- ISBN13: 9780805068115
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No .
Murray Sperber uses research from students, faculty, and administrators to argue that what universities offer instead of a meaningful education is a meager and dangerous substitute: the party scene that Sperber calls beer and circus, which keeps students happy while tuition dollars keep rolling in…. More >>
Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education
Tags: Beer, BigTime, Circus, college, college s, college sports, creative, Crippling, education, research, Sports, student, students, Undergraduate, universities
#1 by Anonymous on January 19, 2010 - 1:02 am
A bitter book from a bitter man.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by TNT on January 19, 2010 - 2:26 am
I found this book a complete waste of my time. There are all types of college students. Did this guy spend any time doing research? His conclusions are suspect, at best.
Rating: 1 / 5
#3 by Edward Saint-Ivan author of The Black Knights God on January 19, 2010 - 5:09 am
Did Murray Sperber ever learn to think critically? If he tried to talk tough with Bobby Knight using sports jargon he would be laughed out of the room! Who knows more sports jargon and has all the winning cards, the dumb jock or the arrogant book worm?
Sperber argues that scholar/teachers are outdated but a rank/tenure committee can count papers or books or cites where as only the worst and best teachers have a record.
Ironically, coaches are one of the few teaching species that have a demonstrable record which is why Knight could get away with anything.
Grade schools have discouraged teachers in droves by trying to justify raises using test scores and bias evaluations. Should research universities turn into popularity contests and experiments in test taking or should the public trust traditional proven methods of retention and promotion?
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by Anonymous on January 19, 2010 - 5:37 am
This book indicates that American Universities admit
hundreds of thousands of “students” who should not be
allowed within a mile of a university campus. Also the book,which
is written by a Professor of English and History,
contains a large number of errors in grammar and word
usage.
Rating: 3 / 5
#5 by Chick with a Pick on January 19, 2010 - 6:27 am
Murray Sperber’s latest book makes some significant points about the declining quality of undergraduate education. It’s worth a quick read for that alone. However, the title promises a connection which Sperber did not make, at least not convincingly.
I kept reading trying to link sports to the erosion of undergraduate education, and I never got to the point. I believe that the premise is flimsy at best and tortued at worst. I suspect that you could make the point that the size of the college is the key factor correlating to a positive undergraduate experience rather than athletics.
Equally troubling was the lack of hard data (which the author himself admits) to back up many of the allegations. I concur with the earlier review that the comments on JUCO’s were gratuitous at best.
As a graduate of one of the Big U’s that Sperber villifies in this book, I can only say that my own experience does not parallel many of those cited, and I suspect that there are many more of us than Professor Sperber would like to acknowledge.
I went to a large school with my eyes wide open. I did my research and knew what to expect in terms of class size, etc. I also had only one class taught by a teaching assistant or a grad student. I enjoyed my college experience, and that experience includes class, partying and college athletics. Perhaps my lack of enthusiasm about this book is related to my own view that the undergraduate experience is about more than classwork, on-campus lectures, and poetry readings.
While reading this book, I had the feeling that Professor Sperber was trying very hard to connect two things which he dislikes intensely — undergraduates at large universities and major college athletics, but the connection wasn’t there for me.
Rating: 1 / 5