Higher Education Needs a Reset

T here was a time — not long ago — when most Americans believed in the value of a university education. Higher learning would set young men and women on something reasonably close to a sure path to wisdom and success. A university education was widely thought to be good for students and for society writ large.

But Americans’ faith and trust in higher education has waned. Campus lawlessness, antisemitic protests, ideologically saturated classrooms and administrative offices, and the cancel culture prevalent in contemporary academic life have made many Americans question — not unreasonably — whether a university education is worth it.

But if America is going to be great, or “great again,” we mustn’t give up on higher education.

President Donald Trump’s recent actions to limit federal funding of elite institutions and, more broadly, to limit the federal government’s role in public education, while challenging for some, offer us an opportunity to reset American education and return universities to the fundamental purpose that defines them: namely, to educate, not indoctrinate.

A university’s foremost obligation is to educate and form students to seek and find truth. Yet American higher education has largely abandoned this responsibility by prioritizing political activism or by reducing “truth” to subjective “feelings.” Is it any wonder that Americans have lost faith in the value of higher education?

Rare are those universities that have maintained a deep and consistent commitment to seeking truth. Recovering the idea of a university — derived from universitas, the Latin word for “whole” — is critical to repairing American higher education. Universities should be places where students learn, first and foremost, how to think about life’s most pressing questions — What is our purpose? What is truth? How should I act? — through a comprehensive study of the best that has been, or can be, thought and said on such matters.

We must recover the importance of a curriculum that incorporates the greatest thinkers and works of Western civilization. In recent decades, this fundamental lesson has been displaced by specialization and fears of chauvinism. This is ironic, since a university education that examines the greatest fruits of the West is in point of fact the surest path to achieving a rich sense of one’s place in history and a shared sense of purpose even with those who do not share that history.

It’s precisely this holistic approach to education, rooted in the pursuit of truth, that frees one to think for oneself. Such an approach results not only in career success but, more importantly, in forming one’s character so that one knows how to think carefully and act uprightly in the world.

Far too few universities now offer what is classically known as the “liberal arts”: a robust core curriculum spanning literature, philosophy, theology, history, politics, mathematics, and the sciences, those fundamental ways of approaching human knowledge of the world, which place students on a structured path toward wisdom. The purpose of higher education is to orient students toward truth and virtue, thereby preparing them to be culture builders. Career preparation follows on the heels of that fundamental task.

Nowadays we have elevated the secondary to the primary, preventing students from receiving the fundamental formation that would enable graduates to be responsible citizens and formers of culture.

We need to get our higher education priorities right and reclaim an appreciation of learning for its own sake, a process that nurtures the cultivation of lifelong habits by which graduates can navigate the complexities of modern civic life to live flourishing lives. These habits are the virtues of mind and character that enable liberty to be exercised well within the political order.

If universities fail to offer a transformative education that cultivates the whole person, and if we continue down the ever-narrower paths of specialized education, we risk producing graduates who consistently prioritize self-interest over civic engagement and leadership and confuse honorable liberties with license.

Democracy depends on reasoned debate, yet our culture is increasingly defined by division and hostility. Universities must teach students how to disagree constructively — to engage with differing perspectives, challenge their own assumptions, and seek truth through dialogue. Such critical engagement, often taking the form of significant intellectual conflict, is the means by which real civilizational progress is made.

The Western tradition, from Socrates to the present, has thrived on rigorous debate and intellectual exchange. Learning to disagree and argue without personal rancor, and to appreciate both sides of a debate, is indispensable for plucking from such intellectual conflicts those gems that enable us to advance in genuine knowledge. Learning to engage critically with competing viewpoints fosters wisdom and civic responsibility. This intellectual habit, cultivated best in the well-run classroom, is a requisite virtue for genuine democracy.

Some public universities across the country are starting to experiment with new programs to promote civil discourse and civic virtue. This is a start, but far more is needed to recover the whole. One sign of hope is the record enrollment seen recently at private religious universities, which have held onto or revived traditional educational ideals.

The skill of arguing without quarreling is a part of docilitas — the art of learning, which always includes the intellectual humility needed to recognize that wisdom comes from listening rather than shouting and silencing. Without this virtue, meaningful education — and democracy itself — cannot endure.

Before we dismantle or dismiss higher education, let us remember what the university was meant to be: a place where truth is pursued, characters — and citizens — are formed, and ideas are debated with rigor and respect. For higher education to help restore America to greatness, colleges and universities must renew their commitment to the fundamental purpose of education. Only when universities reclaim their role as institutions of truth, virtue, and civic responsibility will they once again be worthy of public trust and support.