William G. Perry, Jr. was head of the Bureau of Study Counsel, an educational research unit, at Harvard University.
Review
"William G. Perry, Jr. is unique in his influence on those individuals who teach, study, and work with
America's college and university students. His work--and by that I mean his entire career and the manner in which
he lived it--has influenced generations of faculty members, administrators, and those who themselves have created
theories of college student development and instruction."
--L. Lee Knefelkamp, professor of higher education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Submitted by Publisher, March, 2001
Summary
Since its original publication in 1970, this landmark book by William Perry has remained the cornerstone of
much of the student development research that followed. Using research conducted with Harvard undergraduates over
a fifteen-year period, Perry derived an enduring framework for characterizing student development--a scheme so
accurate that it still informs and advances investigations into student development across genders and cultures.
Drawing from firsthand accounts, Perry traces a path from students' adolescence into adulthood. His nine-stage
model describes the steps that move students from a simplistic, categorical view of knowledge to a more complex,
contextual view of the world and of themselves. Throughout this journey of cognitive development, Perry reveals
that the most significant changes occur in forms in which people perceive their world rather than in the particulars
of their attitudes and concerns. He shows ultimately that the nature of intellectual development is such that we
should pay as much attention to the processes we use as to the content.
In a new introduction to this classic work, Lee Knefelkamp--a close colleague of Perry's and a leading expert
on college student development--evaluates the book's place in the literature of higher education. Knefelkamp explains
how the Perry scheme has shaped current thinking about student development and discusses the most significant research
that has since evolved from Perry's groundbreaking effort.
Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years is a work that every current and future student
services professional must have in their library.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Resume
2. Context of Students' Reports
3. The Students' Experience
4. Concepts of the Scheme
5. The Development Scheme
6. Critique
