The Historical Changes Of American Higher Education Since The 19th Century

Education is a matter of great concern to every era and every country.It is the inexhaustible motive force and source of culture,science and technology progress.While strengthening basic education,higher education has increasingly become the focus of education reform in every country.Especially after World War II,most of the research and development of new technologies are closely related to colleges and universities.The country which made most remarkable achievements in the aspect of technology innovation and the promotion of higher education development is undoubtedly the world's first economic power and technology power-the United States.Although the history of higher education in the United States is not too long compared to the European continent,and its initial form is to follow the example of Europe,its development path and model gradually showed its own characteristics.It becomes one of the most important factors to promote the prosperity of the American society and the strength of the country.Nowadays,with countries vigorously developing higher education,its' scale is expanding,the types of schools and educational goals are gradually diversified,and higher education faces an important transformation.The United States has already dealt with these changes after World War II,and the results are remarkable.This paper examines how the higher education in the United States has interacted with various social factors since the 19 th century,as well as the achievements and shortcomings in different periods.American higher education in the colonial period was deeply influenced by Europe,especially British universities,in terms of audience,educational goals and educational content.It was a kind of elite education in the upper class.However,after the founding of the People's Republic,especially after entering the 19 th century,American higher education has made new developments.Before the 1860 s,although elite education was still the mainstream,with the expansion of national territory and the development of industry and agriculture,government's subsidies and the promotion of denomination,various types of higher education institutions were established one after another.The admission standards of universities and colleges lowered a little.A small number of women and blacks began to be accepted by the college,and the curriculum of the universities also incorporated the elements of “modern science”.The promulgation of the Morrill Act in 1862 became an important turning point in the history of American higher education.Since then,various universities have flourished and the number of enrolled students has increased rapidly."Practical,research and free culture" together constituted the goal of higher education.There are four important reasons for its transformation: one is the social change caused by the second industrial revolution,the other is the social support for theuniversity,the third is the federal government's intervention in higher education,and the fourth is the promotion of "social service" concept.During this period,American higher education began to shift from elite education to mass education.After the Second World War,U.S.population increased dramatically,national income generally improved,the requirement of labor quality was also improved,the federal government strongly supported higher education and the civil rights movement was booming.Due to these reasons,the period of mass higher education was coming.Its performance is the rapid rise of community colleges and research universities,the goal of higher education has changed from "aristocratic" to "democracy",universities' science and technology played a leading role in government-university-enterprise cooperation,equal access to education,and the population of higher education increased.The popularization of higher education is a long-term development process,which is influenced by social economy,national policy,science and technology,ideology and culture,but at the same time plays an important role in the development of these factors.