Higher Education’s Brave New World—Again

• Published in: PsycCritiques Vol. 57; no. 17; p. No Pagination Specified
• Main Author: Cox, Geoffrey M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Psychological Association 02.05.2012
• Subjects: Colleges; Economics; Education; Finance; Higher Education; Human
• ISSN: 1554-0138; 1554-0138
• DOI: 10.1037/a0027870

Reviews the book, Change.Edu: Rebooting for the New Talent Economy by Andrew S. Rosen (see record 2012-01978-000). This book is a defense of for-profit education against a familiar bill of particulars ranging from greed and corruption to academic malpractice. The first half of the book presents a critique of traditional colleges and universities and dwells on obvious problems—the unproductive arms race among schools to outspend each other on frivolous amenities, the misguided competition for superstar faculty, the focus on exclusivity, and the absurdity of intercollegiate athletics. The second half of the book is largely concerned with an argument in favor of the for-profit model that has exploded onto the scene in recent years. Rosen gets credit for writing a concise, well-informed brief on behalf of his industry. For anyone unfamiliar with the context in which for-profit universities have mushroomed in recent years or who would like to understand the strongest arguments in their favor, this is a good, pleasurable read. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)