Book Review/Higher Education Opinions

I have an interest in higher education. Maybe it's because I thoroughly enjoyed my college years and can see now how formative they were for me. Or maybe it's because my mom has spent the past (approximately) 8 years in various roles in the college forum (both in faculty and staff positions). I think it's a mixture of both. My grandfather was an educator as well and continuing education has been instilled in me as something valued and important, but I also had incredible collegiate experience where I participated in every possible area of activity during my 4 years (theater, admissions work, cross country, student activities, residence life, alumni relations, student government, orientation, campus ministry, etc.).

With that background in mind, I've found myself drawn to reading books concerning issues in higher education more and more lately. It started when I picked up the book "God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America" by Hanna Rosin. The book was intriguing to me as Washington Post writer, Hanna Rosin relayed her experiences interacting with students at Patrick Henry College oustide Washington D.C. over the time period of a year. The book talked about the battles that a Conservative Liberal Arts School (it seems almost impossible to place the words "conservative" and "liberal" next to each other in a sentence and have them make sense, huh?) faces in the present day as it tries to produce the next generation of conservative Christian political leaders. Rosin did a great job laying out the facts as unbiased as she could, and I certainly developed my own opinion of Patrick Henry College, but mostly, the book just made me crave more knowledge about the higher education realm and current issues facing the education system.

I walked into my local public library branch recently looking for another book to read. I wasn't on a mission to find a book about higher education, I just wanted something to read while I was at the gym. I came across a book called "No Right to Remain Silent: The Tragedy at Virginia Tech" by Lucinda Roy. This book seemed particulary interesting to me as it pertained to an issue that's becoming increasingly important among college (and k-12) campuses, plus, the tragedy affected some friends extremely close to me. I picked up the book a little bit unsure as to what to expect, but have found myself realizing that there's a whole world of education issues out there that have no clear solution. Roy wrote this book because she felt that after the Tech Tragedy, communication was not clear and people were, in many cases, not cooperating with efforts to uncover what may have motivated Cho to go on this tragic killing spree. Administrators were afraid of being blamed, laws were unclear as to what records could and couldn't be realeased, and faculty and staff weren't sure who they were allowed to speak with (media, law enforcement, administration, etc) or if they were allowed to speak at all. She decided to write the book in an effort to uncover truths that will hopefully lead us to learnings and solutions as to how we can take steps to prevent other tragedies like this from happening again, and to identify areas in the higher education system that are in desperate need of evaluation and change.

I think one of the things that has become most clear to me through reading this book is that our education system has so much responsibility placed on it and nearly the amount of funding needed to fulfill these responsibilities. The university realm is expected to act as everything to every student--parent, nurturer, educator, counselor, etc., but funds are constantly being cut from the education realm. I look at my own mom and see how many additional responsibilities she's had to assume in her position--serving on multiple boards, heading up multiple student service areas (such as tutoring services), hiring and training new student workers every year, assisting with research trips, and of course, teaching classes. And all along she is expected to give every student individual attention. How do we expect our educators to do that when they're wearing so many different hats? Roy's certainly not saying that Cho's act of violence could have been prevented simply by providing him with more attention and guidance, but it's definitely a wake up call to the need for more faculty and staff to better serve our students. If we continue to press upon adolescence the need for a college education and colleges continue to pride themselves on larger and larger incoming classes, then we need to look at the funding for these institutions. We need to be sure that there is adequate staffing (in all areas--faculty, staff, and administration).

The second thing that has really stuck out to me in this book is the number of gray areas there are when it comes to politics. Of course, after the tragedy many people felt that the solution was to eliminate guns. If we got rid of guns, these things would never happen. Of course, that point of view received huge opposition from the NRA, but the NRA's stance for minimal gun control may not be the right stance either. Cho, who had a troubled psychological background, had to undergo absolutely no background check to receive his 2 guns because he purchased them through an online loophole. As for his ammunition...it was easily purchased at Wal-Mart, Dick's Sporting Goods, and on eBay. Doesn't this seem alarming? Of course, there are plenty of people who own guns who are perfectly responsible, harmless individuals. We can't take away the right to bear arms simply because of a few people's irresponsibility and rage. However, I think this is a huge eye opener to us to see that issues such as gun control aren't black and white issues. If we are going to find a solution as to how to minimize tragedies such as this one, then both sides are going to need to learn to give a little. In all of politics, we need to be willing to come to the table leaving all personal motives and hidden agendas behind.

I could keep writing for a while on many of the issues Roy discusses in her book. She doesn't claim to know the answers. It seems as though she is simply just trying to open a forum for discussion. I would definitely recommending reading this book if you have any interest in higher education, politics, current events, etc. It's certainly been very thought provoking for me.