Acquiring an Alma Mater or Achieving an Education

Although the US News ranking does not pay any attention to the single most critical factor determining the quality of a student’s education, college presidents are beginning to pay a good deal more attention to it. For Newman, the quality of a student’s education derives not from the institution but from the individual interactions of its faculty with its students. The best education can occur either frequently or rarely in a given institution. True education occurs when there is, as between Newman’s master and disciple, “a sympathy of mind with mind”. A major implication of what Newman is saying would doubtless seem subversive to advocates of the US News approach, but it is inescapable: The best education is, to a great extent, fortuitous.