Controversy over what role "the great books" should play in college curricula and questions about who defines "the literary canon" are at the forefront of debates in higher education. This study offers a defence of educational reform in response to attacks by academic traditionalists. The contributors share the belief that American schools, colleges and universities can do a far better job of educating the nation's increasingly diverse population and that the liberal arts must play a central role in providing students with the resources they need to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world. Within this area of consensus, however, the contributors display a wide range of approaches, illuminating the issues from the perspectives of their particular disciplines - classics, education, English, history and philosophy, among others - and their individual experiences as teachers. Among the topics they discuss are canon-formation in the ancient world, the idea of a "common culture", and the educational implications of such social movements as feminism.