Colleges and Universities Books

An Interpretation of John Dewey's Basic Ideas and Their Influence on Classroom Practices by Harold G. Shane & The Great Educational Challenge of the Sixties by Hollis L. Caswell. 29 pages. Kent State University Bulletin, May, 1960.

This book has been a great help. It contains easy to follow,common sense, check lists. Any parent who has to deliver their child and childs possessions to college would do well to start here. The reduction in strain on back and legs is easily worth the price.

I recently read Mike Hainzinger's and Chris Vicich's college prowler guidebook to Syracuse University. Although I have not picked a college yet, I found that the two writers really knew about the university in depth, and they provided me with a clear overview of the university life. I was especially fond of it because you could tell there was a good sense of humor (down to earth POV) behind the formalities. Great book. It comes highly recommended by this Bostonian.

The 2004 college football season has come to an end with Pete Carroll's University of Southern California Trojans having completed the most perfect season in collegiate football history. There have been many "perfect" teams; that is, teams that went undefeated and untied en route to a consensus National Championship. USC itself has enjoyed their fair share of these kinds of wire-to-wire perfect seasons. But the stars have never been aligned for any team quite like the 2004 Trojans. First of all, they are the sixth team to be ranked number one in the nation from the pre-season polls through the bowl games. USC is the only team to do it twice. The 1972 Trojans, considered by many to be the greatest team of all time, accomplished the feat. But SC was also ranked number one from the end of the 2003 regular season through the bowls, and carried that right through 2004 without interruption.

The 2004 Trojans also boast the Heisman Trophy winner, two-time junior All-American quarterback Matt Leinart. His teammate, All-American sophomore running back Reggie Bush, was a New York finalist for the award. USC won a repeat National Championship, a feat rarely done. They are in the middle of a 22-game winning streak. They beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, a game that was previewed as the greatest game in college football history. The 1944-45 Army Cadets featured a similar winning streak and two Heisman winners, Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis. There are other teams that compare, but nobody has done it quite the way Carroll's team is doing it.

A few came close. The 1983 Nebraska Cornhuskers featured an undefeated regular season that included winners of the Heisman and Outland Trophies. They lost to Miami in the Orange Bowl. The 2003 Oklahoma Sooners looked to be on a similar path, but their Heisman winner, Jason White, faltered in the Big 12 championship game as well as the Orange Bowl.

In light of USC's recent dominance, it is worth considering their place in history. Not just the current Trojans, but USC's football program going back to the beginning of the 20th Century. It is time to take the mantel of "greatest program in the history of college football" away from the struggling Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and lay it squarely with the deserving new champions from USC. Furthermore, USC continues to lay claim to the greatest historical athletic program in college history, as well.

The two-time defending National Champions are a dynasty. If Leinart returns for his senior year in 2005, they will be better than they were this season. Leinart will be a senior, the Heisman favorite (as he was all of this year), and a three-time All-American. He will walk away from his career with more honors than any player ever; three National Championships (?), two Heismans (?), the Johnny Unitas Award, the Walter Camp Award, the Maxwell Trophy, the Davey O'Brien Award, et al. He will probably be the number one pick in the NFL draft.

The 2003-04 Trojans are very possibly the greatest two-year dynasty ever. If they win a third title in 2005, that will be a first. They lose a couple of linebackers, but aside from Leinart, Bush will be a junior, running backs LenDale White and Herschel Dennis return, the whole offensive line returns, the tight ends and receivers are back, and the defense will be, for the most part, experienced. The 2005 Trojans have the potential to be the greatest single-season team ever assembled, better even than the 1972 Trojans. Soph-to-be Jeff Byers was the nation's best lineman coming out of high school and could win the Outland Trophy before graduating. Soph-to-be linebacker Keith Rivers was the top prep at his position and may garner a Butkus trophy some day. If Leinart leaves for the NFL, USC will re-tool at quarterback with one of two blue chip recruits.

In 2005, John David Booty will be a red-shirt sophomore. He was the top prep quarterback in America at Louisiana's Evangel Christian High School. His competition? Mark Sanchez, the top prep quarterback in the U.S. at Mission Viejo High (the nation's number two team) in Orange County, California in 2004. USC has had the number one recruiting class in the country for three years in a row. Last year's was considered the greatest of all time. The 2005 class, which will be finalized in February, promises to be just as good. The pipeline is endless. In light of the fact that they will enter next season ranked number one, favored to win their third National Championship in a row, they are worthy of continued hype. Consider that if Troy runs the table in '05, their winning streak will probably be 35. With either Booty or Sanchez living up to the challenge, maybe with senior running back Bush winning the Heisman and starring with a cast headlined by juniors Rivers and Byers, the 2006 Trojans could challenge Oklahoma's 57-game winning streak of the 1950s. Now we are looking at four National Championships in a row, but wait, there is more. Booty could quarterback the team in 2006 and 2007. Sanchez would be a red-shirt junior and senior in 2008-09. Considering that the last two SC quarterbacks (Carson Palmer in 2002 and Leinart in '04) won the Heisman, USC could conceivably come away with four more of the trophies before the end of this decade. The scenario could be:

2005: Senior quarterback Matt Leinart, USC.
2006: Senior running back Reggie Bush, USC.
2007: Senior USC quarterback John David Booty, USC (Oklahoma running back Adrian Petersen will be a pro by then).
2009: Senior quarterback Mark Sanchez, USC.

Steven Travers is the author of the Best Selling "Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman". A graduate of the University of Southern California, he is currently working on a new book, "The Turning of the Tide", with former Trojan football stars Sam "Bam" Cunningham and John Papadakis. "The Turning of the Tide" documents how the 1970 USC-Alabama game ended segregation in the American South. In addition to the book, a film and documentary are in development. Steven can be reached at USCSTEVE1@aol.com.

The most accurate description of Brandeis University.

Never has there been a book that so perfectly described Carnegie Mellon. This book was so right on about CMU it was frightening. I am currently a Junior at Carnegie Mellon and I got my hands on the CollegeProwler guide to this school. I wish I could have had a resource like this when I was choosing schools. The book answered all questions and was dead on accurate. I would reccomend this book to anyone who wants the truth on college.

Although this book was written primarily for students and their parents, taxpayers in general should also gain from reading and absorbing the real message presented by Simon. His message is simply this: A college education should not only provide the student with programs and courses that truly give the student the necessary knowledge and training to become a self-sustaining and useful citizen but also that the taxpayers' dollars are spent as efficiently as possible.

Simon covers many of the positive aspects of programs at various colleges but he deals mainly with the deficiences and inefficiences of the large number of offerings across the country. He goes into great detail with documented information on those two issues and views poor preparation at the high school level as just part of the problem.

Anyone who is genuinely interested in the subject of improving the educational system in this country can surely benefit from the well over 200 pages of fact-filled information and views put forth by the author. Not everyone will agree with him but his book does bring into focus that some serious changes must be made if we are to continue to be a world leader in higher education

Excellent resource. The authors advice is guided by both research and deeply painful personal experiences. Any university seriously committed to maintaining a proactive approach to crisis intervention and emergency response, will make this book a required reading by their student affairs and administrative staffs.

I just used Boyer's work for a paper on campus community, and I found that he is the only researcher to suggest valid and possible ways to facilitate an on-campus community. A definite for the bookshelf!

Whoa! I really don't agree with that lone review (currently). I wonder if the person even read the book? Helping people is not right wing, only left wing? There are a myriad of community service projects that these colleges support and finance. This book is very thorough in giving many examples of the types of projects and support available. Here are a few off-hand. Preparing meals and giving them to poor people, teaching children, helping with voter registration, fixing environmental toxicity in village's water supply, building houses in Honduras during spring break.