Rating: 
Summary: Its' true: Just ask your neighbor's sons and daughters
Review: This book is excellent. Just cross reference Loren Pope's two books--"Colleges that change lives", "Beyond Ivy League" and you'll see that this books is right on the mark. The negative reviews for this book from the professors are not objective.You need to check with college students and graduates to get objective viewpoints. I checked with many of my friends' sons and daughers who are or were in college. Most of them said that in 4 year colleges their are or were taught by TAs during the first two years (freshman and sophomore) of their college education. I have a friend who is a high power research professor. He distains undergraduates. Also, MIT has started a program to have college seniors teach college freshman. This is even worse than having TAs teaching freshman and sophomore. This book is a must read for all parents and college-bound students. Don't be lured by college rankings--they don't tell you if professors teach undergraduate and how many of they do. Don't rely on your high school counselors. Do your own research. Your children are diamonds. You want colleges that will do the polishing work, not just admiring the diamonds or worse yet, letting the diamonds collect dust.
Rating:
Summary: Its' true: Just ask your neighbor's sons and daughters
Review: This book is excellent. Just cross reference Loren Pope's two books--"Colleges that change lives", "Beyond Ivy League" and you'll see that this books is right on the mark. The negative reviews for this book from the professors are not objective. You need to check with college students and graduates to get objective viewpoints. I checked with many of my friends' sons and daughers who are or were in college. Most of them said that in 4 year colleges their are or were taught by TAs during the first two years (freshman and sophomore) of their college education. I have a friend who is a high power research professor. He distains undergraduates. Also, MIT has started a program to have college seniors teach college freshman. This is even worse than having TAs teaching freshman and sophomore. This book is a must read for all parents and college-bound students. Don't be lured by college rankings--they don't tell you if professors teach undergraduate and how many of they do. Don't rely on your high school counselors. Do your own research. Your children are diamonds. You want colleges that will do the polishing work, not just admiring the diamonds or worse yet, letting the diamonds collect dust.
Rating: 
Summary: was very accurate but now getting dated
Review: This book was written in 1988. At the time is was written, it was a very accurate portrayal of what was happening to undergraduates in America's large universities. I attended one of the schools he mentioned back then and I can tell you from first hand experience that it was very accurate. However, I believe that in the years since then, the situation has improved, possibly because of books like this, the efficiencies brought about by computers, and also because of the pressure brought to bear by ranking reports such as that done by US News. If you are criticising this book yet you attended a nice, small, expensive elite liberal arts college, you should seriously ask yourself if you really know what the heck you are talking about. Many of the privately educated graduate students at my university thought that things were just hunky-dory for us undergraduates. They underestimated the importance of all the attention and quality teaching they had received at their private school and figured we would be fine without it (or if we weren't fine, we must be stupid). I find that people who got what they needed at that age tend to have a blind spot for the incredible importance of quality, concientous teaching.
Rating:
Summary: Planning to attend college; must read
Review: This insightful look into the ways in which teachers couch their subjects, cirricula and values, is a must read for those planning on higher education. Sykes follows the evolution of the modern university from its inception, to the present with surprising insight. Teachers & administrators may not know the facts themselves, but it's certian, they don't want you to ... Read, and survive. ****
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