Education's End

On the whole, a thoughtful and well-written book.

The authors raises many important issues and comes to some interesting conclusions. While I do not agree with all of his conclusions (most notably, that God does not exist), most of his arguments are very, in fact, very compelling.


The author provides a good history of the evolution of institution of higher eduction in the United States. He argues that to provide an appropriately broad liberal education our institution of higher education need to return to the teaching of “arts and letters” (consistent with philosophy of “secular humanism”). If his version of secular humanism provided an allowances for the existence of God (and an afterlife), then I agree with almost all of his conclusions.

His argument about the excessively delitorisou influence of the “research ethic” on the humanities is less compelling. While the applied sciences have certainly been the darlings of Higher Education for the past 150 years, the humanities can, nonetheless, return to their rightful place of influence on the lives of undergraduate students.

This will require increased focus and curricular changes at many institutions, but it is not impossible. The AAC&U LEAP initiative offers one strategy that colleges can employ to help students come to grips with “the meaning of life.” This strategy is laid out in: College Learning for the New Global Century

Kronman is not a fan of “political correctness” - a view I share. He also decries the negative influence of initiatives that promote diversity and multiculturalism. He makes some good arguments (particularly that student time is a “zero sum” game) but, ultimately, he fails to fully account for the many benefits that come with increased diversity and the great good that comes from learning about others' cultures.