Derek Bok, President Emeritus and research professor at Harvard University and author of six previous books on education, joined host Steve Roberts for NPR's the Diane Rehm Show to discuss his just-released book Higher Education in America.
Undergraduate education is in crisis, according to Bok--for reasons such as out-of-control costs, wasteful spending and unsatisfactory graduation rates. (Our graduate and professional schools, Bok notes, are, by and large, in strong shape.) It's really in the college where we have substantial problems that affect a lot of people and the welfare of the country,┬" Bok says.
Regarding wastefulness, Bok gave two examples: athletics and teaching hospitals. Though often beloved, athletic programs are expensive, they often compromise academic values, and they are not germane to teaching students and doing research --the real business of higher education, according to Bok. Teaching hospitals are wonderful, and rank among the best in America and around the world, but he says, You don't have to own the hospital.┬" Even when a teaching hospital is financially beneficial, it becomes a new dimension of administrative difficulty,┬" he adds.
These are just two examples of projects and programs that add prestige to an institution without necessarily adding pedagogical value, Bok says. He wants to shift the focus to methods for measuring of student learning.
In the interview, Bok also expressed concern over President Obama's recent proposal to create a rating system. I think his motives and his aims and aspirations are all very good,┬" Bok said. But he expressed caution that we don't have details and that is where the problem will reside. He remains skeptical that we can develop a good way to measure how much and how well students learn at any particular college.
Bok's book provides a broad look at higher education in America, evaluating and reviewing where we need to be concerned in the coming decades to maintain and enhance higher education in America.