{"product_id":"the-amateur-hour-a-history-of-college-teaching-in-america-hardcover","title":"The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching in America - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJonathan Zimmerman\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first full-length history of college teaching in the United States from the nineteenth century to the present, this book sheds new light on the ongoing tension between the modern scholarly ideal--scientific, objective, and dispassionate--and the inevitably subjective nature of day-to-day instruction.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmerican college teaching is in crisis, or so we are told. But we've heard that complaint for the past 150 years, as critics have denounced the poor quality of instruction in undergraduate classrooms. Students daydream in gigantic lecture halls while a professor drones on, or they meet with a teaching assistant for an hour of aimless discussion. The modern university does not reward teaching, so faculty members at every level neglect it in favor of research and publication. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the first book-length history of American college teaching, Jonathan Zimmerman confirms but also contradicts these perennial complaints. Drawing upon a wide range of previously unexamined sources, \u003ci\u003eThe Amateur Hour\u003c\/i\u003e shows how generations of undergraduates indicted the weak instruction they received. But Zimmerman also chronicles institutional efforts to improve it, especially by making teaching more \"personal.\" As higher education grew into a gigantic industry, he writes, American colleges and universities introduced small-group activities and other reforms designed to counter the anonymity of mass instruction. They also experimented with new technologies like television and computers, which promised to \"personalize\" teaching by tailoring it to the individual interests and abilities of each student.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut, Zimmerman reveals, the emphasis on the personal inhibited the professionalization of college teaching, which remains, ultimately, an amateur enterprise. The more that Americans treated teaching as a highly personal endeavor, dependent on the idiosyncrasies of the instructor, the less they could develop shared standards for it. Nor have they rigorously documented college instruction, a highly public activity which has taken place mostly in private. Pushing open the classroom door, \u003ci\u003eThe Amateur Hour\u003c\/i\u003e illuminates American college teaching and frames a fresh case for restoring intimate learning communities, especially for America's least privileged students. Anyone who wants to change college teaching will have to start here.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJonathan Zimmerman \u003c\/b\u003eis a professor of the history of education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of numerous books, including \u003ci\u003eToo Hot to Handle: A Global History of Sex Education\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCampus Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 312\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.1 x 9.1 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 27, 2020\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51790798717216,"sku":"9781421439099","price":61.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/02f1efe09ab12acd6b548b351770ef0b.webp?v=1780685267","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-amateur-hour-a-history-of-college-teaching-in-america-hardcover","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}