‘What Is College For,’ Third Discussion: Does Consumerism Conflict With Civic Virtue?

By Vincent DeFrancesco. In Chapter 3 of What Is College For? Elaine Tuttle Hansen proposes that the public purpose of higher education is to “emancipate students from the shackles of consumerist society,” to produce “liberated consumers.”
It’s a bold statement. And the phrase is contradictory at first blush. More...