六蠹 36
When the United States learned on October 4, 1957, that the Soviet Union had successfully launched Sputnik I into orbit around the earth, the federal govenment's commitment to higher education dramatically changed. ...... Panicked officails in Washing ton immediately pledged to increase the capacity and effectiveness of the nation's educational system, and to reinvigorate academic science by renewing the commitment to basic research.
...... The NSF budget rose from $16 million in 1956 to $130 million in 1959, and by 1966 it had reached a whopping $480 million. Overall federal spending on university research increased from $456 million in 1958 to roughly $1.3 billion in 1964, a doubling of the national effort relative to the gross national product. The character of federal funding also changed: In 1958, 62 percent of academic research was considered basic; six years later the figure rose to 79 percent.* ......
The impact of Sputink went well beyond science. In 1958, building on the earlier success of the GI Bill, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which offered loans to college students (partially forgiven for those who became teachers), fellowships to graduate students, and funding for languages and international studies. ...... In subsequent years, Congress expanded the NDEA, provided money for building construction (to meet a projected enrollment boom), and assumed a much larger role in funding academic disciplines, such as foreign languages, that could not otherwise find support. Eventually, the desire to nurture and sustain a broad range of disciplines, as well as the arts, led to the establishment of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965.
These developments coincides with a dramatic increase in the proportion of young people attending college. During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the federal government sought to ensure that all Americans regardless of economic background or race would have the opportunity to attend college. Tuition assistance, affirmative action programs, and the establishment of a state-level community college system helped to bring large numbers of previously excluded groups into higher education. In 1950, only 6.2 percent of Americans over 25 had completed four years of college. Three decades later that number rose to 16.3 percent.** By 1972, the nation had a comprehensive system of need-based student financial aid, as well as a college student population far more reflective of American society than ever before.*
......
...... The emergence of the federal grant system had brought unquestionable gains. America's research univerities were now conisdered among the best in the world because of their extraordinary achievements in science and technology and the high caliber of their education. They were more accessible and democratic than in the past; their areas of specialization and expertise more expansive; their academic achievements more universally recognized. .......
-- Jennifer Washburn, University, Inc.
* Geiger, Research and Relevant Knowledge.
** James T. Patterson, America in the Twentieth Century: A History.
蠹按：联系此处未引的前文，可以看出美国大学教研形成今天的制度和局面，大体上是二战后冷战期间的产物。在这段时间里，美国完成了这几项重要改进：扩大国家研究资助、建立NSF等研究资助基金、大学扩办及扩招（以保障高等教育覆盖率）、研究生奖学金制度（即NDEA的功效）。此外学生和教授的话语权增强，六七十年代抵制军方项目的效果显著，已不再是战前人为刀俎的模样。
到七十年代为止是美国大学得到资助的黄金阶段。目前国际学术界在绝大多数领域都由美国主导并普遍使用英语作为交流语言的局面，也是从这个时候开始确立的。二战期间许多学术顶尖人物从欧洲来到远离战场的美国避难是一个契机，而战后的这一波对教育支持的高潮则刚好加速了美国在学术领域的崛起和领导地位。
由此处教育界的例子引申，今天我们所看到的美国，很多方面都是二战结束后确立的。二战之前的美国面貌看似大为不同。但由于材料不足以及话题过广，此处不再继续讨论。
...... The NSF budget rose from $16 million in 1956 to $130 million in 1959, and by 1966 it had reached a whopping $480 million. Overall federal spending on university research increased from $456 million in 1958 to roughly $1.3 billion in 1964, a doubling of the national effort relative to the gross national product. The character of federal funding also changed: In 1958, 62 percent of academic research was considered basic; six years later the figure rose to 79 percent.* ......
The impact of Sputink went well beyond science. In 1958, building on the earlier success of the GI Bill, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which offered loans to college students (partially forgiven for those who became teachers), fellowships to graduate students, and funding for languages and international studies. ...... In subsequent years, Congress expanded the NDEA, provided money for building construction (to meet a projected enrollment boom), and assumed a much larger role in funding academic disciplines, such as foreign languages, that could not otherwise find support. Eventually, the desire to nurture and sustain a broad range of disciplines, as well as the arts, led to the establishment of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965.
These developments coincides with a dramatic increase in the proportion of young people attending college. During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the federal government sought to ensure that all Americans regardless of economic background or race would have the opportunity to attend college. Tuition assistance, affirmative action programs, and the establishment of a state-level community college system helped to bring large numbers of previously excluded groups into higher education. In 1950, only 6.2 percent of Americans over 25 had completed four years of college. Three decades later that number rose to 16.3 percent.** By 1972, the nation had a comprehensive system of need-based student financial aid, as well as a college student population far more reflective of American society than ever before.*
......
...... The emergence of the federal grant system had brought unquestionable gains. America's research univerities were now conisdered among the best in the world because of their extraordinary achievements in science and technology and the high caliber of their education. They were more accessible and democratic than in the past; their areas of specialization and expertise more expansive; their academic achievements more universally recognized. .......
-- Jennifer Washburn, University, Inc.
* Geiger, Research and Relevant Knowledge.
** James T. Patterson, America in the Twentieth Century: A History.
蠹按：联系此处未引的前文，可以看出美国大学教研形成今天的制度和局面，大体上是二战后冷战期间的产物。在这段时间里，美国完成了这几项重要改进：扩大国家研究资助、建立NSF等研究资助基金、大学扩办及扩招（以保障高等教育覆盖率）、研究生奖学金制度（即NDEA的功效）。此外学生和教授的话语权增强，六七十年代抵制军方项目的效果显著，已不再是战前人为刀俎的模样。
到七十年代为止是美国大学得到资助的黄金阶段。目前国际学术界在绝大多数领域都由美国主导并普遍使用英语作为交流语言的局面，也是从这个时候开始确立的。二战期间许多学术顶尖人物从欧洲来到远离战场的美国避难是一个契机，而战后的这一波对教育支持的高潮则刚好加速了美国在学术领域的崛起和领导地位。
由此处教育界的例子引申，今天我们所看到的美国，很多方面都是二战结束后确立的。二战之前的美国面貌看似大为不同。但由于材料不足以及话题过广，此处不再继续讨论。
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