2008 Stone Lectures - Lecture V: Edwards, Esther, and Princeton University

The summary of the fifth and final lecture by George Marsden in the 2008 Stone Lecture series is now available by Travis McMaken at DET. The lecture is entitled “President Edwards and Esther Edwards Burr Return to Princeton University: Is There a Problem?” Marsden’s focus here is on the nature of academic education in America. Here is a bit of Travis’s summary:

Neither Jonathan nor Esther would find much to cheer them if returning to Princeton University today. What occurs in social sciences and humanities classes would dishearten them, and they would have a hard time conceiving of what the point of a contemporary university education could be. The question is, “How does an Edwardsian orientation fit in with the contemporary university?”

Read more here. See the final outline here.