the higher learning in america-第25章
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hitherto; unless it be in one or another of the newer
establishments with large ambitions and endowment; and with few
traditions to hamper the working out of the system。 The incursion
of business principles into the academic community is also of
relatively recent date; and should not yet have had time to
pervade the organization throughout and with full effect; so that
the r間ime of competitive strategy should as yet be neither so
far advanced nor so secure a matter of course as may fairly be
expected in the near future。 Yet the rate of advance along this
line; and the measure of present achievement; are more
considerable than even a very sanguine advocate of business
principles could have dared to look for a couple of decades ago。
In so far as these matters are still in process of growth;
rather than at their full fruition; it follows that any analysis
of the effects of this r間ime must be in some degree speculative;
and must at times deal with the drift of things as much as with
accomplished fact。 Yet such an inquiry must approach its subject
as an episode of history; and must deal with the personal figures
and the incidents of this growth objectively; as phenomena thrown
up to view by the play of circumstances in the dispassionate give
and take of institutional change。 Such an impersonal attitude; it
is perhaps needless to remark; is not always easy to maintain in
dealing with facts of so personal; and often of so animated; a
character。 Particularly will an observer who has seen these
incidents from the middle and in the making find it difficult
uniformly to preserve that aloof perspective that will serve the
ends of an historical appreciation。 The difficulty is increased
and complicated by the necessity of employing terms; descriptions
and incidents that have been habitually employed in current
controversy; often with a marked animus。 Men have taken sides on
these matters; and so are engaged in controversy on the merits of
the current r間ime and on the question of possible relief and
remedy for what are considered to be its iniquities。 Under the
shadow of this controversy; it is nearly unavoidable that any
expression or citation of fact that will bear a partisan
construction will habitually be so construed。 The vehicle
necessarily employed must almost unavoidably infuse the analysis
with an unintended colour of bias; to one side or the other of
the presumed merits of the case。 A degree of patient attention is
therefore due at points where the facts cited; and the
characterization of these facts and their bearing; would seem; on
a superficial view; to bear construction as controversial matter。
In this episode of institutional growth; plainly; the
executive head is the central figure。 The light fails on him
rather than on the forces that move him; and it comes as a matter
of course to pass opinions on the resulting incidents and
consequences; as the outcome of his free initiative rather than
of the circumstances whose creature he is。 No doubt; his
initiative; if any; is a powerful factor in the case; but it is
after all a factor of transmission and commutation rather than of
genesis and self…direction; for he is chosen for the style and
measure of initiative with which he is endowed; and unless he
shall be found to measure up to expectations in kind and degree
in this matter he will go in the discard; and his personal ideals
and initiative will count as little more than a transient
obstruction。 He will hold his place; and will count as a creative
force in his world; in much the same degree in which he responds
with ready flexibility to the impact of those forces of popular
sentiment and class conviction that have called him to be their
servant。 Only so can he be a 〃strong man〃; only in so far as; by
fortunate bent or by its absence; he is enabled to move
resistlessly with the parallelogram of forces。
The exigencies of a businesslike administration demand that
there be no division of powers between the academic executive and
the academic staff; but the exigencies of the higher learning
require that the scholars and scientists must be left quite free
to follow their own bent in conducting their own work。 In the
nature of things this work cannot be carried on effectually under
coercive rule。 Scientific inquiry can not be pursued under
direction of a layman in the person of a superior officer。 Also;
learning is; in the nature of things; not a competitive business
and can make no use of finesse; diplomatic equivocation and
tactful regard for popular prejudices; such as are of the essence
of the case in competitive business。 It is; also; of no advantage
to learning to engross the trade。 Tradition and present necessity
alike demand that the body of scholars and scientists who make up
the university must be vested with full powers of self…direction;
without ulterior consideration。 A university can remain a
corporation of learning; de facto; on no other basis。
As has already been remarked; business methods of course have
their place in the corporation's fiscal affairs and in the
office…work incident to the care of its material equipment。 As
regards these items the university is a business concern; and no
discussion of these topics would be in place here。 These things
concern the university only in its externals; and they do not
properly fall within the scope of academic policy or academic
administration。 They come into consideration here only in so far
as a lively regard for them may; as it sometimes does; divert the
forces of the establishment from its ostensible purpose。
Under the rule imposed by those businesslike preconceptions
that decide his selection for office; the first duty of the
executive head is to see to the organization of an administrative
machinery for the direction of the university's internal affairs;
and the establishment of a facile and rigorous system of
accountancy for the control and exhibition of the academic work。
In the same measure in which such a system goes into effect the
principles of competitive business will permeate the
administration in all directions; in the personnel of the
academic staff; in the control and intercourse of teachers and
students; in the schedule of instruction; in the disposition of
the material equipment; in the public exhibits and ceremonial of
the university; as well as in its pecuniary concerns。
Within the range of academic interests proper; these business
principles primarily affect the personnel and the routine of
instruction。 Here their application immediately results in an
administrative system of bureaux or departments; a hierarchical
gradation of the members of the staff; and a rigorous parcelment
and standardization of the instruction offered。 Some such system
is indispensable to any effective control of the work from above;
such as is aimed at in the appointment of a discretionary head of
the university; particularly in a large school; and the
measure of control desired will decide the degree of thoroughness
with which this bureaucratic organization is to be carried
through。 The need of a well…devised bureaucratic system is
greater the more centralized and coercive the control to which
the academic work is to be subject; and the degree of control to
be exercised will be greater the more urgent the felt need of a
strict and large accountancy may be。 All of which resolves itself
into a question as to the purposes sought by the ins