First-Class Times: Writing about New College's Charter Classes

“The best education,” the New College admissions brochure declared, “is the active confrontation of two first-class minds.” Attracted by that vision—and the prospect of a college education in the Florida sun with no grades or required classes—dozens of carefully selected high school seniors turned down more conventional schools and headed for an untested educational experiment on the shores of Sarasota Bay.

The contributors to this book, which covers—with a few exceptions—New College’s chart...