Derek BokReseñas

I was not too impressed with this book. Maybe it is because I am an experienced teacher, and I have been in higher education long enough to see the points Bok is making about complacency in academia and the entrenched conservative ways that prevent change. After reading for a while, you can easily end up despairing at a system that pretty much refuses to change while the rest of the world is at the gates besieging them. Some of what he writes I have seen elsewhere in bits and pieces. The fact is that the graduates of our colleges are underachieving, and they are doing so where it matters. Lack of moral values, critical thinking skills, communication skills, civic responsibility, so on. They are just not learning it in college, and yet college should be the place to be learning all this and more in order to become a well-rounded person and a productive citizen able to participate in society. Indeed, reading this book may drive some to despair, but maybe someone will actually read it and think of ways to gradually bring about some change. At least, I'd like to think so.

In this book, Derek Bok does an incredible job of laying out the shortcomings in undergraduate education. However, he does this without failing to acknowledge the good being achieved. As a former college president Dr. Bok speaks from a position of authority on the subject. The problems he identifies he backs up with thorough, thought provoking research. He does not just leave the problems as they stand but offers helpful, realistic suggestions for improvement. The greatest strenght of Dr. Bok's book is that he appreciates the complexity of the problem. The issues he raises as well as the solutions he proposes are not simplistic answers to superficial issues. This book is a must read for anyone involved in education. On top of all that, it is well written and thus a pleasure to read. In fact, I recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading a well written book.

What would a government do if its highest aim was the happiness of it's citizens? Wow, that's radical! Derek Bok has taken on this question with his usual wise and careful scholarship. His answer is convincing. I am ready to sign up for the National Happiness Party and nominate Derek Bok for president.

Bok's question is not in the least theoretical. In fact, the tiny nation of Brunei has made the happiness of its citizens its top priority. how does this work as a practical matter? The basic test for proposed policy is whether it contributes to the Gross National Happiness as opposed to the Gross Domestic Product. Conservatives at this point are muttering into their Wall Street Journals that without a vibrant economy we will all suffer a drastic decline in happiness. Not so fast, says Bok. Maybe the idea of continuous economic expansion is equally or more problematic, given it's cyclical nature and resultant environmental degradation.

What Bok is doing here is reframing how we think about the role of government to be more citizen-centric. His ideas serve as an alternative theory of what government is for. Regardless of one's political views, everyone who cares about governance or happiness should read this book.

I've enjoyed what I've read so far -- need to borrow it again to finish it!

Bok is a wealth of knowledge and ideas about current happiness research and the ways that governments can use this research. While he admits that government has limited power when it comes to making people change their ways and thinking, it does not mean that it is powerless. Furthermore, programs designed to alleviate social ills of one sort or another can have the additional by-product of improving well-being in a number of other unforeseen or unintended ways.

The author questions the practice of using economic growth or gross national product to measure national vitality and progress. Historically, it was believed that at one point the nation would no longer continue to grow because we would have attained such a level of sustainability that it would not be necessary to keep trudging up that hill. People would have enough to be happy. This never came to pass, however, and Americans are no happier than they were sixty years ago.

Puzzlingly, especially when it comes to large tax-payer funded programs, people are grossly ignorant of how government functions and of what will actually make them happy. Therefore, it is hardly viable to fund programs designed to increase well-being with money that tax-payers fail to see will benefit them. It’s a catch 22 that keeps the nation and its citizens from reaching their full potential.

Topics covered include marriage and family; leisure; unemployment; health care; retirement; child care and preschool education; mental illness, sleep disorders, and chronic pain; and secondary and higher education. For each of these topics, he presents the reasons contributing to why they are not currently dealt with well and ways that things could change to improve conditions, resulting in increased well-being.

Near the end of the book, he sums things up nicely and states:

“In contemplating this altered agenda, lawmakers should be pleased to discover how little it would cost the nation. Some important measures, notably universal health care, would require substantial sums to implement properly. But other useful steps, such as more extensive premarital counseling, more effective relief of chronic pain, more attention to crime victims, and a broader set of educational goals, would be far less expensive. Better yet, such valuable measures as universal preschool, or public financing of elections, or proper attention to sleep disorders and depression, though they would require initial investments, could more than pay for themselves eventually. Still other initiatives, such as efforts to discourage earmarks or revise sentencing policies for victimless crimes, would reduce government outlays almost immediately. Any success in avoiding unnecessary wars, of course, would yield far greater savings. Overall, then, a comprehensive effort to promote well-being is one of the few important government initiatives that could ultimately cost the public little or nothing. If obstacles to such reforms exist, they are more likely to involve a lack of political will than a shortage of money.” (p. 209)

If only more people would read this and open their eyes to what we are doing to ourselves and what else is possible. The focus on short-term goals and quick fixes to big problems will only hurt everyone in the end. It may not be comfortable or simple to implement programs that people do not see as immediately beneficial to them, but it is still far better than the road we are currently on. I’m with Bok in the hope that governments take well-being research seriously and use it more and more in the future. To not do so would be a disservice and will only exacerbate the problems we are already facing, making it that much more difficult for future generations. Now that we have this information and research at our disposal, it would be a shame if we squandered the opportunity to use it to improve lives.

Offers a condensed, but still interesting, review of higher education as an industry - focusing on the evolving purpose of higher education and public expectations. Reviews current state of teaching/learning relative to several important outcomes and finds practices unacceptable. Suggested solutions are somewhat beyond most readers sphere of influence. Hopefully this book can focus public/media attention on teaching practices in higher education.½

(#5 in the 2006 book challenge)
This seemed like a better book before I started thinking about it. Derek Bok, former president of Harvard (ETA: Cripes, and as of yesterday afternoon, CURRENT interim president of Harvard) and general all-around state of higher education guy, looks at the growing corporate pressures on universities. He focuses on Division I athletics, private sector sponsorship of scientific research, and for-profit continuing education/distance education programs. I like Derek Bok. But you know, he's not really saying a whole lot here. The advice offered in the book boils down to "universities should consider their options carefully before committing to commercial ventures, and make good decisions." "Make good decisions" is practically non-advice, right? I could have come up with that, and they haven't offered me the Harvard presidency (yet). I still like Derek Bok. He's smart, he's a good writer, he isn't a crank, he looks like a nice grandfather, and yet I still feel like this book was a bit of a snow job.

Grade: B-
Recommended: I can't figure out who would read this. It works pretty well as an overview of commercially driven activities at universities, but that's of interest to no one unless you're in that field. But if you are in higher ed, it's a little too basic.