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 describing 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 to survive in the nineteenth century in the shadow of the new research universities and how in the twentieth century it slowly opened its doors to women minorities and students from low income families He describes the unique strengths of America s colleges in our era of globalization and while recognizing the growing centrality of science technology and vocational subjects in the curriculum he mounts a vigorous defense of a broadly humanistic education for all Acknowledging the serious financial intellectual and ethical challenges that all colleges face today Delbanco considers what is at stake in the urgent effort to protect these venerable institutions for future generations In a new afterword Delbanco responds to recent developments both ominous and promising in the changing landscape of higher education

College by Delbanco, Andrew. (Princeton University Press,2012) [Hardcover] PDF

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