The Knowledge Factory: Dismantling
the Corporate University and
Creating True Higher Learning by
Stanley Aronowitz
Excellent, But Also Nothing New
A scathing indictment of our universities and a bold call for reform
Americans cant get a good education for love or money. So argues
Stanley Aronowitz in this groundbreaking look at the structure and
curriculum of higher education. Universities have made bottom-line
management, fund-raising, and private partnerships with corporations
priorities over their obligation to educate students. And as Aronowitz
clearly shows, when universities do get around to the task of teaching, they
approach students as customers who need credentials. Moving beyond
the canon wars begun in Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind,
Aronowitz finds the curriculum of all our universities—from the Ivy Leagues
to community colleges—acking. Proposing a specific new curriculum that
can be put into practice today, Aronowitz offers a vision for true higher

learning that can put a well-rounded education back at the center of the
universitys mission. In an age where technological change often
outpaces our ability to adapt to our workplace, The Knowledge Factory
offers a blueprint for learning that will cultivate the critical minds of
students, preparing them for any job setting, as well as for active, critical
engagement in society.
Personal Review: The Knowledge Factory: Dismantling the
Corporate University and Creating True Higher Learning by
Stanley Aronowitz
Like the previous reader, I've read both Hofstadter's "Anti-Intellecutalism..."
and Jacoby's "Last Intellectuals". This work is just as enlightening as both
of them. Aronowitz sheds light on the suspicions of most anyone familiar
with university life today (I'm a recent college graduate). He charts out how
physics and engineering grew to dominate the university during the cold
war and how corporates sponsorship largely took the place of military
support in the post-Cold War era. But what especially intrigued me was his
background information on NYU and John Brademas' largely successful
efforts to shake down wealthy donors and buy academic superstars. This
transformed the reputation of the school. I'm going to graduate school at
NYU in the fall, so I enjoyed hearing these details.Aronowitz is unique
among academics, given his working-class background and unorthodox
method of attaining his degrees. These experiences are reflected in a
passionate yet realistic prose. "The Knowledge Factory" is an engaging
read that should be picked up by anyone affiliated with high education
(students, teachers...especially administrators).
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