The Bookshelf: May 1, 2014

Trib+Edu is joining with respected books authority Kirkus Reviews to bring you select reviews of books of note in the field of public education. For more book reviews and recommendations, visit Kirkus.com.

DEGREES OF INEQUALITY: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream

by Suzanne Mettler

The author spent eight years researching and writing her withering attack, and her data is devastating. The for-profits have poor graduation rates, poor records of employment for those who do graduate, and vast numbers of people who find themselves greatly in debt (student loans) and, due to their inadequate education and training, unable to find jobs that will enable them to repay their loans. “The reality of these schools,” she writes, “has not matched the rhetoric.” … She notes that for-profits focus on recruitment, not on education. The GOP receives most of her fire, but the Democrats do not escape unscathed. Basically, she writes, the rich go to “real” schools, the poor to the for-profits, exacerbating inequality.

For full review, visit kirkus.com