This is a fascinating and important (if at times overwhelming) book on higher education and how it has got to the untenable position it is in at the present moment. I say it is overwhelming because it seems like such a difficult problem and is quite scary for me as a father of teenagers. However, Bunch does provide some solutions whose possibility lighten the burden (reality) brought on by reading this book.

This was a difficult book for me to get through - not because it was poorly written or inaccurate but because it examines the issue of higher education in such detail and complexity that it was hard while reading to imagine that this is a problem that can be easily solved. Bunch comes at the commonly cited flaws of higher education from economic, political and social angles- sometimes flowing in and out of each other, sometimes issues that need separate attention - and makes a good case that the current state of affairs is due to both deliberate manipulation and unintended consequences. There are many villains, ranging from those who wish to turn colleges into profit-making institutions to those who prefer a society where students only learn what they need to learn in order to serve the needs of employers. There are also a few heroes, but they don’t show up until the end, and he doesn’t even touch the need for colleges themselves to reform curriculum, staffing and many other issues now that they have bent themselves into pretzels trying to accommodate the whims of various legislators over the years..

Many in my family have been academics, including me, so this information hits close to home. In fact, Chapter 7 is almost exclusively devoted to Scott Walker’s tenure as governor of Wisconsin, where he busted public education unions, weakened tenure, and even tried to rewrite the mission of the University of Wisconsin. This is an era I lived, painfully, when I was teaching at a UW system school. My colleagues and I were literally on the front lines, protesting, writing letters, and working social media in support of academia. The changes Walker made may affect Wisconsin’s education for generations.

Because of my personal stake in the matter, I believe what Burch has written is true and necessary. He calls for a Truman-style commission on higher education to come to some agreement on what we want from higher education in the future. He advocates for principles including universality, seeing education as a public good rather than an individual benefit, and a liberal arts education which will help us see problems with a wider lens. I can only hope that this book will make it into the hands of those who can make that happen.

Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Will Bunch poses a number of pressing questions here and proposes some interesting solutions too. The issues covered include:

Has the cost of higher education in America now made it a club for the richest families only?

Should colleges seek to expand a student’s broad education or should the primary focus be to prepare them for an identified career path?

And what about, so called, blue collar jobs – what’s the route for students wishing to learn a trade?

The author takes us through a history of further education in America from the end of WWII, explaining how the introduction of the G.I. Bill significantly expanded not only the number of students experiencing further education but also radically changing the age profile. He explains how sceptics were proved wrong in their prediction that many returning soldiers would simply accept the benefits on offer but would fail to complete their courses. Then when the baby boomer generation, spawned by the war’s conclusion, was added to the mix an exponential growth in the overall number of students attending college was confirmed. The result was, of course, a huge expansion in the number and scale of colleges.

The immediate post war era was a time in which egalitarian aims held sway over those seeing the profit potential on offer. But a string of student protests in the late 1960’s - regarding the draft, civil rights issues, discrimination and woman’s liberation - created an atmosphere in which some saw education as a threat (to white supremacy, for example) rather than something offering a positive benefit to society. Bunch digs into the political debates and machinations of the time to explain how this has driven the country to the position it finds itself in today. Essentially this requires students to who don’t come from wealthy families to take on significant debt in order to fund a degree course that will give them access to the most remunerative job opportunities.

The average debt facing graduating students is said to be circa $30k. And with repayment required to commence within six months of graduation the financial pressures are quick to take hold. The author states that this demonstrates how the majority of would be college students face the dilemma of whether to gamble on their ability to quickly secure a well paying job after completing their course or to miss out on the opportunity such an education offers. To emphasise this point, he supplies brief case studies of a range of individuals who have one way or another become disenfranchised by their experience.

There’s a good deal of political history here, mixed into the story, and it’s clear that Bunch has little time for Donal Trump and, in fact, the GOP in general. On top of this, he stresses the point that cheating and dodgy dealing have been rife in terms of allowing cash rich families to inveigle routes into the most high profile colleges for their offspring. Amongst those cited in this respect are Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. And what is stressed throughout is that a college degree isn’t simply a ‘nice to have’ in the current knowledge based economy, it now offers what a high school diploma did 80 years ago. In other words, the route to these high paying careers is only now open to those with a college degree.

In terms of a way forward, a number of steps are proposed which would, the author says, open up the opportunity of a college education to a much wider population. He also suggests that the introduction of a ‘gap year’ for students at around the age of 18 - i.e. after high school and before college - might recreate the environment achieved post the G.I. Bill by bringing students into higher education with a broader view of life. This gap year might take the form of compulsory non-military public service. There are also suggestions concerning the set-up (or rather expansion) of institutions for training those who are intent on a specific trade and have no interest in a broader education.

Finally, there is a fairly comprehensive debate on the issue of who should pay for these proposed ‘improvements’ and whether higher education should be free to students or merely subsidised. Various options are explored but interestingly the English method is not amongst them. Here, the cost for students is capped and the phasing of any repayment of the government loan funding study and other associated costs is put on hold until a salary roughly equivalent to the national average is achieved, post university. Thereafter the amount of any repayment is governed by the salary level and if the loan is not fully repaid within 30 years it is written off. The reality is that many student will never fully repay these loans, so the excess cost falls to the general tax payer.

I found this book to be highly informative, opening my eyes to issues and possible solutions that I was previously blind to. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a key issue facing all highly developed countries at this time.

According to Will Bunch AFTER THE IVORY TOWER FALLS "has been at least fifteen years in the making" and that thoughtful reflection and exploration is readily apparent. Bunch, national opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, analyzes the state of higher education, specifically, "How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics—and How to Fix It." He offers a unique perspective (how many of us have a grandmother who owned a college?) and is adept at employing storytelling (examples include the history of Midstate College in Peoria; the first veteran to take advantage of the G.I. Bill; or Bunch's time embedded at Kenyon College in Gambier). Bunch makes a sometimes emotional but convincing argument that "a ladder greased with a snake oil called meritocracy has changed from joyous kids climbing higher than their parents to a panicked desperation to hang on to the slippery middle rungs. And that even at the polluted top, neither bewildered parents nor stressed out graduates are quite sure what they've just bought for all that cash (or, increasingly, a mountain of debt)." I have been quoting heavily because his narrative is so eloquent and filled with vivid imagery. In another example, he describes his "belief that a half century of bad decisions and generational change had sliced America into fourths, like a lazy pizza cutter:" the Left Broke; the Left Out; the Left Behind; and the Left Perplexed. "Four groups [that] didn't just have different world views, but literally waved different flags ... [and] spoke different languages." It would be very informative to have Will Bunch, George Packer (Last Best Hope), and even Raj Chetty ("Vast New Study Shows a Key to Reducing Poverty") debate divisions like these. Bunch acknowledges the threat to democracy and proposes a massive national service program. AFTER THE IVORY TOWER FALLS received a starred review from Kirkus ("a must-read") and was reviewed positively this week in The New York Times. Highly recommended.

Some relevant links:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/02/books/review/will-bunch-after-the-ivory-tower-falls.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/books/review/podcast-last-best-hope-george-packer-finding-mother-tree-suzanne-simard.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/01/upshot/rich-poor-friendships.html

I never really understood the division in our country that political analysts said was between college graduates and non-graduates. It seemed to be real, yet made no sense to me. I know people on both sides of that divide and they did not seem all that different to me.

But there are many issues. Several are discussed. The cost of college is a big one and much of the book is about that.

Before World War 2, a college education was pretty much limited to the upper classes who could afford it. After World War 2 higher education became much more common. The GI Bill paid for the education of many returning soldiers. Government investment continued though the turbulent sixties and tuition was still affordable for many of the middle class.

I graduated from Rutgers in 1972 and believe my tuition was $400 per year.

Fast forward to today or any recent year. Tuition may be closer to 30 thousand per year and living expenses many thousands more. To make thing worse, there are often loans (not grants) to cover those hefty expenses.

So if you are from a family of modest means, your choices are skipping college and bypassing many job opportunities or completing college and having more job opportunities but also having massive debt. I over simplify a bit but that choice can be a source of resentment and anger.

So how did we get here? College was once for the few, then became a good for many, and is now a source of resentment and political division.

Will Bunch’s well-researched and well written book examines that question in depth. And discusses some possible solutions. His journalistic skills serve him well in presenting what could be a rather dry recitation of facts as a fascinating story.

The book is scheduled for an August 2 publication. I thank Netgalley for the chance to read it before publication.

"After the Ivory Tower Falls" is the history of higher education in the United States and how it became a polarizing, overwhelmingly expensive facet of our society. This book taught me how the dream of free or reduced cost higher education used to be a reality until politicians purposefully withheld funds and started charging fees since the liberal, intellectual cultures on campus were a threat to rampant capitalism. Even though a college degree no longer promises a career whose wages pay an amount that can keep up with rising costs, it is one of the most defining features of the political party one chooses. The rising cost of college has left an entire segment of the American population feeling left behind, left out, and drawn to anti-intellectual public figures who stoke the flames with conservative rhetoric. Rush Limbaugh is one of the most well-known figures who rose to fame as the cost of college started to spiral out of control, and his rose is representative of the fissure in American society between who has a college degree and who does not. This was an eye-opening, well-written read by one of Philadelphia's most famous journalists. I highly recommend this book!

After The Ivory Tower Falls by Will Bunch I am through college as are my three children now debt free. But still, I found this a very informative and well written book. Mr. Bunch’s journalism background I believe comes through and supports his efforts to provide facts but more importantly in a way that is a pleasure to read. The book explains how college education went from only for and needed by the “elite”, to the democratic expansion of college education after WW II through the GI Bill. He does note that this was not available for African American soldiers. He then describes how the cost for a college education has risen to such high levels it is now almost like a casino game. If you pay this expense, will you generate enough income to pay on the debt incurred. And sadly, many can’t. So, there is a very interesting discussion on the recent debate on debt forgiveness with both the pro’s and con’s. But the most thought-provoking discussion he makes is regarding how states are reducing their investment in public universities shifting the burden even more so to the students and their families. Mr. Bunch hints but it made me think he might be correct that we are also seeing many Red States cut funding since college educated people do not vote Republican. This is a horrible thought to consider but may have some truth. All in all, I think this is an excellent book to read for those pondering college as well as those of us who have paid for the privilege.

After the Ivory Tower Falls is a thorough examination of the history of college admissions in the United States. Although portions of the book read like a sociology textbook, the instances where the author focuses on specific people struggling to attain a college education are thought provoking. Parents who have kids that are considering a college education should read this book and discuss their child the pros and cons of taking on college debt.

This book was great, the characters were well developed. The plot was interesting. Highly recommend it.

If you, like most people, believe that once you have a college degree you have it made, the book will give you something to think about. Maybe college isn't that great of a deal after all.