Declining by Degrees

Two decades ago A Nation at Risk sounded a national alarm on K-12 education. Now, an equally urgent alarm is being sounded for higher education in America. In Declining by Degrees, leading authors and educators such as Tom Wolfe, Jim Fallows, and Jay Mathews provide us with a valuable understanding of the serious issues facing colleges today, such as budget cuts, grade inflation, questionable recruitment strategies, and a major focus on Big Time Sports. Tied to the PBS documentary of the same name, Declining by Degrees creates a national discussion about the future of higher education and what we can do about it.

Foreword--Tom Wolfe * Introduction--Richard H. Hersh & John Merrow * Extra, Extra, Don't Read All about It--Gene I. Maeroff * Degrees of Indifference? Where the Public Stands on Higher Education--Deborah Wadsworth * College Admissions: A Substitute for Quality?--James Fallows * Caveat Lector: Unexamined Assumptions about Quality in Higher Education--Jay Mathews * Liberal Education: Slip-Sliding Away?--Carol G. Schneider * Six Challenges to the American University--Vartan Gregorian * Beyond Markets and Individuals: A Focus on Educational Goals--Howard Gardner * This Little Student Went to Market--David L. Kirp * How Undergraduate Education Became College Lite (A Personal Apology)--Murray Sperber * College Sports: America's New Peculiar Institution--Frank Deford * Worlds Apart: Disconnects between Students and Their Colleges--Arthur Levine * Leaving the Newcomers Behind--Roberto Suro & Richard Fry * Talking the Talk: Rhetoric & Reality for Students of Color--Heather D. Washington * It's Only a Port of Call: Reflections on the State of Higher Education--Julie Johnson Kidd * The Curriculum and College Life: Confronting Unfulfilled Promises--Leon Botstein * Afterword--Richard H. Hersh * Afterword--John Merrow