This bookpresents the issues, controversies, and key players that formed and enabled the American college and university to endure as a critical institution of the nation and society. Nelson examines contested issues and concerns in the academy such as the role and position of religion; the place and value of the liberal arts; the threat of disunity and balkanization; the ideological contentions and fights for control; the effect of politics and ideologies on its future as an institution; its role as a critic and servant of society; and its promotion of academic freedom, free speech, and liberty. This overview, combined with Nelson's examination of the historical dramas, influential political forces, and stories of key personalities, provides a nuanced understanding of the evolution of the academy that scholars of Education, American History, and Philosophy will appreciate.
Autorentext
Stephen J. Nelson is professor of education and educational leadership at Bridgewater State University and senior scholar in the Leadership Alliance at Brown University.
Zusammenfassung
This book presents the issues, controversies, and key players that formed and enabled the American college and university to endure as a critical institution of the nation and society. Nelson examines contested issues and concerns in the academy such as the role and position of religion; the place and value of the liberal arts; the threat of disunity and balkanization; the ideological contentions and fights for control; the effect of politics and ideologies on its future as an institution; its role as a critic and servant of society; and its promotion of academic freedom, free speech, and liberty. This overview, combined with Nelson's examination of the historical dramas, influential political forces, and stories of key personalities, provides a nuanced understanding of the evolution of the academy that scholars of Education, American History, and Philosophy will appreciate.
Inhalt
Chapter 1 Religion in the Nation and the Academy
Chapter 2 The University: What is It and How Does Its Center Hold?
Chapter 3 Contentious Compatibility and the Common Good: The University as Servant and Critic in a Democracy
Chapter 4 The Purpose of the College: Clashes over Liberal Education and Ideas that Prevail
Chapter 5 The Rise of the University: The Influence of Progressivism and the Social Gospel
Chapter 6 Battles over Liberty, Academic Freedom and Free Speech
Chapter 7 The Disuniting of America and the University: A Reprise of Academic Freedom and the Threat of Balkanization in the Quest for Pluralism and Diversity
Chapter 8 The Contemporary Ideological World of the McCarthy Era to Present: Political Rightness and Wrong-Headedness
Chapter 9 A Coda: The Concept of a University in America and the Culture We Deserve