Education And Democracy: The Meaning Of Alexander Meiklejohn, 1872-1964

438 Pages·2001·2.22 MB·English

by  Adam R. Nelson

Education and Democracy

Education and Democracy
The Meaning of Alexander Meiklejohn
1872–1964
Adam R. Nelson
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street, 3rd Floor
Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059
3 Henrietta Street
London WC2E 8LU, England
Copyright © 2001
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any format or by any means, digital, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet
or a Web site without written permission of the University of Wisconsin Press,
except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews.
3 5 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nelson, Adam R.
Education and democracy : the meaning of Alexander Meiklejohn,
1872–1964 / Adam R. Nelson.
pp. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-299-17140-X
1. Meiklejohn, Alexander, 1872–1964. 2. Educators—United
States—Biography. 3. Education, Humanistic—United
States—History—20th century. I. Title
LB875.M332 N45 2001
370.92—dc21 00-011979
ISBN-13: 978-0-299-17144-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)
Publication of this volume was originally made possible in part by funds
provided by the Evjue Foundation and the support of the Anonymous Fund
of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
For my family:
Mom, Dad, and Matt
Should you ask me what the relation is between liberal education and
democracy, the answer would be easy: they are the same thing.
Alexander Meiklejohn
“Education and Democracy,” 1923
One of the deepest and most active convictions just now in our . . .
society is this: that there is no common basis for men’s reasoning; that at
the bottom of all reasoning there is irrationality; that every man starts
from his own private designs; that, after all, reasoning is rationalizing,
and the old dream of a common truth, a common intelligence, a
common intellectual inquiry, is gone, and gone forever.
Alexander Meiklejohn
“Higher Education in a Democracy,” October 1941
Contents
Illustrations ix
Preface: Meiklejohn, Socrates, and the Paradox of
Democratic Education xi
Acknowledgments xvii
PROVIDENCE, 1872–1911
1. “A Voyage across the Atlantic” and “Kant’s Ethics,”
1872–1899 3
2. “College Education and the Moral Ideal,” 1900–1911 33
AMHERST, 1912–1924
3. “The College as Critic,” 1912–1919 61
4. “To Whom Are We Responsible?” 1920–1924 97
MADISON, 1925–1932
5. “A New College with a New Idea,” 1925–1928 133
6. “A Most Lamentable Comedy,” 1929–1932 165
BERKELEY, 1933–1947
7. “Adult Education: A Fresh Start,” 1933–1940 199
8. “A Reply to John Dewey,” 1941–1947 233
BERKELEY, 1948–1964
9. “What Does the First Amendment Mean?” 1948–1954 263
10. “The Faith of a Free Man,” 1955–1964 296
vii
Contents
Afterword: Education and the Democratic Ideal—The Meaning
of Alexander Meiklejohn 329
Notes 337
Bibliography and Suggestions for Further Reading 391
Index 403
viii
Illustrations
Alexander Meiklejohn at the age of ten in Appanoag, Rhode
Island, 1882 8
Alexander Meiklejohn and members of the Theta Delta Chi
fraternity at Brown University, ca. 1891 15
Alexander Meiklejohn as a senior at Brown University, 1893 19
Alexander Meiklejohn and members of the Brown University ice
polo team, 1894 30
Alexander Meiklejohn as dean of Brown University, ca. 1902 36
Alexander Meiklejohn with his cricket bat, ca. 1911 38
The academic parade at Amherst College during the
inauguration of Alexander Meiklejohn, 1912 62
Alexander Meiklejohn as president of Amherst College, 1912 66
Alexander Meiklejohn as president of Amherst College, ca. 1912 68
Alexander Meiklejohn at his desk in the president’s office at
Amherst College, ca. 1913 70
Kenneth, Gordon, and Donald Meiklejohn with their dog on
the steps in front of the president’s house at Amherst
College, 1913 78
Members of the Student Army Training Corps (SATC) marching
at Amherst College, 1917 92
The Amherst Ambulance Unit presenting its flags to Alexander
Meiklejohn, 1918 93
Alexander Meiklejohn with members of the Amherst College
Board of Trustees at the Centennial Celebration luncheon,
1921 104
George Bosworth Churchill, professor of English at Amherst
College, ca. 1923 106
Glenn Frank, president of the University of Wisconsin, ignoring
ix