This provocative book explores the views of thousands of students and other campus personnel. Finding many students alienated and narrowly focused on grades and resumes, the authors call for a renewed emphasis on the larger intellectual and social purposes of college.
– Michael McPherson, President Emeritus of the Spencer Foundation and of Macalester College; Co-author of Crossing the Finish Line and The Student Aid Game
In this bold and visionary book, Fischman and Gardner offer transformational solutions to the grave problems facing higher education today. The book’s compelling recommendations are supported by their definitive study of contemporary college life.
— William Damon, Professor of Education, Stanford University, and Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, author of The Path to Purpose
Based on extensive field work and thoughtful analysis, The Real World of College offers an exceptionally valuable account of liberal arts education in the US today. There are some surprises in these findings, and much to ponder in the recommendations.
— Nannerl O. Keohane, President Emerita, Wellesley College and Duke University
This just in…
Read about international higher education in the most recent edition of Daedalus, a publication of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This issue was edited by Howard Gardner, Wendy Fischman, and William Kirby, and features over twenty authors from around the world.
The concluding article, which explores the concept of “mission” in higher education, features insights from The Real World of College.
Check out Marjorie Malpiede’s recent piece in LearningWell magazine, “The Real World of College, Continued.” The article features an interview with Howard Gardner, Wendy Fischman, and Katie Abramowitz (a research assistant on the project), and highlights major findings from the book.
A note from the authors
Welcome to our website—a resource for information about our national study of higher education. Launched in 2012, the study is detailed in our book, The Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be (MIT Press, 2022).
In addition to learning about our book, we hope you will examine our other resources, including our blog, a collection of press, and talks and keynotes we have given. We are also pleased to share a survey that can be used by researchers and institutions—click here for more information.
We would be happy to respond to your communications.
With best wishes,
Wendy Fischman
and
Howard Gardner
Congratulations to The Real World of College authors, Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner, for receiving an honorable mention from the 2024 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award!
Acknowledgements
Our research of higher education has been funded by initial and continuing gifts from Paula and Jim Crown and from Thomas H. Lee and Ann Tenenbaum, wonderfully supportive philanthropists. We acknowledge with special gratitude The Endeavor Foundation, which has both generously funded our work for over two decades and has offered especially important and timely support for this project. We gratefully acknowledge additional support from Jackie and Mike Bezos, The Carnegie Corporation of New York (two grants), The Meyer and Raena Hammerman Foundation, The Lumina Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (two grants), The Spencer Foundation (two grants), The Teagle Foundation, The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation (three gifts), and three anonymous funders.