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On the purpose of our universities
Our friend Kevin Carey has a fine piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education in which he takes Harvard and other elite universities to task for having strayed from their purpose of undergraduate education. The real priority, he says, has rather become "the greater glory of elite higher education and the administrators and faculty members who work there." As a result, "Undergraduates are increasingly being used as decoration, passing strangers handy for photographs in brochures."
As we noted at the launch of our WhatWillTheyLearn.com website last month, education -- not reputation -- should be the primary focus of our universities. And not just any education, but one that puts students first and is mindful of its public purpose. As former Harvard College dean Harry Lewis recently remarked during morning prayer at Harvard's Memorial Church: "We were founded for civic purposes, and we have a responsibility to the society we serve... we are all here in the service of a public good that is larger than ourselves."
If the findings of our recent survey on general education requirements are any indication, too many of our country's leading universities and colleges have abdicated this responsibility to ensure the next generation possesses the skills and knowledge they need to become informed citizens and thoughtful leaders.
Posted by David Azerrad on September 29, 2009 at September 29, 2009 05:55 PM
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