the higher learning in america-第5节
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in such enterprises as professional training; undergraduate
instruction; supervision and guidance of。 the secondary school
system; edification of the unlearned by 〃university extension〃
and similar excursions into the field of public amusement;
training of secondary school teachers; encouragement of amateurs
by 〃correspondence;〃 etc。 What and how much of these extraneous
activities the university should allow itself is a matter on
which there is no general agreement even among those whose
inclinations go far in that direction; but what is taken for
granted throughout all this advocacy of outlying detail is the
secure premise that the university is in the first place a
seminary of the higher learning; and that no school can make good
its pretensions to university standing except by proving its
fitness in this respect。(4*)
The conservation and advancement of the higher learning
involves two lines of work; distinct but closely bound together:
(a) scientific and scholarly inquiry; and (b) the instruction of
students。(5*) The former of these is primary and indispensable。
It is this work of intellectual enterprise that gives its
character to the university and marks it off from the lower
schools。 The work of teaching properly belongs in the university
only because and in so far as it incites and facilitates the
university man's work of inquiry; and the extent to which such
teaching furthers the work of inquiry is scarcely to be
appreciated without a somewhat extended experience。 By and large;
there are but few and inconsequential exceptions to the rule that
teaching; as a concomitant of investigation; is distinctly
advantageous to the investigator; particularly in so far as his
work is of the nature of theoretical inquiry。 The instruction
necessarily involved in university work; therefore; is only such
as can readily be combined with the work of inquiry; at the same
time that it goes directly to further the higher learning in that
it trains the incoming generation of scholars and scientists for
the further pursuit of knowledge。 Training for other purposes is
necessarily of a different kind and is best done elsewhere; and
it does not become university work by calling it so and imposing
its burden on the men and equipment whose only concern should be
the higher learning。
University teaching; having a particular and special purpose
the pursuit of knowledge it has also a particular and
special character; such as to differentiate it from other
teaching and at the same time leave it relatively ineffective for
other purposes。 Its aim is to equip the student for the work of
inquiry; not to give him facility in that conduct of affairs that
turns such knowledge to 〃practical account。〃 Hence the
instruction that falls legitimately under the hand of the
university man is necessarily subsidiary and incidental to the
work of inquiry; and it can effectually be carried on only by
such a teacher as is himself occupied with the scrutiny of what
knowledge is already in hand and with pushing the inquiry to
further gains。 And it can be carried on by such a teacher only by
drawing his students into his own work of inquiry。 The student's
relation to his teacher necessarily becomes that of an apprentice
to his master; rather than that of a pupil to his schoolmaster。
A university is a body of mature scholars and scientists; the
〃faculty;〃 with whatever plant and other equipment may
incidentally serve as appliances for their work in any given
case。 The necessary material equipment may under modern
conditions be very considerable; as may also the number of
care…takers; assistants; etc。; but all that is not the
university; but merely its equipment。 And the university man's
work is the pursuit of knowledge; together with whatever advisory
surveillance and guidance he may consistently afford such
students as are entering on the career of learning at a point
where his outlook and methods of work may be of effect for them。
No man whose energies are not habitually bent on increasing and
proving up the domain of learning belongs legitimately on the
university staff。 The university man is; properly; a student; not
a schoolmaster。 Such is the unmistakable drift of sentiment and
professed endeavour; in so far as it is guided by the cultural
aspirations of civilized mankind rather than by the emulative
strategy of individuals seeking their own preferment。(6*)
All this; of course; implies no undervaluing of the work of
those men who aim to prepare the youth for citizenship and a
practical career。 It is only a question of distinguishing between
things that belong apart。 The scientist and the scholar on the
one hand; and the schoolmaster on the other hand; both belong
within the later growth of civilization; but a differentiation of
the two classes; and a division of their work; is indispensable
if they are to do their work as it should be done; and as the
modern community thoughtfully intends that it should be done。 And
while such a division of labour has hitherto not been carried
through with any degree of consistency; it is at least under way;
and there is nothing but the presumption of outworn usage that
continues to hold the two lines of work together; to the
detriment of both; backed; it is true; by ambitions of
self…aggrandizement on the part of many schools and many of their
directorates。
The schoolmaster and his work may be equally; or more;
valuable to the community at large presumably more rather than
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 t