Universities: For Adults Only

By the standards of professional academicians, much of today's adult-education program is neither an education nor adult. Hence the unique reputation of Columbia University's School of General Studies, where a student body of 4,000 housewives, executives and workers, as well as under graduates who have switched from other colleges, has instilled scholarly vigor into the pallid pastiche that often passes for adulted.

With an array of 1,200 courses taught by a first-rate faculty (full-and part-time) of 570, G.S. has grown to become a third undergraduate branch of Columbia, along with the men's college and Barnard for girls. As...