Anatomy of higher education

Eric Ashby

The Higher Education System: Academic Organization in Cross-National Perspective. By Burton R. Clark.

University of California Press: 1983. Pp.315. £21.25, $32.50.

Clark's book is written with authority but I must add a warning that his conclusions are at a level of generalization which I found at times hard to follow. I am not a sociologist, so it is not for me to carp about the use of abstract latinized words which to the uninitiated may seem to be jargon. In writing this "layman's" review of it, I may have oversimplified some of Clark's subtle reasoning, but I hope I have made it clear that this is a book which, even if it isn't to be read for pleasure, is certainly to be studied for profit.

克拉克的书带着一种权威来写的，但我必须加一个警告：他概括到一般性的结论，我发现很难理解。我不是一个社会学家，所以，我没有能力挑剔那些对外行看来似乎是行业术语的抽象拉丁词汇的使用问题。在我这个门外汉对这本专业书籍写书评的过程中，我可能把克拉克细微的推理过程过分简单化了，但我希望能明确一点：即使这本书不能为了娱乐而读，但确乎可以为了有益而进行研究。