友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!阅读过程发现任何错误请告诉我们,谢谢!! 报告错误
飞读中文网 返回本书目录 我的书架 我的书签 TXT全本下载 进入书吧 加入书签

the higher learning in america-第28章

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!






body of the academic personnel; a corps of trusted advisors and



agents; whose qualifications for their peculiar work is an



intelligent sympathy with their chief's ideals and methods and an



unreserved subservience to his aims;  unless it should come to



pass; as may happen in case its members are men of force and



ingenuity; that this unofficial cabinet should take over the



direction of affairs and work out their own aims and purposes



under cover of the chief's ostensibly autocratic rule。



    Among these aids and advisers will be found at least a



proportion of the higher administrative officials; and among the



number it is fairly indispensable to include one or more adroit



parliamentarians; competent to procure the necessary modicum of



sanction for all arbitrary acts of the executive; from a



distrustful faculty convened as a deliberative body。 These men



must be at least partially in the confidence of the executive



head。 From the circumstances of the case it also follows that



they will commonly occupy an advanced academic rank; and so will



take a high (putative) rank as scholars and scientists。 High



academic rank comes of necessity to these men who serve as



coadjutors and vehicles of the executive policy; as does also the



relatively high pay that goes with high rank; both are required



as a reward of merit and an incitement to a zealous



serviceability on the one hand; and to keep the administration in



countenance on the other hand by giving the requisite dignity to



its agents。 They will be selected on the same general grounds of



fitness as their chief;  administrative facility; plausibility;



proficiency as public speakers and parliamentarians; ready



versatility of convictions; and a staunch loyalty to their bread。



Experience teaches that scholarly or scientific capacity does not



enter in any appreciable measure among the qualifications so



required for responsible academic office; beyond what may



thriftily serve to mask the conventional decencies of the case。



    It is; further; of the essence of this scheme of academic



control that the captain of erudition should freely exercise the



power of academic life and death over the members of his staff;



to reward the good and faithful servant and to abase the



recalcitrant。 Otherwise discipline would be a difficult matter;



and the formally requisite 〃advice and consent〃 could be procured



only tardily and grudgingly。







    Admitting such reservations and abatement as may be due; it



is to be said that the existing organization of academic control



under business principles falls more or less nearly into the form



outlined above。 The perfected type; as sketched in the last



paragraphs; has doubtless not been fully achieved in practice



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 ab
返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0
未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!