After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics—and How to Fix It

"Before the end of WWII, college had been a 'narrow pathway to success for the pampered elites,' writes Bunch, national opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and author of Tear Down This Myth...However, postwar economic expansion and government programs like the GI Bill transformed colleges into places where less-privileged citizens could climb toward the prosperity their parents did not have...Bunch shows how the explosive growth in higher education, intended as a 'public good,' would eventually lead to the fracturing of American society...In this consistently compelling, thought-provoking book, the author is quick to point out that no easy fix—e.g., cancelling student loan debt—exists...However, Bunch suggests that reform should include a national service like Franklin Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps that targets qualified high school graduates to receive quality employment while fostering 'a broader sense of shared purpose'...A must-read for anyone who cares about educational—and societal—reform."

"After the Ivory Tower Falls, by the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch, is the story of how the Great Wall of Loans was built and why it divides us, of how higher education went from a beloved guarantor of opportunity to, in Bunch's telling, a fracturing force of cultural and economic separation...It is ambitious and engrossing, even when the narrative sometimes strains to fit the demands of Bunch's argument that college has become 'a fake meritocracy rigged to make half of America hate it'...Bunch applies his skills as a veteran newspaper reporter throughout the book, incorporating the firsthand voices of Savio's widow, gunshot survivors of the Kent State massacre, and many others, to great effect...But most of his reporting focuses on present-day conflicts that seem to be pulling the nation apart...He talks to liberal college professors shocked into activism by the Trump presidency and to churchgoing, Trump-loving residents of nearby towns who feel alienated by wealthy students and the cultural convulsions they represent...The prose is tight, direct and often bracing...After the Ivory Tower Falls concludes with a thoughtful, nuanced discussion of the practical and political challenges faced by lawmakers trying to turn the higher education system back toward public purpose...It also advocates for a form of highly encouraged national service as a means of recreating the post-World War II spirit of national unity, without the war...The elder members of our warring political tribes may be too far apart, but Bunch has hope yet for younger generations working together on behalf of their communities, rather than struggling alone through a college system filled with financial traps at every turn."

"...a thoughtful, and deeply unsettling, new meditation on the value of a college education by the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist (and Brown University graduate) Will Bunch...In it he examines 'how the American way of college went off the rails' and offers a searing indictment not only of college culture but also of the broader American culture that he argues, persuasively and frighteningly, created schisms in American life that have left huge sectors of this country unable to speak to each other, understand each other, and respect each other...After the Ivory Tower Falls is no right-wing screed, nor a screeching jeremiad...Bunch provides some useful antidotes to accompany his anecdotes and his arguments...Again, listen up, national and educational leaders: Offer tuition- and debt-free alternatives to college...Rethink ending free public education at age 18...Market these changes by pointing out that they would boost the economy...Turbo-charge the argument for the liberal arts by asserting that critical thinking is an essential personal tool...Reinject moral values into education...Make community colleges 'the foundations of American higher education they were intended to be'...Break down cultural barriers with universal national service, perhaps right after high school...This review was written by a graduate, and later a trustee, of Dartmouth...The college's motto is vox clamantis in deserto, which means 'voice crying in the wilderness'...Higher education, and the country it is meant to serve, would do well to heed Bunch's cries in the wilderness."