A Study On The Practices And Ideas Of Clark Kerr In Higher Education

Clark kerr was one of the most prominent ideologists as well as practitioners in the field of American higher education since WWâ…¡,being praised as"the parent of the modern American system of higher education". This thesis exhibits the panorama of Kerr's ideas objectively and vividly through the analysis of his practical activities and idea system.Firstly, method of historical analysis was used to present the evolvement of Kerr's ideas on higher education through his personal experiences and the time background: the thesis traces the making of Kerr's basic values which directs the tendency of his latter ideas from his earlier experiences; penetrates the shaping and development of his educational ideas through his initiation in the first academic plan in Berkeley and the administrative reorganization in UC ,the moving of the multicampus system, the construction of the 1960 California Master Plan, and his dilemma in the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, as the first chancellor of Berkeley UC and then the president of the multicampus system; and later looks into his standpoint as a mature investigator and its key characters from the purposes and performances of the Carnegie Commission and Council under his leading. The dynamic relations between Kerr's ideas and practices on higher Education were emphasized and viewed in a microcosmic way in this thesis.Then, Kerr's systematic ideas are divided into the following sectors: the Philosophy of Multiversity, Purposes and Functions of Higher Education ,Structure and Patterns of Higher Education System, the Relations between Higher Education and the governments and the markets, and the Governance and Administration of Colleges and Universities, which are presented from abstract ideas to concrete institutions. Kerr's rigorous analysis on evolution of higher education system were reproduced with the author's moderate explanation to their values for theory and practice.The main contributions the thesis made are as follows: Firstly, the cause and effect of Kerr's ideas on higher education and the different stages of its evolution with different characteristics were grasped through analysis in details of his life and career under macro background, which can as well provide a framework for historic analysis that do help to understand Kerr's ideas. Secondly, researches on the relations betweenKerr's practices and ideas on higher education revealed the fact that how much and in what way he could control the matters depends much on different situations, thus providing a new visual angle for the evolution of Kerr's performances. Thirdly, the complete explanation of Kerr's works on higher education in this thesis can relatively guarantee the faithfulness of the conclusion on Kerr's steady modes of thinking and characters of his ideas , and do help for us to appreciate the soul of his ideas as well as checking its limits.