The Research On Higher Education Thought Of William Harold Cowley

William Harold Cowley(1899.5.28-1978.7.23),a famous scholar of American higher education in the mid-20 th century,making outstanding contributions to American higher education research and higher education reform,known as "a pioneer in the field of higher education research".His lifelong academic achievements are well-known in the United States,and his higher education ideas in the United States have been praised by scholars such as J.L.Morrill,the former president of the University of Minnesota,and James brgant Conant,the former president of Harvard University.At present,higher education research community lacks systematic and holistic research on Cowley in China,only mentioning some of Cowley's views in related works,and lacking a detailed introduction to his thoughts.Therefore,this research takes Cowley's higher education thought as the research object,comprehensively uses literature research method,historical research method and comparative research method,and on the basis of combing Cowley's life and main educational practices,highly refined his higher education thought The main content of the article,and then objectively evaluate it,in order to arouse the attention of the higher education research community of my country to Cowley's higher education thought and its role in the history of the development of American higher education research.Cowley's life experience and main educational practice.Born in Petersburg,Va.,in 1899,Cowley received a bachelor's degree in English from Dartmouth College in 1924 and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Chicago in 1930.Cowley served as assistant to the president and director of career services at the University of Chicago,director of the Center for Student Personnel Research at Ohio State University,11 th president of Hamilton College and full-time professor of higher education at Stanford University.Cowley has been practicing his own educational philosophy in various work experiences,which has laid the foundation for the formation of Cowley's higher education thought.the main content of Cowley's thought on higher education.Cowley has rich working experience in higher education and the management experience,and on the basis of practical exploration and theoretical research,gradually formed a systematic ideas of higher education,including general education as the core of the university concept,common plural governance of university governance mechanism,in order to promote students' overall development as the goal of student personnel management thought and the unique theoretical system four aspects,such as higher education research.In the first place,the purpose of the university is to train the whole student,not only the student's mind.Secondly,stakeholders such as the board of directors,president,professors,student groups,alumni and academic associations form a university governance mechanism in which multiple subjects co-govern in the balance of interests and power sharing.Third,to promote the overall development of students as the goal of student personnel management ideas.It is clear that student personnel management is the basic concept of "the management and service of all non-academic affairs related to student development except course teaching",and it makes detailed plans for the development of student personnel management,and actively advocates the establishment of student personnel management institutions in colleges and universities.Fourth,the unique theoretical and ideological system of higher education research.Constructing the taxonomic method of higher education research,clarifying that institutional research is a new field of higher education research,and strengthening the quality of postgraduate training in higher education specialty.the evaluation and reference of Cowley's thought on higher education.The formation and development of Cowley's thoughts on higher education were accompanied by the rise of the manual training movement and the progressive educational trend,and were also deeply influenced by the pragmatic educational philosophy,the traditional university idea and the general system theory of organic biology.Based on the historical background and growing experience of Cowley's thought of higher education,and combining with the analysis of its basic contents,this paper summarizes the characteristics of Cowley's thought of higher education: following closely and leading the reform and development of American higher education;To further promote the development of higher education research in the United States;Actively advocate universities to carry out university research;Pay attention to the training of university teachers;There are also historical limitations in Cowley's thought of higher education.The eclectic and extreme personality has an important influence on the formation of Cowley's thought of higher education.However,the theoretical value of Cowley's higher education and his own way of learning as a teacher still have important reference value to the construction of Chinese universities.