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第11章

the higher learning in america-第11章

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pragmatic disciplines; in Law and Medicine; have been much the



same as that of their elder sister; Theology。 Professionalism and



practical serviceability have been gradually crowded into the



background of academic interests and overlaid with



quasi…utilitarian research  such as the history of



jurisprudence; comparative physiology; and the like。 They have in



fact largely been eliminated。(8*)



    And changes running to this effect have gone farthest and



have taken most consistent effect in those communities that are



most fully imbued with the spirit of the modern peaceable



civilization。 It is in the more backward communities and schools



that the barbarian animus of utilitarianism still maintains



itself most nearly intact; whether it touches matters of temporal



or of spiritual interest。 With the later advance of culture; as



the intellectual interest has gradually displaced the older



ideals in men's esteem; and barring a reactionary episode here



and there; the university has progressively come to take its



place as a seat of the higher learning; a corporation for the



pursuit of knowledge; and barring accidental reversions; it has



increasingly asserted itself as an imperative necessity; more and



more consistently; that the spirit of disinterested inquiry must



have free play in these seminaries of the higher learning;



without afterthought as to the practical or utilitarian



consequences which this free inquiry may conceivably have for the



professional training or for the social; civil or religious



temper of the students or the rest of the community。 Nothing is



felt to be so irremediably vicious in academic policy as a



coercive bias; religious; political; conventional or



professional; in so far as it touches that quest of knowledge



that constitutes the main interest of the university。



    Professional training and technological work at large have of



course not lost ground; either in the volume and the rigour of



their requirements or in the application bestowed in their



pursuit; but as within the circle of academic interests; these



utilitarian disciplines have lost their preferential place and



have been pushed to one side; so that the professional and



technical schools are now in fact rated as adjuncts rather than



as integral constituents of the university corporation。 Such is



the unmistakable sense of this matter among academic men。 At the



same time these vocational schools have; one with another;



progressively taken on more of a distinctive; independent and



close…knit structure; an individual corporate existence;



autonomous and academically self…sufficient; even in those cases



where they most tenaciously hold to their formal connection with



the university corporation。 They have reached a mature phase of



organization; developed a type of personnel and control peculiar



to themselves and their special needs; and have in effect come



out from under the tutelage of the comprehensive academic



organization of which they once in their early days were the



substantial core。 These schools have more in common among



themselves as a class than their class have with the academic



aims and methods that characterize the university proper。 They



are in fact ready and competent to go on their own recognizances;



 indeed they commonly resent any effective interference or



surveillance from the side of the academic corporation of which



they nominally continue to be members; and insist on going their



own way and arranging their own affairs as they know best。 Their



connection with the university is superficial and formal at the



best; so far as regards any substantial control of their affairs



and policy by the university authorities at large; it is only in



their interference with academic policy; and in injecting their



own peculiar bias into university affairs; that they count



substantially as corporate members of the academic body。 And in



these respects; what is said of the professional and technical



schools holds true also of the undergraduate departments。



    It is quite feasible to have a university without



professional schools and without an undergraduate department; but



it is not possible to have one without due provision for that



non…utilitarian higher learning about which as a nucleus these



utilitarian disciplines cluster。 And this in spite of the



solicitous endeavours of the professional schools to make good



their footing as the substantial core of the corporation。







                             V







    As intimated above; there are two main reasons for the



continued and tenacious connection between these schools and the



universities: (a) ancient tradition; fortified by the solicitous



ambition of the university directorate to make a brave show of



magnitude; and (b) the anxiety of these schools to secure some



degree of scholarly authentication through such a formal



connection with a seat of learning。 These two motives have now



and again pushed matters fairly to an extreme in the reactionary



direction。 So; for instance; the chances of intrigue and



extra…academic clamour have latterly thrown up certain men of



untempered 〃practicality〃 as directive heads of certain



universities; and some of these have gone so far as to avow a



reactionary intention to make the modern university a cluster of



professional schools or faculties; after the ancient barbarian



fashion。(9*) But such a policy of return to the lost crudities is



unworkable in the long run under modern conditions。 It may serve



excellently as a transient expedient in a campaign of popularity;



and such appears to have been its chief purpose where a move of



this kind has been advocated; but it runs on superficial grounds



and can afford neither hope nor fear of a permanent diversion in



the direction so spoken for。



    In the modern community; under the strain of the price system



and the necessities of competitive earning and spending; many men



and women are driven by an habitual bias in favour of a higher



〃practical〃 efficiency in all matters of education; that is to



say; a more single…minded devotion to the needs of earning and



spending。 There is; indeed; much of this spirit abroad in the



community; and any candidate for popular favour and prestige may



find his own advantage in conciliating popular sentiment of this



kind。 But there is at the same time equally prevalent through the



community a long…term bias of another kind; such as will not



enduringly tolerate the sordid effects of pursuing an educational



policy that looks mainly to the main chance; and unreservedly



makes the means of life its chief end。 By virtue of this



long…term idealistic drift; any seminary of learning that plays



fast and loose in this way with the cultural interests entrusted



to its keeping loses caste and falls out of the running。 The



universities that are subjected in this fashion to an



experimental reversion to vocationalism; it appears; will



unavoidably return presently to something of the non…professional



type; on pain of falling into hopeless discredit。 There have been



some striking instances; but current not ions of delicacy will



scarcely admit a citation of nam es and dates。 And while the



long…term drift of the modern idealistic bias may not permit the



universities permanently to be diverted to the service of Mammon



in this fashion; yet the unremitting endeavours of 〃educators〃



seeking prestige for worldly wisdom results at the best in a



fluctuating state of compromise; in which the ill effects 

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