Up the university

Higher education today is big business. Subsidized by tuition and taxpayers' dollars, universities have become giant corporations in which bloated administrations scrounge for funds and professors are "hustlers" in search of perks and grants. What suffers most of all is education. Teaching is merely what low-ranked professors and graduate students do - when they aren't researching and publishing books and articles that will raise them to the ranks where they no longer have to teach. In this report from the front lines, two award-winning professors offer a simple - and radical - prescription for today's universities: Make teaching the top priority once again. The Solomons' no-nonsense and controversial proposals include abolishing tenure, slashing administration, and reevaluating research. In a series of short, incisive chapters, they examine grades, lectures, academic journals, and college presidents - and outline suggestions for mandatory public service before college, education parents about education, and putting sports into perspective. They insist on taking teaching seriously, not merely talking about it. Finally, here is a book about tearing down the walls, eliminating the red tape, putting an end to money grubbing, and creating a real relationship between the university and the community. Enough of the ivory tower, say the Solomons, focusing their discussion not on the prestigious eastern colleges but on large state campuses and community schools throughout the entire country. Filled with practical solutions, Up the University is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of our democracy.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.