Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: April 20, 2021 at 7:28:59 PM EDT > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-FedHist]: Cotugno on Cahn, 'Inside Academia: > Professors, Politics, and Policies' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Steven M. Cahn. Inside Academia: Professors, Politics, and Policies. > New Brunswick Rutgers University Press, 2018. 128 pp. $19.95 > (paper), ISBN 978-1-978801-50-9. > > Reviewed by Marianne Cotugno (Miami University of Ohio) > Published on H-FedHist (April, 2021) > Commissioned by Caryn E. Neumann > > Even before COVID-19, higher education was experiencing a public > crisis. Debates about the value of a liberal arts education, concerns > about increased student debt, and questions about higher education as > a public good have only increased in the past year. Steven M. Cahn's_ > Inside Academia: Professors, Politics, and Policies_ adds to an > already vibrant body of scholarship that examines contemporary higher > education, particularly debates about how universities function and > the role of the liberal arts. Cahn announces his slim volume's > purpose: "My chief concern is how professors, and secondarily > administrators, too often act in ways that do not serve the best > interests of their schools or students" (p. ix). The author, an > internationally recognized professor emeritus of philosophy, whose > own work as a scholar and teacher is celebrated in _A Teacher's Life: > Essays for Steven M. Cahn_ (2009) draws on his experiences as both a > faculty member and administrator to address many aspects of the > university, from how we prepare graduate students to teach to how we > shape departmental culture to how we choose administrators. Cahn also > engages with some of the most contentious conversations of the day > both inside and outside the academy: liberal arts education, > curricular structures, and the future of tenure. > > To support his arguments, Cahn relies more on personal experience and > less on the work of other scholars. Cahn writes, "Examples of both > exemplary and deplorable action will appear in the subsequent > discussion, which draws freely on personal experiences, as well as my > previous writings, reworked to provide a unified presentation" (p. > xii). Written in a highly accessible manner, this book might interest > those curious about the reflections of someone with a great deal of > experience in higher education in a variety of roles, including > professor, chair, dean, provost, and acting provost, as well as time > working for the Exxon Education Foundation and the Rockefeller > Foundation. > > One particular area of concern for Cahn is the lack of value placed > on high-quality teaching in higher education. Drawing on decades of > professional experience, Cahn offers some useful advice, such as > providing more opportunities for graduate students to improve their > teaching (p. 6), crafting position openings that "emphasize the > importance of excellence in teaching" (p. 33), weighing excellence in > teaching equally with excellence in research when awarding merit > increases, and providing opportunities for course release time to > develop new pedagogies (p. 38). > > Unfortunately, Cahn's book suffers from a limited, and perhaps overly > pessimistic, view of faculty. Despite a lengthy career in multiple > roles in higher education, Cahn's narrow viewpoint is evident in "How > Professors View Academia," his first chapter. Cahn begins by noting > how professors value research and scholarly pursuit above all else. > Cahn writes, "Even faculty members who have few academic > accomplishments regard themselves as experts whose pursuit of > knowledge, whether by writing, reading, or thinning, is the essence > of academia" (p. 2). Perhaps this has been Cahn's experience as > someone who has spent most of his academic career at doctoral > institutions, although I suspect many of Cahn's colleagues might > object to the characterization, too. Cahn frequently describes > faculty as being self-absorbed and self-serving, as when he describes > how faculty engage in "trading requirements" (p. 58) as part of > agreeing to add particular curricular requirements. Discussing > department meetings, Cahn writes, "Actually, remarkably few > professors are able to transfer their scholarly skills to discussions > of practical issues. Just present the group with a real-life problem, > and the meeting is apt to turn into a melange of reminiscences, > irrelevancies, and impracticalities. Rarely can consensus be reached, > and even then likely fails to do justice to the complexities of the > problem" (p. 75). Although department meetings of the kind Cahn > describes undoubtedly occur, they are more the exception than the > norm. Otherwise, universities would fail to function. Cahn paints > faculty with too broad a brush, but offers a portrait that serves > those who wish to do away with tenure and question the value of > higher education as a whole. It is not just unfortunate, but > dangerous. > > Another blind spot in the book concerns questions of access and > equity in higher education. In "The Case for Liberal Education," Cahn > writes that "every member of a democracy should be able to read, > write, and speak effectively so as to be able to participate fully in > the free exchange of ideas that is vital to an open society" (p. 54), > but fails to acknowledge the many challenges facing underrepresented > students in achieving those goals through education. Later he notes, > "If anyone complains that our democracy provides too much education > for too many, they reveal their misunderstanding of a democratic > society, for how can the electorate be too educated, know too much, > or be too astute?" (p. 54), but neglects to identify who might offer > such an objection. Certainly, concerns about the high cost of higher > education as seen through skyrocketing student debt are fair, but > Cahn does not mention this. Instead, the chapter concludes by > pointing the finger at professors as responsible for making > "problematic" the "instituting of appropriate requirements" (p. 54) > when (in Cahn's view) the fundamentals of a liberal education are so > uncontroversial. > > The title seems to promise an insider's view of academia, and indeed, > it does, but it is a limited view and one that does not reflect the > experiences of many faculty, administrators, and students. More > importantly, the book reifies some of the worst myths about higher > education institutions and does a disservice to those actively > engaged in the public conversation about the role of higher education > in a democratic society. > > Citation: Marianne Cotugno. Review of Cahn, Steven M., _Inside > Academia: Professors, Politics, and Policies_. H-FedHist, H-Net > Reviews. April, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56216 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8129): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8129 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82260410/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
