ABSTRACT
American higher education is both expensive and time-consuming. As American society begins to use the technologies afforded by time- and space-saving computers and computer networks, as commercial enterprises demonstrate the efficiency of the profit-motive, as unconventional postsecondary, degree-granting operations reach maturity, the university loses out. The chapter suggests that universities must begin to ask themselves what they provide, if not information, then learning that cannot be found elsewhere. It seeks to answer the question "What is at stake for America in the colleges and universities that provide postsecondary education for more than half the nation's high school graduates?" At stake in the classroom is the coming generation and its capacity to learn and make sense of knowledge. The academy responds to the challenge of relevance by adopting the criteria of the critics and therefore surrenders the field before the battle is joined. The most compelling argument most university advocates make for themselves is economic.
