Although few social and political institutions begun in medieval times have survived in a recognizable form in western society, the essential structure of what we refer to as universities has survived. Rashdall (1936) wrote, "the institutions which the Middle Age has bequeathed to us are of greater and more imperishable value even than its cathedrals" (p. 3). In spite of such lofty sentiments, the concept and structure of the university as a tangible locus of instruction and research has been challenged on many occasions since the 13th century. Wars, disease, natural disasters, dogma, and political upheaval have all threatened the existence and structure of the university.
Beginning in the 20th century, and continuing into this century,
some scholars concluded that particular new technologies possess
the capability either to transform the structure of universities
or to render the concept superfluous. For example, there were
those who envisaged television as the means by which the university
campus where students and scholars congregate would become obsolete
and unnecessary. In 1932, while television was in its infancy
both in its deployment and in its technological development, George
Cutten, the President of Colgate University, wrote, "The
question really comes whether in the future colleges as formal
institutions will be necessary, and if the attendance of classes
in any one place will not become as obsolete as the buggy of twenty-five
years ago" (p. 261). Evidently, television did not quite
have the effect on universities that Cutten had imagined. Despite
the failure of television to alter substantially the structure
of universities, similar claims have been made when other technologies
were applied to education. In the decade spanning the mid-1950s
through the mid-1960s, a movement prevalent in North American
education was to use mechanical teaching machines and other approaches
that followed the tenets of programmed instruction (Lumsdaine
& Glaser, 1960). These machines were touted by some as the
means by which education, even in its fundamental structure, would
be forever changed. Like television, teaching machines have failed
to alter educational structures (Gilbert,1979; Sorestad, 1963).
There are now optimistic claims that the advent of Internet-based
instruction and digital means of distance learning may succeed
in rendering the university in its present form obsolete (Crow,
1999; Lewis, 1988; Wilkinson, 1996). Other accounts such as Thompson
(1998) present a more balanced view, stating that radical change
to the structure of universities as the result of computer technologies
is but one possible development, depending on what is considered.
Although authors such as Baer (1972), Postman (1992), and Stoll
(1995) caution against trusting the claims for any technological
innovation too far, an important point that is often overlooked
when universities are considered is that of educational community-in
other words, the salutary effects both of formal and informal
face-to-face communication between human beings in an environment
conducive to learning, scholarship, and debate. Among many other
factors, a major reason why universities came to be was because
they provided such an environment. They provided a locus where
scholars and students could gather and engage in appropriate learning,
scholarship, and discussion. The latter point was quite a novel
approach in education of the 11th century, but was something that
a particularly successful teacher, Peter
Abelard (1079-1142), put into practice (Compayré, 1893;
Rashdall, 1936). Although some of Abelard's contemporaries, as
well as later teachers, adopted his methods, others were not as
innovative or inspired. The scattered and variable nature of scholarly
education in the period before the advent of universities
was both recognized and criticized by individuals seeking such
education.
Nicholas Breakspear, the sole Englishman to be elected pope (Adrian
IV, 1154-1159), noted that to receive suitable education in several
subjects, he had to travel to many different cathedral schools
in what is now France and to other places (Attwater, 1939; Mann,
1914). Not only was such extensive travel difficult and costly
in the early 1100s, but Breakspear complained that the quality
of instruction varied widely between individuals and locations.
His account of itinerant scholarship was not unusual for the time
(Rashdall, 1936). The seeming lack of cohesiveness and consistency
in scholarly education was conducive
to a lack of standards and the rise of undesirable practices.
Adrian's successor was Orlando Bandinelli (Alexander III, 1159-1181).
Before being elected pope, he was renowned as an excellent teacher.
He noted serious problems with the largely disjointed system of
education in what is now western Europe. From first-hand experience
and from Adrian IV's accounts, Bandinelli saw how some individuals
were being appointed to teaching positions without adequate qualifications,
whereas other teachers would subcontract their teaching to others
while they did other work, sometimes in other locations (Alexander
III; Mann, 1925).
To teach, one was supposed to have earned a licentia docendi,
which recognized that the holder had taken suitable courses and
had been examined for mastery of knowledge and the ability to
articulate that knowledge. In many instances at particular schools,
however, these teaching licenses were sold, either for a fixed
price or for a continuing percentage from student fees. Alexander
III took action by condemning the practice as being tantamount
to simony (the buying and selling of holy offices). Evidence of
selling licenses subjected the perpetrator to excommunication,
a punishment Alexander III even meted out to some bishops (Alexander
III; Boso, 1973). Moreover, Alexander believed that by bringing
more licensed teachers together, not only would the practice of
selling licenses be discouraged, but a more comprehensive array
of courses would be available for students. Thus Alexander set
the stage for larger, stable, and more permanent educational institutions
that had better means of governing themselves (Alexander III;
Mann, 1925; Marrou, 1956). The stringent administrative policies
implemented by Alexander III governing not only educational institutions,
but educators as well were carried on and developed further by
later popes (Compayré, 1893; Rashdall, 1936; Cheetham,
1992).
Besides a system of maintaining standards and offering a broader
array of courses than earlier schools, universities arose because
it was realized by popes and temporal leaders alike that, by themselves,
qualified teachers with standards and students willing to learn
lacked an essential element necessary to function as a dynamic
system. It was the combination of these elements in a supportive
and protective environment, through suitable rooms for teaching,
libraries, accommodation for students and professors, provision
of food, and a method of self-government, that resulted in a system
that worked satisfactorily and consistently (Compayré,
1893; Rashdall, 1936). This arrangement with few exceptions has
worked well, withstanding political and theological challenges.
To be sure, the scope and content of the university has changed
markedly since the 13th century, and the influence of popes and
other clerical powers has diminished. Nevertheless, the principle
of providing a structured environment with standards to promote
and foster discussion continues to exist.
Technologies such as computers and television may provide individuals
who do not have access to a campus some of what universities have
to offer. At the same time, however, it is doubtful whether such
technologies will be able to offer the blend of all the elements
necessary to create the sort of community that was first experienced
in the medieval university and that continues today. Although
technologies and perhaps other innovations that do not yet exist
may assist the university in what it does, the structure of the
university will change markedly or disappear altogether only when
a more effective system is developed. For almost 800 years nothing
has come close to supplanting the "community of scholars."
George H. Buck
References
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Copyright © AJER, the Faculty of Education, and the University
of Alberta, 2002.
Last revised: January 30, 2002.
Designed by G.H. Buck