Bruce Leslie - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Bruce Leslie

Pennsylvania history, 1979

P RESIDENT Carter's attacks upon the legal and medical "establishments" have revived public debat... more P RESIDENT Carter's attacks upon the legal and medical "establishments" have revived public debate about the impact of professions upon American society. It is surely appropriate, and even urgent, that we reexamine the way that the structures and assumptions embodied in professional organizations channel important aspects of national life. The origins and evolution of professionalization have received considerable attention from historians. Recently Burton Bledstein has broadened the discussion with his thesis that a "culture of professionalism" provides the best conceptual framework for understanding the middle class of urbanizing and industrializing America. Although, as Thomas Haskell suggests, Bledstein overstates the case, his work promises to provoke new and broadly ranging discussion of professionalization and its relationship to higher education.' The organization of the traditional professions as well as some newer ones proceeded with dramatic speed between the Civil War and World War I. National organizations were founded or revived, training was extended, licensing standardized, and group consciousness raised. Law, medicine, and engineering were particularly prominent in establishing the pattern. Its adoption signalled the ascendency of a faction in each field that found the new structures and practices to be an effective way of gaining control of the profession. The battle over "scientific" medicine is the best-known of the internal disputes that occurred within each area. 2 The academic world shared this tradition.

Passage: Tidskrift for litteratur og kritik, Aug 21, 1997

Få årtier i den amerikanske historie byder på et så kontrastfyldt forhold mellem de første og de ... more Få årtier i den amerikanske historie byder på et så kontrastfyldt forhold mellem de første og de sidste år som 1960erne: Den flotte John F. Kennedys velformulerede tiltraedelsestale over for den udkørte Lyndon B. Johnsons tilbagetraeden fra sin genvalgskampagne. De høflige, unge sorte universitetsstuderende, som laver sit in-strejker i frokostrestaurationerne ved Greensboro Woolworth over for de Sorte Pantere, der svinger med pistolerne ved Cornell University og gør brug af dem i Oakland, Californien. Den karseklippede universitetskultur fra 1960 over for Woodstocks langhårede modkultur. Et vedholdende tyveårigt babyboom overfor unge mennesker, der svaerger på ikke at ville saette børn i en korrupt verden. Dr. Spock, der laegger ud som babyguru, og i egenskab af fredsforkaemper ender som verbal skydeskive for Vicepraesidenten. Den segregationistiske guvernør George Wallace, over for den integrationistiske guvernør Jimmy Carter. Kontrasterne var virkelige og grundfaestede, selv om de livagtige billeder slører i samme omfang som de fremviser. Arven fra Kennedy-Johnson: Den socialliberale reform. Den glamour, der hvilede over Kennedys praesidentperiode, lige fra hans bevaegende tiltraedelsestale over de funklende receptioner til de hjertevindende familiescener, har efterladt et uudsletteligt indtryk på den amerikanske bevidsthed. Gløden fra "Came

Jeanette Banker was in the SUNY Brockport Class of 1953. She studied in the Elementary Education ... more Jeanette Banker was in the SUNY Brockport Class of 1953. She studied in the Elementary Education program. In this program, she was placed at Brockport\u27s campus school as well as Rochester\u27s #35 school. She worked in the Rochester City School District for a short period before taking a position in SUNY Brockport\u27s campus school, and continued to work at SUNY Brockport until her retirement. Jeanette Banker passed away in February 2020

published, Mar 12, 2020

BL We will probably need two sessions. So I wonder if today we could talk mainly about your earli... more BL We will probably need two sessions. So I wonder if today we could talk mainly about your earlier career and your earlier days in Brockport. WA Then you want me to give a summary of my career? BL I'm curious about how you wound up getting from Colorado to Brockport.

published, Jun 4, 2020

after that. Starting in 1927 and ending up in 1931 with a Bachelor of Arts. I majored in English ... more after that. Starting in 1927 and ending up in 1931 with a Bachelor of Arts. I majored in English and minored in history. And I was interested primarily in teacher education. I wanted to become a teacher. Unfortunately, there were no jobs in 1931 when I graduated. So, everyone I asked about Jobs said, well, What experience do you have? And obviously you haven't had any experience if you haven't had a job. So I volunteered to teach in the Syracuse schools for nothing in order to get some experience. And interestingly enough, on the the upshot of that was that the superintendent of schools, who was the former high my former high school administrator knew me and on the basis of my volunteering in the schools, He said to me, later on, we have a job here in Syracuse and if you would like to have it, well I'll recommend you. So I got a job in Syracuse in about 1934. And finally, I stayed there several years, taught in Porter School, which is up in the West End, very largely Polish and Italian section at that time I taught English and math and began taking some graduate work beyond the master's degree on a doctorate at Syracuse. I was interested there in a professor who had come from Iowa, and Bill young became later the director of elementary education in the state department and I asked him about the doctorate. He suggested I go somewhere else rather than Syracuse. Interestingly enough, so I, although he was teaching there himself. I applied down at Columbia, since that was the primary teaching or Education School college at that time in the United States with Julian Kilpatrick and all of those people who had done a lot of work in education, primarily and in elementary education. So, I was matriculated there and took the eight hours of exams that were necessary and somehow passed them and finally Through the dead of much summer school work and evening work and I managed to complete the course of study down Colombia with a year in residence in 1939 to 1940. I received the degree in 1942 a doctor of education because they made a distinction between the doctors down there one which they recommended for people who are interested in, in the actual public schools was the EDD and not the research degree which was a PhD. Anyway, I specialized in educational psychology with reading as a primary emphasis under people like Gates and several other people who were outstanding in reading at that time. I completed my degree just before I went into the service. I was scheduled to go into the service in 1941. But I got a deferment so that I could complete the degree. They went along with it the board. So in September 42, I was inducted in the service and took basic training and officer training and became a second lieutenant in 1943. I bounced around in the service in several different places and finally went overseas to The Philippines, which were going into the last of the actual fighting, and lady in the Gulf at that time, and went to Manila, and when we were in Manila at the army depot there replacement depot we got news of the dropping of the atomic

published, May 15, 1949

B.L.: Could you tell me about your parents' education? AV: Both of my parents were born in Italy.... more B.L.: Could you tell me about your parents' education? AV: Both of my parents were born in Italy. My father was from an area near Naples and my mother from Sicily. My father came to this country at the turn of this century with no education. I think he finished first grade. He was about twelve years old when he came and he could neither read nor write. But he was able to carve out a life for himself and he served in the U.S. Army during World War I and saw action in France. That was one of the proudest parts of his life, being a veteran. My mother came from Sicily and she had been a teacher over there, like a Sunday school teacher. She came over in 1920. My mother and father were married in 1923 and in 1925 I was born. I was an only child. BL: And then you went to Aquinas, then did you come to Brockport or did you go into the service? AV: No, I graduated from Aquinas in 1943 and many of my classmates went directly into the service. The war was ongoing at that time. I was only seventeen and I wanted to go into the Air Force Cadets, therefore I had to wait until I was eighteen, which was at the end of the year in December. I decide to go to school during that summer and fall. A lot of the colleges had semesters during the summer, so a couple of friends and I went to Villanova thinking I was to be an engineer. My two friends finally came back and completed as engineers, but that was far from what my talents were. But anyway, I attended Villanova for those two semesters and then went into the service. After the war, when I was discharged in May 1946, I knew I didn't want to go back to Villanova. I didn't want to go anywhere too far from home. My girlfriend at the time, who later became my wife, had just graduated from Brockport in 1946. She was teaching at that time in Niagara Falls. So I decided to take a ride out to Brockport one day and take a look at it. I remember meeting with Dr. Delancy, who was in charge of Admissions at that time. I decided to come to Brockport in the fall, thinking I'd try it for a semester and see what happens. BL: This is the fall of 1946? AV: Yes, the fall of 1946. It just so happens that one of the first classes that I had that semester was with Ray Conrad and I don't recall the name of the class but it was probably something like Educational Psychology. As I sat there, this man mesmerized me. I said if that's what teaching is all about, I want a part of it. I decided to stay at Brockport. And many times later on when I came back to Brockport on the staff, there was a large group, maybe I was speaking for one reason or another, and Ray Conrad was in the audience, I would always tell this story about him. I'm sure he had that effect on many of my contemporaries. But that's how I came to Brockport and how I decided to stay at Brockport. BL: Did you enter the elementary or physical education program? AV: I entered the elementary program. I was not gifted athletically, and the physical education direction was not for me. I went with the elementary education program. BL: What was your first impression of Brockport besides Dr. Conrad? AV: The very special camaraderie of those times, especially, with all of us veterans who came back. Fall, 1946 was really the first big mass of veterans that landed here at the campus. As Ray Conrad use to say "We didn't know what to do with you." It was a special bond between all of us. Also, I remember a very special connection or relationship with all of the professors. It was a very special time. They realized that we were 'different' because we were more mature and objective-minded. We would be here for a couple of years and then move on to our chosen field of work. Jobs were very important in our minds. The relationships we had with the professors were something I never saw again afterwards, even when I came back as a professor. BL: Were you invited to their homes? Did you know their families? AV: Yes, I remember a couple of my friends, in fact Harry Emerson, you mentioned him a little while ago. I think he and some others lived in the President's house. He used to have students upstairs. But I remember Russ Archer who used to be the Chairman of the Speech Department, also had dramatics. He treated our dramatic students like a family. I remember Jo Mannix who was a teacher in the Campus School, Josephine Mannix. She had responsibility as an advisor to the Newman group, there was no Newman Oratory, but it was a Newman Club. She would lend a few of us her car, so we would go to other campuses and meet with other Newman groups. I remember John Redling, Ann Brown, and myself taking her car and off we'd go. It was that kind of a spirit, that is like a family. BL: You mentioned Newman, how numerous were Catholic students at Brockport ? AV: I would say a very high percentage during the time that I recall. I don't have any scientific data or proof, just from conversations. I think it was a good percentage. Whether it was a majority or not, I don't know. I remember our Newman group was large. BL: Did the Catholic students feel they were at home or were visitors at a Protestant establishment? AV: No, there was never any feeling like that. It was family whether you were Catholic or whatever. BL: How about the ethnic origins of your fellow students, could you characterize them? AV: There were a lot, such as myself, who were of Italian heritage. I recall there were quite a few of Irish heritage. Then, I can't identify or block out, but I know those two heritages come to mind. But it was something that you never highlighted. There was just Joe, Mike, and Andy regardless of the heritage. BL: Do you think the GI Bill changed the composition of the student body much? AV: Yes, the GI Bill was one of the greatest acts of our Congress and our President. I think it transformed higher education. It made higher education universal and it's never retreated from that. The colleges were never the same after that. BL: One faculty member I was going to ask you about was Harry Porter? Did you know him? AV: Yes, I did. I took a class from him; he was in the History Department. BL: I know his name because he went on to great things at SUNY, but I've never heard anyone talk about him at Brockport. Could you tell me about him? AV: He was a professor of History and I remember taking a class with him, but I don't remember which one. I guess I'd describe him as an Abe Lincoln character. He was tall, gangly, and friendly in a shy way, and a great professor. He went from here directly to SUNY Central. No, I think he went to one of our sister colleges first as President. It was Fredonia. That's right, he went to Fredonia to be President, then he ended up being the Provost at the University.

American Studies in Scandinavia, 2002

Christopher Columbus has gone through various incarnations as hero and, more recently, as villain... more Christopher Columbus has gone through various incarnations as hero and, more recently, as villain. The 1893 Columbian Exposition was a defining national moment. By the 1930s, Columbus Day was becoming a particularly Italian day. In the 1990s Native American advrn.:ales have obj ected lo any cekbrnlion whi le Hispanics have sought lo rn;Jair11 lr i111 from Italians, even sponsoring an alternative parade in New York City. For Scandinavians, Columbus is a 'Johnny-come-lately,' having arrived nearly a half millennium after Leif Erikson. The modern discovery of a verifiable 'Vineland' in Newfoundland provides scientific backing to Norwegian pride, but evidence is usually peripheral to ethn ic claims of ancestors ' mythic roles. Such filiopietistic uses and abuses of the past make most historians cringe. However much 'cultural diversity ' has been glorified by modern academics, few want to be associated with exaggerated tales of ethnic triumphs and the booming heritage business. Orm 0verland shared those feelings until he noticed common patterns lurking beneath various groups' mythologies and chauvinisms. In these myths, 0verland detects a distinctly American form which he labels the ' homemaking myth' because its function is to claim the U nited States as the group's rightful home. However much the mythology recalls the imagined glory of an 'old world ' country, it functions to secure the home in America. Although the myths are ethnically exclusive, their common structure makes them an American phenomenon. 0verland believes all homemaking myths chronicle three basic elements: renditions of fou nding, sacrifice, and ideology.

American Studies in Scandinavia, 2000

Americans continually debate the meaning of equality of opportunity while losing little sleep ove... more Americans continually debate the meaning of equality of opportunity while losing little sleep over inequality of results. Education is presumed to accomplish the former and justify the latter, eliminating any need to redistribute wealth. In the mid-1800s, the crusade for 'common schools' embodied that struggle, followed by the establishment of public high schools later in the century. By the late Twentieth Century, colleges had become the focus of efforts to reconcile equality of opportunity and inequality of results. As a result, the validity of college admissions tests, although often an arcane academic concern, sometimes engender surprisingly public debate through

American Studies in Scandinavia, 1997

This booli is a timely antidote to the anger in the often contentious 'culture wars' by the retir... more This booli is a timely antidote to the anger in the often contentious 'culture wars' by the retired Harvard sociologist best linown for co-authoring Beyoizd the Melting Pot with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Approaching a book written by a senior Jewish academic who served on the infamous New York State curriculuin committee with Artliur Schlesinger, this reviewer expected it to echo Schlesinger's vituperative attack on 'm~llticulturalism' in The Disurzitiizg of Arizericn (1991). Instead, while sharing soine of Schlesinger's discoinfort with Afrocentrism and other inulticultural excesses, Glazer writes a calming booli that is conciliatory toward the people Schlesinger damned. The difference steins from Glazer's reluctant conviction that poor urban African-Americans are in a uniquely frustrating position. Glazer maintains that the iininigrant model is working for those recently arrived from Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America, but not for African Americans. Thus 'multiculturalism is the price America is paying for its inability or unwillingness to incorporate into its society African Americans' (147). Glazer was embroiled in the battles over New Yorli State's curriculum that brought ' m~~l t i c~~l t~~r a l i s m ' into the national spotlight and helped spark the 'culture wars.' The word was virt~lally ~lnlinown in American parlance before the late 1980s, having been the province of Canadian and Australian discourse. By the early 1990s the phrase was raising blood pressures across the United States. Unlike Schlesinger, Glazer changed soine of his views as a result of the New York State curricular wars. The controversy began with Gov. Mario Cuomo's selection of Thomas Sobol as State Superintendent of Schools when many Black and Hispanic leaders expected the post to go to one of their own. To assuage them, Sobol placed a number of potential enemies on a Task Force for Minorities. Its intemperate report, A C L L~~*~C L L~L L~I Z of Iizcl~~sion, denounced mainstream education as 'Eurocentric' and called for separate curricula tailored to each ethnic group. Having lumped Europeans into one group and made dubious historical claims of sub-Saharan African achievements, A Curviculurn of Irzclusion was savaged by historians, politicians, and journalists. Sobol then appointed the New York State Social Studies Review and Development Committee; including Glazer and Schlesinger, to try again. This committee was broadly representative and less contentious. Glazer believes its call for a moderate form of m~~lticulturalism would have passed without much attention if taken on its own merits. It avoided the intemperate language of the first report, was supported by white 'upstate' educators, and echoed much already being taught in New Yorli State's social studies classrooms. But the controversy surrounding the previous report guaranteed scrutiny, and publication of Schlesinger's articulate dissent engendered emotional debate. Tirize, New Republic, and Governor Cuomo quickly attacked the report.

The Review of Higher Education, 1980

History of Education Quarterly, 2001

Dignified brick and cobblestone former academies, restored as boutiques, museums, and houses, len... more Dignified brick and cobblestone former academies, restored as boutiques, museums, and houses, lend a romantic touch to many small towns and villages of the northern states. Seeming relics of a quaint educational past, these actually are monuments to a ubiquitous institution of nineteenth-century northern American communities, one that has slipped to the margins of public memory and inspired few histories. Historians most comfortably write about the antecedents and evolution of existing institutions. Those not leaving trails to the present pose evidentiary and conceptual problems. Just finding a word to label an institution that crosses modern categories of primary, secondary, and higher education is difficult.

History of Education Quarterly, 1998

History of Education, 2011

Taylor and Francis HED_A_523959.sgm 10.1080/0046760X.2011.523959 Hist ry of Education 0 46-760X (... more Taylor and Francis HED_A_523959.sgm 10.1080/0046760X.2011.523959 Hist ry of Education 0 46-760X (prin )/1464-5130 (online) Original Article 2 10 & Francis 4 0 002 10 PeterCu ningham pjc36@hermes.cam.ac.uk The impressive range of papers presented at the ‘Beyond the Lecture Hall’ conference at Cambridge University1 inspired us to draw together a collection that would, from a historical perspective, question and challenge the prevailing discourse of ‘knowledge transfer’ in higher education policy. In particular, Harvey Siegel’s twin notions of ‘cultural transmission’ and ‘cultural transformation’2 both illuminate the historical phenomena investigated within these pages, and provide an analytical framework that enables the historical account to modify and enrich our understandings of the role of universities in the present. We believe these papers move beyond the confines of ‘knowledge transfer’ as an operating concept. ‘Knowledge’ is reductionist whereas culture takes account of a wider range of knowledge, values and practices. ‘Transfer’ is too crudely mechanistic, commodifying the object transferred. Instead, transmission recognises the much more subtle pedagogical and cultural processes involved, and is more akin to sharing, as the knowledge or values transmitted are retained by the ‘source group’ at the same time as they are gained by the ‘target group’. And transformation takes account of transmission’s effects in constantly altering the context; transformation may be intentional or unintentional; the former case is embedded in the normative idea that education aims at improvement, whereas the latter case forces recognition that education takes place in a constantly changing context that it does not control. Although Siegel’s principal examples relate mostly to school systems in a variety of periods and cultures the arguments apply as much to universities in the present age when governments view them, or indeed the entire higher education ‘sector’ in predominantly instrumental terms. The school system remains more immediately manipulable as an instrument for the realisation of social goals, whilst universities traditionally preserve their autonomy through appeals to the importance of independent research. But the dramatic growth of funding for science and technology research on the one hand, and the opening of undergraduate study to an ever-increasing intake on the other, has steadily undermined traditional claims to autonomy. Siegel’s urgent question is a normative one, asking ‘What relationship should obtain between institutions of education and the larger culture in which they are

History of Education, 2011

Given American higher education’s origins in British practice, it is surprising that training in ... more Given American higher education’s origins in British practice, it is surprising that training in the traditional ‘learned’ professions follows such different patterns. Most strikingly, such training is post‐graduate in the United States while it is often a first degree programme in Britain. Intriguingly, in the middle nineteenth century, the pattern was closer to the opposite. This paper examines why that reversal occurred and how the current American practice came into being. At the centre of the analysis is the revival and success of the fin de siécle America liberal arts college. Seemingly headed for oblivion in the face of the German model of specialized higher education and dissatisfaction with its Classical curriculum, the colleges re‐invented themselves, becoming a rite of passage for the emerging upper middle class. Their desire to become gateways to the professions intersected symbiotically with those of the professional elites seeking to regain control of their professions.

The American Historical Review, 2001

... Lyman Glenny, Howard Bowen, Duncan Mellichamp, Calvin Moore, Richard Jensen, and my colleague... more ... Lyman Glenny, Howard Bowen, Duncan Mellichamp, Calvin Moore, Richard Jensen, and my colleagues at the Center for Studies in Higher Education (University of California—Berkeley), in particular Arnie Leiman, and also Marian Gade, Diane Harley, Carroll Brentano, and ...

International Higher Education, 2015

Pennsylvania history, 1979

P RESIDENT Carter's attacks upon the legal and medical "establishments" have revived public debat... more P RESIDENT Carter's attacks upon the legal and medical "establishments" have revived public debate about the impact of professions upon American society. It is surely appropriate, and even urgent, that we reexamine the way that the structures and assumptions embodied in professional organizations channel important aspects of national life. The origins and evolution of professionalization have received considerable attention from historians. Recently Burton Bledstein has broadened the discussion with his thesis that a "culture of professionalism" provides the best conceptual framework for understanding the middle class of urbanizing and industrializing America. Although, as Thomas Haskell suggests, Bledstein overstates the case, his work promises to provoke new and broadly ranging discussion of professionalization and its relationship to higher education.' The organization of the traditional professions as well as some newer ones proceeded with dramatic speed between the Civil War and World War I. National organizations were founded or revived, training was extended, licensing standardized, and group consciousness raised. Law, medicine, and engineering were particularly prominent in establishing the pattern. Its adoption signalled the ascendency of a faction in each field that found the new structures and practices to be an effective way of gaining control of the profession. The battle over "scientific" medicine is the best-known of the internal disputes that occurred within each area. 2 The academic world shared this tradition.

Passage: Tidskrift for litteratur og kritik, Aug 21, 1997

Få årtier i den amerikanske historie byder på et så kontrastfyldt forhold mellem de første og de ... more Få årtier i den amerikanske historie byder på et så kontrastfyldt forhold mellem de første og de sidste år som 1960erne: Den flotte John F. Kennedys velformulerede tiltraedelsestale over for den udkørte Lyndon B. Johnsons tilbagetraeden fra sin genvalgskampagne. De høflige, unge sorte universitetsstuderende, som laver sit in-strejker i frokostrestaurationerne ved Greensboro Woolworth over for de Sorte Pantere, der svinger med pistolerne ved Cornell University og gør brug af dem i Oakland, Californien. Den karseklippede universitetskultur fra 1960 over for Woodstocks langhårede modkultur. Et vedholdende tyveårigt babyboom overfor unge mennesker, der svaerger på ikke at ville saette børn i en korrupt verden. Dr. Spock, der laegger ud som babyguru, og i egenskab af fredsforkaemper ender som verbal skydeskive for Vicepraesidenten. Den segregationistiske guvernør George Wallace, over for den integrationistiske guvernør Jimmy Carter. Kontrasterne var virkelige og grundfaestede, selv om de livagtige billeder slører i samme omfang som de fremviser. Arven fra Kennedy-Johnson: Den socialliberale reform. Den glamour, der hvilede over Kennedys praesidentperiode, lige fra hans bevaegende tiltraedelsestale over de funklende receptioner til de hjertevindende familiescener, har efterladt et uudsletteligt indtryk på den amerikanske bevidsthed. Gløden fra "Came

Jeanette Banker was in the SUNY Brockport Class of 1953. She studied in the Elementary Education ... more Jeanette Banker was in the SUNY Brockport Class of 1953. She studied in the Elementary Education program. In this program, she was placed at Brockport\u27s campus school as well as Rochester\u27s #35 school. She worked in the Rochester City School District for a short period before taking a position in SUNY Brockport\u27s campus school, and continued to work at SUNY Brockport until her retirement. Jeanette Banker passed away in February 2020

published, Mar 12, 2020

BL We will probably need two sessions. So I wonder if today we could talk mainly about your earli... more BL We will probably need two sessions. So I wonder if today we could talk mainly about your earlier career and your earlier days in Brockport. WA Then you want me to give a summary of my career? BL I'm curious about how you wound up getting from Colorado to Brockport.

published, Jun 4, 2020

after that. Starting in 1927 and ending up in 1931 with a Bachelor of Arts. I majored in English ... more after that. Starting in 1927 and ending up in 1931 with a Bachelor of Arts. I majored in English and minored in history. And I was interested primarily in teacher education. I wanted to become a teacher. Unfortunately, there were no jobs in 1931 when I graduated. So, everyone I asked about Jobs said, well, What experience do you have? And obviously you haven't had any experience if you haven't had a job. So I volunteered to teach in the Syracuse schools for nothing in order to get some experience. And interestingly enough, on the the upshot of that was that the superintendent of schools, who was the former high my former high school administrator knew me and on the basis of my volunteering in the schools, He said to me, later on, we have a job here in Syracuse and if you would like to have it, well I'll recommend you. So I got a job in Syracuse in about 1934. And finally, I stayed there several years, taught in Porter School, which is up in the West End, very largely Polish and Italian section at that time I taught English and math and began taking some graduate work beyond the master's degree on a doctorate at Syracuse. I was interested there in a professor who had come from Iowa, and Bill young became later the director of elementary education in the state department and I asked him about the doctorate. He suggested I go somewhere else rather than Syracuse. Interestingly enough, so I, although he was teaching there himself. I applied down at Columbia, since that was the primary teaching or Education School college at that time in the United States with Julian Kilpatrick and all of those people who had done a lot of work in education, primarily and in elementary education. So, I was matriculated there and took the eight hours of exams that were necessary and somehow passed them and finally Through the dead of much summer school work and evening work and I managed to complete the course of study down Colombia with a year in residence in 1939 to 1940. I received the degree in 1942 a doctor of education because they made a distinction between the doctors down there one which they recommended for people who are interested in, in the actual public schools was the EDD and not the research degree which was a PhD. Anyway, I specialized in educational psychology with reading as a primary emphasis under people like Gates and several other people who were outstanding in reading at that time. I completed my degree just before I went into the service. I was scheduled to go into the service in 1941. But I got a deferment so that I could complete the degree. They went along with it the board. So in September 42, I was inducted in the service and took basic training and officer training and became a second lieutenant in 1943. I bounced around in the service in several different places and finally went overseas to The Philippines, which were going into the last of the actual fighting, and lady in the Gulf at that time, and went to Manila, and when we were in Manila at the army depot there replacement depot we got news of the dropping of the atomic

published, May 15, 1949

B.L.: Could you tell me about your parents' education? AV: Both of my parents were born in Italy.... more B.L.: Could you tell me about your parents' education? AV: Both of my parents were born in Italy. My father was from an area near Naples and my mother from Sicily. My father came to this country at the turn of this century with no education. I think he finished first grade. He was about twelve years old when he came and he could neither read nor write. But he was able to carve out a life for himself and he served in the U.S. Army during World War I and saw action in France. That was one of the proudest parts of his life, being a veteran. My mother came from Sicily and she had been a teacher over there, like a Sunday school teacher. She came over in 1920. My mother and father were married in 1923 and in 1925 I was born. I was an only child. BL: And then you went to Aquinas, then did you come to Brockport or did you go into the service? AV: No, I graduated from Aquinas in 1943 and many of my classmates went directly into the service. The war was ongoing at that time. I was only seventeen and I wanted to go into the Air Force Cadets, therefore I had to wait until I was eighteen, which was at the end of the year in December. I decide to go to school during that summer and fall. A lot of the colleges had semesters during the summer, so a couple of friends and I went to Villanova thinking I was to be an engineer. My two friends finally came back and completed as engineers, but that was far from what my talents were. But anyway, I attended Villanova for those two semesters and then went into the service. After the war, when I was discharged in May 1946, I knew I didn't want to go back to Villanova. I didn't want to go anywhere too far from home. My girlfriend at the time, who later became my wife, had just graduated from Brockport in 1946. She was teaching at that time in Niagara Falls. So I decided to take a ride out to Brockport one day and take a look at it. I remember meeting with Dr. Delancy, who was in charge of Admissions at that time. I decided to come to Brockport in the fall, thinking I'd try it for a semester and see what happens. BL: This is the fall of 1946? AV: Yes, the fall of 1946. It just so happens that one of the first classes that I had that semester was with Ray Conrad and I don't recall the name of the class but it was probably something like Educational Psychology. As I sat there, this man mesmerized me. I said if that's what teaching is all about, I want a part of it. I decided to stay at Brockport. And many times later on when I came back to Brockport on the staff, there was a large group, maybe I was speaking for one reason or another, and Ray Conrad was in the audience, I would always tell this story about him. I'm sure he had that effect on many of my contemporaries. But that's how I came to Brockport and how I decided to stay at Brockport. BL: Did you enter the elementary or physical education program? AV: I entered the elementary program. I was not gifted athletically, and the physical education direction was not for me. I went with the elementary education program. BL: What was your first impression of Brockport besides Dr. Conrad? AV: The very special camaraderie of those times, especially, with all of us veterans who came back. Fall, 1946 was really the first big mass of veterans that landed here at the campus. As Ray Conrad use to say "We didn't know what to do with you." It was a special bond between all of us. Also, I remember a very special connection or relationship with all of the professors. It was a very special time. They realized that we were 'different' because we were more mature and objective-minded. We would be here for a couple of years and then move on to our chosen field of work. Jobs were very important in our minds. The relationships we had with the professors were something I never saw again afterwards, even when I came back as a professor. BL: Were you invited to their homes? Did you know their families? AV: Yes, I remember a couple of my friends, in fact Harry Emerson, you mentioned him a little while ago. I think he and some others lived in the President's house. He used to have students upstairs. But I remember Russ Archer who used to be the Chairman of the Speech Department, also had dramatics. He treated our dramatic students like a family. I remember Jo Mannix who was a teacher in the Campus School, Josephine Mannix. She had responsibility as an advisor to the Newman group, there was no Newman Oratory, but it was a Newman Club. She would lend a few of us her car, so we would go to other campuses and meet with other Newman groups. I remember John Redling, Ann Brown, and myself taking her car and off we'd go. It was that kind of a spirit, that is like a family. BL: You mentioned Newman, how numerous were Catholic students at Brockport ? AV: I would say a very high percentage during the time that I recall. I don't have any scientific data or proof, just from conversations. I think it was a good percentage. Whether it was a majority or not, I don't know. I remember our Newman group was large. BL: Did the Catholic students feel they were at home or were visitors at a Protestant establishment? AV: No, there was never any feeling like that. It was family whether you were Catholic or whatever. BL: How about the ethnic origins of your fellow students, could you characterize them? AV: There were a lot, such as myself, who were of Italian heritage. I recall there were quite a few of Irish heritage. Then, I can't identify or block out, but I know those two heritages come to mind. But it was something that you never highlighted. There was just Joe, Mike, and Andy regardless of the heritage. BL: Do you think the GI Bill changed the composition of the student body much? AV: Yes, the GI Bill was one of the greatest acts of our Congress and our President. I think it transformed higher education. It made higher education universal and it's never retreated from that. The colleges were never the same after that. BL: One faculty member I was going to ask you about was Harry Porter? Did you know him? AV: Yes, I did. I took a class from him; he was in the History Department. BL: I know his name because he went on to great things at SUNY, but I've never heard anyone talk about him at Brockport. Could you tell me about him? AV: He was a professor of History and I remember taking a class with him, but I don't remember which one. I guess I'd describe him as an Abe Lincoln character. He was tall, gangly, and friendly in a shy way, and a great professor. He went from here directly to SUNY Central. No, I think he went to one of our sister colleges first as President. It was Fredonia. That's right, he went to Fredonia to be President, then he ended up being the Provost at the University.

American Studies in Scandinavia, 2002

Christopher Columbus has gone through various incarnations as hero and, more recently, as villain... more Christopher Columbus has gone through various incarnations as hero and, more recently, as villain. The 1893 Columbian Exposition was a defining national moment. By the 1930s, Columbus Day was becoming a particularly Italian day. In the 1990s Native American advrn.:ales have obj ected lo any cekbrnlion whi le Hispanics have sought lo rn;Jair11 lr i111 from Italians, even sponsoring an alternative parade in New York City. For Scandinavians, Columbus is a 'Johnny-come-lately,' having arrived nearly a half millennium after Leif Erikson. The modern discovery of a verifiable 'Vineland' in Newfoundland provides scientific backing to Norwegian pride, but evidence is usually peripheral to ethn ic claims of ancestors ' mythic roles. Such filiopietistic uses and abuses of the past make most historians cringe. However much 'cultural diversity ' has been glorified by modern academics, few want to be associated with exaggerated tales of ethnic triumphs and the booming heritage business. Orm 0verland shared those feelings until he noticed common patterns lurking beneath various groups' mythologies and chauvinisms. In these myths, 0verland detects a distinctly American form which he labels the ' homemaking myth' because its function is to claim the U nited States as the group's rightful home. However much the mythology recalls the imagined glory of an 'old world ' country, it functions to secure the home in America. Although the myths are ethnically exclusive, their common structure makes them an American phenomenon. 0verland believes all homemaking myths chronicle three basic elements: renditions of fou nding, sacrifice, and ideology.

American Studies in Scandinavia, 2000

Americans continually debate the meaning of equality of opportunity while losing little sleep ove... more Americans continually debate the meaning of equality of opportunity while losing little sleep over inequality of results. Education is presumed to accomplish the former and justify the latter, eliminating any need to redistribute wealth. In the mid-1800s, the crusade for 'common schools' embodied that struggle, followed by the establishment of public high schools later in the century. By the late Twentieth Century, colleges had become the focus of efforts to reconcile equality of opportunity and inequality of results. As a result, the validity of college admissions tests, although often an arcane academic concern, sometimes engender surprisingly public debate through

American Studies in Scandinavia, 1997

This booli is a timely antidote to the anger in the often contentious 'culture wars' by the retir... more This booli is a timely antidote to the anger in the often contentious 'culture wars' by the retired Harvard sociologist best linown for co-authoring Beyoizd the Melting Pot with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Approaching a book written by a senior Jewish academic who served on the infamous New York State curriculuin committee with Artliur Schlesinger, this reviewer expected it to echo Schlesinger's vituperative attack on 'm~llticulturalism' in The Disurzitiizg of Arizericn (1991). Instead, while sharing soine of Schlesinger's discoinfort with Afrocentrism and other inulticultural excesses, Glazer writes a calming booli that is conciliatory toward the people Schlesinger damned. The difference steins from Glazer's reluctant conviction that poor urban African-Americans are in a uniquely frustrating position. Glazer maintains that the iininigrant model is working for those recently arrived from Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America, but not for African Americans. Thus 'multiculturalism is the price America is paying for its inability or unwillingness to incorporate into its society African Americans' (147). Glazer was embroiled in the battles over New Yorli State's curriculum that brought ' m~~l t i c~~l t~~r a l i s m ' into the national spotlight and helped spark the 'culture wars.' The word was virt~lally ~lnlinown in American parlance before the late 1980s, having been the province of Canadian and Australian discourse. By the early 1990s the phrase was raising blood pressures across the United States. Unlike Schlesinger, Glazer changed soine of his views as a result of the New York State curricular wars. The controversy began with Gov. Mario Cuomo's selection of Thomas Sobol as State Superintendent of Schools when many Black and Hispanic leaders expected the post to go to one of their own. To assuage them, Sobol placed a number of potential enemies on a Task Force for Minorities. Its intemperate report, A C L L~~*~C L L~L L~I Z of Iizcl~~sion, denounced mainstream education as 'Eurocentric' and called for separate curricula tailored to each ethnic group. Having lumped Europeans into one group and made dubious historical claims of sub-Saharan African achievements, A Curviculurn of Irzclusion was savaged by historians, politicians, and journalists. Sobol then appointed the New York State Social Studies Review and Development Committee; including Glazer and Schlesinger, to try again. This committee was broadly representative and less contentious. Glazer believes its call for a moderate form of m~~lticulturalism would have passed without much attention if taken on its own merits. It avoided the intemperate language of the first report, was supported by white 'upstate' educators, and echoed much already being taught in New Yorli State's social studies classrooms. But the controversy surrounding the previous report guaranteed scrutiny, and publication of Schlesinger's articulate dissent engendered emotional debate. Tirize, New Republic, and Governor Cuomo quickly attacked the report.

The Review of Higher Education, 1980

History of Education Quarterly, 2001

Dignified brick and cobblestone former academies, restored as boutiques, museums, and houses, len... more Dignified brick and cobblestone former academies, restored as boutiques, museums, and houses, lend a romantic touch to many small towns and villages of the northern states. Seeming relics of a quaint educational past, these actually are monuments to a ubiquitous institution of nineteenth-century northern American communities, one that has slipped to the margins of public memory and inspired few histories. Historians most comfortably write about the antecedents and evolution of existing institutions. Those not leaving trails to the present pose evidentiary and conceptual problems. Just finding a word to label an institution that crosses modern categories of primary, secondary, and higher education is difficult.

History of Education Quarterly, 1998

History of Education, 2011

Taylor and Francis HED_A_523959.sgm 10.1080/0046760X.2011.523959 Hist ry of Education 0 46-760X (... more Taylor and Francis HED_A_523959.sgm 10.1080/0046760X.2011.523959 Hist ry of Education 0 46-760X (prin )/1464-5130 (online) Original Article 2 10 & Francis 4 0 002 10 PeterCu ningham pjc36@hermes.cam.ac.uk The impressive range of papers presented at the ‘Beyond the Lecture Hall’ conference at Cambridge University1 inspired us to draw together a collection that would, from a historical perspective, question and challenge the prevailing discourse of ‘knowledge transfer’ in higher education policy. In particular, Harvey Siegel’s twin notions of ‘cultural transmission’ and ‘cultural transformation’2 both illuminate the historical phenomena investigated within these pages, and provide an analytical framework that enables the historical account to modify and enrich our understandings of the role of universities in the present. We believe these papers move beyond the confines of ‘knowledge transfer’ as an operating concept. ‘Knowledge’ is reductionist whereas culture takes account of a wider range of knowledge, values and practices. ‘Transfer’ is too crudely mechanistic, commodifying the object transferred. Instead, transmission recognises the much more subtle pedagogical and cultural processes involved, and is more akin to sharing, as the knowledge or values transmitted are retained by the ‘source group’ at the same time as they are gained by the ‘target group’. And transformation takes account of transmission’s effects in constantly altering the context; transformation may be intentional or unintentional; the former case is embedded in the normative idea that education aims at improvement, whereas the latter case forces recognition that education takes place in a constantly changing context that it does not control. Although Siegel’s principal examples relate mostly to school systems in a variety of periods and cultures the arguments apply as much to universities in the present age when governments view them, or indeed the entire higher education ‘sector’ in predominantly instrumental terms. The school system remains more immediately manipulable as an instrument for the realisation of social goals, whilst universities traditionally preserve their autonomy through appeals to the importance of independent research. But the dramatic growth of funding for science and technology research on the one hand, and the opening of undergraduate study to an ever-increasing intake on the other, has steadily undermined traditional claims to autonomy. Siegel’s urgent question is a normative one, asking ‘What relationship should obtain between institutions of education and the larger culture in which they are

History of Education, 2011

Given American higher education’s origins in British practice, it is surprising that training in ... more Given American higher education’s origins in British practice, it is surprising that training in the traditional ‘learned’ professions follows such different patterns. Most strikingly, such training is post‐graduate in the United States while it is often a first degree programme in Britain. Intriguingly, in the middle nineteenth century, the pattern was closer to the opposite. This paper examines why that reversal occurred and how the current American practice came into being. At the centre of the analysis is the revival and success of the fin de siécle America liberal arts college. Seemingly headed for oblivion in the face of the German model of specialized higher education and dissatisfaction with its Classical curriculum, the colleges re‐invented themselves, becoming a rite of passage for the emerging upper middle class. Their desire to become gateways to the professions intersected symbiotically with those of the professional elites seeking to regain control of their professions.

The American Historical Review, 2001

... Lyman Glenny, Howard Bowen, Duncan Mellichamp, Calvin Moore, Richard Jensen, and my colleague... more ... Lyman Glenny, Howard Bowen, Duncan Mellichamp, Calvin Moore, Richard Jensen, and my colleagues at the Center for Studies in Higher Education (University of California—Berkeley), in particular Arnie Leiman, and also Marian Gade, Diane Harley, Carroll Brentano, and ...

International Higher Education, 2015