Coplin has been saving students from the damage done by the bait and switch business model of the liberal arts programs for fifty years. The bait promises career preparation and the switch is to teach undergraduates how to be scholars. He demonstrates how the Kingdom of Liberals Arts programs are based on an elitist attitude that is harmful to most undergraduates who value career preparation over love of learning. This elitism leads to increased anxiety for college students and a college completion rate lower than the worst high schools in the U.S. He shows how the elitism does not serve equity and inclusion but does the opposite. He demonstrates that the harm is not just confined to undergraduate education but to many socio-economic conditions in American society. The Kingdom has contributed to a K-12 education system that sends too many students to college and prevents the resources needed for careers without a college education. It shares some of the blame for the lack of skill and semi-skilled labor in this country. Coplin ends on a positive note by showing that some progress in transforming the Kingdom to an institution that serves its undergraduates has occurred but much more needs to be done. He suggests three most important structural changes need to quicken the pace of change and contribute to, rather than prevent, equity and inclusion.
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Part One: Bait and Switch
Chapter 1: Knowledge Over Know-How
Chapter 2: Flawed Evidence
Chapter 3: The Bait Machine
Part Two: Elitism Revealed
Chapter 4: Ben Franklin is a Petite Bourgeoisie
Chapter 5: Dale Carnegie is Not College Material
Chapter 6: The Student Prince Warning
Chapter 7: The Hereditary Kingdom
Chapter 8: Whats in a Name
Chapter 9: The Liberal Arts Religion
Chapter 10: Dumbing Down is Dumb
Part Three: Undergraduate Victims
Chapter 11: Commoners Vote with their Feet
Chapter 12: The Anxiety Machine
Chapter 13: Career Services Challenges
Chapter 14: Experience Credit Ambivalence
Part Four: Societal Damage.
Chapter 15: K-12 Toxicity
Chapter 16: Unskilled Citizens
Chapter 17: Too Many Thinkers and Not Enough Doers
Chapter 18: Equity Denied
Part Five: Foundational Changes for Equity and Inclusion
Chapter 19: Change PhD Education
Chapter 20: Reform Lower Division Coursework
Chapter 21: Treat Undergraduates as the Citizens
Bill Coplin is founder and professor of the highly successful undergraduate Policy Studies Major at Syracuse University which is meets the goals of an undergraduate professional program while maintaining the integrity of a degree in the in liberal arts. He is the J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence at the Maxwell School and College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University. An author of 110 books and articles, many of which are in education, has taught and advised tens of thousands of undergraduates over his 50+ years of teaching.
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