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