“What Is the Point of College?” Asks Prof. Appiah With Faith That It Matters To Colleges

Is it supposed to train students, or transform them? Can these two perspectives be reconciled?

Source: What Is the Point of College?

My explanation

Here is the real point of college, summed up succinctly by Bill Gross.

“…Universities are run for the benefit of the adult establishment, both politically and financially, not students…” (Quoted with permission. See my blog, inside-higher-ed for a link to the complete statement.)

Here is the explanation for why it is so easy for colleges to achieve their selfish goals, summed up nicely, by David Riesman.

“…the ‘wants’ of students to which competing institutions, departments, and individual faculty members cater are quite different from the ‘needs’ of students…advantage can…be taken of [students] by unscrupulous instructors and institutions… the student estate often does not grasp its own interests..” (“On Higher Education: The Academic Enterprise in an Era of Rising Student Consumerism”, 1980

When I was a professor I saw that repeatedly played out in numerous shocking ways. (Some of these are described on my blog.)

Though discussions about the point of college for students are important, they will remain moot until we change the present system to one that again enriches the students, not the purveyors.