Research On The Developing History Of American University General Education In Mid-twentieth Century

America is not only the country which is most developed in economy but also in higher education. Throughout the history of American higher eeducation, general education plays an irreplaceable role. And American higher education has never stopped its reform on general education from the end of 19th century.This essay adopts from five parts. Introduction as the first part presents the background of research. From the background, the meaning of research, literature review and summary, rearch methods and the definitions on related concepts are intruduced.In the second part, the history of general education reform in America universities in 20th century is recommended. And the history in the middle of 20th century is divided into two phases. The first phase is from 1940 to 1950 and the second phase is from 1960 to 1970. And in the analysis of general education reform in the above two phases, Haward University, Chicago University and Brown University as the representatives are selected.In the third part, based on the PEST analysis model, this esssay analyses the reasons that affected generel education in the midddle of 20th century in America comprehensively from the aspects of politics, economy and culture.In the fourth part, a conclusion is drawn from the historical evaluation on the following three aspects:the history of American general education's course content; the influence of American general education to the development of American universities and the influence of American general education to the cultivation of American university students.In the last part, combining with the results of above analysis and summary, six advices have gotten. First, guiding thoughts of Chinese general education should be established. Second, the content of Chinese general education should be completed. Third, the general education with individual cheracteristics should be founded. Fourth, the administrative system of Chinese genereal education should function scientically. Fifth, the functional deparements of Chinese general education reform should be founded. At last, the function of Chinese general education should be expanded.