Too frequently college education takes place in an environment that isolates and fragments the individual rather than in one that not only allows but demands moral, ethical, and emotional growth. Deep Springs College, which was founded in 1917 with the goal of developing responsible, altruistic, and idealistic citizens, seeks to provide its students with the opportunity to find out what it means to make decisions and to live with the consequences. The college is located in a 50-square-mile desert valley and is socially self-contained. Its approximately 25 students work 20 hours a week on the college's cattle ranch as an integral part of their education. There is no core curriculum and no degrees are awarded, but courses are rigorously academic in form and content, and most students transfer to conventional colleges as juniors after 2 or 3 years. The power structure of the college is relatively diffuse with the student body having responsibility for the conduct of its own members, a director whose powers are not spelled out, and a board of trustees which does not involve itself with the college's day-to-day operation. The college's isolation, the distribution of powers and the integrated programs of study, labor, and self-government provide the context for developing individuals who are schooled not just in the academic sense but also as responsible and compassionate human beings. (HB)