What's the Point of College?

There are few topics of more importance to contemporary America than education reform. Given Neem's knowledge, insight, and talent, What's the Point of College? has the potential to be both an important scholarly work and a much-discussed book among the nation's thought leaders. Each of the essays is excellent.

An exceptionally informed contribution to the debate over the future of undergraduate education. Neem writes with calm clarity, but there is no mistaking the urgency of his call to defend an endangered and essential institution.

At at time when the collegiate ideal is under assault from all sides, Johann Neem provides precisely the defense that it needs. His book is the best short argument for our colleges that I've read in recent years. Let's hope that our leaders read it, too.

Johann Neem brings a rare combination of clarity, expertise, and compassion to this portrayal of American higher education. Cutting through the cant and condescension that marks so much punditry on the topic, Neem makes a persuasive case for an education of human connection for all students.

At a time when higher education has become 'hire' education, Johann Neem reminds us that the value of a college degree lies not in its earning power, but rather in its ability to enhance a human being's power of rational analysis, intellectual precision and independent judgement, as well as foster mental adaptability in a rapidly changing world. This timely book affirms that the mission of higher education is to prepare young men and women for the rest of their lives, not just their first job.