The Next Great Wave in American Higher Educationby James Ottavio Castagnera
Four distinct epochs or waves can be discerned in the history of higher education. This article argues that a fifth wave, perhaps the most revolutionary of all, has only just begun, posing a unique challenge to higher education planners. The four previous waves can be summarized briefly as follows:
- In the 85 years between the Declaration of Independence and the Civil War, some 800 liberal arts colleges sprang up across the United States. My own alma maters are typical. Franklin & Marshall College owes half its name to a modest amount of seed money donated by the great Benjamin Franklin in 1787. Case Western Reserve University first saw the light of learning as Western Reserve Academy. “The undergraduate college took . . . the essential step necessary for a broad education for general citizenship. . . . These institutions were of a size and scale that could be created by a group of private individuals—not requiring great fortunes or state support” (Cox 2000, p. 14).
- The end of the Civil War until the turn of the last century was the era of the great land-grant institutions. This expansion of higher education led to the first shakeout. “By 1900, only 180 of those first 800 small colleges remained active; larger, subsidized state universities consumed market share by offering more educational services, subsidized prices, and often more pragmatic and career-oriented curricula” (Cox 2000, p. 14).
- Around the turn of the last century, the third great wave broke upon the shores of higher learning.
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