David Kirp asks what colleges are for: research, economic advancement, or making students more interesting?
But as valuable as American universities are, Jonathan Cole claims too much credit for them. They are not responsible for every discovery in which university researchers have had a hand; industry, government, and think tanks have carried out pivotal studies, sometimes collaboratively and sometimes competitively. Cutting-edge work has also become an international affair, with numerous articles in scientific journals co-authored by intellectual border-crossing researchers.
