I recently noted the New Republic article by William Deresiewicz that usefully pans the education that students receive at our purportedly “elite” colleges and universities. In this blog post, Brooklyn College professor Mitchell Langbert digs more deeply into that piece, arguing that while it is true that elite colleges do not ensure a solid education, it doesn’t follow that it is better at non-elite ones.

In another Deresiewicz piece that will be the subject of a forthcoming article of my own, he claims that “the college ideal” is under vicious attack by “powerful forces” but the truth is the matter is that the college ideal has withered at most colleges and has been doing so for quite a long time. Those few students who are interested in that ideal have to look hard to find it.