How has history influenced higher education?

Nicole Marie Sartin
Ashford University
EDU623: Introduction to Teaching & Learning


Higher education in America is a product of an extended evolutionary process. Religious economic, educational and societal issues have influenced higher education throughout the history of the United States.

During Colonial times, the notion of higher education in America can be credited to apprenticeship agreements and/or religious training. The first formalized higher learning schools during Colonial times were focused on producing Puritan ministers and clergy.

While religious training dominated higher learning, vocational skills become a prominent topic among American educators as a result of the shift to an industrial economic base. Thus, the Morrill Land Grant Bill was signed by Congress to set federal dollars aside for the establishment of Universities focusing on training students for jobs in agriculture, science, technology and mechanical arts for each state in the US. (1999)

In 1636, Harvard University opened and students studying for the ministry were given free tuition. Next, Yale College as founded in 1701, followed by Princeton University, Stanford University, Brown University, Columbia University and Dartmouth College. While wealthy Philanthropists endowed many of the private institutions, states began funding their own colleges also with a strict emphasis on academics, law and/ or medicine but at lower tuition rates. (1965)

After World War II, Congress passed the GI Bill in 1944 to give men returning from war the opportunity for free education. With industrial production still at an all-time high, The Higher Education Act was enacted in 1965 so that federal scholarships and low-interest loans could be awarded to those students unable to afford tuition fees for higher learning. In addition, local community colleges were established while a separate education bill was passed to ensure the development and expansion of state dental and medical schools. (2009)

From the early 1890s to 1915, Booker T. Washington was a dominant black political and educational leader in the United States. He established and led the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, an all-black college for black students to gain access to higher learning. (1996)

With the Civil Rights movement, state colleges and universities started to become culturally diverse. Although African-Americans and women had their separate colleges, the Civil Rights movement directed public colleges and universities to accept students regardless of race, gender or nationality.

Today, higher learning institutions are focused on preparing students to complete academically and professionally in a global economy. But not much has changed. Many colleges, universities, community colleges and vocational schools are still focusing on maintaining high academic standards, innovative technology training and workforce readiness.

References:
Glenn Altschuler and Stuart Blumin, The GI Bill: The New Deal for Veterans (2009)

Gordon, Howard R. D. 1999. The History and Growth of Vocational Education in America.
Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Johnson, Keith V. 1996. "Some Thoughts on African Americans' Struggle to Participate in
Technology Education." The Journal of Technology Studies 22 (1):49 - 54.

Laurence Veysey, The Emergence of the American University (1965)