Description
Book SynopsisBetween Mission and Market: The Freshman Year in a Corporate Age focuses on the arrival of college freshmen at the moment of the transformation; it uses Adelphi University in suburban New York City to study an attempt to resolve first-year difficulties. As higher education institutions turn into enterprises run on business models, the pressures of getting into college, including the taking of the SAT and ACT, have induced stress, addictions, eating disorders, drug use, and mental problems. However, special programs to ease the first-year transition through counseling and support are run as cheaply as possible. This book confronts some of the cardinal controversies in higher education, particularly those affecting first-year students: high-stakes testing in general (particularly the SAT), the intensification of student debt and the financial sentence imposed upon all who incur it, and the dramatic pressures placed upon freshmen as they transition to college.
Trade ReviewBetween Mission and Market: The Freshman Year in a Corporate Age uses the General Studies Program at Adelphi University as case study to reveal how the corporatization of American higher education has undermined its mission to serve the common good. Rosenberg shows how the corporate university distorts the relationship between students and instructors and disadvantages students from working class backgrounds, particularly students of color and immigrants. It is must reading for those who care about the future of higher education. -- Rudy Fichtenbaum, Wright State University; President of the American Association of University Professors
Of late there have been a number of attempts to outline what is presently happening to Higher Education: rising tuition; an increasing number of schools closing; the growth of corporate influence on campus; etc. However, Dan Rosenberg’s book stands head and shoulders above all others. Deftly written and adroitly researched, this enlightening volume makes an enormous contribution to diverse fields including Education, History, and Sociology. -- Gerald Horne, University of Houston
Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Introduction: Lessons of a Freshman Program Chapter 1: College as Big Business Chapter 2: The Crisis of the SAT Chapter 3: The Freshman Landscape Chapter 4: Roots of the General Studies Program at Adelphi Chapter 5: The Program Defines Itself Chapter 6: The Struggle for Survival Chapter 7: The Grades of General Studies Students Chapter 8: College Graduation and High School Average Chapter 9: The SATs and General Studies Chapter 10: Demographics and General Studies Conclusion: Can General Studies Endure? Bibliography About the Author
