How universities became engines of American success

For 250 years, America’s colleges and universities have been engines of leadership, innovation and upward mobility. From training civic leaders to driving scientific breakthroughs, higher education has expanded the country’s capacity to solve problems, imagine new possibilities and create new opportunities.

“That has been higher education’s purpose from the beginning — to be public good that the whole of society benefits from,” says Johann Neem, author of “What’s the Point of College?”

A brief history

“Higher education since the American Revolution has been seen as a set of institutions that will serve the Republic,” says Neem, who teaches the history of education at Western Washington University.