Description
Book SynopsisTakes up topics of debate in higher education: What are the nature and objectives of a liberal education? What are the university's responsibilities for the moral education of students? This book contains essays on ethics, the academic curriculum, and the differences between private and public higher education.
Trade Review"Shapiro clearly and persuasively enunciates his major theme—that universities have a responsibility for performing two important social functions. One is to serve existing society, and the other is to challenge it."
—Charles T. Clotfelter, Duke University"This book reflects an effort by one of our most distinguished educational leaders to look beneath the surface of existing controversies and ask deeper questions about the role of the university in a modern liberal democracy. Shapiro's analysis is well tuned to the paradoxical character of the modern university as at once loyal servant and stubborn critic of the society that sustains it."
—Michael McPherson, President, the Spencer Foundation, and former President of Macalaster CollegeTable of ContentsPrologue ix The University and Society 1 The Transformation of the Antebellum College From Right Thinking to Liberal Learning 40 Liberal Education, Liberal Democracy, and the Soul of the University 88 Some Ethical Dimensions of Scientific Progress 120 Bibliography 163 Index 175
