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第28章

the higher learning in america-第28章

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which all compete for the acclamation and custom of those to whom



these matters appeal。



    For the purposes of such competition the effectual prestige



of the university as a whole; as well as the detail prestige of



its personnel; is largely the prestige which it has with the



laity rather than with the scholarly classes。 And it is safe to



say that a somewhat more meretricious showing of magnitude and



erudition will pass scrutiny; for the time being; with the laity



than with the scholars。 Which suggests the expediency for the



university; as a going concern competing for the traffic; to take



recourse to a somewhat more tawdry exhibition of quasi…scholarly



feats; and a somewhat livelier parade of academic splendour and



magnitude; than might otherwise be to the taste of such a body of



scholars and scientists。 As a business proposition; the



meretricious quality inherent in any given line of publicity



should not consign it to neglect; so long as it is found



effectual for the end in view。



     Competitive business concerns that find it needful to



commend themselves to a large and credulous body of customers;



as; e。 g。; newspapers or department stores; also find it



expedient somewhat to overstate their facilities for meeting all



needs; as also to overstate the measure of success which they



actually enjoy。 Indeed; much talent and ingenuity is spent in



that behalf; as well as a very appreciable outlay of funds。 So



also as touches the case of the competitive seminaries of



learning。 And even apart from the exigencies of intercollegiate



rivalry; taken simply as a question of sentiment it is gratifying



to any university directorate to know and to make known that the



stock of merchantable knowledge on hand is abundant and



comprehensive; and that the registration and graduation lists



make a brave numerical showing; particularly in case the



directive head is duly imbued with a businesslike penchant for



tests of accountancy and large figures。 It follows directly that



many and divers bureaux or departments are to be erected; which



will then announce courses of instruction covering all accessible



ramifications of the field of learning; including subjects which



the corps of instructors may not in any particular degree be fit



to undertake。 A further and unavoidable consequence of this



policy; therefore; is perfunctory work。



    For establishments that are substantially of secondary school



character; including colleges and undergraduate departments; such



a result may not be of extremely serious consequence; since much



of the instruction in these schools is of a perfunctory kind



anyway。 But since the university and the college are; in point of



formal status and of administrative machinery; divisions of the



same establishment and subject to the same executive control; and



since; under competitive business principles; the collegiate



division is held to be of greater importance; and requires the



greater share of attention; it comes about that the college in



great measure sets the pace for the whole; and that the



undergraduate scheme of credits; detailed accountancy; and



mechanical segmentation of the work; is carried over into the



university work proper。 Such a result follows more consistently



and decisively; of course; in those establishments where the line



of demarkation between undergraduate and graduate instruction is



advisedly blurred or disregarded。 It is not altogether unusual



latterly; advisedly to efface the distinction between the



undergraduate and the graduate division and endeavour to make a



gradual transition from the one to the other。(5*) This is done in



the less conspicuous fashion of scheduling certain courses as



Graduate and Senior; and allowing scholastic credits acquired in



certain courses of the upper…class undergraduate curriculum to



count toward the complement of graduate credits required of



candidates for advanced degrees。 More conspicuously and with



fuller effect the same end is sought at other universities by



classifying the two later years of the undergraduate curriculum



as 〃Senior College〃; with the avowed intention that these two



concluding years of the usual four are scholastically to lie



between the stricter undergraduate domain; now reduced to the



freshman and sophomore years; on the one hand; and the graduate



division as such on the other hand。 This 〃Senior College〃



division so comes to be accounted in some sort a halfway graduate



school; with the result that it is assimilated to the graduate



work in the fashion of its accountancy and control; or rather;



the essentially undergraduate methods that still continue to rule



unabated in the machinery and management of this 〃senior college〃



are carried over by easy sophistication of expediency into the



graduate work; which so takes on the usual; conventionally



perfunctory; character that belongs by tradition and necessity to



the undergraduate division; whereby in effect the instruction



scheduled as 〃graduate〃 is; in so far; taken out of the domain of



the higher learning and thrown back into the hands of the



schoolmasters。 The rest of the current undergraduate standards



and discipline tends strongly to follow the lead so given and to



work over by insensible precession into the graduate school;



until in the consummate end the free pursuit of learning should



no longer find a standing…place in the university except by



subreption and dissimulation; much after the fashion in which; in



the days of ecclesiastical control and scholastic lore; the



pursuit of disinterested knowledge was constrained to a shifty



simulation of interest in theological speculations and a



disingenuous formal conformity to the standards and methods that



were approved for indoctrination in divinity。



    Perfunctory work and mechanical accountancy may be



sufficiently detrimental in the undergraduate curriculum; but it



seems altogether and increasingly a matter of course in that



section; but it is in the graduate division that it has its



gravest consequences。 Yet even in undergraduate work it remains



true; as it does in all education in a degree; that the



instruction can be carried on with best effect only on the ground



of an absorbing interest on the part of the instructor; and he



can do the work of a teacher as it should be done only so long as



he continues to take an investigator's interest in the subject in



which he is called on to teach。 He must be actively engaged in an



endeavour to extend the bounds of knowledge at the point where



his work as teacher falls。 He must be a specialist offering



instruction in the specialty with which he is occupied; and the



instruction offered can reach its best efficiency only in so far



as it is incidental to an aggressive campaign of inquiry on the



teacher's part。



    But no one is a competent specialist in many lines; nor is



any one competent to carry on an assorted parcel of special



inquiries; cut to a standard unit of time and volume。 One line;



somewhat narrowly bounded as a specialty; measures the capacity



of the common run of talented scientists and scholars for



first…class work; whatever side…lines of subsidiary interest they



may have in hand and may carry out with passably creditable



results。 The alternative is schoolmaster's task…work; or if the



pretense of advanced learning must be kept up; the alternative



which not unusually goes into effect is amateurish pedantry; with



the charlatan ever in the near background。 By and large; if the



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