Distinguished colleges and universities are knowledge-building communities that challenge students to participate in intellectual dialogue across a spectrum of academic topics and real world problems. Participants in such communities are encouraged to question established knowledge and contribute new thinking for the benefit of all community members and society as a whole. Entering students are similar to new apprentices in that they generally operate as peripheral participants who gradually earn their way toward the center of the community as they participate and contribute more consequentially.

To prepare students for participation in such communities, great teachers and parents foster in children a sense of identity as thinkers and speakers whose minds and language and social standing all qualify them for participation in discussions of intellectually complex and nuanced issues and for reading and writing and talking about such issues. It is essential that such students are provided with experiences that will enable them to acquire the critical habits of mind, academic competencies, and linguistic and technical mastery that maximize success in higher education.