A review by arbitrary_convenience
The Fall of the Faculty by Benjamin Ginsberg

funny informative fast-paced

2.0

I want to start by saying that it has good points. As the book goes on, it falls further away from data-driven appeals (what I had originally started reading it for) and further into a self-righteous, angry rant (which early on was funny and later became exhausting). 

He presents faculty and administrators as warring monoliths. The faculty are idealized and honest, caring only about teaching and research, over the money they might make. The administrators are greedy, focusing on stuffing their pockets, collecting esteemed titles, and taking care of their own supporters. 

He demonstrates a disregard and lack of understanding for the importance of student services and living expectations. This is evident in his criticisms of  prospective student programs which focus on dorms, healthcare, food, student orgs, diversity initiatives, and the like. He believes students should go to college to learn to think (not a bad thing) by interacting with liberal arts classes, rather than receive training for a specific job (also a valid use of education, in my opinion). As a former student whose advisor in undergrad disagreed with this mentality, and a current phd student who wishes I had taken more focused classes (rather than various elective requirements) to prepare me, I cannot respect this take. 

As I mentioned, I was hoping for an overview of the current and prospective states of jobs in academia, but I read instead a a series of anecdotal and emotional appeals with statistics and quotes mixed in. 

He often used flamboyant language to make the opposition (administrators) look silly and wasteful. I’m not saying administrators aren’t wasteful and silly. But the language used to describe their programs and ideals is intentionally diminutive and incendiary. This is a common tactic I usually find in debaters which makes me lose most of my credibility for them as intellectuals.

In conclusion, The Fall of the Faculty has some good information and important things to consider and monitor in the trends of higher education. My problem is that it’s difficult to get to those points through all the whining.