Andrew Delbanco

Andrew Delbanco, Director of American Studies at Columbia University, explains why he worries that the traditional four-year college experience—a time for students to discover their passions and test ideas and values—is in danger of becoming a thing of the past. In his book College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, he offers a defense of such an education, and argues that making it available to as many young people as possible remains central to America's democratic promise.

Share your thoughts: Did you find college worthwhile? Do you think the standard four-year college education should change?

In the dark fall of 2001, images from Moby-Dick surfaced in the press, as a strange literary footnote to the most shocking event of the last half century. Producer Trey Kay speaks with Professors Andrew Delbanco and Samuel Otter about a metaphor that is undeniably powerful and impossible to capture.

In the dark fall of 2001, images from Moby-Dick surfaced in the press, as a strange literary footnote to the most shocking event of the last half century. Producer Trey Kay speaks with Professors Andrew Delbanco and Samuel Otter about a metaphor that is undeniably powerful and impossible ...