What College Can’t Do

It can't fix "modernity," it can't give you a soul. But (I say) it can make you more spiritual and soulful (depending on what you mean by that, of course; I mean more alive, more sensitive to the natural conditions and possibilities and preciousness of life) and it can make you smarter about things you never would have considered. That goes for the Ivy League, for Tiny Liberal Arts College, and for Enormous State University alike.

But it's true: you've got to do the reading.

"Part of the value of a humanistic education has to do with a consciousness of, and a familiarity with, the limits that you’ll spend the rest of your life talking about and pushing against. So it’s probably natural for college students to be a little ironic, a little unsettled. It’s time, meanwhile, to admit that the college years aren’t for figuring out some improvised “sense of purpose.” They’re more like a period of acclimatization—a time when realizations can dawn. If you’re feeling uneasy about life, then you’re doing the reading."

What College Can’t Do - The New Yorker

What's college for? "Thinking your way toward your own definition of success." http://shar.es/1nQQjO  via @chronicle

There are powerful forces in our society actively hostile to the college ideal, that distrust critical thinking http://shar.es/1nQQTN 

Pretty good sheep: It's Fall Faculty Meeting day at my school this morning, the annual inaugural summons to co... http://bit.ly/1s9qsTY 

Philosophers' Mail @PhilosopherMail · Aug 20

'The most important attitude that can be formed is that of desire to go on learning.' – John Dewey