Blumenstyk, Goldie. SOME ELITE PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES GET SERIOUS ABOUT DISTANCE LEARNING (The Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 43, no. 41, June 20, 1997, pp. A23-A24)

Many state universities and community colleges have long delivered courses via television, and recently via the Internet. These courses are usually designed to extend education to regions where opportunities are limited, and offer courses leading to associate, bachelor's or master's degrees. The author says the elite private institutions are experimenting with distance-learning to provide more specialized degree programs, professional-school courses, and courses that can be percent internationally.

Boettcher, Judith; Cartwright, G. Phillip. DESIGNING AND SUPPORTING COURSES ON THE WEB (Change, vol. 29, no. 5, September/October 1997, pp. 10, 62-63)

A new teaching and learning paradigm, probably based on the World Wide Web, will be at the core of the Information Age university. Faculty must be given appropriate equipment and support in their use of the technology to design and develop materials and instructional interaction that will take place in this new environment. With appropriate support, the transition can be positive; without it, the authors warn, less effective educational programs will be developed, and students and faculty will be disappointed with the outcomes.

Bracey, Gerald W. WHAT HAPPENED TO AMERICA'S PUBLIC SCHOOLS? (American Heritage, vol. 48, no. 7, November 1997, pp. 38-52)

The answer to the title question, says the author, is much better news than many expect. Bracey argues that "two qualities common to educational reformers since World War II [are] nostalgia and amnesia," and these ill serve the objective analysis of America's education scene. The U.S. secondary school graduation rate didn't exceed 50 percent until mid-century; today it is 83 percent. After World War II education experts assumed that "no more than 20 percent of American youth could handle a college curriculum; now 62 percent of all high school graduates enroll in college the following fall." "Today most educational statistics continue to show what Charles Silberman (author of an incisive 1970 report "Crisis in the Classroom") found 25 years ago: Now is better than then." Of nine major trends in reading, mathematics and science, seven are at all time highs, reports Bracey.

Coye, Dale. ERNEST BOYER AND THE NEW AMERICAN COLLEGE: CONNECTING THE 'DISCONNECTS' (Change, vol. 29, no. 3, May/June, 1997, pp. 20-29)

Educational consultant Dale Coye looks at several recommendations made by the late American educator and former State University of New York Chancellor, Ernest Boyer. These include clarifying the curriculum,' connecting the classroom experience to the outside world, and creating a campus community that brings professional schools and the various departments together in an integrated academic setting. Coye notes that some of Boyer's recommendations, particularly those that include real service to the people living in and around an academic institution, are already being implemented across the country. Coye hopes that Boyer's sense of a "connected" American college will be promoted throughout America.

Edmundson, Mark. Shorris, Earl. ON THE USES OF A LIBERAL EDUCATION (Harpers, vol. 295, no. 1768, September 1997, pp. 39-59).

This pair of articles examines two views of the state and uses of a classic "liberal education."

In "As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students," Mark Edmundson, a humanities professor at the University of Virginia, an elite public university, says the university has gone into the business of attracting students who have been brought up in a consumer culture. He argues that in trying to attract students, universities are more concerned about the quality of their gymnasiums, the entertainment value of their humanities courses and the popularity of their teachers than they are about the substance of their courses. The main reason, says Edmundson, that students continue to take humanities courses (which are not perceived as being marketable when they graduate) is because humanities professors grade more liberally in order to keep students in their classes.

In the second article, "As a Weapon in the Hands of the Restless Poor," Earl Shorris, book author and contributing editor to Harper's magazine, discusses his experience in enticing top-flight professors to teach at a kind of mini-college for the humanities that he established for the very poor. Historically, "If the political life was the way out of poverty," the author posits, "the humanities provided an entrance to reflection and the political life." Shorris began his mini-college with 20 students, 16 of whom graduated. A year after graduation, 10 were attending four-year colleges or going to nursing school and 4 of the 10 had received full scholarships to Bard College, a prestigious private school.

Epper, Rhonda Martin. COORDINATION AND COMPETITION IN POSTSECONDARY DISTANCE EDUCATION (The Journal of Higher Education, vol. 68, no. 5, September/October 1997, pp. 551-587)

This comparative case study of Minnesota, Maine and Colorado addresses state policies governing postsecondary distance education. It reveals new relationships between state policies, institutional distance education programs and external competitive forces. In each state, distance education expanded the market for postsecondary education, raised leaders' awareness of outside competition, and challenged traditional regulatory principles of statewide coordination.

Lazerson, Marvin. WHO OWNS HIGHER EDUCATION: THE CHANGING FACE OF GOVERNANCE (Change, vol. 29. no. 2, March/April, 1997, pp. 10-15)

Lazerson, the University of Pennsylvania's Carruth Family Professor in the Graduate School of Education (and former Dean of the Graduate School of Education), reviews recent trends in the governance of America s institutions of tertiary education. He finds that trustees and boards are playing a much more visible role in running universities, and that traditional university managers (presidents and chancellors) often find themselves in conflict with aggressive boards over budget decisions and overall institutional direction. Still, Lazerson believes that engaged and enlightened boards can work with school administrators to promote the educational integrity of a university, and that the inherent friction can be creative.

Oppenheimer, Ted. THE COMPUTER DELUSION (The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 280, no. 1, July 1, 1997, pp. 45-63)

Although there is no compelling evidence that learning skills, especially at the earlier levels, are improved by computer use, schools throughout the U.S are cutting activities such as art, music, vocational education, and field trips in order to buy computers. Oppenheimer, a prize winning investigative reporter, says this could be to the detriment of the country and its children.

Orfield, Gary; and others. DEEPENING SEGREGATION IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: A SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE HARVARD PROJECT ON SCHOOL DESEGREGATION (Equity & Excellence in Education, vol. 30, no. 2, September 1997, pp. 5-24)

The authors explore demographic changes in the American primary and secondary student population, and the correlation of these changes with patterns of segregation and re-segregation in American schools. According to the article, during the 1980s the level of desegregation actually increased, but Supreme Court decisions from 1991 to 1995 have given lower courts discretion to approve re-segregation on a large scale, and it is beginning to occur. This well-documented study paints a gloomy picture of changing demographics and legal resistance to desegregation, which have resulted in an overall decline in the student population attending desegregated schools. Since segregated schools also tend to be the poorest, the consequences for the equity of education in America are likely to be profound in the foreseeable future.

Perley, James E. FACULTY AND GOVERNING BOARDS: BUILDING BRIDGES (Academe, vol 83, no. 5, September-October 1997)

James E. Perley, Professor of Biology at the College of Wooster and the President of the American Association of University Professors, argues that college and university trustees and faculty must maintain and build new bridges for more effective and frequent communication. He says that faculty "have witnessed significant trustee incursions into areas of primary faculty responsibility -- the curriculum, the standards for student work, and the recruitment and retention of faculty . . . . Faculty have been alarmed at the wholesale importation into the academic world of norms drawn from the world from which so many trustees and board members are now drawn -- the world of the business community."

Schrag, Peter. THE NEAR-MYTH OF OUR FAILING SCHOOLS (The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 280, no. 4, October 1997, pp. 72-80)

The author explores an array of data and several studies about the quality of education in the United States today. He concludes that it is a lot better than U.S. politicians say it is, and that they and the American public need to better understand its complexities before they try to change even those areas which require change.

Skinner, David. COMPUTERS: GOOD FOR EDUCATION? (The Public Interest, no. 128, Summer 1997, pp. 98-109)

The author argues that it is up to the computer industry to prove that education is improved by computers, rather than placing the burden of proof on American education. Skinner argues that no such proof exists and the United States' faith in computers to help students learn better may very well be misplaced.

Willie, Charles V. CAN EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE COEXIST? (Education Week, vol. 18, no. 5, October 1, 1997, pp. 56, 36)

Charles V. Willie's commentary begins a year-long series of essays in EDUCATION WEEK aimed at "locating the particular role of schools in affecting, for good or ill, the nation's racial and ethnic harmony." According to Willie, "With reference to education, our society [has] become obsessed with excellence and [has] neglected to also cultivate equity, its complement." He specifically correlates the need for equity with the drive for desegregation in America's schools, which has done much to address the needs of minority students. He strongly advocates the continued pursuit of both goals in America's schools.

Young, Jeffrey R. RETHINKING THE ROLE OF THE PROFESSOR IN AN AGE OF HIGH-TECH TOOLS (The Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 44, no. 6, October 3, 1997, pp. A26-A28)

New technologies could take over many instructional duties that now define university professors' jobs, the author reports. He says that while some expect that high-tech tools will make teaching more efficient, others worry that the quality of education would erode if professors were replaced by multimedia software and recorded lectures. Experiments are underway in many of these areas, although the standard lecture model will never be eliminated entirely.