Charting a Course to Effective Business Education: Lessons from Academically Adrift and Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa (University of Chicago Press, 2011), 259 pp. Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession, by Anne Colby, Thomas Ehrlich, William M. Sullivan, & Jonathan R. Dolle (Jossey‐Bass Press, 2011), 208 pp.

• Author: Jamie Darin Prenkert,Joshua E. Perry
• Published date: 01 March 2012
• Date: 01 March 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2011.01101.x

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 29, Issue 1, 127–143, Winter/Spring 2012

Book Review

Charting a Course to Effective Business Education: Lessons

from Academically Adrift and Rethinking Undergraduate Business

Education

Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College

Campuses, by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa (University of

Chicago Press, 2011), 259 pp.

Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal

Learning for the Profession, by Anne Colby, Thomas

Ehrlich, William M. Sullivan, & Jonathan R. Dolle (Jossey-Bass

Press, 2011), 208 pp.

Joshua E. Perry∗and Jamie Darin Prenkert∗∗

The first half of 2011 brought the publication of two books that speak directly

to the work of business faculty—one in the form of a scathing indictment,

the other a vision for reform. Each is important by itself, but read together

they suggest opportunities for business law and ethics scholars and teachers,

in particular, to take on a leadership role in rectifying the problems that

plague the collegiate experience and enhancing the learning environment

for undergraduate business students.

If one were to survey a gathering of university professors on the ques-

tion of higher education priorities, it would be a safe bet that teaching stu-

dents to think critically would be among the top responses.1Most in higher

∗Assistant Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.

∗∗Weimer Faculty Fellow and Associate Professor of Business Law, Kelley School of Business,

Indiana University. We would like to thank Christina Benson, Linda Christiansen, Jere Morehead,

and Tonia Hap Murphy, our copanelists at the 2011 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. Their thoughtful comments and reactions to both books

and their insightful reflections about the reality “on the ground” in a variety of institutional

settings challenged us and influenced our thinking.

1In fact, according to the Higher Education Research Institute, 99 percent of college fac-

ulty label the development of critical thinking skills as “very important” or “essential” to

the enterprise of higher education. Higher Educ. Res. Inst., The American College

C2012 The Authors

Journal of Legal Studies Education C2011 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

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128 Vol. 29 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education

education administration would be similarly likely to highlight this commit-

ment, especially given the references to critical thinking and complex reason-

ing embedded in many institutional mission statements.2Even students and

their parents, a constituency with eyes trained keenly on the instrumental

end of gainful employment, would surely agree that learning how to solve

difficult problems is a skill that colleges should imbue and future employers

will reward.3

Despite this consensus on the importance of teaching undergraduates

to think critically, the coauthors of Academically Adrift argue that a large num-

ber of college students graduate with little, if any, measurable improvement

in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills.4While some have

used “the metaphor of a river [to describe] the journey through college,”

Richard Arum, a professor in the Department of Sociology at New York Uni-

versity, and Josipa Roksa, an assistant professor of sociology at the University

of Virginia, argue “that many undergraduate students are academically adrift

on contemporary campuses.”5In short, many students may learn some mea-

sure of substantive course content but fail to develop fundamental critical,

reflective, and analytical thinking and reasoning skills.

Arum and Roksa marshal a variety of data, including surveys on

social and educational backgrounds, course transcripts, and institutional

Teacher: National Norms for 2007–2008,at1 (2009),available at http://www.heri.ucla.edu/

PDFs/pubs/briefs/brief-pr030508-08faculty.pdf.

2See, e.g.,Illinois Wesleyan: Mission Statement,Ill. Wesleyan Univ., Mission Statement, http://

www.iwu.edu/aboutiwu/mission.shtml (last visited Sept. 14, 2011) (stating in relevant part, “A

liberal education at Illinois Wesleyan fosters creativity, critical thinking, effective communica-

tion, strength of character and a spirit of inquiry”); The Mission of Harvard College,Harvard

Univ. Faculty of Arts & Scis., http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/

2004_2005/mission.html (last visited Sept. 14, 2011) (“[T]he College encourages students to

respect ideas and their free expression, and to rejoice in discovery and in critical thought....”);

University Mission Statement,Xavier Univ., http://www.xavier.edu/about/university-mission-

statement.cfm (last visited Sept. 14, 2011) (“Xavier’s mission is to educate. Our essential ac-

tivity is the interaction of students and faculty in an educational experience characterized by

critical thinking and articulate expression with specific attention given to ethical issues and

values.”)

3“More than 90 percent of employers rate written communication, critical thinking, and problem

solving as ‘very important’ for the job success of new labor market entrants.” Richard Arum &

Josipa Roksa, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses 143 (2011)

[hereinafter Academically Adrift].

4Id. at 35.

5Id. at 31.