Agent of Democracy - Society for College and University Planning

Agent of Democracy
became the dominant principle of American democracy, as the
country engaged in the cold war against Communist collectivism.
Higher education began a period of major democratization, in the
sense of becoming accessible to more and more citizens, beginning
with the Truman Report (1947) and the subsequent GI Bill. In 1958,
the National Defense Education Act proclaimed that “the security
of the Nation requires the fullest development of mental resources
and technical skills of its young men and women.” This act further
expanded federal programs of institutional and individual financial
aid. With massive federal assistance, the number of two- and
four-year institutions of higher education multiplied. In addition,
racial and religious barriers to admission were officially ended.
While the academy’s massive postwar expansion did in fact
lead to the largest democratization of higher education in the history
of the world, this expansion was justified by the cold war idea
that we could undermine potential support for communism among
working people by providing individuals with the opportunity to
achieve personal prosperity. Consequently, cold war universities
began to pioneer the idea that higher education should serve the
public by advancing the career goals of individual students, rather
than by preparing them for civic participation per se. This change
corresponded with the accelerating shift towards liberal individualism
and what Michael Sandel calls the “procedural republic,”
which simply leaves individuals free to pursue their own interests.
Second, cold war universities continued to focus on the practical
application of higher learning, but the focus tipped towards
serving economic and military needs, rather than preparing citizens
to engage in “public work.” In any event, American higher education
continued preparing experts and professionals for leadership
positions, but, as William Sullivan notes, they increasingly educated
them using a “default curriculum” that stressed instrumental individualism,
positivism, and the fact/value distinction, rather than
maintaining the traditional emphasis on citizenship, civic values,
and philosophical reflection.
Thus, despite the greatest democratization of higher education
ever realized, American higher education became further
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