The Abandoned Generation: Rethinking Higher Education - Softcover

Willimon, Mr. William H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802841198 ISBN 13: 9780802841193

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source, 1995

Synopsis

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

This critical yet constructive assessment of the current state of higher education in America exposes the disconcerting causes and effects of failed campus life while posing real solutions for reforming today's colleges and universities.

Convinced that America's institutions of higher learning now face a crisis — that they are not meeting the educational needs of their students, that faculty members can do better — William H. Willimon and Thomas H. Naylor here propose bold changes in the nation's undergraduate educational system. By looking at academic life from the students' point of view — the text is filled with real-life situations, reflections from students, and poignant illustrations — The Abandoned Generation evaluates American colleges and universities on the basis of the quality of the lives that they are now producing.

Willimon and Naylor take an honest look at three realities of student life — substance abuse, indolence, and excessive careerism. They then evaluate the underlying causes — the sense of meaninglessness in student life and the absence of community. Finally, they build a provocative four-tier strategy for change — restructuring the academy, teachers who actually teach, curriculum reform, and the creation of learning communities.

About this title

About the Author

Will Willimon is Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Director of the Doctor of Ministry at Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. He is an internationally renowned preacher and widely read author noted for his humor, his insight into the Christian faith, and his theological commitment. His many books have sold over a million copies.

From the Back Cover

Convinced that America's institutions of higher learning now face a crisis - that they are not meeting the educational needs of their students, that faculty members can do better - William H. Willimon and Thomas H. Naylor here propose bold changes in the nation's undergraduate educational system. By looking at academic life from the students' point of view - the text is filled with real-life situations, reflections from students, and poignant illustrations - The Abandoned Generation evaluates American colleges and universities on the basis of the quality of the lives that they are now producing. Willimon and Naylor take an honest look at three realities of student life - substance abuse, indolence, and excessive careerism. They then evaluate the underlying causes - the sense of meaninglessness in student life and the absence of community. Finally, they build a provocative four-tier strategy for change - restructuring the academy, teachers who actually teach, curriculum reform, and the creation of learning communities.

Reviews

Decades at Duke University, where Willimon is dean of the chapel and Naylor is professor emeritus of economics, provide the experience and motivation for this powerful plea to reorganize colleges and universities. The authors begin with an examination of the symptoms of decline: grade inflation; unmotivated, alienated students; a careerist approach to education; and, most centrally, alcohol abuse. These symptoms, they claim, point to problems stemming from the late-20th-century move away from liberal education. Students today accumulate data without being taught how to apply it. Like Plato in his Phaedrus, the authors worry about students who "will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction, and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant." Troubled by an increasingly anti-intellectual atmosphere on college campuses, Willimon and Naylor end with several radical proposals: form separate institutions for graduates and undergraduates, dedicating the latter to a stringent liberal-arts curriculum; reward faculty for teaching rather than for researching and writing; and eliminate tenure. They rely heavily on anecdotal evidence from students, data from various universities, and both ancient and contemporary literature, usually managing to strike a balance between professionalism and humanism. The authors provide compelling arguments for saving the abandoned generation of college students.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802841198
• ISBN 13: 9780802841193
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 183