This book focuses on the Wannsee Conference (Berlin, Germany, 1943) where Germany's "learned men" gathered to work out a "final solution" for the Jewish "problem." It addresses the issue of what had gone wrong with the education system when the men attending this conference (who had received its highest degrees) could plan such a massive crime yet see this crime as a great service to human culture. In seven essays the book pursues the relevance of these historical issues to today's colleges and universities. To find out what went wrong, and why, the book sees a relationship between the pursuit of higher education and the humanities--particularly philosophy, literature, and Jewish thought. The essential message is that technological training is not what teaching is about; that teaching is instead the embrace of human life and human sanctity. Educators are urged to remember the importance of literary and philosophical inquiry in general education and resist the over-emphasis on science, technology, and business. Essay titles include: "Implications of the Wannsee Conference for Higher Education"; "The Eclipse of the Highest in Higher Education"; "The Politics of Power at the Core of the Curriculum"; "The Role of the Humanities in Higher Education"; "The Honors Student, the Professor, and the Program in Higher Education"; and "On the Essence of Teaching." (Contains 100 references.) (CH)