the higher learning in america-第8章
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ostensibly; to the schoolmaster's methods。
What has been said of the college in this connection holds
true in the main also of the professional and technical schools。
In their aims; methods and achievements these schools are; in the
nature of the case; foreign to the higher learning。 This is; of
course; not said in disparagement of their work; rather the
contrary。 As is the case with the college; so these schools also
are often included in the university corporation by ties of an
external and factitious kind; frequently by terms of the charter。
But this formal inclusion of them under the corporate charter
does not set aside the substantial discrepancy between their
purpose; work and animus and those of the university proper。 It
can only serve to trouble the single…mindedness of both。 It
leaves both the pursuit of learning and the work of preparation
for the professions somewhat at loose ends; confused with the
bootless illusion that they are; in some recondite way; parallel
variants of a single line of work。
In aim and animus the technical and professional schools are
〃practical;〃 in the most thorough going manner; while the pursuit
of knowledge that occupies the scientists and scholars is not
〃practical〃 in the slightest degree。 The divergent lines of
interest to be taken care of by the professional schools and the
university; respectively; are as widely out of touch as may well
be within the general field of human knowledge。 The one is
animated wholly by considerations of material expediency; and the
range of its interest and efforts is strictly limited by
consideration of the useful effect to which the proficiency that
it gives is to be turned; the other knows nothing of expediency;
and is influenced by no consideration of utility or disutility;
in its appreciation of the knowledge to be sought。 The animus of
the one is worldly wisdom; of the other; idle curiosity。 The two
are incommensurably at variance so far as regards their purpose;
and in great measure also as regards their methods of work; and
necessarily so。
But with all this divergence of purpose and animus there is
after all a broad and very substantial bond of community between
the technical schools; on the one hand; and the proper work of
the university; on the other hand; in that the two are; in great
measure; occupied with the same general range of materials and
employ somewhat the same logical methods in handling these
materials。 But the relation that results from this community of
material is almost wholly external and mechanical。 Nor does it
set up any presumption that the two should expediently be
included in the same corporate establishment; or even that they
need be near neighbors or need maintain peculiarly close
relations of personnel。 The technical schools; and in a less
degree the professional schools not properly classed as
technical; depend in large measure on results worked out by the
scientists; who properly belong in the universities。 But the
material so made use of for technical ends are taken over and
turned to account without afterthought。 The technologist's work
is related to that of the scientists very much as the work of the
designer is related to that of the inventor。 To a considerable
extent the scientists similarly depend on the work of the
technical men for information; and for correction and
verification of their own theoretical work。 But there is; on this
account; nothing to gain by associating any given technical
school with any given university establishment; incorporation in
any given university does not in any degree facilitate the
utilization of the results of the sciences by the technical men;
nor is it found in practice to further the work of the sciences。
The schools in question do not in any peculiar degree draw on the
work of the scientists attached to their particular university;
nor do these scientists; on the other hand; have any special use
for the work of their associated technical schools。 In either
case the source drawn on is the general literature of the
subject; the body of materials available at large; not the work
of particular men attached to particular schools。 The
generalizations of science are indispensable to the technical
men; but what they draw on is the body of science at large;
regardless of what any given university establishment may have
had to do with the work out of which the particular items of
scientific information have emerged。 Nor is this scientific
material useful to the technologists for the further pursuit of
science; to them the scientific results are data; raw material to
be turned to practical use; not means by which to carry
scientific inquiry out to further results。
Similarly; the professions and the technical schools afford
valuable data for the use of the professed scholars and
scientists; information that serves as material of Investigation;
or that will at least be useful as a means of extending
correcting; verifying and correlating lines of inquiry on which
they are engaged。 But the further bearing of these facts upon the
affairs of life; their expediency or futility; is of no interest
or consequence。 The affairs of life; except the affairs of
learning; do not touch the interest of the university man as a
scholar or scientist。 What is of importance to him in all these
matters with which the professions and technologists are busy is
their bearing on those matters of fact into which his scientific
interest leads him to inquire。 The tests and experiments carried
out at these technical schools; as well as the experience
gathered by the members of their staff; will occasionally afford
him material for further inquiry or means whereby to check
results already arrived at; but for such material he does not by
preference resort to any one of the technical schools as
contrasted with any other; and it is quite an idle question
whether the source of any such serviceable information is a
school attached to his own university。 The investigator finds his
material where he can; which comes to saying that he draws on the
general body of technical knowledge; with no afterthought as to
what particular technical school may have stood in some relation
or other to the information which he finds useful。
Neither to the man engaged in university work nor to the
technical schools that may serve him as occasional sources of
material is there any advantage to be derived from their
inclusion in the university establishment。 Indeed; it is a
detriment to both parties; as has already been remarked; but more
decidedly to the university men。 By including the technical and
professional schools in the university corporation the
technologists and professional men attached to these schools are
necessarily included among the academic staff; and so they come
to take their part in the direction of academic affairs at large。
In what they so do toward shaping the academic policy they will
not only count for all they are worth; but they are likely to
count for something more than their due share in this respect;
for they are to some extent trained to the conduct of affairs;
and so come in for something of that deference that is currently
paid to men of affairs; at the same time that this practical
training gives them an advantage over their purely academic
colleagues; in the greater assurance and adroitness with which
they are able to present their contentions。 By virtue of thi