[Book Review] Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More

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Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More by Derek Bok

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book represents a courageous effort by Harvard University’s former president Derek Bok who offers a critical examination of America’s underachieving colleges. Drawing from his own experience and supported by concrete (albeit occasionally dubious) empirical research, Bok goes to great lengths to explain why he thinks America’s undergraduate education is not living up to its reputation and potential, and offers his own recommendations on what he believes the goals of undergraduate education should be and the necessary steps required to achieve these goals. Rather than championing a systematical revolution in undergraduate education, Dok offers his manifesto for a pedagogical evolution.

There are two things, however, that I disliked about the book.

One, the writing is unbearably long-winded and repetitive. The three main theses of the book (1. colleges need to ascertain their goals, 2. colleges need a way to evaluate students’ performance with regard to these goals, 3. pedagogy is important ) can be convincingly conveyed in much fewer pages.

Two, the author’s criticism of the educational system is too contained (maybe due to his own extensive involvement with the system). While reading the book, I couldn’t help feeling that every comment was made with measured honesty and subdued frankness. As a result, Bok’s passion – and this is a subject that he and his readers should be impassioned about – becomes lost in the dreary passages.

The highlight of the book, in fact, comes in the afterword where Bok illustrates his philosophy in the book by recounting a personal case study. He was invited back to Harvard one month after the publication of this book to act as an interim president due to Larry Summers’ departure and was charged with the task to lead an undergraduate curriculum review. The description of his effort (and the efforts of the various committees he formed) in the review process is lively and intimate, and an enjoyable read in and of itself.

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