重读特罗高等教育系统崩溃预警

A Reinterpretation of the Trow Warning Against HES Breakdown

高等教育增长与扩张导致诸多问题,在高等教育系统与文化整体中形成一个问题簇。这个问题簇影响高等教育系统核心要素并使它们成为问题要素,影响高等教育系统整体并使它成为问题系统,随之导致高等教育系统质变;系统质变形成精英、大众与普进三种性质不同的高等教育系统。三种系统之中,精英是规范系统与高等教育系统确立系统,大众是非规范系统与高等教育系统分化系统,普进是反规范系统与高等教育系统粉碎系统。大众与普进两个系统衍生后,高等教育系统可能由两种或三种系统构成,作为混合系统存在于教育系统与文化整体中;也可能由一种系统构成,作为纯一系统存在于教育系统与文体整体中。高等教育系统整体,随着非精英系统所占比例增加,逐渐走向系统分化,走向系统粉碎;高等教育系统为纯精英系统时,系统因确立而稳定;为纯大众系统时,系统因分化而震荡;为纯普进系统时,系统因粉碎而崩溃。高等教育系统崩溃,不仅导致高等教育社会心理与社会身份崩溃,而且危害文化其它系统及文化整体。这是特罗在《从精英向大众高等教育转变中的问题》中提出的高等教育系统问题预警,可以称为特罗高等教育系统崩溃预警!这一预警对高等教育健全发展有深远意义。

Growth and expansion in HE bring about various problems, which form a related cluster of problems. The cluster affects the HE elements and makes them problematical, affects the HES and makes it problematical, leading to qualitative changes in the system, which further results in the formation of the elites system, the mass system and the universal assess system, differing qualitatively. Of the three systems, the elite is the normal and the establishing system of the HES, the mass is the abnormal and the dividing system of the HES, and the universal is the anti-normal and the fragmenting system of the HES. After the formation of the mass and the universal systems, the HE systems formed either of two or more systems or of one single system tend to be possible existences in the education systems and in the complex whole of culture. The HES, with the increase of the proportion of the non-elite systems, moves gradually to system dividing and to system fragmenting, or to system shake and to system breakdown. The HES breakdown not only results in breakdowns of the social psychology concerning and the social identity of HE, but also harms the other systems of the complex whole of culture. This is the warning given by Trow in Problems in the Transition from Elite to Mass Higher Education against possible problems in the HES, which can be termed as the Trow Warning Against HES Breakdown. The Warning is of far-fetching significance to healthy development of HE.