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the higher learning in america-第49章

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teachers; is; in the common run of cases; crowded to one side and



presently drops out of mind。 Like other workmen; under pressure



of competition the members of the academic staff will endeavour



to keep up their necessary income by cheapening their product and



increasing their marketable output。 And by consequence of this



pressure of bread…winning and genteel expenditure; these



university men are so barred out from the serious pursuit of



those scientific and scholarly inquiries which alone can;



academically speaking; justify their retention on the university



faculty; and for the sake of which; in great part at least; they



have chosen this vocation。 No infirmity more commonly besets



university men than this going to seed in routine work and



extra…scholastic duties。 They have entered on the academic career



to find time; place; facilities and congenial environment for the



pursuit of knowledge; and under pressure they presently settle



down to a round of perfunctory labour by means of which to



simulate the life of gentlemen。(5*)



    Before leaving the topic it should further be remarked that



the dissipation incident to these polite amenities; that so are



incumbent on the academic personnel; apparently also has



something of a deteriorative effect on their working capacity;



whether for scholarly or for worldly uses。 Prima facie evidence



to this effect might be adduced; but it is not easy to say how



far the evidence would bear closer scrutiny。 There is an



appreciable amount of dissipation; in its several sorts; carried



forward in university circles in an inconspicuous manner; and not



designed for publicity。 How far this is induced by a loss of



interest in scholarly work; due to the habitual diversion of the



scholars' energies to other and more exacting duties; would be



hard to say; as also how far it may be due to the lead given by



men…of…the…world retained on the faculties for other than



scholarly reasons。 At the same time there is the difficulty that



many of those men who bear a large part in the ceremonial



dissipation incident to the enterprise in publicity are retained;



apparently; for their proficiency in this line as much as for



their scholarly attainments; or at least so one might infer; and



these men must be accepted with the defects of their qualities。



    As bearing on this whole matter of pomp and circumstance;



social amenities and ritual dissipation; quasi…learned



demonstrations and meretricious publicity; in academic life; it



is difficult beyond hope of a final answer to determine how much



of it is due directly to the masterful initiative of the strong



man who directs the enterprise; and how much is to be set down to



an innate proclivity for all that sort of thing on the part of



the academic personnel。 A near view of these phenomena leaves the



impression that there is; on the whole; less objection felt than



expressed among the academic men with regard to this routine of



demonstration; that the reluctance with which they pass under the



ceremonial yoke is not altogether ingenuous; all of which would



perhaps hold true even more decidedly as applied to the faculty



households。(6*) But for all that; it also remains true that



without the initiative and countenance of the executive head



these boyish movements of sentimental spectacularity on the part



of the personnel would come to little; by comparison with what



actually takes place。 It is after all a matter for executive



discretion; and; from whatever motives; this diversion of effort



to extra…scholastic ends has the executive sanction;(7*) with the



result that an intimate familiarity with current academic life is



calculated to raise the question whether make…believe does not;



after all; occupy a larger and more urgent place in the life of



these thoughtful adult male citizens than in the life of their



children。







NOTES:







1。 It was a very wise and adroit politician who found out that



〃You can not fool all the people all the time。〃







2。  La gloria di colui che tutto muove;



    Per l'universo pen閠ra e risplende



    In una parte pi* e meno altr'ove。







3。 In a certain large and enterprising university; e。g。; the pay



of the lowest; and numerous; rank regularly employed to do full



work as teachers; is proportioned to that of the highest  much



less numerous  rank about as one to twelve at the most; perhaps



even as low as one to twenty。 And it may not be out of place to



enter the caution that the nominal rank of a given member of the



staff is no secure index of his income; even where the salary



〃normally〃 attached to the given academic rank is known。 Not



unusually a 〃normal〃 scale of salaries is formally adopted by the



governing board and spread upon their records; and such a scale



will then be surreptitiously made public。 But departures from the



scale habitually occur; whereby the salaries actually paid come



to fall short of the 〃normal〃 perhaps as frequently as they



conform to it。



    There is no trades…union among university teachers; and no



collective bargaining。 There appears to be a feeling prevalent



among them that their salaries are not of the nature of wages;



and that there would be a species of moral obliquity implied in



overtly so dealing with the matter。 And in the individual



bargaining by which the rate of pay is determined the directorate



may easily be tempted to seek an economical way out; by offering



a low rate of pay coupled with a higher academic rank。 The plea



is always ready to hand that the university is in want of the



necessary funds and is constrained to economize where it can。 So



an advance in nominal rank is made to serve in place of an



advance in salary; the former being the less costly commodity for



the time being。 Indeed; so frequent are such departures from the



normal scale as to have given rise to the (no doubt ill…advised)



suggestion that this may be one of the chief uses of the adopted



schedule of normal salaries。 So an employee of the university may



not infrequently find himself constrained to accept; as part



payment; an expensive increment of dignity attaching to a higher



rank than his salary account would indicate。 Such an outcome of



individual bargaining is all the more likely in the academic



community; since there is no settled code of professional ethics



governing the conduct of business enterprise in academic



management; as contrasted with the traffic of ordinary



competitive business。







4。 So; e。g。; the well…known president of a well and favourably



known university was at pains a fe
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