A Study On The Historiography Of American Higher Education Between1945and1965, Based On Three Classics

Historiographical study is a relatively new territory for educational history. Considered the current situation of our work, historiography leaves us plenty room for further exploration. This article focuses on the development of the historiography of American higher education history during the period between the end of WWII and mid-60s. Here analysis is mainly based on three classics of higher education history, which are Richard Hofstadter’s Academic Freedom in the Age of the College, Frederick Rudolph’s The American College and University:A History, and Laurence Veysey’s The Emergence of the American University. This research is designed to discuss the bases and contents of the paradigm transition of American higher education history after WWII so as to find out groundbreaking explanatory models and research methods of the greatest higher education historians at the time.Professionalization of academics at the end of the19th century, the progressive tradition of history study of the20th century, contributions of pedagogy researchers, and the new trends among mainstream historians of the1930s, are combined together to be the long time cause of the emergence of the new paradigm. And the key points of the new paradigm are contained in the mentioned three classics. Hofstadter built up a macro-model for the history of American college education with religious toleration and civil freedom as twin crucial clues. His study revealed the ethical relations between American society and higher education institutions. Rudolph wrote a comprehensive history without losing insights. He was the first higher educational historian who tried to emphasize women as well as student life within the history of higher education and successfully developed a residual pattern for each. Veysey in his book gave a vivid account of the American University Movement starting from1860s by reviewing the conflicting academic ideas inside the community of higher education leaders. He also completed an organizational inquiry of new university with innovative structure-functional analysis.American higher education research has been released from the isolated house-history tradition and returned to the study of a dynamic social process ever since the publication of the three classics. Thanks to the bold efforts of Hofstadter, Rudolph and Veysey, in all sense the academic standard of historical study of American higher education was considerably improved; the scope was enlarged and new literature resources were discovered. Although in the1970s, their explanatory framework underwent scathing criticism from the revisionists, the values of their scholarships were widely rediscovered afterwards among the post-revisionist historians. Through historical study and qualitative analysis, we intend to get close to the epistemology and methodology of historiography of American higher education and also to acquire concrete knowledge about the nature of the new paradigm.