2021年英语四级美文赏析：Modern American University思维导图

Beforethe1850s,theUnitedStateshadanumberofsmallcolleges,mostofthemdatingfromcolonialdays.Theyweresmall,churchconnectedinstitutionswhoseprimaryconcernwastoshapethemoralcharacteroftheirstudents.Meanwhile,throughoutEurope,institutionsofhigherlearninghaddeveloped.InGermanuniversitywasconcernedprimarilywithcreatingandspreadingknowledge,notmorals.Betweenmid-centuryandtheendofthe1800s,morethanninethousandyoungAmericans,dissatisfiedwiththeirtrainingathome,wenttoGermanyforadvancedstudy.Someofthemreturntobecomepresidentsofvenerablecolleges—Harvard,Yale,Columbia—andtransformthemintomodernuniversities.

Thenewpresidentsbrokealltieswiththechurchesandbroughtinanewkindoffaculty.Professorswerehiredfortheirknowledgeofasubject,notbecausetheywereoftheproperfaithandhadastrongarmfordiscipliningstudents.DrillingandmemorizingwerereplacedbytheGermanmethodoflecturing,inwhichtheprofessorsownresearchwaspresentedinclass.Withtheestablishmentoftheseminarsystem,graduatestudentlearnedtoquestion,analyze,andconducttheirownresearch.Atthesametime,thenewuniversitygreatlyexpandedinsizeandcourseofferings,breakingcompletelyoutoftheold,constrictedcurriculumofmathematics,classics,rhetoric,andmusic.

ThepresidentofHarvardpioneeredtheselectivesystem,bywhichstudentswereabletochoosetheirowncourseofstudy.Thenotionofmajorfieldsofstudyemerged.Thenewgoalwastomaketheuniversityrelevanttotherealpursuitsoftheworld.Payingcloseattentiontothepracticalneedsofsociety,thenewuniversitiestrainedmenandwomentoworkatitstasks,withengineeringstudentsbeingthemostcharacteristicofthenewsystem.Studentswerealsotrainedaseconomists,architects,agriculturalists,socialwelfareworkers,andteachers.