{"product_id":"the-great-mistake-how-we-wrecked-public-universities-and-how-we-can-fix-them-paperback","title":"The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eChristopher Newfield\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA remarkable indictment of how misguided business policies have undermined the American higher education system.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Choice ACRL\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHigher education in America, still thought to be the world leader, is in crisis. University students are falling behind their international peers in attainment, while suffering from unprecedented student debt. For over a decade, the realm of American higher education has been wracked with self-doubt and mutual recrimination, with no clear solutions on the horizon. How did this happen? In this stunning new book, Christopher Newfield offers readers an in-depth analysis of the \"great mistake\" that led to the cycle of decline and dissolution, a mistake that impacts every public college and university in America. What might occur, he asserts, is no less than locked-in economic inequality and the fall of the middle class. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn\u003ci\u003e The Great Mistake\u003c\/i\u003e, Newfield asks how we can fix higher education, given the damage done by private-sector models. The current accepted wisdom--that to succeed, universities should be more like businesses--is dead wrong. Newfield combines firsthand experience with expert analysis to show that private funding and private-sector methods cannot replace public funding or improve efficiency, arguing that business-minded practices have increased costs and gravely damaged the university's value to society. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is imperative that universities move beyond the destructive policies that have led them to destabilize their finances, raise tuition, overbuild facilities, create a national student debt crisis, and lower educational quality. Laying out an interconnected cycle of mistakes, from subsidizing the private sector to \"the poor get poorer\" funding policies, Newfield clearly demonstrates how decisions made in government, in the corporate world, and at colleges themselves contribute to the dismantling of once-great public higher education. A powerful, hopeful critique of the unnecessary death spiral of higher education, \u003ci\u003eThe Great Mistake\u003c\/i\u003e is essential reading for those who wonder why students have been paying more to get less and for everyone who cares about the role the higher education system plays in improving the lives of average Americans.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHigher education in America, still thought to be the world leader, is in crisis. University students are falling behind their international peers in attainment, while suffering from unprecedented student debt. For over a decade, the realm of American higher education has been wracked with self-doubt and mutual recrimination, with no clear solutions on the horizon. How did this happen? In this stunning new book, Christopher Newfield offers readers an in-depth analysis of the \"great mistake\" that led to the cycle of decline and dissolution, a mistake that impacts every public college and university in America. What might occur, he asserts, is no less than locked-in economic inequality and the fall of the middle class. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn\u003ci\u003e The Great Mistake\u003c\/i\u003e, Newfield asks how we can fix higher education, given the damage done by private-sector models. The current accepted wisdom--that to succeed, universities should be more like businesses--is dead wrong. Newfield combines firsthand experience with expert analysis to show that private funding and private-sector methods cannot replace public funding or improve efficiency, arguing that business-minded practices have increased costs and gravely damaged the university's value to society. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is imperative that universities move beyond the destructive policies that have led them to destabilize their finances, raise tuition, overbuild facilities, create a national student debt crisis, and lower educational quality. Laying out an interconnected cycle of mistakes, from subsidizing the private sector to \"the poor get poorer\" funding policies, Newfield clearly demonstrates how decisions made in government, in the corporate world, and at colleges themselves contribute to the dismantling of once-great public higher education. A powerful, hopeful critique of the unnecessary death spiral of higher education, \u003ci\u003eThe Great Mistake\u003c\/i\u003e is essential reading for those who wonder why students have been paying more to get less and for everyone who cares about the role the higher education system plays in improving the lives of average Americans.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA well-written and readable work in the area of critical university studies, this book will be of interest to academics and general readers wanting more information on the causes of current issues in today's public educational institutions.--\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e[S]traightforward and compelling.--\u003ci\u003eTimes Higher Education\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's a compelling case and an important vision.--\u003ci\u003eScatterplot\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNewfield creates a way to think of the entire landscape for the complex situation institutions face when trying to educate students with the highest quality, best learning outcomes, and fewer resources than ever before.--\u003ci\u003eEducation Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book is a major addition to the Critical University Studies corpus, and should be required reading for anyone concerned about the fate of public education in the United States . . . Newfield's writing is clear and accessible enough for beginning college students even as his larger argument is sophisticated enough for graduate-level study.--\u003ci\u003eRadical Teacher\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnyone who seeks a trenchant, nuanced grasp of the situation in US public universities today, and of how we got here, should read this book. They will find themselves grateful for the insight, seriousness, and virtuosity with which Newfield has conducted his investigation.--\u003ci\u003ePublic Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eChristopher Newfield's \u003ci\u003eThe Great Mistake \u003c\/i\u003eis probably the most important, and certainly one of the best, books published on higher education in this century. It should be essential reading for everyone--faculty members, administrators, trustees, philanthropists, and politicians--looking to rescue our floundering public higher education system from the pitiful morass into which it has descended.--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Association of University Professors\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book's prose is lively and accessible, incorporating parents' and students' perspectives as well as research by prominent scholars . . . This is an important, timely book. Highly recommended.--\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt's well-written, passionately argued, and, for the most part, a lively read.--\u003ci\u003eChange\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Great Mistake\u003c\/i\u003e is his third book on the subject and provides an incisive, convincing, and terrifying picture of the current condition of state universities, along with an analysis of how we got here and how we might repair all the damage that has been done.--\u003ci\u003esymplokē\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmid much hand-wringing over the corporatization of the university and much chatter about the impending digital disruption of higher education, Newfield's contribution stands out. He mounts a deeply informed and impassioned defense of the idea that our economic, cultural, and political progress depends to a large degree on quality higher education--or more specifically, on quality higher education that has a liberal arts component, that affords equal access, and that is guaranteed by the 'public provision.' --\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e--Helen Small, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Value of the Humanities\u003c\/i\u003e \"Los Angeles Review of Books\"\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristopher Newfield\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of literature and American studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eUnmaking the Public University: The Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eIvy and Industry: Business and the Making of the American University, 1880-1980\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n        \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 448\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 7.9 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 01, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42119227834503,"sku":"9781421427034","price":56.34,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/ce32c427fce758e29a5648262af79c7e.webp?v=1732539748","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/the-great-mistake-how-we-wrecked-public-universities-and-how-we-can-fix-them-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}