Delbanco, Andrew. College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).

Delbanco, Andrew. College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).

ByNexus December 12th, 2019 Higher Education

Delbanco, Andrew. College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).

College: What It Was, Is and Should Be

This book examines the role of colleges and universities from their founding by the Puritans to today’s challenges for survival. Through this historical lens, Delbanco makes clear that so many of the difficulties and questions surrounding the purpose and role of higher education in our society have been debated for more than 200 years. It can be reassuring to see that today’s struggles about cost, accessibility, quality, standardization, faculty roles and responsibilities, student engagement, tenure, grade inflation, and similar issues are not new. Rather, they are embedded in a long tradition of ethical, scholarly, and practical deliberations. For administrators and faculty working in higher education, this book contributes to contextual literacy at the macro-level.