在大众教育与人文修养之间:美国文理学院的历史和现状

Between the Mass Education and Humanistic Cultivation:The History and Present of American Liberal Arts Colleges

美国高等教育的独特制度——文理学院——诞生于独特的历史情境中。文理学院提供了奠基经典学习的模式和重视培养社会责任感的教育使命并将其作为人文教育的典范,影响延续至今。然而,文理学院的演进历史表明,自由教育的意义处于与各个时代不同主题变奏的碰撞之中并不断被重塑。自20世纪以来,文理学院受到教育民主化形势下大学运动的影响,研究型大学和赠地大学的发展迫使文理学院同样关心大学排名、生源的国际化与多元化以及课程的职业导向。当下中国留学生的经验揭示出在当前国际形势和财政危机下,文理学院所强调的人文素养内涵发生了剧烈的转变,这对反思中国高等教育人文素养培育具有重要意义。

This article traces the origin of the liberal arts colleges in the American context.The liberal arts colleges gained a vibrant impetus of growth in the age of American expansionism.They offered core curriculums that focused on the learning of foundational classics and endeavored to create an environment that boosted the spirit of civic participation.Nevertheless,an immense pressure for change came from the university movement,heralded by the advancement of the leading research universities and land-grant universities.Using both historical narratives and the examples of Chinese students in the liberal arts colleges,this article analyzes the predicament of the colleges caused by financial exigencies and political extremism in the new era.