第 26 节
作者:青涩春天      更新:2021-02-27 02:38      字数:9322
  scatteringly among the members of the staff; with a relatively
  large assignment of hours to each man; so as to admit no assured
  and persistent concentration on any point; the run of instruction
  offered will necessarily be of this perfunctory character; and
  will therefore be of such amateurish and pedantic quality。 Such
  an outcome is by no means unusual where regard is had primarily
  to covering a given inclusive range of subjects; rather than to
  the special aptitudes of the departmental corps; as indeed
  commonly happens; and as happens particularly where the school or
  the department in question is sufficiently imbued with a
  businesslike spirit of academic rivalry。 It follows necessarily
  and in due measure on the introduction of the principles;
  methods; and tests of competitive business into the work of
  instruction。(6*)
  Under these principles of accountancy and hierarchical
  control; each of the several bureaux of erudition  commonly
  called departments  is a competitor with all its fellow bureaux
  in the (thrifty) apportionment of funds and equipment;  for the
  businesslike university management habitually harbours a larger
  number of departments than its disposable means will adequately
  provide for。 So also each department competes with its fellow
  departments; as well as with similar departments in rival
  universities; for a clientele in the way of student
  registrations。 These two lines of competition are closely
  interdependent。 An adverse statistical showing in the number of
  students; or in the range; variety and volume of courses of
  instruction offered by any given department; is rated by the
  businesslike general directorate as a shortcoming; and it is
  there fore likely to bring a reduction of allowances。 At the same
  time; of course; such an adverse showing reflects discredit on
  the chief of bureau; while it also wounds his self…respect。 The
  final test of competency in such a chief; under business
  principles; is the statistical test; in part because numerical
  tests have a seductive air of businesslike accountancy; and also
  because statistical exhibits have a ready use as advertising
  material to be employed in appeals to the potential donors and
  the unlearned patrons of the university; as well as to the public
  at large。
  So the chief of bureau; with the aid and concurrence of his
  loyal staff; will aim to offer as extensive and varied a range of
  instruction as the field assigned his department will admit。 Out
  of this competitive aggrandizement of departments there may even
  arise a diplomatic contention between heads of departments; as to
  the precise frontiers between their respective domains; each
  being ambitious to magnify his office and acquire merit by
  including much of the field and many of the students under his
  own dominion。(7*) Such a conflict of jurisdiction is particularly
  apt to arise in case; as may happen; the number of scholastic
  departments exceeds the number of patently distinguishable
  provinces of knowledge; and competitive business principles
  constantly afford provocation to such a discrepancy; at the hands
  of an executive pushed by the need of a show of magnitude and
  large traffic。 It follows; further; from these circumstances;
  that wherever contiguous academic departments are occupied with
  such closely related subject matter as would place them in a
  position to supplement one another's work; the negotiations
  involved in jealously guarding their respective frontiers may
  even take on an acrimonious tone; and may involve more or less of
  diplomatic mischief…making; so that; under this rule of
  competitive management; opportunities for mutual comfort and aid
  will not infrequently become occasion for mutual distrust and
  hindrance。
  The broader the province and the more exuberant the range of
  instruction appropriated to a given department and its corps of
  teachers; the more creditable will be the statistical showing;
  and the more meagre and threadbare are likely to be the
  scientific results。 The corps of instructors will be the more
  consistently organized and controlled with a view to their
  dispensing accumulated knowledge; rather than to pursue further
  inquiry in the direction of their scholarly inclination or
  capacity; and frequently; indeed; to dispense a larger volume and
  a wider range of knowledge than they are in any intimate sense
  possessed of。
  It is by no means that no regard is had to the special
  tastes; aptitudes; and attainments of the members of the staff;
  in so apportioning the work; these things are; commonly; given
  such consideration as the exigencies of academic competition will
  permit; but these exigencies decide that the criterion of special
  fitness becomes a secondary consideration。 Wherever the
  businesslike demands of a rounded and extensive schedule of
  courses traverse the lines of special aptitude and training; the
  requirements of the schedule must rule the case; whereas; of
  course; the interests of science and scholarship; and of the best
  efficiency in the instruction given; would decide that no demands
  of the schedule be allowed to interfere with each man's doing the
  work which he can do best; and nothing else。
  A schedule of instruction drawn on such lines of efficiency
  would avoid duplication of course; and would curtail the number
  of courses offered by any given department to such a modicum as
  the special fitness of the members of the staff would allow them
  to carry to the best effect。 It would also proceed on the obvious
  assumption that co…ordinate departments in the several
  universities should supplement one another's work;  an
  assumption obvious to the meanest academic common sense。 But
  amicable working arrangements of this kind between departments of
  different universities; or between the several universities as a
  whole; are of course virtually barred out under the current
  policy of competitive duplication。 It is out of the question; in
  the same manner and degree as the like co…operation between rival
  department stores is out of the question。 Yet so urgently right
  and good is such a policy of mutual supplement and support;
  except as a business proposition; that some exchange of academic
  civilities paraded under its cloak is constantly offered to view
  in the manoeuvres of the competing captains of erudition。 The
  well…published and nugatory(8*) periodic conferences of
  presidents commonly have such an ostensible purpose。
  Competitive enterprise; reinforced with a sentimental
  penchant for large figures; demands a full schedule of
  instruction。 But to carry such a schedule and do the work well
  would require a larger staff of instructors in each department;
  and a larger allowance of funds and equipment; than business
  principles will countenance。 There is always a dearth of funds;
  and there is always urgent use for more than can be had; for the
  enterprising directorate is always eager to expand and project
  the business of the concern into new provinces of school
  work;secondary; primary; elementary; normal; professional;
  technical; manual…training; art schools; schools of music;
  elocution; book…keeping; housekeeping; and a further variety that
  will more readily occur to those who have been occupied with
  devising ways and means of extending the competitive traffic of
  the university。 Into these divers and sundry channels of sand the
  pressure of competitive expansion is continually pushing
  additional half…equipped; under…fed and over…worked ramifications
  of the academic body。 And then; too; sane competitive business
  practice insists on economy of cost as well as a large output of
  goods。 It is 〃bad business〃 to offer a better grade of goods than
  the market demands; particularly to customers who do not know the
  difference; or to turn out goods at a higher cost than other
  competing concerns。 So business exigencies; those exigencies of
  economy to which the businesslike governing boards are very much
  alive; preclude any department confining itself to the work which
  it can do best; and at the same stroke they preclude the
  authorities from dealing with any department according to such a
  measure of liberality as would enable it to carry on the required
  volume of work in a competent manner。
  In the businesslike view of the captains of erudition; taken
  from the standpoint of the counting…house; learning and
  university instruction are a species of skilled l