The Making of the Modern University

What is the purpose of higher education, and how should we pursue it? Debates over these issues were prevalent in the late 19th-century as reformers introduced a new kind of university - one dedicated to free inquiry and the advancement of knowledge. In this study of moral education in American universities, Julie Reuben examines the consequences of these debates for modern intellectual life. Research was conducted at eight universities - Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Chacago, Stanford, Michigan, and California at Berkeley. The author explores the aims of university reformers in the context of 19th-century ideas about truth. She argues that these educators tried to apply new scientific standards to moral education, but their modernization efforts ultimately failed.