现代美国大学(Modern American Universities)

beforethe1850s,theunitedstateshadanumberofsmallcolleges,mostofthemdatingfromcolonialdays.theyweresmall,churchconnectedinstitutionswhoseprimaryconcernwastoshapethemoralcharacteroftheirstudents.

throughouteurope,institutionsofhigherlearninghaddeveloped,bearingtheancientnameofuniversity.ingermanuniversitywasconcernedprimarilywithcreatingandspreadingknowledge,notmorals.betweenmid-centuryandtheendofthe1800s,morethanninethousandyoungamericans,dissatisfiedwiththeirtrainingathome,wenttogermanyforadvancedstudy.someofthemreturntobecomepresidentsofvenerablecolleges-----harvard,yale,columbia---andtransformthemintomodernuniversities.thenewpresidentsbrokealltieswiththechurchesandbroughtinanewkindoffaculty.

professorswerehiredfortheirknowledgeofasubject,notbecausetheywereoftheproperfaithandhadastrongarmfordiscipliningstudents.thenewprinciplewasthatauniversitywastocreateknowledgeaswellaspassiton,andthiscalledforafacultycomposedofteacher-scholars.drillingandlearningbyrotewerereplacedbythegermanmethodoflecturing,inwhichtheprofessorsownresearchwaspresentedinclass.graduatetrainingleadingtotheph.d.,anancientgermandegreesignifyingthehighestlevelofadvancedscholarlyattainment,wasintroduced.withtheestablishmentoftheseminarsystem,graduatestudentlearnedtoquestion,analyze,andconducttheirownresearch.

atthesametime,thenewuniversitygreatlyexpandedinsizeandcourseofferings,breakingcompletelyoutoftheold,constrictedcurriculumofmathematics,classics,rhetoric,andmusic.thepresidentofharvardpioneeredtheelectivesystem,bywhichstudentswereabletochoosetheirowncourseofstudy.thenotionofmajorfieldsofstudyemerged.thenewgoalwastomaketheuniversityrelevanttotherealpursuitsoftheworld.payingcloseheedtothepracticalneedsofsociety,thenewuniversitiestrainedmenandwomentoworkatitstasks,withengineeringstudentsbeingthemostcharacteristicofthenewregime.studentswerealsotrainedaseconomists,architects,agriculturalists,socialwelfareworkers,andteachers.