CAMPUS

Two Schools of Thought

I had a very interesting discussion with a former member of the Heritage Foundation this past Sunday about the unique nature of American universities. Now a student at St. John’s Seminary in Boston, Dan Moloney patiently explained to me over lunch that most students never realize that American universities are a curious hybrid of English and German cousins of high education. The English model emphasizes the importance of personal religious development and relationships with the divine, as seen through their historical function in preparing young men for the ministry. The German model, meanwhile, derives from a sense of the university we are more familiar with, namely that of the research university.

Many of America’s most prestigious and oldest universities were based upon the English model. Many, especially on the East Coast, were actually founded with the soul purpose of providing ministers to the colonists (one only needs to look as far as the plaque adorning the entrance to Harvard). The German model for the research university did not arrive in the New World until much later, and as a consequence there is a both a hybrid and distinctly American feel to many of these universities today as they struggle to clearly define their identities.

This history becomes important as we look at the many battles we are fighting on college campuses across the country. The relationship between our English and German roots can be somewhat tenuous at times as universities strive to produce students that are productive, successful members of society as well as “good people.” Notre Dame, in particular, struggled with this problem for some time, as it sought to hire faculty that would prepare students for the workforce while retaining its religious identity. The solution, in the end, was once again a return to a hybrid professor; one that is a leader in his or her field and also a person who recognizes man’s relationship with the divine.