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berkough's review against another edition
The premise is good, and I can agree with her argument, but it's not enough to fill an entire book with. I was done after chapter 2. This would make a fine essay with the pertinent parts boiled down and distilled. Unfortunately, as a book, this is just a bunch of anecdote and fluff for no discernible reason other than to sell a "book"... The Communist Manifesto is a pamphlet, and that approach would have worked here as well.
klanca's review against another edition
1.0
See my comment for my review for some reason it posted as a comment.
rhymesgenre's review against another edition
1.0
Yes, it is the steaming pile of crap you can expect it to be.
It is ironic how the author disproves her own theory by demonstrating how academic achievement and intelligence are in no way correlated. Her ideas are the very old segregationist belief that by BIPOC would perform better amongst their own, and that all of this diversity nonsense is just millenials' oversensitivity showing - they just have to tough it up and study harder!
She is at time barely coherent: "this study is foolproof in showing how Black students are unprepared BEFORE starting university, but the critics talking about the broader context citing what happens BEFORE university are wrong!"
Okay, lady.
So, same old racist bullshit, with a scholarly varnish - she's so proud of her impeccable grammar!
It was interesting to do the mental exercise of trying to understand how people like her believe THEY are the oppressed, misunderstood, benevolent minority, but I'm done now.
It is ironic how the author disproves her own theory by demonstrating how academic achievement and intelligence are in no way correlated. Her ideas are the very old segregationist belief that by BIPOC would perform better amongst their own, and that all of this diversity nonsense is just millenials' oversensitivity showing - they just have to tough it up and study harder!
She is at time barely coherent: "this study is foolproof in showing how Black students are unprepared BEFORE starting university, but the critics talking about the broader context citing what happens BEFORE university are wrong!"
Okay, lady.
So, same old racist bullshit, with a scholarly varnish - she's so proud of her impeccable grammar!
It was interesting to do the mental exercise of trying to understand how people like her believe THEY are the oppressed, misunderstood, benevolent minority, but I'm done now.
librarytech4's review against another edition
4.0
This book does a great job summing up the issues with affirmative action in American universities. The author goes into everything from gender, minorities, professors, administrators, and why everyone seems to care about this. She also explains the downsides to this as well as provides data to back up her points.
mikeypitt7's review against another edition
2.0
Heather Mac Donald's book is divided into three parts, of which the first two represent diversity "issues" while the third is an attempt at offering a solution. In the first two sections, Mac Donald describes fundamental concerns she sees in university admission patterns and campus sexual health practices. Her arguments are relatively simplistic: (1) too many low-performing minority students are admitted to higher education that just end up failing, and (2) college administrators teach women that regretted sexual encounters are really just rape. In both cases, Mac Donald oversimplifies her interpretation to arrive at solutions that basically read as (1) stop admitting low-performing minority students, and (2) close down campus rape hotlines. While she points to data that indeed demonstrate many minority students end up leaving anticipated majors and/or college early on, and also that the number of reported sexual assaults on college campuses are quite low, her solutions to close the doors to minority students and turn off the hotline for sexual assault victims are reductive. They might "prevent" the problems she points to but they reduce access, opportunity, and support for those most likely to benefit from the chance to try and the offer of help. When Mac Donald encounters those who provide contrary arguments, rather than debate the merit of those arguments, Mac Donald often resorts to ad hominem attacks against the person, e.g. "Is ethnic studies even a real discipline?" is a real response she has to data that contradicts her perspective.
The second star in my review comes from the fact that the third part of the book offers reasonable insight to how colleges ought to operate. Mac Donald posits that colleges need to do a better job at teaching undergraduates key points in western civilization, uses the Great Courses model to illustrate one path, and suggests that one-sided answers to complex questions (like, is border enforcement racist?) are rarely effective in a democratic society. I don't disagree with these ideas, though once again I find her delivery to be a little off-putting. I believe there are many wonderful lessons to learn throughout human civilization, not just western civilization. To understand who we are as Americans does require a dalliance with western civ, but to understand who we are as humans requires going deeper into the past and examining the nuance of the human experience. While teaching facts in a straight-forward, memorize this manner (as the Great Courses do) has its place in education, there is also room for critical thinking exercises, and faculty who engage this practice are not phoning it in. Finally, to her last point, there are some questions that are clearly suited to debate in a free society (like the one posed above) but there are some that are not, like the merits of slavery.
The second star in my review comes from the fact that the third part of the book offers reasonable insight to how colleges ought to operate. Mac Donald posits that colleges need to do a better job at teaching undergraduates key points in western civilization, uses the Great Courses model to illustrate one path, and suggests that one-sided answers to complex questions (like, is border enforcement racist?) are rarely effective in a democratic society. I don't disagree with these ideas, though once again I find her delivery to be a little off-putting. I believe there are many wonderful lessons to learn throughout human civilization, not just western civilization. To understand who we are as Americans does require a dalliance with western civ, but to understand who we are as humans requires going deeper into the past and examining the nuance of the human experience. While teaching facts in a straight-forward, memorize this manner (as the Great Courses do) has its place in education, there is also room for critical thinking exercises, and faculty who engage this practice are not phoning it in. Finally, to her last point, there are some questions that are clearly suited to debate in a free society (like the one posed above) but there are some that are not, like the merits of slavery.
readers_block's review against another edition
4.0
Heather MacDonald has a lot of good ideas, and this book is worth reading.
The first part, about affirmative action, makes a lot of good points but is a bit of a slog (only a bit). she hammers the points home a little too much, and it could be slightly shorter.
The second part, however, was my favorite. She tackles campus rape in a really interesting way and I think makes a lot of compelling points. That was the best part of the book by far for me.
She lost me a bit on the last part (the great courses), and I think it probably could have ended sooner. I take the point about classical humanities and learning but I don't know that it needed that much on it. Overall a really thought provoking and idea-challenging book that I'd recommend.
The first part, about affirmative action, makes a lot of good points but is a bit of a slog (only a bit). she hammers the points home a little too much, and it could be slightly shorter.
The second part, however, was my favorite. She tackles campus rape in a really interesting way and I think makes a lot of compelling points. That was the best part of the book by far for me.
She lost me a bit on the last part (the great courses), and I think it probably could have ended sooner. I take the point about classical humanities and learning but I don't know that it needed that much on it. Overall a really thought provoking and idea-challenging book that I'd recommend.
diana_eveline's review against another edition
4.0
“If confronting the need to change behavior is punishable “hate speech,” it is hard to see how the country can resolve its social problems.”
Mac Donald discusses how universities in America have changed under newly upheld values. Universities are eager to prove themselves to be diverse and "safe". Though these values themselves are quite important, what is done to strive for them is anything but progressive in terms of their function as a university and what they seek to achieve. Positive discrimination is applied at the door when selecting candidates and pops up again when women make unfounded claims of men abusing them. Curriculums also suffer, as teachers are forced to gloss their material to minimize students getting triggered or having to deal with not being up to the level of a course. Diversity and racial bias trainings are becoming mandatory for staff, just as students have to follow a first-year course on diversity. Mac Donald explores what they measures do, whether they are at all desirable and bring about what they are made to do and what this means for the future of academia.
A very insightful read that shows we can have such good intentions but acting on them to an extreme often pulls us back rather than forward. Postive discrimination is an excellent example. I have long disagreed with its use in any context but do understand that there are inequalities we need to bridge. Heather Mac Donald makes an excellent case for why it does more harm than good. Black students are admitted to universities with a lower SAT score and very often fail to stay in the program because the level is too high. Some students suffer immensely from the blow of not being able to got through a university course that they were admitted to and do not recover in the sense that they live up to their potential at a lower level. According to Mac Donald, the lack of diversity in universities should not correct by lower academic standards. Instead, we should look at reports of academic achievements of minority group students. For example, do they have access to the same level of secondary education as whites?
As a teacher in the Arts, Mac Donald pleads for people to stop glossing literature reading list and materials. Some faculties are taking works by Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton off of their reading list because of their outdated views that offend students and should no longer hold a place in the Arts curriculum. I find this outragious. University is the playground of thought. It should be the one place where anything and everything is up for discussion.
Do I agree with everything written? Certainly not, but Mac Donald makes a very convincing case for her view on how things are progressing. Or, not progressing. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in keeping our minds open, our opportunities fair and our universities competitive and functioning as they should.
Mac Donald discusses how universities in America have changed under newly upheld values. Universities are eager to prove themselves to be diverse and "safe". Though these values themselves are quite important, what is done to strive for them is anything but progressive in terms of their function as a university and what they seek to achieve. Positive discrimination is applied at the door when selecting candidates and pops up again when women make unfounded claims of men abusing them. Curriculums also suffer, as teachers are forced to gloss their material to minimize students getting triggered or having to deal with not being up to the level of a course. Diversity and racial bias trainings are becoming mandatory for staff, just as students have to follow a first-year course on diversity. Mac Donald explores what they measures do, whether they are at all desirable and bring about what they are made to do and what this means for the future of academia.
A very insightful read that shows we can have such good intentions but acting on them to an extreme often pulls us back rather than forward. Postive discrimination is an excellent example. I have long disagreed with its use in any context but do understand that there are inequalities we need to bridge. Heather Mac Donald makes an excellent case for why it does more harm than good. Black students are admitted to universities with a lower SAT score and very often fail to stay in the program because the level is too high. Some students suffer immensely from the blow of not being able to got through a university course that they were admitted to and do not recover in the sense that they live up to their potential at a lower level. According to Mac Donald, the lack of diversity in universities should not correct by lower academic standards. Instead, we should look at reports of academic achievements of minority group students. For example, do they have access to the same level of secondary education as whites?
As a teacher in the Arts, Mac Donald pleads for people to stop glossing literature reading list and materials. Some faculties are taking works by Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton off of their reading list because of their outdated views that offend students and should no longer hold a place in the Arts curriculum. I find this outragious. University is the playground of thought. It should be the one place where anything and everything is up for discussion.
Do I agree with everything written? Certainly not, but Mac Donald makes a very convincing case for her view on how things are progressing. Or, not progressing. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in keeping our minds open, our opportunities fair and our universities competitive and functioning as they should.
conceptsoftime's review against another edition
5.0
A well researched survey of these timely issues written in her penetrating and accessible prose.