An uncompromising look at America’s college-sports conundrum, offering a controversial solution that just might work.
Two higher education experts analyze college sports and offer recommendations for reform.
Several scandals have revealed the fault lines in big-time college sports, including those involving former University of Southern California running back Reggie Bush, former University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino, University of Michigan basketball, and University of North Carolina athletics. When grades take a back seat to the playing field, the term “student athlete” can appear to be contradictory. Shropshire (Global Sport/Arizona State; Sport Matters, 2015, etc.) and debut author Williams seek to change this perception, arguing that, while athletics pay off for a select few, education benefits almost everyone. As the national conversation turns to the possibility of compensating student athletes, the authors urge a different priority: providing said athletes with a meaningful education. From this thesis, they discuss how amateur sports have become compromised by an infusion of cash from media-rights deals, creating tension between athletic and academic priorities. They explain why previous reformation attempts failed and lay out their own recommendations. Their novel approach, the “Meaningful Degree Model,” would separate “revenue” sports (such as football, baseball, and men’s basketball) from “nonrevenue” ones. Athletes in the former would receive “lifetime scholarships” that would give them the flexibility to get their degrees as traditional full-time students or to defer it. These scholarships would be available indefinitely. It may sound like a fantasy, but Shropshire and Williams keep it grounded, showing its value to schools as well as to student athletes. As academics, the authors are used to marshaling evidence to support their assertions, and the research they lay out here is impressive. It’s clear that they’re no fans of the present system, yet their discussion is refreshingly free of displays of cynicism and outrage. Although their prose style could be snappier (“Perhaps the Ivy model’s most salient feature is the embodiment of the student-athlete ideal”), they offer substance over hype in this work.
An uncompromising look at America’s college-sports conundrum, offering a controversial solution that just might work.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61363-082-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Wharton Digital Press
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's...
A fresh, provocative analysis of the debate on education and employment.
Up-and-coming economist Moretti (Economics/Univ. of California, Berkeley) takes issue with the “[w]idespread misconception…that the problem of inequality in the United States is all about the gap between the top one percent and the remaining 99 percent.” The most important aspect of inequality today, he writes, is the widening gap between the 45 million workers with college degrees and the 80 million without—a difference he claims affects every area of peoples' lives. The college-educated part of the population underpins the growth of America's economy of innovation in life sciences, information technology, media and other areas of globally leading research work. Moretti studies the relationship among geographic concentration, innovation and workplace education levels to identify the direct and indirect benefits. He shows that this clustering favors the promotion of self-feeding processes of growth, directly affecting wage levels, both in the innovative industries as well as the sectors that service them. Indirect benefits also accrue from knowledge and other spillovers, which accompany clustering in innovation hubs. Moretti presents research-based evidence supporting his view that the public and private economic benefits of education and research are such that increased federal subsidies would more than pay for themselves. The author fears the development of geographic segregation and Balkanization along education lines if these issues of long-term economic benefits are left inadequately addressed.
A welcome contribution from a newcomer who provides both a different view and balance in addressing one of the country's more profound problems.Pub Date: May 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-75011-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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