David's Deliberations

On May 3, Politics & Prose hosted Andrew Delbanco for a talk about his insightful and stimulating book: College, What It Was, Is and Should Be (Princeton Univ., $24.95). Delbanco's scholarship is steeped in American culture and history - especially when it comes to the literary narrative. Lincoln, Melville and the legacy of the Puritans loom large in Delbanco's lifelong work, which has been animated by the ideals of equality, merit, opportunity, and hope.

Delbanco's lively and thoughtful presentation led to what amounted to a town meeting on the nature of college education, as participants raised their concerns about the astronomical costs of higher education, about the difficulties of preparing children for college, and about the infrequency of teaching that leads to critical thought and a passion to continue learning.

In the course of the discussion, several topics emerged: inter-generational educational opportunities, healthier older generations who are living longer and want to keep their minds stimulated and engaged, and citizens without formal higher education who read and discuss ideas and public matters as part of civic engagement. Our events staff recorded the discussion and will

Recently, I participated in discussions at NYU on the nature of education; the principal speaker thought that on-line distance learning represents the future. While embracing it, he worried that imagination may be neglected, and while Delbanco's approach has a different emphasis, he also believes foremost in expanding a student's imagination.

In his The Real American Dream, Delbanco put the matter clearly.

As a teacher of the humanities, you do everything you can to help students expand their imagination, by which I mean to look outward, to see something beyond the consumer pleasures with which they are bombarded, to develop some sense of the complexity of the past and the diversity of the present -- that is the variety of ways in which human beings have tried to make sense of the world. Only then is it possible to develop some sense of alternative futures.

This theme resonates throughout College, What It Was, Is and Should Be. Steeped in a firm understanding of higher education's rich history, College is a call to action for more than a few to use their imagination to the fullest. Delbanco referenced a memorable quote by Judith Shapiro when she was President of Barnard - "You want the inside of your head to be an interesting place to spend the rest of your life." That's our challenge at all ages.

• David Cohen