Why College? Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
- Jonathan Zimmerman
- College of Arts & Sciences
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First-Year Seminar Grant
Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History of Education, Graduate School of Education This course will explore controversies and dilemmas surrounding American colleges, from their birth into the present. What is the purpose of “college”? How have these goals and objectives changed, across time and space? What should college do, and for whom? And how can colleges be reformed to meet their diverse purposes and constituencies? Topics of discussion will include affirmative action, “political correctness,” fraternities and sororities, sexual assault and safety, online education, and the recent trend towards “college for all.”