Germanic Influence on Higher Education

More people than ever before are attending college due to the endless opportunities that it provides. Louis Menand, a college professor and the author of “Live and Learn: Why We Have College,” explains the meaning of college through three theories that have been developed. Theory 1 supports the idea of the sorting-out process that separates the highly intelligent from the less intelligent. Menand’s second theory explains that college provides opportunities for developmental growth, personal growth, and teaches individuals about the world around us. These are valuable lessons that will not be learned anywhere else. Theory three supports the idea of people attending college to specialize in a specific vocation. I

In 1852 when John Henry Newman wrote his essay, “The Idea of a University,” he wanted to convey that a University’s purpose was to be able to educate first-rate members of the social order. Newman’s theory, although over a hundred years old, still applies to today’s college students; many are seeking higher educations to not only lead to successful careers, but to also become an improved person in society.

Higher education has a vast history; beginning in the early colonial period and spanning ten generations. With its wide range of history, aspects of higher education have changed as the ideals and reforms of society adjusted. Albeit, the missions and purposes of college have remained the same. In this paper, I will clarify the three main missions and purposes of higher education. Then, I will shift the focus of the paper to the area I would like to pursue in higher education and how it reflects those purposes.

Colleges and university have slowly become one of the stepping stones into the working world today. People go to colleges for higher education with the intention of earning degrees in which they can use in their respective fields. Some example degrees that people pursue are Medical, Law, Business, Accounting, and Science Degrees. Through the years the idea of college was that it was optional and it was a door for better life and job. However in the modern times, it become a necessity. It all started when the colleges once single- gender institutions target specific students in their respective demographics. Today, the college market has now been divided into two major categories:

Higher education has become a staple of American society. With over 20 million students attending over 4,500 degree granting institutions, the role that higher education has played on larger society is paramount (Thelin, 2017). However, despite the popularity of higher education institutions, the exact purpose of higher education has changed from century to century and may serve different purposes depending on who is asked. Higher education today is arguably both a public and private good. While state and federal governments have invested in a variety of higher education initiatives, as well as assisted thousands of students with attending college through loans and scholarships in hopes that students use their acquired skills and

Before 1862, higher education was a privilege for the wealthy and elite members of society. These habits were inherited from the European class system and designed society in an aristocratic way where nobility was viewed more importantly than value and worth. A college education was generally available if you were wealthy, white, and male. Many of the subjects that were available were things such as Latin, literature, law, or the classics, usually held at a private school.

Between the 1900s and 1975 the United States experiences growth in many areas of higher education (HE). Various publications, people, acts and legislation influenced change in thought, access, policy, practice, and assessment of HE. From the Civil War Era to the Mass Education Era we witnessed the struggle of African Americans that influenced important legislation, the Progressive Movement and the birth of the Wisconsin Idea, the publication and revision of the Student Personnel Point of View, the President’s Commission on Higher Education, and the passing of the Higher Education Act. All of which contributed to the growth of HE during this time period.

a. Brought by European in the 1630s, the educational system in North America was established to provide religious needs and the laws in the American colonies such as Harvard College, which was founded in 1632. Furthermore, the diverse sponsorship and the variety of programs of study were differed depending social, religious, and political profiles of the colonies themselves. (Silver, 2016)

There are numerous things that come to mind when people hear the word college. One of the most common things is the expenses for materials, courses, and room and board. Most people tend overlook the academic achievements that come with a degree and the valuable lessons that are retained from the numerous and rigorous courses taken. Not only is college preparing you for the profession of your choice but it is also gives you a well developed opinion and opportunities that may lead you to expanding your educational career.

Why do people go to college? Why do people get educated? The well-known figure of Catholicism in the 19th century, John Henry Newman gives us an answer. Newman “sees tremendous value in education that exists solely for the sake of imparting knowledge and fostering inquiry. This kind of knowledge, for Newman, lies at the heart of a university”(Newman 32). Newman considers this kind of education as liberal. Furthermore, Newman claims that college education should be detached from practical purposes, and it should cover “branches of knowledge” (Newman 31). In another words, Newman insists that universities should adopt

The idea of a university, an institution composed of students seeking higher education in particular subjects, facilitated by teachers who are knowledgeable in the subject he or she teaches, is one of many concepts that has survived throughout the Middle Ages into modern day (“university”). Although the idea of a university has evolved over time since the Middle Ages, the general concepts of a university have remained the same, allowing for the successful comparison and contrasting of the changes in what was considered university, or universitas—Latin, commonly used as the language in which lectures were given, for “university”—in medieval times, and what is now considered a university in the current era (“Legacies of the Middle Ages”). The

Universities have existed since the Twelfth Century AD and have been evolving ever since. There have been many changes however many things have remained unchanged throughout the years. The student and teacher roles have evolved as well as the general purpose of going to a university. Overall the academic aspects have changed more than the personal aspects of college.

Learning and knowledge are highly prized in all societies, especially here in Ireland, where there is a strong tradition of respect for education. The choices that individuals make when leaving school, in particular whether to pursue higher education or not, are likely to have a long lasting effect on their lifestyle. The main purposes for a University education involve: social, national and educational purposes and for the individual personal purposes and moral development. These topics will be addressed in the following paragraphs.

The roots of higher education in Plymouth may be traced back 200 years. The early nineteen century saw the first of a series of self-help adult educational movements sweep Britain, which led to the establishment of Mechanics Institutes in Plymouth and Devonport in 1825. Classes aided by the Government’s Department of Science and Art were first held in Plymouth in the 1850s (Art) and 1860s (Science), and it were these, with University Extension which eventually came together in the 1890s/1900s in Plymouth’s first technical college buildings, later forming the Plymouth and Devonport Technical College out of which the University of Plymouth would emerge.

After universities started to become successful corporations, they became part of the system of the area. Professors were very high thought of like a knight was to its people. Professors took full claim of their writings and ways of teachings using positions such as patrimonies and gaining money any way they could through fees, bribes, and money lent to them by citizens. The rise of colleges affected universities such as Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge. Colleges were originally foundations that served as hostels for scholars who needed funding to go to a university. They were soon used for academic lectures like a class at a university. Colleges grew very rich throughout the areas that they were located in. Colleges controlled the teaching of liberal arts and became institutions that aided to the sons of the privileged classes rather than the international community of students. While the oldest universities were the casual gathering of scholars, universities were deliberately founded to get political support from citizens to strengthen religion in areas of contact with heretics or to increase the local and national status. The university movement was predominately international in its upcoming years. Pope Clement started a movement that turned the universities into national institutions which was a milestone that brought the corporations a long way from famine on the streets of these vast cities that were once striving in architecture and once again overdoing themselves and