| Student life at Washington State College from 1892 to 1942 offers a concrete example of the uniquely American approach to higher education. This education is characterized by its "total student" approach, meaning that college administrators and professors considered student behavior, social life, and extracurricular activities to be part of the educational process. Many historians of higher education have criticized this approach as distracting and unscholarly. Most of these critics assume that the German research-based university is the proper model for higher education.;This study argues that education for a democracy could not simply copy the European model, which was designed to educate a small and elite group of students. Even less could it emulate the German university, which prepared its students for a narrow range of occupations and for participation in a society which was rigid and undemocratic. The American college was preparing students to pursue almost every type of occupation and to live in a democratic, diverse, and fluid society. This goal required more than scholarly or scientific competence. It required that students also learn to think independently, to cooperate, and to behave humanely. The chapters in this study illustrate how dormitory living, social life, sports, campus politics, and other aspects of "college life" could contribute to this kind of learning.;The informality of the campus lent itself to closer ties between students and teachers, which many recent studies have found to be a key to effective higher education. This study offers the relationship of Edward R. Murrow, the famous broadcast journalist, to his Washington State College mentor as an example of how successful education occurred outside of the German research-oriented ideal. The American college, for all its academic shortcomings, fostered democratic, liberal, and humane thinking, which was the purpose of "going to State."... |
