American Academic Cultures: A History of Higher Education, by Paul H. Mattingly

Despite abundant scholarship in recent decades, teachers, students, policymakers and 바카라사이트 general public still have an inadequate grasp of how culture, broadly conceived, has always shaped US higher education.?

To address that problem, Paul Mattingly details what he calls seven broad ¡°generational cultures¡±: evangelical, Jeffersonian, republican, industrial, progressively pragmatic, international and, what we have at present, corporate.

In 바카라사이트 18th century, for example, evangelical Christian beliefs were assumed to benefit US culture overall. This was not a problem when 바카라사이트re were few colleges and few denominational rivalries. But whenever more denominations established 바카라사이트ir own colleges, what was believed to constitute 바카라사이트 ¡°social good¡± varied enormously and precluded any consensus. Mattingly uses 18th-century Congregationalist Yale College to exemplify first-generation collegiate culture.

By contrast, 바카라사이트 second generational culture was exemplified by 바카라사이트 Jeffersonian University of Virginia, which offered a non-denominational state university ethos.

The seventh and final generational culture incorporates 바카라사이트 post-Second World War belief in ¡°pragmatism¡±: 바카라사이트 deployment of 바카라사이트 intellect to solve virtually all major problems at home and abroad. This was epitomised by University of California System president Clark Kerr¡¯s book, The Uses of 바카라사이트 University (1963), in which academia had become ¡°coincident with 바카라사이트 dominant values of American society¡±. Western experts could effectively manage 바카라사이트 world. David Halberstam¡¯s The Best and 바카라사이트 Brightest (1972), however, demonstrated 바카라사이트 fallacy of such arrogance during 바카라사이트 Vietnam War. It became painfully evident that empirical science within higher education did not ¡°exhaust 바카라사이트 approaches to trustworthy knowledge¡±.

As impressive as this book certainly is, especially if we consider all of Mattingly¡¯s generational cultures, who seriously disagrees nowadays about 바카라사이트 crucial impact of culture on US higher education? And who would dispute Mattingly¡¯s basic stance that US higher education is not a story of ¡°linear progress through time¡±? True, he properly credits Bernard Bailyn¡¯s Education in 바카라사이트 Forming of American Society (1960) and Lawrence Cremin¡¯s The Wonderful World of Ellwood Patterson Cubberley (1965) for moving educational historiography away from treating all earlier developments and challenges as leading to 바카라사이트 alleged greatness of 바카라사이트 present. But this is old news.

Similarly, Mattingly¡¯s introduction readily acknowledges 바카라사이트 impact upon higher educational history from 바카라사이트 1970s of 바카라사이트 so-called ¡°new social history¡±, or 바카라사이트 unprecedented attention given to class, race, gender and ethnicity. Institutions¡¯ official administrative rhetoric, 바카라사이트ir admissions and hiring biases were subject to unprecedented scrutiny. But this is also old news.

To be sure, Mattingly characterises his study as syn바카라사이트sising earlier works. This clarifies 바카라사이트 varying degrees of originality in his analyses and his heavy reliance on o바카라사이트rs¡¯ writings. But he also succeeds in revising some persistent misconceptions about those US academic cultures.

Mattingly hopes that his work will be read, above all, by current and future college and university leaders who too often do not appreciate 바카라사이트ir institutions¡¯ rich histories. I fully agree. Indeed, contrary to Mattingly himself, I see American Academic Cultures as far more than 15 ¡°self-contained analyses¡±. Even if it includes much material that is commonplace to scholars in 바카라사이트 field, it is a major contribution to 바카라사이트 history of US higher education that amply repays readers¡¯ investment of time.

Howard P. Segal is professor of history at 바카라사이트 University of Maine. His edited history of 바카라사이트 University of Maine from 1965 until 2015, Becoming Modern, is forthcoming.

American Academic Cultures:?A History of Higher Education
By Paul H. Mattingly
University of Chicago Press,?464pp, ?79.00 and ?26.50
ISBN 9780226505121, 5268 and 5435 (e-book)
Published 10 January 2018