著者

ヴォルフガング ライン

出版者

教育哲学会

雑誌

教育哲学研究 (ISSN:03873153)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1967, no.16, pp.48-68, 1967-10-10 (Released:2009-09-04)

参考文献数

66

---

Only a few years ago it seemed that a basic refom of the “Humboldt-University” was not to be expected. The idea of the traditional German University seemed able even in our modern technico-scientific society to hold its own as the guiding pattern for the modern university. Although the Wissenschaftsrat, founded in 1957, neither was nor was it originally intended to be a central university reform agency, however, its publications did much to reactivate the reform discussions which had bogged down in the sixties.The “Recommendations” of 1960 aimed mainly at consolidation of research-and training capacity in the universities, and thus tried to cope with both the sudden great increase in student numbers (“onslaught of the masses”) and the demands for the reorganisation of scientific research. The “Suggestions” of 1962 go beyond those of 1960 by pointing out new possible ways, without, however, infringing upon the leading principles of the traditional concept of the university.Only the “Recommendations” of 1966 (New Regulation of University Study) show a rather unexpectedly radical change of mind on the part of the Wissenschaftsrat with regard to the reform of the universities. As the heated discussion, which has been provoked by these “Recommendations” unmistakingly makes clear, it is no longer a matter of merely minor modifications of the old ideal, but the idea of the “Humboldt-University” itself is in question - and on the part of the Wissenschaftsrat has been as an outdated dream rejected. According to the Wissenschaftsrat's new conception, most of the students would be excluded from direct participation in research, freedom of learning would be noticeably cut down, and thus, the primary aim of the traditional university - the education of human personality through encounter with scientific work, within the realm of freedom - would be largely impaired.The final decision as to whether or not this new conception as a whole will succeed in practice still depends on the largely autonomous university faculties. Nevertheless, in the face of continual increase of student enrolment, it seems to my mind most likely indeed, that the “radical” solution brought forward by the Wissenschaftsrat - if handled with due precaution - will on the whole prove to be the only possible alternative for the German university.