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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (51572)	6/20/2002 12:32:00 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 82486

Yes, rapid expansion has had a lot to do with it. But also, the university system has been quite shaken up by a couple of things since the Civil War. First, the introduction of the German system into America. Johns Hopkins was the first German style research university, focusing on its graduate schools and requiring most faculty to have doctorates and to be productive researchers. Before that, the Master's was the usual terminal degree, the focus of a university was teaching, and the curriculum was centered on the liberal arts, not pre- professional (pre- grad school) preparation. (Doctorates were previously obtainable, but the method was not standardized). The second thing was the introduction of the elective system at Harvard, I believe in 1910. Although certain prerequisites were maintained, and there were distribution requirements, to some extent degrees were customizable, and it was even more possible to focus on a "major" and only take smatterings of other courses. All of this encouraged a degree of professional and social competition in the classroom, to find how to get an edge, that gave universities inordinate power to certify people. I have met women with BS degrees in dental hygiene. Registered nurses routinely get bachelors degrees. Business management has actually become an academic discipline, and the MBA is considered de rigeur in some sectors of the economy. Too much power is given the "producers", who have the power to make applicants jump.......