The Abandoned Generations: Rethinking Higher Education. - book reviews

By William H. Willimon and Thomas H. Naylor Eerdmans, 171 pp., $10.99 paper-back.

American higher education is in crisis. William H. Willimon and Thomas H. Naylor tear down any illusions the reader may have about the quality of life in the ivory tower. As they see it, the faculty members are detached from students, the administrators are using funds unwisely, tuition and environments are growing at absurd rates and a sense of community has broken down. Meanwhile, the students' dominant activity is getting drunk.

Willimon, dean of the chapel at Duke University, and Naylor, professor emeritus of economics at Duke and lecturer at Middlebury College, divide their helpful book into three parts, focusing on the symptoms of the crisis, the central problems and the solutions. In addition to reflecting on their experience as teachers, they drawn on many conversations with students about campus life. Willimon even slept one might in a dorm and spent a Saturday night traveling with security to observe the casualties of binge-drinking.

The three most obvious signs of campus crisis are "substance abuse, indolence, and excessive careerism." The most visible (and most highlighted in the book) is alcohol abuse. According to Willimon and Naylor, students at four-year colleges average 5.3 drinks a week (the figure is slightly higher for students at small schools and slightly lower for students at large universities). The number jumps to 15 drinks per week for students living in fraternities and sororities. Binge-drinking is also on the rise. The problem, however, is not so much that drinking has increased, but that "the social consequences of alcohol abuse are no longer considered socially unacceptable."

Behind alcohol abuse is a large problem. We believe that campus life is a metaphor for our national malaise--meaninglessness." The authors contend that this "malaise" begins early on in the lives of students, who have been raised in a "culture of neglect."

It begins at home, where social and

eeonomic factors--such as declining

wages . . . longer work hours--result

in less family time. Young

people . . . take part-time jobs

rather than spending time in

school, on homework or with their

families. More children and adolescents

are being reared in a vacuum,

with television as their only supervisor,

and there is little expectation

that they learn personal responsibility. . .

We have failed to teach an

ethic of concern and to model a culture

of responsibility.

Without "an ethic of concern" or a "culture of responsibility," Willimon and Naylor suggest, sending your daughter or son off to college is like dropping them off in a dark forest without a map or compass. Whereas 20 or 30 years ago students longed for a release from rigid structures, today's students long for stability and for meaningful connections with their professors. Making the situation more complicated is the fact that today's teachers are the students who rebelled in the '60s and '70s and are thus not likely to be in touch with the needs of this generation.

Contemporary students invoke the motto We work hard, we play hard." Students are working hard, but they are not necessarily "thinking hard," say Willimon and Naylor. School is regarded as a means to a lucrative job, not to self-development. The reign of careerism is detailed in the chapter "Teach Me How to Be a Moneymaking Machine." Academic life is dominated by a quest for material success and good grades, but not necessarily by intellectual engagement. At this point, however, Willimon and Naylor largely ignore the way careerism is fueled by a panic over a changing and more competitive economy. While acknowledging "a shrinking job market," they choose to emphasize students' greed.

Students are not alone in their negligence, however. Willimon and Naylor argue that professors have abandoned their primary obligation to teach, focusing instead on research and publishing. Campuses provide little space or encouragement for interaction between faculty and students. Colleges today lack an "educational philosophy." "We have tried to have a university without arguing about what a university is, what we want out of ourselves, who we expect our students to grow up to be . . . ." Faculties, staffs and administrators appear almost as adrift as the students.

Unsure of whether they want to be liberal arts schools or research institutions focused on technology, "American universities have tried unsuccessfully to be everything to everybody." This attempt has increased financial difficulties, given rise to bureaucracy, imposed management problems, and heightened students' sense of abandonment.

In responding to these problems, Willimon and Naylor argue not for subtle changes but for a massive overhaul. They stress their distance from the right-wing attacks of Dinesh D'Souza and others, whose -calls for a return to the allegedly 'good old days'" are "misguided."

Willimon and Naylor seek "something more radical, more visionary." They declare, first of all, that downsizing is urgent. Believing that small liberal arts colleges offer the most valuable education, they suggest that enrollment should not surpass 5,000-and 2,000 is ideal. Eventually, undergraduate and graduate schools should be completely separated.