Drawing on a large body of empirical evidence, former Harvard President Derek Bok examines how much progress college students actually make toward widely accepted goals of undergraduate education. His conclusions are sobering. Although most students make gains in many important respects, they improve much less than they should in such important areas as writing, critical thinking, quantitative skills, and moral reasoning. Large majorities of college...

"A tenured prof. breaks ranks to reveal what's wrong with American higher education and how it affects you. Professors can be underpaid. Marginalized. Over-reviewed. But one fact remains: The success of your education depends on them. Part industry expose and part call for a return to engaged teaching, Campus Confidential shows how the noble project of higher education fell so far and how we can redeem it. A must-read for parents thinking about their...

"Standing on the foundations of America's promise of equal opportunity, our universities purport to "serve as engines of social mobility" and "practitioners of democracy." But as acclaimed scholar and pioneering civil rights advocate Lani Guinier argues, the merit systems that dictate the admissions practices of these institutions are functioning to select and privilege elite individuals rather than create learning communities geared to advance democratic...