What the Best College Students Do

Many students, and many political leaders, believe the purpose of college is to train people in skills that will make them money. However, higher education serves a much bigger goal: to help students attain a wider, more adaptive and creative view of the world and its challenges. Solving the problems that crop up in career and life requires creativity, an open-ended process that benefits from an “appreciation for the creative work of others and in the special perspectives that they could bring to any situation” (203).

Following his freshman year at Swarthmore, Dean Baker spent the summer with his older brother, reading about and questioning America’s “conventional historical narrative” (205). Dean took a year off to travel, then returned to Swarthmore’s honors program, where he could design his own courses of study, ask unique questions, and engage with excellent professors who challenged and mentored rather than judged. Dean then earned a PhD in economics at the University of Michigan. He predicted the 2008 crash before most people saw it coming. 

Mount Sinai Medical School sought to enroll liberal arts majors alongside science majors; it found that liberal arts students did as well or better than the others and were more likely to specialize in primary care.