This was not just because of the religious
foundation of universities. The university housed important
intellectual documents containing theories of science and
humanities, and encompassing educational concepts. These
documents emphasized the role of a universal education (not only
as a reflex of the Church's catholic drive) in which fundamental
components constructed a temple of knowledge from which theories
were dispensed throughout the Western world. Through its concept
and affirmed values, the university was intended as a model for
society and as an important participant in its dynamics.
Tradition, languages (opening direct access to the world of
classic philosophy and literature), and the arts were understood
in their unity. Engineering and anything practical played no
part in this.
Compared to the current situation, those first universities were
ahead of their time almost to the effect of losing contact with
reality. They existed in a world of advanced ideas, of idealized
social and moral values, of scientific innovation celebrated in
their metaphysical abstraction. There is no need to transcribe
the history of education here. We are mainly interested in the
dynamics of education up to the turn of the century, and would
like to situate it in the discussion caused by the apparent, or
actual, failure of education to accomplish its goals today. When
universities were founded, access to education was very limited.
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