While curricula in elementary and middle schools across the United States shift to emphasize English and Math to the exclusion of other subjects, those involved in institutes of higher learning often bemoan a loss of interest in, and funding for, the humanities in favor of natural sciences.
In their book, Reconstructing the University: Worldwide Shifts in Academia in the 20th Century, David John Frank and Jay Gabler present the first comprehensive study of how university programs changed around the world over the course of the last century. Contrary to popular perception, Frank and Gabler found that, while the humanities have indeed been deemphasized, the beneficiaries of this change have not been the natural sciences.
A recent review in College and Research Libraries highlights the ways in which this work stands apart from other recent publications about changing college curricula and praises Frank and Gabler's introduction of a scholarly study to a field that has been primarily based on anecdotal evidence.
Reconstructing the University
Worldwide Shifts in Academia in the 20th Century
