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The Education of Engineers in America before the Morrill Act of 1862

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Terry S. Reynolds
Terry S. Reynolds*
Affiliation:
The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University
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Extract

The traditional view of antebellum colleges, as exemplified by the works of Richard Hofstadter and others, depicts them as dogmatic, elitist, inflexible, and hostile both to science and to more practically oriented subjects, such as engineering. Only in recent decades have scholars disputed this view. Stanley Guralnick in 1975 challenged the contention that antebellum colleges were antagonistic to science, demonstrating that they made extraordinary and successful efforts to modify their curricula and add faculty to increase science offerings. Shortly after, in 1982, Colin Burke published a broadly based, quantitative study of antebellum colleges which revealed that they were far more successful, accessible, adaptable, and progressive than previously recognized.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , Winter 1992 , pp. 459 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the History of Education Society 

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References

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