The Attack on Higher Education: The Dissolution of the American University

American higher education is under attack from the right-wing narrative, which portrays it as corrupt, irrelevant, costly, and dangerous. Ronald Musto draws on historical precedent to show how a triad of forces enabled monasteries to succeed and then suddenly fail, and offers a comprehensive account of this narrative and new arguments to counter criticisms and rebuild the image of higher education.

Format: Hardback
Length: 370 pages
Publication date: 20 January 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

American higher education faces unprecedented challenges today, with a growing right-wing narrative portraying academia as corrupt, irrelevant, costly, and dangerous to students and the nation. Over the past decade, budget cuts, attacks on liberal arts and humanities disciplines, faculty layoffs and retrenchments, technology displacement, corporatization, and campus closings have accelerated. In this timely volume, Ronald Musto draws on historical precedent, specifically Henry VIII's dissolution of British monasteries in the 1530s, to examine the current threats to American higher education. Musto argues that a triad of forces—authority, separateness, and innovation—enabled monasteries to succeed in the past, but suddenly and unexpectedly failed. He applies this analogy to contemporary academia, where higher education's vital centrality to American culture and economy is being undermined by a powerful, anti-liberal narrative. Despite its importance, higher education's reputation among parents, voters, and politicians is being severely damaged. Musto offers a comprehensive account of this narrative from the mid-twentieth century to the present, as well as a new set of arguments to counter criticisms and rebuild the image of higher education.

American higher education faces unprecedented challenges today, with a growing right-wing narrative portraying academia as corrupt, irrelevant, costly, and dangerous to students and the nation. Over the past decade, budget cuts, attacks on liberal arts and humanities disciplines, faculty layoffs and retrenchments, technology displacement, corporatization, and campus closings have accelerated. In this timely volume, Ronald Musto draws on historical precedent, specifically Henry VIII's dissolution of British monasteries in the 1530s, to examine the current threats to American higher education. Musto argues that a triad of forces—authority, separateness, and innovation—enabled monasteries to succeed in the past, but suddenly and unexpectedly failed. He applies this analogy to contemporary academia, where higher education's vital centrality to American culture and economy is being undermined by a powerful, anti-liberal narrative. Despite its importance, higher education's reputation among parents, voters, and politicians is being severely damaged. Musto offers a comprehensive account of this narrative from the mid-twentieth century to the present, as well as a new set of arguments to counter criticisms and rebuild the image of higher education.

Weight: 684g
Dimension: 161 x 235 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108471923
Edition number: New ed