I'm not a policy expert - I am only arguing that there is more to an education than an economic ticket.

Books gave us a way to shape ourselves - to form our thoughts and to signal to each other who we were and who we wanted to be. They were part of our self-fashioning, no less than our clothes.

What's your favorite book?' is a question that is usually only asked by children and banking identity-verification services--and favorite isn't, anyway, the right word to describe the relationship a reader has with a particularly cherished book. Most serious readers can point to one book that has a place in their life like the one that 'Middlemarch' has in mine.

The best education for a writer, I think, is to read a lot - college can be a good place to do that.

I think it's a terrible mistake to only think in terms of a degree "buying" you something.

Of course we all know people who aren't cut out for college, but I know it's a mistake to think of education only as a route to a better career. Reading books, studying history - all these things contribute to making us better citizens, too.

I'm not a policy expert - I am only arguing that there is more to an education than an economic ticket.