The Higher Learning in America: The Annotated Edition: A Memorandum on the Conduct of Universities by Business Men

261 Pages·2015·2.181 MB·English

by  Thorstein Veblen, Richard F. Teichgraeber III (editor)

The Higher Learning in America
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The Higher Learning
in America
A Memorandum on the Conduct of Universities
by Business Men
The Annotated Edition
Thorstein Veblen
Edited with an Introduction and Notes by
Richard F. Teichgraeber III
Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2015 Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2015
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
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2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Veblen, Thorstein, 1857–1929.
The higher learning in America : a memorandum on the conduct of universities
by business men / Thorstein Veblen ; edited with an introduction and notes by
Richard F. Teichgraeber III. — Annotated edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4214-1677-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4214-1678-6
(pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4214-1679-3 (electronic) — ISBN
1-4214-1677-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-4214-1678-6 (pbk. : alk.
paper) — ISBN 1-4214-1679-4 (electronic) 1. Education, Higher. 2. Universities
and colleges—United States. I. Teichgraeber, Richard F. II. Title.
LA226.V3 2015
378—dc23 2014030727
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
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please contact Special Sales at 410-516-6936 or [email protected].
Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials,
including recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent
post-consumer waste, whenever possible.
contents
List of Illustrations vii
Editor’s Note ix
Suggested Readings xi
Thorstein Veblen Chronology xiii
Introduction 1
Veblen in Historical Context 1
The Composition of The Higher Learning in America 4
The Professors’ Literature of Protest 7
Veblen and the Professors’ Literature of Protest 13
What Set Veblen Apart? Why Read Veblen Today? 21
The Higher Learning in America
A Memorandum on the Conduct of Universities by Business Men
Preface 33
I. Introductory 37
II. The Governing Boards 75
III. The Academic Administration and Policy 94
IV. Academic Prestige and the Material Equipment 129
V. The Academic Personnel 138
VI. The Portion of the Scientist 153
VII. Vocational Training 168
VIII. Summary and Trial Balance 188
Index 235
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illustrations
Figure 1. Thorstein Veblen, 1901 xv
Figure 2. William Rainey Harper, John D. Rockefeller, trustee Martin A.
Ryerson, and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, 1901 9
Figure 3. David Starr Jordan, 1908 92
Figure 4. William Rainey Harper and the University of Chicago Band,
ca. 1900 121
Figure 5. Thorstein Veblen, Herbert J. Davenport, Walter W. Stewart, and
University Missouri School of Commerce students, ca. 1914 186
Figure 6. Thorstein Veblen, 1920 233
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editor’s n ote
The first edition of The Higher Learning in America: A Memorandum on the Con-
duct of Universities by Business Men was published by B. W. Huebsch in New York
in late 1918. In preparing the text of this new edition for the printer, I used a
digitally scanned copy of the first edition that was carefully compared to a copy of
the final corrected typescript manuscript Veblen delivered to his publisher in late
September 1918.1 Differences between these earlier texts are minor: misspell-
ings, misprints, or scanning errors, which have been easily corrected. Some small
liberties have been taken with this new edition. Veblen’s numbered footnotes
have been alphabetized to facilitate annotation. For the readers’ convenience,
Veblen’s footnotes also have been emended to bring them in line with standard
scholarly practice. His spelling, word division, and punctuation have been regu-
larized both in his text and in his footnotes wherever it was possible to do so
without encroaching on his tone or meaning.
For all the notice it has received, The Higher Learning in America has never
been annotated. Publication of this first annotated edition seems an appropriate
way to mark the centennial of Veblen’s great book. The annotation is divided into
two parts. Numbered notes placed on the appropriate pages identify—when iden-
tification proved possible—events, institutions, persons, and publications alluded
to or mentioned in the text of The Higher Learning in America. Bracketed notes
follow Veblen’s now alphabetized footnotes and identify events, institutions, per-
sons, and publications he alludes to or mentions in his footnotes. I supply a
broad range of contexts but pay particular attention to the history of American
higher education during the course of Veblen’s lifetime. From time to time, my
notes take issue with what Veblen has to say. He was an extraordinarily provoca-
tive observer of the cultural and intellectual currents in which he swam but not
always a completely reliable one. Readers also will find a comprehensive index
that directs them to recurrent themes in The Higher Learning in America as well
1. The original manuscript is in the Thorstein B. Veblen Papers, Carleton College Archives.