The primary purpose of higher education is the cultivation of intellect for its own sake, not a preparation for a specialized job-market. This book contends that most universities today are failing to fulfill this purpose since they have instituted the kind of academic programs, policies and practices that have actually subverted intellectual life and literacy in academia -- perhaps to a point of no return.In this expose of some of the sacred cows of academia, the author examines several disturbing trends eroding the spirit ...
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The primary purpose of higher education is the cultivation of intellect for its own sake, not a preparation for a specialized job-market. This book contends that most universities today are failing to fulfill this purpose since they have instituted the kind of academic programs, policies and practices that have actually subverted intellectual life and literacy in academia -- perhaps to a point of no return.In this expose of some of the sacred cows of academia, the author examines several disturbing trends eroding the spirit of higher education, including: the degrading impact of the bureaucratic mind-set on education and scholarship, the demise of an intellectual climate in academic institutions, the decline of intellectual literacy in post-secondary education, dangers to intellect from specialisms, technology, and post-modern ideologies, detrimental effects of the flight from teaching and the teaching evaluation fad, and the damaging consequences of the publish-or-perish philosophy.
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