To an extent a university must represent the philosophy of a people at
a given epoch, and their political, social, and industrial tendencies.
It symbolizes the stage of civilization and spiritual insight. The
ethical need of the time led to the study of philosophy in Greece;
the innate regard of the Roman people for justice and the problems
attending the development of the Empire emphasized the study of law
in Rome; Christianity and the influence of the Greek philosophy made
theology the ideal of the Middle Ages; the development of the inductive
method places emphasis on physical science to-day; the industrial
spirit of America gives a practical turn to our higher education. It
is no mere accident that the English university is conservative and
aristocratic and aims at general culture, that the French faculties
are practical, or that the German universities are scientific and
democratic. The differences in spirit and method are determined by
factors that belong to the history and character of the different
peoples.
The colleges of New England were founded on the traditions of Oxford
and Cambridge, and embodied their ideal and theological aims and
conservative method, although they naturally were more liberal and
democratic than the parent institutions. The history of the early
American colleges has been varied, but the more successful ones have
certainly become catholic and progressive. As the country grew and
men pushed westward, leaving tradition behind and developing more
freely the spirit of our advancing civilization, the conception
of a university, in touch with all the people, and scientific and
free, arose. Thus we have the state university. At the same time the
leading religious denominations have vied with each other in founding
in the new states colleges or universities that are more or less
denominational in spirit and aim.
The American university of to-day contains many elements. Broadly
speaking, it represents the ideals of the Platonic philosophy,
the direct inheritance from England, the character of the German
university, the modern scientific method, and the practical demands of
American civilization. All these elements are woven into the web of
our national life. There is, of course, much diversity. Each class of
universities contains something of all the ideals, but each emphasizes
certain ones. The older and larger denominational school is more nearly
the direct representative of English education, but has made a great
advance. The state universities represent the people as such and the
tendencies of our civilization, but in accord with the highest ideals.
They more readily accept the influence of the German university.
The denominational colleges scattered throughout the West aim to
perpetuate the denominational idea.
* * * * *
Almost from the foundation of our Government free elementary schools
have been regarded as an essential and characteristic part of our
American institutions. They became a logical necessity when our
forefathers abjured the caste and intolerance of the Old World, and
with prophetic insight proclaimed the era of a new civilization in
which the welfare of the state should mean the welfare of all the
people. While the idea of education at the expense of the state, and
under its control, was early accepted in that part of the country which
has gradually influenced the whole nation, we of to-day have witnessed
a part of the struggle to place on a permanent foundation the modern
system of high schools. These schools, especially in the West, now
have an assured position and command the confidence of the people. The
attempt to take the next step and establish state universities was met
with doubt and opposition. At a comparatively recent date, however,
many state universities have come into prominence, and to-day they
appear in the main to be the coming institutions of university training
from Ohio to Oregon, and from Texas to Montana. Here is a development
that is remarkable, and we may well examine its significance.
In the first place the state university is the logical outcome of our
democratic ideal that made the public schools a necessity, an outcome
which naturally would be first realized in the newer states. As
America furnished new and favorable conditions for the development of
civilization, freed in part from the traditions of the Old World, so
the new states of the West became the field for a still more liberal
growth of the tendencies of the age. There is a recognized tendency in
our institutions toward a broader community of interests in respect to
many things that affect the common welfare, and in no way does this
tendency find a grander expression than in the means for elevating
the people at the expense of the people to a better citizenship,
higher usefulness, and wiser and nobler manhood. The safety of the
state depends upon giving the brightest and best of all classes and
conditions an opportunity to rise to the surface of affairs.
In Prussia, Switzerland, and Italy a healthy organization of society
is held to depend upon public control of both secondary and higher
education. England’s system of education tends to maintain social
distinctions and an intellectual conservatism that are harmful both
to the aristocracy and to the common people. Education in Germany
shows its superiority in that it reaches a larger number of the poor
classes and develops greater freedom of thought. The public control
of education makes it democratic and progressive, and strengthens its
influence with the people. It makes the scholar a leader in the line of
advance indicated by the ideals of the people. In the American state
university, men come together as a faculty, bringing with them training
and educational ideals gained in the best universities of the world.
They place themselves in touch with the public schools, the press, and
all the state agencies of influence and control. Knowing the needs
and demands of the people, they take the lead in the line of natural
progress. The state university is inseparably linked to the state, and
must carry with it the best influences of the state, and thus extend
its influence to the whole people.
The great denominational schools at first represented homogeneous
elements in the national life. Harvard was essentially a state
institution. It was founded in “accord with the fundamental principles
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” The people of Massachusetts,
at that time, were largely homogeneous in race, religion, and love of
freedom. Yale was founded partly on the conservative Congregationalism
of Connecticut; hence it represented the mass of people in that State.
Princeton was founded in the interest of the Scotch and Scotch-Irish
political and religious views in the Middle States, but was so far
catholic as to enlist the sympathy of the Dutch and the Quakers.
However, it served a comparatively homogeneous people. In later years
each of these universities, in order to reach large numbers of people
maintaining diverse views, has been obliged to subordinate specific
sectarian or denominational elements and emphasize only the highest
ideals common to its constituency. The newer states of the West have a
mixed population with heterogeneous interests. Hence it follows that
not a denominational school, but a state school, broad enough for all
the people, alone can satisfy the need of each state. Since it is
impossible to maintain a real university for each peculiar interest,
all must unite to support one institution, an institution maintaining
the highest ideals common to humanity, and specifically to our own
civilization. The ideals common to the American people are ample
enough for an ideal university, founded and maintained by the state.
Harvard or Princeton may say: “We have done for the state all that the
state university claims as its function.” Then let each state have a
Princeton which from the start is assured of an adequate foundation. In
our Western states the same reason that would create one denominational
college would create in each state fifteen or twenty. The history of
the world never has seen such a dissipation of educational energy as
is now seen in America, and a system of state education which tends to
correct the evil merits enthusiastic support. It may be added that the
state university exists in the West because the majority of the people
are coming to prefer that kind of institution.
We may say, then, that the state university represents (1) the
completion of the democratic ideal of public education; (2) the unity
of progress amidst diversity of view, and the mutual influence of
the knowledge and power of the scholar and the ideals of the people;
(3) the broad platform upon which the heterogeneous elements of the
state may unite in the interest of higher education. It is understood,
of course, that these three statements are not altogether mutually
exclusive.
These views of the _raison d’être_ of the state university lead
directly to the presentation in detail of some facts in its history and
some of its aims, showing that its ideals are practicable.
The state university virtually, if not formally, is a part of the
public-school system. As such it holds a peculiar and influential
relation toward the public high schools. It furnishes teachers trained
in the university in regular and pedagogical courses. It scrutinizes
the courses of study and the character of the work, and formally
approves the schools of standard merit. It helps in every prudent
way the influence of the school with the community. By its friendly
relation it may present freely the advantages of higher education
and thus reach a large number who would otherwise rest at the goal
of high-school graduation. In every state, through the agency of the
university, the number of high schools is materially increased, and
their standards, plan of organization, and methods are improved.
Moreover, it gives the promise of something beyond that stimulates the
efforts of pupils in every grade of work.
The connection between the high school and the university still gives
rise to troublesome problems, not alone in this country. The ideals of
the older American university are often at variance with the systematic
development of education below the university and the demands of the
people. The state university has come nearer than any other to the
solution. While Harvard and Yale met the growing demands of science
by establishing separate schools, Michigan introduced the scientific
course into the college, making it rank with the classical. This plan,
generally adopted by the state universities, places them nearly in line
with the natural development of the public-school system. The state
universities also show their regard for popular demand by admitting
special students.
By offering free tuition, the state university reaches many who would
otherwise fail to enjoy higher training. It tends to equalize the
conditions for rich and poor in the struggle for the survival of the
fittest.
The state university, as it develops and realizes its true function,
must be thoroughly catholic in spirit, because it stands for humanity,
truth, and progress. Nowhere is the professor or the scholar permitted
to use such intellectual freedom as in the state university in Germany,
and in the natural course of events the same freedom will be allowed in
the United States. Not only will the free and inventive spirit become
characteristic, but our Western universities, standing in the midst
of the most advanced ideas of civilization, must furnish some of the
most important contributions to the study of all social, economic, and
ethical problems.
In the state universities the mental and moral atmosphere is healthful.
A strong, honest manhood is cultivated. There all ideals are strongly
maintained, not according to a particular creed, but with regard to
all the implications of man’s higher nature. All influences tend to
make citizens who are in harmony with the national spirit. An extended
acquaintance with graduates of various state universities shows that,
as a whole, they are broad-minded citizens, loyal to the public
interest.
The relation of the religious denominations to the state university is
one that commands serious attention. The university says to each class
of people: “Here is an institution which is equally for the advantage
of all—it is yours. Its platform, founded on ideals of truth, beauty,
and goodness, is as broad as humanity. Since there must be diversity
of religious views, establish your theological schools, halls, guilds,
or professorships in the vicinity of the university, and, making use
of what the state offers, supplement in your own way the work of the
state.” The plan is in the highest degree economical; it combines
unity of effort with variety of independent view; it makes the general
good and the special interest mutually helpful. It is the plan of
business common sense and of wise insight into the problems of the age.
That the denominations—granting their point of view—should join their
interest with that of the state university is shown also by the fact
that often a given denomination finds more of its students there than
at its church school.
Many state universities are beginning to receive private endowment.
Every consideration of public interest in each state should turn the
contributions for education toward the one great centre of learning.
Very few states can support more than one such centre. Libraries, art
collections, museums, laboratories, buildings, well-endowed chairs,
beautiful grounds, should testify to the munificence of private wealth
as well as to the benefactions of the state.
Speaking generally, the state universities have large incomes and good
facilities. They require high standards for admission and graduation.
Wherever feasible, they maintain professional schools and schools of
applied science. They do this upon the theory that the state should
both regulate and provide professional education in the interest of
proper standards, and that, in the interest of the state and of the
individual, such education should be made available to the sons of the
poor. Every leading state university is developing a graduate school.
In the matter of electives, the state university occupies a middle
ground. Yale and Princeton represent the conservative side, and Harvard
and Stanford the liberal extreme. An examination of the curricula
of ten leading state universities shows that the requirements for
admission are definitely prescribed, although two or more courses are
recognized; that about half the college studies are required, while
the remaining half are offered as group or free electives. The state
universities naturally show a tendency toward the German university
system.
* * * * *
In America the college has been frankly maintained in accord with
Platonic ideals. A full rounded manhood, drawing its power from each
chief source of knowledge, and prepared in a general way for every
practical activity, has been the aim. The American college is dear to
the people, and it has done much to make strong men who have powerfully
influenced the nation. There are, however, various tendencies which are
likely to modify the whole organization of the American university,
including that of the college.
The recent tendency toward free election, reaching even into the high
school, is a subject of animated controversy. This tendency I have
frequently discussed elsewhere, and must still maintain that, in its
extreme form, it is irrational. One university of high standing makes
it possible to enter its academic department and graduate without
mathematics, science, or classics. This is an extreme that is not
likely to be sanctioned by the educational world. If there is a human
type with characteristics by which it is defined—characteristics which
can be developed only by looking toward each field of knowledge—then a
secondary and higher education which makes possible the entire omission
of any important group of subjects is likely to prove a great wrong to
the average student. According to some high educational authorities,
no one can be called liberally educated who does not at least possess
knowledge of (1) mathematics and science, (2) language and literature,
(3) philosophy. Philosophy, as it was in Greece and as it is in
Germany, may become a larger factor in our American education.
There is another tendency which is working toward an inevitable result.
The average American student who desires higher or professional
education will not spend four years in high school, four years in
college, and three or four years in a graduate or professional school.
There is a movement to shorten in some manner the whole course of
education. Already many colleges and collegiate departments of
universities offer electives that will count for one or two years of
law, medicine, or theology. Already the _university system_ in the form
of group electives is introduced into the last two years of college.
The outcome will probably be a gradual reorganization of the
high-school studies and those of the first two or three years of
college. The new curriculum should lay for the student a broad and firm
foundation in knowledge and power for all subsequent aptitudes. Upon
this should be built the graduate school, the professional school, and
perhaps the school of technology. In this plan the American college
need not be lost, for the bachelor’s degree could be granted for a
given amount of work beyond the college in the graduate school. The
claim that the student should begin university work almost anywhere
along the line of education, before laying a complete foundation for
a specialty, appears absurd. It may be added that only by partial
reorganization of our educational system can the admission standard to
the American professional school ever be made respectable.
The scientific spirit—the term is used in the broadest sense—in all
investigation and instruction is a most encouraging feature of present
tendencies. If the American professor cannot always be an original
investigator, he may keep abreast of investigation and impart its
inspiration to the student. To this end the _Lehrfreiheit_, freedom
in teaching, is necessary. It is a sad comment that the spirit of
the inquisition has recently appeared in a New England university.
The professor’s thought must not be prescribed for him by any creed,
religious, political, or scientific. Of course, he must stand on the
safe foundation of the past—he is not expected to soar in a balloon or
leap over a precipice. A recent work on “The Ideal of Universities”
says: “We can distinguish four chief currents in the theology of
the present era: (1) The Roman Catholic; (2) the Protestant; (3)
that objective-historic theology which simply states the origin and
development of the Christian doctrine; and (4) the inception of a
theology based upon recognized facts of science, of human nature, and
of history.” All philosophy of nature and of human nature must become
truth-seeking—this is a mere truism. No philosophy or belief can afford
to maintain any other attitude. Leaders in the orthodox churches are
teaching us this fact by their bearing toward new conceptions. And
we need have no fear of the outcome. The highest ideals and hopes
of humanity will be confirmed by the most thorough investigation in
which metaphysics shall use the contribution of every department of
objective and subjective science. A course in theology, scientific
theology, should be found in every university, including the state
university—and some dare to think the latter is the place for it. The
facts of man’s higher intellectual and emotional life are the most
important data for investigation.
The doctrine of _Lernfreiheit_, the freedom of the student, unhappily
has been ignorantly applied in this country. It may properly be
employed for the German university student at the age of twenty
to twenty-five, after his training in the gymnasium, but not to
the American college student at the age of eighteen to twenty-two.
In America it may apply to the students in the graduate school.
Some American colleges have tried the extreme theory of mental and
moral freedom for the college student, and have learned from an
unsatisfactory experience the lesson of a wise conservatism.
The old struggle between science and the humanities still goes on. We
must adopt a view of education which regards the nature of man and its
adaptation to the whole environment, including its historical element.
In a keen analysis of the _nature of things_ we shall not find Greek
and Latin, but we shall find them historically in our language and
literature, and in the generic concepts of our civilization. Hence they
are a necessary part of any extended study of language, literature, or
art.
We do not believe that the practical tendency of American education
will destroy our reverence for what the Germans call the _philosophical
faculty_ in the university. The liberal arts, including pure science,
are the gems of human culture, and are given a high value even in the
imagination of the ignorant. The editor of “The Cosmopolitan” draws
a bold and somewhat original outline for modern education, and it
is in many ways suggestive. But the author overlooks what every true
scholar knows, that thorough scientific knowledge of principles must
remain the fundamental work of education and the substantial ground of
progress in civilization. A university course may not consist chiefly
of lectures upon prudential maxims, such as all must learn partly from
experience. Such a theory would award the palm, not to Socrates, but
to the Sophists. The truth in all the clamor for practical work in the
college is that the culture studies must be vivified by closer relation
to the real world and to modern life.
Little has been said of what is called the graduate school. Germany
credits us with eleven institutions that have either reached the
standard of a genuine university or are rapidly approaching it. Of
these eleven, five are state universities. This estimate, of course,
is made in accord with the plan and standard of the German university.
It appears certain that in time the name university in America will be
applied only to those institutions which maintain the graduate school
and raise the dignity of the professional schools. The university
system will develop freely in this country only after a somewhat
important reorganization of our higher education. The line must be
drawn more sharply between foundation education and university work,
the whole period of education must be somewhat shortened, and, in
most of our universities, the graduate faculty must be strengthened.
That these changes will be wrought, and that we shall have a rapid
development of the genuine university is certain. Much is to be
expected from our higher scholarship in many lines of investigation.
In America, men are solving problems the existence of which has only
been dimly conceived by the masses of people in the Old World. Inspired
by our advanced conceptions of government and society, and by the
free, inventive, truth-seeking spirit characteristic of our people,
the American scholar will make leading contributions to the world’s
literature of sociology, politics, and science. And when the spirit of
reality, now superficial, gains a deeper insight into the nature of
things, America may yet lead the world in those investigations which
belong to the sphere of philosophy.