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the higher learning in america-第7章

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less  but in so far as his chief interest is of the pedagogical



sort his place is not in the university。 Exposition; instruction



and drill belong in and professional schools。 The consistent aim



there is; and should be; to instruct; to inculcate a knowledge of



results; and to give the pupil a working facility in applying it。



On the university level such information and training is (should



be) incidental to the work of research。 The university man is



almost unavoidably a teacher; by precept and example; but he can



not without detriment to his work as scientist or scholar serve



as a taskmaster or a vehicle of indoctrination。 The student who



comes up to the university for the pursuit of knowledge is



expected to know what he wants and to want it; without



compulsion。 If he falls short in these respects; if he has not



the requisite interest and initiative; it is his own misfortune;



not the fault of his teacher。 What he has a legitimate claim to



is an opportunity for such personal contact and guidance as will



give him familiarity with the ways and means of the higher



learning;  any information imparted to him being incidental to



this main work of habituation。 He gets a chance to make himself a



scholar; and what he will do with his opportunities in this way



lies in his own discretion。



    The difference between the modern university and the lower



and professional schools is broad and simple; not so much a



difference of degree as of kind。 There is no difficulty about



apprehending or appreciating this difference; the dispute turns



not on the practicability of distinguishing between the two; but



on the desirability of letting such a distinction go into effect。



It is a controversy between those who wish to hold fast that



which once was good and those who look to make use of the means



in hand for new ends and meet new exigencies。



    The lower schools (including the professional schools) are;



in the ideal scheme; designed to fit the incoming generation for



civil life; they are therefore occupied with instilling such



knowledge and habits as will make their pupils fit citizens of



the world in whatever position in the fabric of workday life they



may fall。 The university on the other hand is specialized to fit



men for a life of science and scholarship; and it is accordingly



concerned; with such discipline only as will give efficiency in



the pursuit of knowledge and fit its students for the increase



and diffusion of learning。 It follows that while the lower



schools necessarily take over the surveillance of their pupils'



everyday life; and exercise a large measure of authority and



responsible interference in that behalf; the university assumes



(or should assume) no responsibility for its students' fortunes



in the moral; religious; pecuniary; domestic; or hygienic



respect。



    Doubtless the larger and more serious responsibility in the



educational system belongs not to the university but to the lower



and professional schools。 Citizenship is a larger and more



substantial category than scholarship; and the furtherance of



civilized life is a larger and more serious interest than the



pursuit of knowledge for its own idle sake。 But the proportions



which the quest of knowledge is latterly assuming in scheme of



civilized life require that the establishments the to which this



interest is committed should not be charged with extraneous



duties; particularly not with extraneous matters themselves of



such grave consequence as this training for citizenship and



practical affairs。 These are too serious a range of duties to be



taken care of as a side…issue; by a seminary of learning; the



members of whose faculty; if they are fit for their own special



work; are not men of affairs or adepts in worldly wisdom。







                III







    In point of historical pedigree the American universities are



of another derivation than their European counterpart; although



the difference in this respect is not so sharp a matter of



contrast as might be assumed at first sight。 The European



(Continental) universities appear to have been founded;



originally; to meet the needs of professional training; more



particularly theological (and philosophical) training in the



earlier times。 The American universities are; historically; an



outgrowth of the American college; and the latter was installed;



in its beginnings; largely as a means of professional training;



chiefly training for Divinity; secondarily for the calling of the



schoolmaster。 But in neither case; neither in that of the



European university nor in that of the American College; was this



early vocational aim of the schools allowed to decide their



character in the long run; nor to circumscribe the lines of their



later growth。 In both cases; somewhat alike; the two groups of



schools came to their mature development; in the nineteenth



century; as establishments occupied with disinterested learning;



given over to the pursuit of intellectual enterprise; rather than



as seminaries for training of a vocational kind。 They still had a



vocational value; no doubt; and the vocational needs of their



students need not have been absent from the considerations that



guided their directorates。 It would particularly be found that



the (clerical) directorates of the American colleges had more



than half an eye to the needs of Divinity even at so late a date



as when; in the third quarter of the century; the complexion of



the American college situation began seriously to change。 It is



from this period  from the era of the Civil War and the



Reconstruction  that the changes set in which have reshaped the



academic situation in America。



    At this era; some half a century ago; the American college



was; or was at least pressed to be; given over to disinterested



instruction; not specialized with a vocational; or even a



denominational; bias。 It was coming to take its place as the



superior or crowning member; a sort of capstone; of the system of



public instruction。 The life history of any one of the state



universities whose early period of growth runs across this era



will readily show the effectual guidance of such an ideal of a



college; as a superior and definitive member in a school system



designed to afford an extended course of instruction looking to



an unbiassed increase and diffusion of knowledge。 Other



interests; of a professional or vocational kind; were also



entrusted to the keeping of these new…found schools; but with a



conclusive generality the rule holds that in these academic



creations a college establishm
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