read from the beginning, but nonetheless extremely useful. I recommend this book to students, parents, university faculty, staff and upper admin, as well as legislators, candidates, and other policy makers. A great diagnosis of everything that is working to degrade public higher education while making it less affordable.
This is one of the most important and useful books about higher education this decade. (That's one reason I was delighted to get the author onto my weekly videoconference discussion, the Future Trends Forum. Here's the session.)
The Great Mistake offers a powerful and rich model for explaining why American states defunded public education (recall that the majority of students attend public campuses). Along the way Chris Newfield offers many provocative ideas about higher ed in general, backed up by meticulous research and very engaging prose.
For years now, our public colleges have been cut, squeezed, trimmed, neglected, overstuffed, misdirected, kludged, and patched. (305)
The majority of the book is dedicated to exploring an eight-step "devolutionary cycle" (nice chart on 36) or "doom loop" (16), whereby public universities privatize. This includes:
1. Universities retreat from thinking of post-secondary education as a public good 2. They reach towards outside sponsors (companies, foundations, military, nonprofits) who apparently help out with state divestment's budget problem, but in reality end up bringing in less money - indeed, sometimes function at a net loss for campuses 3. Tuition increases become substantial and frequent 4. States cut higher ed funding again 5. Student debt rises 6. Private entities take advantage of what public funds they can 7. Education attainment starts dividing based on unequal funding 8. The economy decouples productivity from labor compensation
and repeat. Newfield dives into each phase in detail, one per chapter.
I'd like to draw out some themes that cut across those phases:
The devolutionary cycle isn't partisan. It occurs in red as well as blue states. Democrats ultimately embrace it in a way very close to Republicans (24), so far that the author dubs their philosophy "liberal Reaganism" (144). One of the book's embedded narratives follows the administrative career of one "progressive Democrat" as a law school dean, wherein he massively increases tuition (159ff). Democrat Jerry Brown "cut the colleges and universities as much in 2011 as Arnold Schwarzenegger had cut them a couple of years before" (167).
Newfield follows Tressie Cottom in seeing the rise of for-profit higher education as part of the privatization wave (59ff).
As with his previous book the author makes a data-rich and passionate case that STEM fields often lose money for their institutions, and are subsidized by the social sciences and humanities (cf the second chapter).
While states clearly play a major role in the negative transformation of public higher ed, Newfield takes care to lay blame as well at the university leadership's feet. Our sector budgets opaquely, and has done a bad job of lobbying state governments effectively (137). Importantly, universities raise tuition even when states don't cut support (138). This is not because campuses waste money, but because they are operating under an entrepreneurial and hypercompetitive mindset (145-151). In fact, campus willingness to increase tuition encourages states to cut support, rather than the other way around, a fairly counterintuitive but persuasive point (169).
One enormous challenge looming over the entire book is how to reverse this awful cycle. One splendid reason we haven't done so is due to the sheer cost (although some think it wouldn't be that onerous to taxpayers. Another, and perhaps deeper challenge in Newfield's telling is the necessity of changing a cultural mindset, back to the idea of public goods (129-30). The titular "great mistake is the private good framework" (308). I am not so sanguine as the author in the likelihood of making such a transformation, at least not in the medium term. The politics are simply against it.
One reason the politics are still pro-devolutionary is the gigantic cost of health care. Private citizens, state governments, and the federal government all face mounting medical expenses, and despite the Affordable Care Act's achievements, those expenses are still rising, thanks to our bizarre and costly funding system, and also to demographics - i.e., an aging populace. As the Republican Senate just found out, it's politically self-destructive to cut health care; public universities have yet to make a convincing argument for getting some of those funds for themselves.
I also fear that, as Arrighi argued, financialization is just too hard to give up on. The giant machine of student debt is too politically powerful and economically rewarding. Personally, I'm still paying my student loans at age 50, and wonder if my death will discharge them, should I pass with a remaining balance. Wondering if my children will inherit my PhD debt is bizarre and depressing, yet hard to see a way around.
I otherwise admire The Great Mistake for its deep analytical powers, and strongly commend it to anyone working in or thinking about higher education.
Newfield suggests in the beginning of this book that his audience is parents, but he muddles discussion up quickly with rationales even I, as someone in higher ed had trouble desyphering.
There any many important sides to his argument that he fails to consider such as how unprepared students impact higher education and how Administrative staff bloat may be attributable to federal requirements around challenges such as title IX or ADA compliance. His argument for how rising tuition makes the state unaccountable for increased public funding is compelling, reversing the typical argument around why decreases in state funding reduce quality of education. A theme running through the entire book is how the administration has failed to convince state law makers to increase funding.
I appreciated his detailed assessment of MOOCs, and how tuition (privatization) currently supports public higher education.
His solutions for reversal are not realistic, which he subtly acknowledges. The system is too entrenched to blow up.
On reflection, this book is worth a read, however know that there is much to wade through to get to the more important ideas.
A work both discouraging and hopeful. Because The Great Mistake deserves extended discussion, I am going to go the other way here - provide brief comments, and then continue the discussion elsewhere.
Newfield's diagnosis is convincing: the hegemony of neoliberal ideology has suppressed the ideal of higher education as a public good and replaced it with the notion of higher ed as a private good, to be funded on a user-pay basis. The details of his argument all flow from this overall thesis.
Newfield's prescriptions are worth considering, but, I think, not entirely on the mark. Yes, we need to reinvest in higher education in line with its contributions to the public good, and yes, we need to improve teaching and learning for the specific good of what the author calls the "creativity economy." As he explores these ideas, however, he lays too much emphasis on self-discovery as a humanistic ideal. Exploration of self, conducted in a silo, is meaningless. Self is best defined in relation to community.
Anyway, I intend to set up a discussion group here to talk about Newfield's book, and especially its implications in my own state of North Dakota.
I've been following Newfield's work for awhile and am always refreshed by his clear, comprehensive, and justice-oriented critiques of American higher education. As is often the case with academic subjects, there's not a lot here that didn't appear in his previous work, especially Unmaking the Public University, but The Great Mistake may be the most compact and concise version of this theories. This book might be better for academics, administrators, and politicians who do not have the stomach or patience for more of the dense and research-heavy texts that precede it.
My only criticism is Newfield's idealistic, hard-liberal call to refund public education just because it's the right thing to do. I align completely and essentially with every notion that he has, but I cannot see our politicians and administrators falling in line; there's too much capital to lose for them. But of course, this text was published just before DT was elected so I'd wonder about Newfield's optimism in this new climate.
Basically a sprawling academic paper replete with references and glued between covers. The observations about liberal arts programs subsidizing STEM were certainly elucidating, and a credible challenge to mainline attitudes dismissive of higher education.
With that being said, Newfield constantly revisits the trope of crying about how institutions do not attain great results for a certain oppressed minority group, while attempting to blame "the system", including privatization. He never stops to consider whether participants from said population may themselves be the problem.
Public universities in the United States have been “wrecked” and higher education is in crisis, yet things can still be saved and turned around, believes the author in this book that aims to inspire debate and generate a thirst for change.
The author digs deep into the perceived problem and believes that the current way of thinking that universities should be ran like businesses is just plain wrong. Public funding is essential and the over-reliance of the private sector does not improve efficiency, reduce costs or increase the value to society, it is claimed. If things are not promptly changed, it is contended, there is also a risk of greater economic inequality and even the “fall” of the middle class and the impact of this is more than just some class-warrior soundbite claims.
Students today are said to be paying more and receiving less and the country is being weakened as a result. This may have longer-term adverse benefits and whilst changes can still be made, the longer things are left the greater the potential damage and increased difficulty in backing out of things.
You don’t have to have a special insight or connection into the education system to be alarmed by this book, since it is more than capable of impacting on you, your family or your company on many levels; even if you are not American! It can also be an interesting read for the generalist reader although, to be fair, its price may make it less of a speculative purchase. As a foreign reader, it was a fair bit of an eye-opener and made one appreciative of what we have as a societal norm here. If one was American, with children who may go to university, it could be a depressing and alarming read.
At the end of the book is a massive reference section, so the reader or detractor can dig really deep into the author’s research and head back towards the source. If you have any professional connection to higher education sector, especially in the United States, this can be essential, informative reading. For everybody else, it may be specialist in nature and rather general in appeal, yet worthy of a read nonetheless.
This is a super dense analysis. Newfield had me at "privatization," but I appreciate his careful step-by-step history of how our present university system unfolded. There is also some dry humor, including a section which he suggests the casual reader might want to skip (I didn't) and simmering rage from years of documenting this downfall. Some of this reads like the greatest hits from Newfield's blog (he cites himself a lot), but that's to be expected from someone who has been studying these kinds of things for decades. If you want to know why, *exactly why,* higher education is a mess, this is your book.
Christopher Newfield is one of the most important voices writing about the breakdown of American academia. This book is not the first he's written to tackle this problem, but it is a valuable addition to his other projects. If you care about the state of academia in the U.S., and if you want to hear an honest appraisal from an insider who has long struggled against the commodification of higher education, the shift to a low-wage migrant model of employment for 80% of all university faculty and the other failings of the corporatized college, this book is a must.
Introduction Christopher Newfield's "The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them," published in 2016 by Johns Hopkins University Press, is a critical examination of the crises affecting American public universities. Newfield, a professor of literature and American studies, is known for his insightful analyses of higher education. His previous works, "Ivy and Industry" and "The Unmaking of the Public University," provide a foundation for understanding the economic and policy decisions leading to the current decline.
Overview The book is divided into three parts. The introduction outlines the financial crises and policy decisions that have led to the decline of public universities. Part One, "The Eight Stages of Decline," meticulously details the progressive dismantling of public university support, from budget cuts to the increasing reliance on tuition and fees. Part Two, "The De-Evolutionary Cycle," explores how these stages perpetuate themselves, creating a vicious cycle of underfunding and declining quality. Finally, Part Three offers a glimmer of hope, presenting a roadmap for reconstructing public universities. Newfield argues for a return to viewing education as a public good and emphasizes the need for substantial reinvestment and policy overhaul to restore their former glory.
Strengths of the Book One of the book's significant strengths lies in Newfield's exhaustive research and his ability to contextualize the narrative within a broader historical framework. His commitment to detailed analysis is evident, providing a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted issues. Newfield excels in critiquing both faculty and administration roles in this decline, as well as the broader societal and political influences. His holistic approach ensures a balanced examination, avoiding simplistic blame and instead highlighting the complex interplay of factors. Concrete examples throughout the book solidify his arguments, demonstrating a robust grounding in both research and lived experience.
Weaknesses and Opportunities However, the book is not without its shortcomings. One notable weakness is Newfield's occasional reliance on community colleges to underscore dramatic effects of underfunding while not equally highlighting their successes. This selective use of examples can undermine his broader argument. Additionally, while Newfield rightly critiques the entrenched practices within universities, he falls short of offering a thorough self-reflection on the internal resistance to necessary changes. His call for radical rethinking of higher education would benefit from more concrete examples of innovative practices or pilot programs that align with his proposed solutions.
Conclusion In conclusion, "The Great Mistake" is a thought-provoking examination of the financial and policy failures that have led to the current crisis in public higher education. While the book's focus on economic history and data can be dry and somewhat depressing, it offers crucial insights for those interested in the future of higher education. Newfield's call to reconsider the value of public universities and his roadmap for reconstruction are both timely and necessary. However, the book's lack of narrative elements and selective use of examples may limit its appeal to a broader audience. Overall, I rate this book three out of five stars. It is a valuable read for those deeply invested in economic history and educational policy, though it may not resonate as strongly with readers seeking a more optimistic or narrative-driven approach.
An interesting and compelling argument for rethinking why public universities are getting more expensive while diluting the learning experience especially for incoming undergraduate students. I particularly like his point about universities (rather, all education) providing for the public good - something that cannot really have a dollar amount assigned to it but is vital for the wellbeing of a society.
Newfield has discovered with stupor that the Marxists controlling the Universities are not as pure at heart as the dogma requires. And the newspapers tell the story of alumni telling heresies to the World. And this HAS to stop.