The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be

Abstract

Howard Gardner, well known for his theory of multiple intelligences, teamed up with Wendy Fischman, a project director at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, to conduct “an empirical study of undergraduate higher education in the United States, covering a range of campuses; to collect and distill what the diverse stakeholders on each of these campuses think about the value of nonvocational education” (p. 18). Overall, this book provides an insightful and well-written account of an extensive study. It is readable, provides ample data and analysis, and gives suggestions for change. It pushes the reader to think critically about not only the goals of the American higher education system, but also how each of the stakeholders within it currently views college. Readers are impelled to consider whether such goals are being met and, if not, how the current system might be transformed to meet those goals. As such, it is a valuable read for any faculty, staff, administrator, or parent who wants to see the higher education system succeed. In preparation for The Real World of College, Fischman and Gardner conducted a seven-year mixed method study that included 10 college campuses, as different from each other as possible, and conducted more than 2,000 individual interviews. They “made all sorts of observations, spoke to a wide range of individuals associated with the campuses, took careful notes (as well as occasional photographs and videos), and described what [they] saw and heard as carefully and faithfully as possible” (p. 19). Once the study was completed and analysis of the interviews began, they acted as clinicians looking for ways to improve the overall effectiveness of the college experience. They concluded: