- ISBN13: 9780470480069
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
When the first edition of The Shaping of American Higher Education was published it was lauded for its historical perspective and in-depth coverage of current events that provided an authoritative, comprehensive account of the history of higher education in the United States. As in the first edition, this book tracks trends and important issues in eight key areas: student access, faculty professionalization, curricular expansion, institutional growth, governance, fi… More >>
The Shaping of American Higher Education: Emergence and Growth of the Contemporary System
If you’re into a stream of interesting facts, get this book. If, instead, you want something pleasurable to read — try elsewhere.
Rating: 2 / 5
This book provides an insightful and thorough account of the history of higher education.
Rating: 5 / 5
This book is not good. It is just a listing of events and people in higher education, but in paragraph form instead of bullet lists. Instead of telling the story of higher education, it merely catalogs it.
Other respectable histories of higher education is written by Lucas. (I would add Brubacher & Rudy, Rudolph’s and Thelin’s, but their focus is for the most part focused exclusively on the most selective and wealthy institutions). I recommend those over Cohen’s.
Rating: 2 / 5
Ordered this book for a class. Extremely dense with facts, which makes the read a bit slow, but I could see it making a good source for referencing. Should be used in conjunction with other sources for the whole picture. Biases are relatively obvious. Since we do this anyway as researchers, not much of an issue. Good overview of the history of higher ed from multiple societal contexts.
Rating: 4 / 5
Cohen and Kisker’s second edition of The Shaping of American Higher Education extends the original work to 2009 complete with a 150-page final chapter that pursues the themes of privatization,corporatization and accountability in American higher education during the “Contemporary Era,” 1994-2009. This final chapter is a statistic stew of information covering almost every aspect of the educational enterprise. It also shows how the expansion of federal aid to students of for profit institutions, such as DeVry and the University of Phoenix, has allowed the private sector to proliferate and to compete with traditional public colleges for credential seekers, a goal the authors view with a critical eye. This chapter alone will inspire discussion of the impact of 9/11 on international student enrollment and curriculum development, the surge of anti-intellectualism in popular culture/talk radio along with the pursuit of a college degree/careerism and the future of higher education in an era of dwindling tax revenues.
Rating: 4 / 5