Student Services
A Handbook for the Profession
Chapter One
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF AMERICAN
HIGHER EDUCATION
John R. Thelin
During a visit to the Midwest in 1910, an editor researching the growth of
American colleges and universities noted that "the University of Chicago does
not look its age. It looks much older. This is because it has been put through an artificial
aging process, reminding one of the way furniture is given an `antique oak
finish'" (Slosson, 1910, p. 429). Indeed, American universities' fondness for Gothic
spires and Georgian-revival brick quadrangles reveals an essential feature about higher
education in the United States: the American public expects its colleges and universities
to be historic institutions, with monumental architecture that invokes a sense of
continuity and heritage. In fact, a historical profile of U.S. higher education is in lar ... read full excerpt from Student Services: A Handbook for the Profession ebook
