Problems of higher education as found in periodical literature

Abstract

In the Peabody Journal of Education, July, 1931, an article appeared showing adverse criticisms of higher education as found in recent periodical literature. This article not only pointed out the criticisms published during the three-year period, 1927, 1928, and 1929, in thirty-seven publications, but also indicated that practically all of the criticisms were made by people engaged in school work in the higher educational institutions. This means that most of the criticisms offered are self-criticisms. Since self-criticism is usually a forerunner of improvement, it seems worth while to see if the problems of higher education are being recognized by those employed in our universities and colleges. Hence, the purpose of this article is to show what the problems of higher education are as expressed in periodical literature during the same three-year period, 1927, 1928, and 1929; to determine how frequently these problems were presented; and to indicate the occupation of the people who have pointed out these problems. In order to answer these questions, a review was made of sixteen general literary magazines and twenty-one professional magazines, journals, bulletins, or yearbooks of educational organizations for the three-year period 1927 to 1929. (The publications used in making this study are listed in the Peabody Journal of Education, July, 1931, page 4.) The review of this literature was very carefully made. It was not considered sufficient to look through the index of each magazine used and in this way locate the articles that presented problems of higher education because it was found that the title of an article is by no means a sure index to its contents. Therefore, each issue of these publications was examined page by page in order to reduce errors of omission to a minimum. As a further check upon the accuracy of this review the publications were examined a second time by another person. In making this study of the literature, each problem found was listed on a separate 3 by 5 card showing the author, the title of the article, the name of the publication, the volume number, the date of issue, and a brief statement of the problem. Extreme care was taken to include only the meaning that the writer intended to convey. In most cases exact quotations were used in stating the problem which the writer presented. As a result of this study 40 problems of higher education that may be considered distinct and separate were found in the 37 publications reviewed, with