The First Experiment in Mass Higher Education: Its Legend and Legacy

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Mass Education and Access Tensions

Abstract

June 7, 1937 Life Magazine published its first issue that was entirely devoted to a single subject – A salute to the first experiment in mass higher education at U.S. colleges and universities. The lead article documented the transition from elite to mass higher education and tasked future historians to judge its success. This paper evaluates the 1937 stories related to campus, facilities, growth, academics, and student life in relation to contemporary portrayals and evaluates what has and has not changed 82 years later. The paper demonstrates that mass undergraduate higher education with its enduring coveted undergraduate features are institutionalized in the American educational landscape that collegians, administrators, and policy makers are bounded more by historical scripts than innovation and regulations.

Author

• John R. Shoup, Dr. Paul & Annie Kienel Leadership Institute