By Georgia Nugent. It’s a misconception to think that college study and career planning have ever been natural enemies.
Is the main purpose of education to acquire skills and prepare for the workplace? Or is the purpose more generally to expand the intellect and broaden the learner’s horizons? This dichotomy has confronted American higher education since at least the 19th century. It’s embedded in the Morrill Act of 1862, which, in providing for America’s land grant universities, also differentiated “scientific and classical studies” from “learning … related to agriculture and the mechanical arts.“ More...