Rosovsky: Post 1

Currently re-reading Henry Rosovsky’s book The University: An Owner’s Manual for class. This is one of the best. Even better the second time around. Click here to order it on Amazon.com

Rosovsky spent eleven years as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. His writing style is superb. He is engaging, entertaining, and insightful. And a William and Mary alumnus!

Book Review: Higher Education in Transition (Eds. Losco and Fife) – Post 1 – The Introduction

Losco, J., & Fife, Brian. (Eds.). (2000). Higher education in transition: The challenges of a new millenium. Westport: Bergin & Garvey.

Book Title: Higher Education in Transition: The Challenges of the New Millenium

Book Editors: Joseph Losco, Brian L. Fife

Page Count: 222

Questia Link to Book, Click Here

Google Reader Link to Book, Click Here

Introduction: Alexander W. Astin writes the introduction to this book. He begins with a quote from Henry Seidel Canby (H.S. Canby), dated year 1915, which gives us an illustration of Seidel’s view of the typical American college student from the early 20th century. Seidel, an English teacher at Yale, commented that for most of his students, college was not a path to supporting themselves; most had positions waiting for them in their family business. In the selected text, Seidel argues that these students do not need “narrow training” leading to a particular profession. Instead, they needed a broader training in “how to utilize living” and to have their interests and mental powers stimulated, developed, and disciplined.

Astin notes that another text from Seidel dated 1919 shows him lamenting the “growing pressure for vocational training” and advocating the benefits of a liberal arts education. The captured quote is as follows: “[The college student] needs an honest knowledge of the great principles that underlie human thought and action, the principles that have been crystallized in the modern humanities – history, literature, social and natural science, art, and the rest.”