What's the Point of College?: Seeking Purpose in an Age of Reform

Written by Johann N. Neem

Narrated by Sean Pratt

In What's the Point of College?, historian Johann N. Neem offers a new way to think about the major questions facing higher education today, from online education to disruptive innovation to how students really learn. As commentators, reformers, and policymakers call for dramatic change and new educational models, this collection of lucid essays asks us to pause and take stock. What is a college education supposed to be? What kinds of institutions and practices will best help us get there? And which virtues must colleges and universities cultivate to sustain their desired ends?

During this time of drift, Neem argues, we need to moor our colleges once again to their core purposes. By evaluating reformers' goals in relation to the specific goods that a college should offer to students and society, What's the Point of College? connects public policy to deeper ethical questions. Exploring how we can ensure that America's colleges remain places for intellectual inquiry and reflection, Neem does not just provide answers to the big questions surrounding higher education-he offers listeners a guide for how to think about them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Aug 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781515946359

Reviews for What's the Point of College?

[mitchellray · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Johann Neem argues vigorously and cogently for the value of a liberal arts education. His arguments may not persuade everyone, but his well-stated views will prompt readers to think deeply about the purpose of a college education. Neem articulately counters the push to make undergraduate education more career relevant. He calls for preserving college’s more traditional role of providing places of scholarship. Campuses are to be havens for reflection. They are to be communities of learning where students and faculty think deeply and emerge as changed people. Many will think such an education to be a luxury, but Neem methodically explains why this is not so. He addresses curriculum, teaching, scholarship, and more. This book is for those who want to understand the counter arguments to reformers and policy makers who are pressuring colleges and universities to abandon their traditional functions. Whether you agree or disagree with Neem’s arguments, reading his book will make you better informed about the critical issues facing higher education and their importance to our society.