From Christian Gentleman to Bewildered Seeker: The Transformation of American Higher Education |
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| Authors: | Russell K Nieli |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Politics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA |
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| Abstract: | In this carefully documented essay, Russell K. Nieli outlines the major transformation in American higher education that began
at the end of the nineteenth century. Today’s research- and vocation-driven private universities began as Christian institutions
founded by zealous evangelizers, while public colleges embraced a watered-down version of the earnest and forward-thinking
Protestant gentleman’s worldview, which saw no conflict between theological and secular knowledge. Science and religion remained
friendly until the advent of the industrial revolution brought the model of the German research university to the attention
of American academic reformers. Unity of knowledge was eventually supplanted by a secular, elective system. While the great
“multiversity” had arrived, critics mourned the loss of educational coherence and abandonment of the civilizing mission to
which moral and classical training were essential. In the 1920’s, the Great Books approach was reborn, despite the seemingly
unstoppable march of progress, science, and the subdiscipline. Vietnam-era upheavals led to the American academy’s transformation
into a politically correct mutlicultural smorgasboard seasoned to please the modern student palate. When today’s students
demand to be entertained and scholars continue to narrowly train, is there still room on the plate for the best that has been
said, thought, and written about the human experience?
Russell K. Nieli
is a lecturer in the Department of Politics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544; russniel@princeton.edu. This essay
was originally published by the John William Pope Center for Higher Education in Raleigh, North Carolina. |
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| Keywords: | American higher education Major transformation Christian institutions |
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