As the commercialization of American higher education accelerates, more and more students are coming to college with the narrow aim of obtaining a preprofessional credential. The traditional four-year college experience--an exploratory time for students to discover their passions and test ideas and values with the help of teachers and peers--is in danger of becoming a thing of the past. In College, prominent cultural critic Andrew Delbanco offers a trenchant defense of such an education, and warns that it is becoming a privilege reserved for the relatively rich. In arguing for what a true college education should be, he demonstrates why making it available to as many young people as possible remains central to America"s democratic promise. In a brisk and vivid historical narrative, Delbanco explains how the idea of college arose in the colonial period from the Puritan idea of the gathered church, how it struggled to survive in the nineteenth century in the shadow of the new research universities, and how, in the twentieth century, it slowly opened its doors to women, minorities, and students from low-income families. He describes the unique strengths of America"s colleges in our era of globalization and, while recognizing the growing centrality of science, technology, and vocational subjects in the curriculum, he mounts a vigorous defense of a broadly humanistic education for all. Acknowledging the serious financial, intellectual, and ethical challenges that all colleges face today, Delbanco considers what is at stake in the urgent effort to protect these venerable institutions for future generations. In a new preface, Delbanco addresses recent events that threaten the future of the institution. Leading universities and institutions that have ordered this book : Armstrong Atlantic State University Bates College Berry College Brown University Campbell Hall Carthage College Central Michigan University Claremont Mckenna College Columbia University Concordia College Dartmouth College Davidson College Depaul University - Lincoln Drake University Drew University Emory University Fordham University Furman University George Mason University Georgetown University John Carroll University Keuka College Marlboro College Merrimack College Metropolitan State University Middlebury College Millbrook School Millsaps College New York University Oakland University Oklahoma State University - Main Campus Pasadena City College Pennsylvania State University Pomona College Princeton University Rowan University Sacred Heart University San Jose State University Southern Methodist University Stanford University State University of New York - Buffalo State University of New York - New Paltz Suffolk County Community College Temple University The College of New Jersey Union College University of Arkansas, Little Rock University of California, San Diego University of Illinois at Chicago University of Mary Washington University of Maryland, College Park University of Michigan University of Notre Dame University of Pittsburgh University of Texas at Austin University of Tulsa University of Virginia University of Washington Vanderbilt University Virginia Tech University Washington College Weber State University Widener University Wofford College