The Divergent Role of
Professional Associations and Business Interests in the Formation
of Systems for Technical Education in Germany and the USA
Haldor
Byrkjeflot
CCOP Working Paper #2000-02
January, 2000
Germany and the USA both
industrialized between 1860 and 1925, but they developed different
systems for industrial and technical education. The Germans developed
a more comprehensive, system, with three distinct levels; lower,
middle and higher education. The higher engineering schools were
separate from the traditional universities but granted equal status.
Industrial education in Germany was primarily part of a mobilization
for technik, industrial growth, social unity and nationalism.
Engineering education was used to establish a link between vocational
schools and academic education. The American field of technical
education around 1925 consisted largely of engineering colleges,
which to a large extent was integrated in the traditional university
system. Engineering colleges had multiplied as in no other country,
and the training of artisans, foremen and technicians had been
neglected. There was a clear social distinction between engineering
schools and institutions for vocational education, the latter
being partly associated in the public mind with rehabilitation
of criminals and school dropouts. Engineering educators contributed
to this mindset by distancing themselves from vocational schools
and institutions for manual training.
I account for the different
outcomes and ideologies by emphasizing differences in organizational
resources and worldviews among four groups; teachers and academics,
engineers in professional associations, politicians/civil servants
and business managers. The educational revolution and the academization
process in engineering started earlier in Germany, and the rise
of large corporations increased the influence of practitioners
and industrialists in the education system. Engineering in the
United States was originally a practical and shop-based profession.
Academic entrepreneurs and teachers had the initiative in education,
and they were more firmly in control also after the industrial
revolution.
