American Higher Education: A Documentary History

551 Pages·1961·24.059 MB·English

by  Richard Hofstadter (editor), Wilson Smith (editor)

AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY

.American
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£ H } g h e r
A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY
Edited by RICHARD HOFSTADTER and WILSON SMITH
VOLUME II
T IT
TH E U N I V E R S I T Y OF C H I C A G O P R E S S
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number; 61-13933
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago & London
The University of Toronto Press, Toronto 3, Canada
© 1961 by The University of Chicago. Published 1961
Composed and printed by The University of Chicago Press
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A♦
CONTENTS TO VOLUME II
P
JL aAfRT SIX
THE DEMAND FOR A TRUE
UNIVERSITY
Introduction 475
1. Francis Wayland’s Report to the Brown Corporation, 1850 478
2. Henry P. Tappan on University Education, 1851 488
3. F. A. P. Barnard Decries Principles Governing College Communities,
i855 511
4. Henry P. Tappan on the Idea of the True University, 1858 515
5. Andrew D. White’s Description of Michigan under Tappan, ca. i860 545
6. The “Cornell Idea” Forms in White’s Mind, 1860-65 549
7. Organizing Cornell, 1865 552
8. Ezra Cornell Denies That He Founded an “Aristocratic” University, 1865 555
9. Sectarian Attacks upon Cornell, 1868-74 557
10. F. H. Hedge on University Reforms, 1866 561
11. The Morrill Act, 1862 568
12. James Morgan Hart Compares the German University and the American
College during the 1860’s 569
13. The Governing Board of the Sheffield Scientific School Calls for New
Principles in Education, 1868 583
14. A State Senator Argues for a Liberal Curriculum at Iowa State Agricul­
tural College, 1884 587
P
JLar t seven
ORGANIZING THE MODERN
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
Introduction 593
1. Daniel Coit Gilman Reviews the Accomplishments of the University Era,
1869-1902 595
2. Charles William Eliot, Inaugural Address as President of Harvard, 1869 601
3. Eliot on the Scientific Schools, 1869 624
4. The Johns Hopkins Trustees Are Advised To Select Gilman, 1874 642
5. Gilman Recalls the Early Days of the Johns Hopkins, 1876 643
6. G. Stanley Hall Describes Gilman’s Policies at the Hopkins in the i88o’s 648
7. John W. Burgess’ Program for the American University, 1884 652
8. Charles Kendall Adams Argues the Merits of the State University, 1875 667
9. Andrew D. White Reviews His Achievements at Cornell, 1893 676
10. Woodrow Wilson on “Princeton in the Nation’s Service,” 1896 684
p
JLabRAT EIGHT
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
ELECTIVE SYSTEM
Introduction 697
1. Noah Porter Rejects the Elective System, 1871 699
2. Charles William Eliot Expounds the Elective System as “Liberty in Edu­
cation,” 1885 701
3. James McCosh Attacks the New Departure and President Eliot, 1885 715
4. The New Curriculum: Some Views from the Nation, 1882 730
5. How the Elective System Actually Worked at Harvard in 1900 737
6. Harvard’s Appraisal of Her Elective System in 1904 741
P
-L-aArRT NINE
UNIVERSITY FACULTIES AND
UNIVERSITY CONTROL
Introduction 749
1. Andrew D. White on Faculty Status in the 1870*5 and 1880’s 751
2. Daniel Coit Gilman on the Spirit of the First Johns Hopkins Faculty and
Trustees, 1876 752
3. Gilman Recounts the Founding Principles at the Johns Hopkins, 1876 755
4. White on the Distribution of Administrative Powers in the 1880’s 757
5. G. Stanley Hall Describes William R. Harper’s Raid upon the Clark Fac-
ulty, 1892 759
6. An Academic Scientist’s Plea for More Efficient University Control, 1902 761
7. G. Stanley Hall on Academic Unrest before World War I 771
8. William Rainey Harper’s Decennial Report, 1902 773
9. J. McKeen Cattell on Reforming University Control, 1913 784
10. Carl Becker on the Atmosphere of Cornell after 1917 809
11. Thorstein Veblen Satirizes the Conduct of Universities by Businessmen,
1918 818
12. A. Lawrence Lowell Justifies the Control of Universities by Laymen, 1920 832
p
JL.AarRT TEN
ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN THE
UNIVERSITY
Introduction 841
1. Daniel Coit Gilman’s Declaration on Intellectual Freedom, 1875 845
2. Alexander Winchell’s Encounter with Bishop McTyeire, 1878 846
3. Andrew D. White’s Comment on the Winchell Case, 1878 848
4. Noah Porter Objects to William Graham Sumner’s Use of Herbert Spen­
cer in Undergraduate Courses, 1879 849
5. Sumner’s Review of His Controversy with Porter, 1881 850
6. David Kinley Recalls the Attack on Richard T. Ely, 1894 858
7. The Wisconsin Regents Speak for Academic Freedom, 1894 859
8. The A.A.U.P.’s “General Declaration of Principles,” 1915 860
9. A. Lawrence Lowell on Academic Freedom in Wartime, 1917 878
10. Charles A. Beard Notifies Nicholas Murray Butler of His Resignation
from Columbia, 1917 883
11. The New York Times Comments on Beard’s Resignation, 1917 885
12. Charles Beard Explains the Reasons for His Resignation, 1917 887
P
JLar t elev en
HIGHER EDUCATION FOR THE
TWENTIETH-CENTURY WORLD
Introduction 893
1. Alexander Meiklejohn Defines the Liberal College, 1912 896
2. The Columbia College Faculty Devises a Course in Contemporary Civili­
zation, 1919 9° 4
3. Abraham Flexner Criticizes the American University, 1930 9°5
4. A Scientist Analyzes a New Mode of Attack on the Colleges, 1931 921
5. Robert M. Hutchins Assesses the State of the Higher Learning, 1936 924
6. Harry D. Gideonse on Hutchins and Flexner, 1937 941
7. John Dewey on Hutchins’ Philosophy of Education, 1937 949
8. James Bryant Conant on the Meaning of General Education, 1945 954
9. The Harvard Report on General Education, 1945 956
10. The President’s Commission on Higher Education for Democracy, 1947 970
11. Hutchins on the President’s Commission, 1948 990
INDEX 1003
Part VI
THE DEMAND FOR A TRUE
UNIVERSITY
T
JL he old college system did not just suddenly give way to the
university era in the decades following the Civil War. Years before,
the demand for a true university was being pressed by a great many
educators, and the modern American university was the final outcome
of two generations of agitation, criticism, and hard work. Educational
criticism quickened notably in the years between 1850 and the charter­
ing of Cornell in 1865. President Francis Wayland of Brown was one
of the leading figures in this agitation. In his famous 1850 report to
the Corporation of his university (Doc. 1) he argued that the existing
collegiate system was not serving the community’s needs for scientific,
practical, or advanced study, and recommended important revisions in
the curriculum and in the scale of its operations. In the following year,
Henry P. Tappan, writing on University Education (Doc. 2), agreed
with Wayland that “education has become superficial by attempting
too much in the short period allotted.” ‘We inspire no general desire
for higher education,” he lamented, “and fail to attract college students,
because we promise and do not perform.” Strongly influenced by the
German example, Tappan outlined the main features of a complete sys­
tem of state-supported secular schools, extending from the elementary
grades to the university. A student, adequately prepared in the succes-