College

what it was, is, and should be

Hardcover, 229 pages

English language

Published 2012 by Princeton University Press.

ISBN:
978-0-691-13073-6
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OCLC Number:
757838217

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As the commercialization of American higher education accelerates, more and more students are coming to college with the narrow aim of obtaining a preprofessional credential. The traditional four-year college experience -- an exploratory time for students to discover their passions and test ideas and values with the help of teachers and peers -- is in danger of becoming a thing of the past. In College, prominent cultural critic Andrew Delbanco offers a trenchant defense of such an education, and warns that it is becoming a privilege reserved for the relatively rich. In arguing for what a true college education should be, he demonstrates why making it available to as many young people as possible remains central to America's democratic promise. In a brisk and vivid historical narrative, Delbanco explains how the idea of college arose in the colonial period from the Puritan idea of the gathered church, how it struggled …

11 editions

Subjects

  • Higher Education
  • Aims and objectives

Places

  • United States