In support of the generalist
Andrew Delbanco, renowned social critic and recipient of the National Humanities Award, warned Thursday night that the shift of American higher education away from its liberal arts traditions undermines democratic society as universities push students into preprofessional pursuits. On the campus where he earned bachelor’s and doctorate degrees, Delbanco delivered the Lowell Lecture for the Harvard Extension School on the same day that his new book, “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be,” was released by Princeton University Press. “A college is a place that tries to preserve centrifugal force in a spinning world,” said Delbanco, the Mendelson Family Chair of American Studies and the Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. “A true college must also be a shelter from the preprofessional crosswinds.” Trends toward rewarding research over teaching, focusing on scientific advances, and relegating instruction to part-timers are troublesome yet not new, said Delbanco ’73, A.M. ’76, Ph.D....