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The Higher Learning In America: A Memorandum On the Conduct of



Universities By Business Men





        by Thorstein Veblen





1918











PREFACE







    It is something more than a dozen years since the following



observations on American academic life were first assembled in



written form。 In the meantime changes of one kind and another



have occurred; although not such as to alter the course of policy



which has guided American universities。 Lines of policy which



were once considered to be tentative and provisional have since



then passed into settled usage。 This altered and more stable



state of the subject matter has permitted a revision to avoid



detailed documentation of matters that have become commonplace;



with some resulting economy of space and argument。 But;



unhappily; revision and abridgment carries its own penalties; in



the way of a more fragmentary presentation and a more repetitious



conduct of the argument; so that it becomes necessary to bespeak



a degree of indulgence on that ground。



    Unhappily; this is not all that seems necessary to plead in



extenuation of recurrent infirmities。 Circumstances; chiefly of a



personal incidence; have repeatedly delayed publication beyond



what the run of events at large would have indicated as a



propitious date; and the same circumstances have also enjoined a



severer and more repressive curtailment in the available data。 It



may not be out of place; therefore; to indicate in the most



summary fashion what has been the nature of these fortuitous



hindrances。



    In its earlier formulation; the argument necessarily drew



largely on first…hand observation of the conduct of affairs at



Chicago; under the administration of its first president。 As is



well known; the first president's share in the management of the



university was intimate; masterful and pervasive; in a very high



degree; so much so that no secure line of demarcation could be



drawn between the administration's policy and the president's



personal ruling。 It is true; salient features of academic policy



which many observers at that time were inclined to credit to the



proclivities of Chicago's first president; have in the later



course of things proved to belong to the impersonal essence of



the case; having been approved by the members of the craft; and



so having passed into general usage without abatement。 Yet; at



the time; the share of the Great Pioneer in reshaping American



academic policy could scarcely have been handled in a detached



way; as an impersonal phenomenon of the unfolding historical



sequence。 The personal note was; in fact; very greatly in



evidence。



    And just then; presently; that Strong Man's life was brought



to a close。 So that it would unavoidably have seemed a breach of



decorum to let these observations seek a hearing at that time;



even after any practicable revision and excision which filial



piety would enjoin。 Under the rule of Nihil nisi bonum; there



seemed nothing for it but a large reticence。



    But swiftly; with the passage of years; events proved that



much of what had appeared to be personal to the Great Pioneer was



in reality intrinsic to the historical movement; so that the



innovations presently lost their personal colour; and so went



impersonally to augment the grand total of human achievement at



large。 Meanwhile general interest in the topic had nowise abated。



Indeed; discussion of the academic situation was running high and



in large volume; and much of it was taking such a turn 



controversial; reproachful; hortatory; acrimonious  that



anything in the way of a temperate survey should presumably have



been altogether timely。



    But fortuitous circumstances again intervened; such as made



it seem the part of insight and sobriety again to defer



publication; until the colour of an irrelevant personal equation



should again have had time to fade into the background。 With the



further passage of time; it is hoped that no fortuitous shadow



will now cloud the issue in any such degree as to detract at all



sensibly from whatever value this account of events and their



causes may have。



    This allusion to incidents which have no material bearing on



the inquiry may tolerantly be allowed; as going to account for a



sparing use of local information and; it is hoped; to extenuate a



degree of reserve and reticence touching divers intimate details



of executive policy。







    It goes without saying that the many books; papers and



addresses brought out on the academic situation have had their



share in shaping the essay。 More particularly have these various



expressions of opinion and concern made it possible to take many



things for granted; as matter of common notoriety; that would



have appeared to require documentation a dozen or fifteen years



ago; as lying at that time still in the field of surmise and



forecast。 Much; perhaps the greater bulk; of the printed matter



issued on this head in the interval has; it is true; been of a



hortatory or eloquently optimistic nature; and may therefore be



left on one side。 But the academic situation has also been



receiving some considerable attention with a view to getting an



insight into what is going forward。 One and another of these



writers to whom the present essay is in debt will be fond



referred to by name in the pages which more particularly lean on



their support; and the like is true for various utterances by men



in authority that have been drawn on for illustrative



expressions。 But a narrow scrutiny would doubtless make it appear



that the unacknowledged indebtedness greatly exceeds what so is



accredited and accounted for。 That such is the case must not be



taken as showing intentional neglect of the due courtesies。



    March 1916。







    In the course of the past two years; while the manuscript has



been lying in wait for the printer; a new situation has been



forcing itself on the attention of men who continue to take an



interest in the universities。 On this provocation a few



paragraphs have been added; at the end of the introductory



chapter。 Otherwise there appears to be no call for a change in



the general argument; and it has not been disturbed since the



earlier date; which is accordingly left as it stands。







    June 1918。











CHAPTER ONE







Introductory: The Place of the University in Modern Life







                                I







     In any known civilization there will be found something in



the way of esoteric knowledge。 This body of knowledge will vary



characteristically from one culture to another; differing both in



content and in respect of the canons of truth and reality relied



on by its adepts。 But there is this common trait running through



all civilizations; as touches this range of esoteric knowledge;



that it is in all cases held; more or less closely; in the



keeping of a select body of adepts or specialists  scientists;



scholars; savants; clerks; priests; shamans; medicinemen 



whatever designation may best fit the given case。



    In the apprehension of the given society within which any



such body of knowledge is found it will also be found that the



knowledge in question is rated as an article of great intrinsic



value; in some way a matter of more substantial consequence than



any or all of the material achievements or possessions of the



community。 It may take shape as a system of magic or of religious



beliefs; of mythology; theology; phil

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