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ModernAmericanUniversities

Beforethe1850’s,theUnitedStateshadanumberofsmallcolleges,mostofthemdatingfromcolonialdays.Theyweresmall,churchconnectedinstitutionswhoseprimaryconcernwastoshapethemoralcharacteroftheirstudents.

ThroughoutEurope,institutionsofhigherlearninghaddeveloped,bearingtheancientnameofuniversity.InGermanuniversitywasconcernedprimarilywithcreatingandspreadingknowledge,notmorals.Betweenmid-centuryandtheendofthe1800’s,morethanninethousandyoungAmericans,dissatisfiedwiththeirtrainingathome,wenttoGermanyforadvancedstudy.Someofthemreturntobecomepresidentsofvenerablecolleges-----Harvard,Yale,Columbia---andtransformthemintomodernuniversities.Thenewpresidentsbrokealltieswiththechurchesandbroughtinanewkindoffaculty.Professorswerehiredfortheirknowledgeofasubject,notbecausetheywereoftheproperfaithandhadastrongarmfordiscipliningstudents.Thenewprinciplewasthatauniversitywastocreateknowledgeaswellaspassiton,andthiscalledforafacultycomposedofteacher-scholars.DrillingandlearningbyrotewerereplacedbytheGermanmethodoflecturing,inwhichtheprofessor’sownresearchwaspresentedinclass.GraduatetrainingleadingtothePh.D.,anancientGermandegreesignifyingthehighestlevelofadvancedscholarlyattainment,wasintroduced.Withtheestablishmentoftheseminarsystem,graduatestudentlearnedtoquestion,analyze,andconducttheirownresearch.

Atthesametime,thenewuniversitygreatlyexpandedinsizeandcourseofferings,breakingcompletelyoutoftheold,constrictedcurriculumofmathematics,classics,rhetoric,andmusic.ThepresidentofHarvardpioneeredtheelectivesystem,bywhichstudentswereabletochoosetheirowncourseofstudy.Thenotionofmajorfieldsofstudyemerged.Thenewgoalwastomaketheuniversityrelevanttotherealpursuitsoftheworld.Payingcloseheedtothepracticalneedsofsociety,thenewuniversitiestrainedmenandwomentoworkatitstasks,withengineeringstudentsbeingthemostcharacteristicofthenewregime.Studentswerealsotrainedaseconomists,architects,agriculturalists,socialwelfareworkers,andteachers.