Comments on THE GRADUATE
349024
Good, though improbable story of college graduate, Benjamin, seduced by his father's law partner's wife, Mrs, Robinson, Some memorable songs, including  " Mrs. Robinson"

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3172135
As an alumnus of St. Lawrence University, I enjoyed learning about the growth of the school, especially during the 1950's and 1960's. Highly recommended to any graduate of this school.
4071913
This is a great song.  Funny, true and a great music video to watch.  I plan to show this to all my graduating students next year.
1299154
It is sometimes argued that higher education fails to define and defend itself, that it endlessly asks for resources but neglects to explain the need for those resources and the uses (proper uses, one hopes) that will be made of them.

That argument is often made by people who have forgotten the explanations offered in the past.  For those who would like to hear the case made both eloquently and authoritatively, I can recommend this book.

When Giamatti was made president of Yale he was very young (the youngest president in the university's history) and he had virtually no administrative experience.  Nevertheless, he served with great distinction and went on, as most remember, to serve as Commissioner of baseball, prior to his premature death.

This book is a collection of his speeches.  As such, they carry a certain formality.  One can hear the public address system and see the presidential robes in place as he addresses his audiences (many of them student audiences).  They are organized around three topics: 1) the nature and purpose of the university; 2) the `earthly use' of a liberal education; and 3) the private university and the public interest.  All three are worth the reader's attention; the second is probably the best.

While his historic audience is usually some group of Yale stakeholders or students, the actual audience for his thoughts is the educated reader who cares about the state of higher education.  He draws on literary materials (his field was renaissance literature) but on many other materials as well.  In his talks one senses his impatience with some aspects of the world of the administrator--with the pressures of interest groups, the irrationality of government regulations (his discussion of circular A-21 is a classic) and the need to address such complex issues as the university's multiple relations with industry.

His voice is one of moderation.  There are predictable bows to liberal shibboleths and a tendency to criticize the positions of Secretary Bennett and professors Hirsch and Bloom (lumping them together unfairly, in my judgment).  At the same time there are persuasive criticisms of ideologues of all stripes and a healthy regard for the thought of such thinkers as Edmund Burke.

The book offers an educated sensibility.  That sensibility is wise, iconoclastic and measured.  In many passages it is quite brave.  It is good to hear his voice again.
4423077
As a graduate of a diploma school, I felt like I was almost reading my autobiography. I think the first part of the book could have been shorter, but do not let that stop you from reading it.
1782028
This book was great, i gave it to my sister as a graduation present. Some quotes are bery appropriate for everyday life lessons
1998542
A good work.  The author is a journalist and has used his years of experience and news gathering.  I sort of wish he had included a few tables, graphs, etc. but then it might have been too academic.

Good treatment of the generation that fought WW II and came back.  My cousin, who was really an older brother to me, was the poster child.  He went into the Marines without completing high school.  He came out (surviving Iwo Jima and several other battles in the Pacific).  Finished high school.  Got into math and science.  Got accepted to MIT.  Went through on the GI Bill and working at a local market.  Got a B.S. and got accepted to grad school at MIT.  Got an MS in Chemistry, then switched to metallurgy and got a PhD.  Got some more GI Bill money, was a TA for several professors, and tutor to students.  Also worked at a local market.  Has several successful children.

He inspired me to get into college.

I'm developing a course in American Business History and am using this for background information/.
3940871
I bought this book to give as a graduation present last spring. It has nice pictures; it does not have a lot of substance. Would make a nice gift to give if you don't know the graduate well.
1285127
This is a reasonable analysis of a particular set of documents, mainly autobiographical writings by people with a working class background. However the criteria for selecting the sample is too narrow to draw any general conclusions about the class of people thought to be represented by the writers.

Emma Griffin concludes that the Industrial Revolution was not nearly as hard on the working class as has been supposed with many of her sample saying that they had benefitted from it rather than lost by it. This seems a reasonable conclusion and is certainly supported on an anecdotal level. For many working class people it was a good time to live through. Of course accounts of hardship that did not have a happy ending and are reported elsewhere cannot be discounted either.

But the matter is more complex than Griffin explains from her sample of cases. What about the Stephensons, father and son (railway), who emerged out of the working class but rose to the peak of the capitalist class? They were on both sides of the issue. What about the 3 generation span where the original working class family produced somewhat more educated children but the real success came to the grandchildren? In other words the results of the industrial revolution have sometimes to be measured over more than one lifetime. Some of her autobiographers were prompted to write by curious children whose interest itself is suggestive of a changed world.

One fault in Griffins work is her failure to acknowledge that the working class she is describing is a new phenomenon that did not exist before. She says that previous to the time she speaks of the working class did not write autobiographies, but actually that is because they did not exist before not because they could not write. In fact people at the bottom of the social scale did write before although not about industrial experiences. Approximately 100 years before the period she is discussing for example there was a lot of writing from the bottom of the social classes such as by Bunyan and the Quakers and many others.

A completely different type of experience is that of Dickens. He was very critical of some aspects of industrialization. Yet he was himself an example that people who were at least in danger of falling to the bottom of the social heap could lift themselves up by their own efforts. And though Dickens has some works about industrialization most of his settings are in parts of society that are not effected directly by industrialization. Instead his emphasis is on peoples character as a determining factor in their progress. This was a common view at the time popularized by people like Samuel Smiles.
This view, that happiness resulted from people seizing the opportunities created by industrialization, is not considered sufficiently by Griffin as a determining factor in prosperity or otherwise. It is not authentic for a later generation to completely negate without sufficient discussion views that were widely held at the time.
2499945
This is a very good book.  Easy to understand and very informative.  I enjoyed it.  I feel I could use it after graduating, so I have no plans to resell.  Thanks.
1832499
The graduate loved it and that is what matters.  It is not 'leather' and should not be described as such.
88901
I am orddering this book for my Grandson who just finished HS and has his first job now.  Will start to copllege this winter.  He is vwry smart, I loved the wit and humor of this book, good read, very inspirational, fun and believe will appeal and inspire a teenagsge student.
1545002
This fictitious novel covers the lives of two generations of VMI cadets, including that of one of the first women to graduate.  For graduates of The Institute, the story will bring back many memories of their four years at VMI.  For non-graduates, the story will give insights to the joys and struggles of balancing academics and the rigors of military training at one of our nation's senior military colleges.  For all readers, this novel celebrates the toughness, sense of duty and commitment to honesty that characterizes the graduates of the Virginia Military Institute.
2231078
Having been through undergraduate and professional school and putting 2 children through college and graduate school,  I totally agree with Bennett's approach and points in the book. These are the questions I asked when talking to administrators during college visits: what is the value for the dollars assuming the students do the work, what are the graduates employment rates and average debt? I had had these conversations with the children Before college selection and application. As an aside we saved the visits for AFTER they were accepted. As a result, since they did do the work both achieved excellent educations and positions in highly valued and employable fields.

Buy the book and READ IT!
3201507
Hands down you can hate all you want, but you have to admit Kanye is one of the greatest. No one in the game since A Tribe Called Quest has experimented with music the way he has. On the Graduation project it is evident that he will continue to be a trendsetter and hip hop chemist. I love it. As for the people that have posted comments about how this project is not the same as College Dropout, look if everything sound the same all the time music would be boring. Have you ever heard of being diverse and eclectic?
306617
Jessica Bacal's "Mistakes I Made at Work" is the perfect graduation present. It is ideal for those just starting out in the working world or well on their way. Her book contains engaging interviews with accomplished women in a variety of fields. Each chapter ends with some concise words of advice.

Bacal, who is a neighbor and friend was recognized in the New York Times Book Review. The reviewer wrote that she presents "an unvarnished and candid view of how failures that seemed catastrophic at the time have served as powerful teachers to women who bounced back, and then some." The reviewer also said that "Mistakes I Made at Work" was "the printed equivalent of a long, hot bath at the end of a terrible day at work."

I bought three copies to give to young women I know who are poised to graduate and begin their careers.
2284913
An American Journey is a very readable and thoughtful book. The journey is through the authors life, starting with his boyhood in a non-academic Jewish family in the pre-World War II years, to his being a student in a military prep school, to his serving in the Korean-era US Armed Forces, and then onto his academic life up to the recent past.

Mr. Baer was and is dedicated to his field of study and inquiry. He earned a PhD from a top university and he anticipated a life dedicated to teaching and learning. What he found all too often was something very different; something that very badly affects American learning.

There were and unfortunately are many institutions interested only in maintaining their numbers of students. Many Deans who never would have considered they were hiring by quota but who nonetheless hired persons to most easily fulfill the demands for hiring faculty imposed on them  too often hiring faculty on arbitrary standards that were not entirely based on the persons capabilities. Further, in some college departments Mr. Baer faced a faculty hiring committee fearful of competing with applicants from prestigious universities. Often such faculty discouraged the hiring of better qualified applicants they rejected as overqualified.

Mr. Baer is not angry, but he is very concerned about a future America that has to deal with the products of these universities. Already there are high schools who give diplomas to students who have trouble reading even at the 9th grade level. Are our colleges headed in a similar direction? Can high school graduating class ranking really be a criteria for college admission? Does an ever-increasing raw number of high school and college graduates actually mean the countrys overall capabilities have increased? Do some of the financial aid programs lead to more students being well educated and graduating, or do these programs lead to mainly to more government financial support for the institutions?

What we want from our academic institutions is excellence, not numbers of bodies merely possessing certificates of attendance.

Mr. Baer does not directly address these questions as I have stated them, but his thoughtful book brings them to light for consideration.