the humboldt myth and the bologna process hans pechar university of klagenfurt hanspechar, sept6,...

HansPechar, Sept6, 2011

The Humboldt Myth and the Bologna Process

Hans PecharUniversity of Klagenfurt


This photo was used across the front pages of most of the national newspapers following the student protest. (London, Nov 2010)


Milano, 2010


Madrid, 2011


45% youth unemployment rate in Spain


Greek Response To A 'Balanced Budget'


The Basic Argument• 3 waves of “Humboldt myth“ – defence against modernization of HE

• early 1900s: “Invention“ of Humboldt

• Fritz Ringer – Decline of German Mandarins (1890 – 1933)

• The Mandarins after 1945

• late 1900s: 3rd wave – Humboldt vs Bologna

• protect Humboldt against his mythologists


1808/09: Prussian Minister of Education

Plan for reforming the Prussian education system:

Über die innere und äußere Organisation der höheren wissenschaftlichen Anstalten in Berlin ('On the internal and external organization of higher academic institutions in Berlin').

Not published and unknown, rediscovered and first published in 1903, triggered 1st wave of Humboldt myth


Germanic Education – Basic Facts

• early streaming (age 10): Gymnasium vs “main school”

• graduates of Gymnasium entitled to enroll at university – no admission

• before Bologna: No undergraduate courses

• before 1960s: Doctorate = 1st degree

• before governance reform: no university management; Rector = figurehead


The Ringer Story

German exceptionalism: The social standing of the educated middle classes

• historic window of opportunity

• ideology of cultivation (Bildung)

• sociological concepts (class vs status)

Rise and decline of Mandarins

• socially progressive concept (early/mid 1800s)

• reactionary ideology (from late 1800s)


Historic Window of Opportunity

Intermediate stage of economic development

• landed aristocracy in defense, the commercial middle classes not yet strong

Prussia humiliated by Napoleon

“The physical power that the Prussian state has lost must be replaced by spiritual power”

Hope of salvation is attached to the Germanic notion of Bildung


Ideology of Cultivation (Bildung)

Pure, impractical learning as end in itself Inner growth

• roots in Pietism, quasireligious belief system (sons of Protestant pastors become secular intellectuals)

Anti-utilitarianism: claim of a leisure elite, exempted from manual work, responsible to govern society (functional ruling class)


Sociological Concepts (Class vs Status)

Max Weber

Distinction class vs status (social estate)

Class: objective positions in system of production

Status: attributed social honor associated with certain styles of life (similar to habitus)

Non-utilitarian cultivation emphasizes the status dimension


Max Weber

“Differences of education are one of the strongest social barriers, especially in Germany, where almost all privileged positions inside and outside the civil service are tied to qualifications involving not only specialized knowledge but also ‘general cultivation’ and where the whole school and university system has been put into the service of this ideal of general cultivation.”


Friedrich Paulsen

“The academically educated constitute a kind of intellectual and spiritual aristocracy .... Together, the make up a homogeneous segment of society; they simply recognize each other as social equals on the bases of their academic cultivation ... Conversely, anyone in Germany who has no academic education lacks something which wealth and high birth cannot fully replace.”


Friedrich Paulsen

“Educated and uneducated, these are the two halves into which society is at present divided. They have gradually caused older divisions to be forgotten.”


NapoleonicWars

1848 Revolution

1918 Weimer

1933 1968

1990s

1890s

1945

Rise: Formative Era


Rise: Formative Era

• modernization: feudal estates based on birth displaced by social estates based on vocation

• neo-humanist emphasis on Bildung: meritocratic challenge to privilege of birth

• emancipatory educational ideals, socially inclusive


NapoleonicWars

1848 Revolution

1918 Weimer

1933 1968

1990s

1890s

1945

Mandarins at their Peak


Mandarins at their Peak

• represent political interest of the rising bourgeois society (e.g. Revolution of 1848)

• cultural hegemony

• German research university becomes global role model

• but disciplinary specialization violated neo-humanist principles


NapoleonicWars

1848 Revolution

1. Humboldt

Myth

1918 Weimer

1933 1968

1990s

1890s

1945

Decline: Age of Masses


Decline: Age of Masses

Rapid economic development,

commercial + working classes strengthened, cultivated class squeezed, hegemony threatened

Rise of modern/technical HE

“Cultural crisis”

• soulless modernity, over- specialization, utilitarian research

Regressive anti-modernism & anti-capitalism

• German culture vs Western civilization


Invention of Humboldt

• no reference to Humboldt during the 19th century (only little to neo-humanist concepts of higher learning)

• discovery of Humboldt‘s manuscript triggers 1st wave of Humboldt myth

• return to Humboldt: rebirth of a nation, solution of cultural crisis


NapoleonicWars

1848 Revolution

1. Humboldt Myth

1918 Weimer

1933 1968

1990s

1890s

1945

Decline: Weimar Republic


Decline: Weimar Republic

Downward mobility

Hyper inflation

• salaries higher officials/workers: pre-war 7:1, after war 2:1; fiscal austerity threatens universities

Delegitimize the democratic government, increasing right-wing orientation

“The difference between the intellectual elite of Germany and the extremist right-wing intellectuals was largely a matter of style and

tone” (Habermas)


Ringer Story Continued

1945 2nd Humboldt myth – restoration of the old academic regime

1968 Mass culture and mass higher education arrives in the Germanic countries

1990s 3rd wave of Humboldt myth against governance reforms and Bologna process


NapoleonicWars

1848 Revolution

1. Humboldt Myth

1918 Weimer

1933

2. Humboldt

Myth

1968

1990s

1890s

1945

1945: Restoration of Old Regime


1945: Restoration of Old Regime

• Mandarins repel US demands to democratize education

2nd Humboldtian myth

“healthy in its core”

• facilitated return to the old regime of neo-humanist Mandarin hegemony

• economic and political integration of Germany & Austria into Western Hemisphere;

• mass consumption accepted, mass culture devalued ( comics = trash literature, jazz = “negro” music)


NapoleonicWars

1848 Revolution

1. Humboldt Myth

1918 Weimer

1933

2. Humboldt Myth

1968

massuni-

versity

1990s

1890s

1945

1968: Mass Culture Takes Off


1968: Mass Culture Takes Off

Cultural Revolution

• mass culture and mass higher education becomes accepted

Habermas (1971): Mandarins disappeared

Educated middle classes still powerful: avoided structural reforms

• no comprehensive school, expansion of Gymnasium

• neo-humanist façade provides excuses for ignoring the realities of mass HE


NapoleonicWars

1848 Revolution

1. Humboldt Myth

1918 Weimer

1933

2. Humboldt Myth

1968

massuni-

versity

1990s

3. Humboldt Myth

NPM, Bologna

1890s

1945

1990s: NPM & Bologna


1990s: NPM & Bologna

• since 1960s gov‘t stressed economic relevance of HE, but did not interfere into governance and internal academic affairs

• NPM ends the concept of “cultural state”

(benevolent sponsor, attaching no conditions)

• Bologna introduces a new culture of teaching and learning ending the laissez-faire practice

• last combat of “Humboldt warriors” to maintain the neo-humanist façade


Cultural State vs NPM

Dual nature of university

State agency + autonomous corporation

• External affairs: micromanaged by ministry

• Internal affairs: governance of academic oligarchy

NMP

• Governance similar to North American public universities

Critics

• privatization, commercialization


Laissez-Faire vs Bologna

Laissez-faire Culture

Academics

• teach only boutique courses (their research topics), no coherent syllabus

Students

• must register, but no enrollment and completion monitoring

Never applied to professional/technical studies

Bologna

• 2-tier structure, workload, credits, prerequisites

Critics

• Cultivation sacrificed to economic demands (employability)


Future Prospects?

• Bologna has reached a point of no return; teething troubles will be tackled

• unlikely that the neo-humanist façade will survive

• more noise to be expected, but protest is voice of an outspoken minority, most academics and students have no strong views


Further Reading

• Ash, M.G. (2006), Bachelor of what, master of whom? The Humboldt myth and historical transformations of higher education in German-speaking Europe and the US. European Journal of Education, 41(2), 245-267.

• Habermas, J. (1971), The intellectual and social background of the German university crisis, Minerva 9, 422-28

• Michelsen, S. (2010), Humboldt Meets Bologna, Higher Education Policy, 23, 151–172• O'Boyle, L. (1983), Learning for Its Own Sake: The German University as Nineteenth-

Century Model, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 25, No. 1 pp. 3-25• Paletschek, S. (2001), The Invention of Humboldt and the Impact of National Socialism.

The German University Idea in the First Half of the Twentieth Century, in: Margit Szöllösi-Janze (Hrsg.): Science in the Third Reich. Oxford: Berg, 37-58

• Pritchard, R. (2006), Trends in the restructuring of German universities, Comparative Education Review 50(1): 90–112.

• Ringer, F. (1969), The Decline of the German Mandarins. The German Academic Community 1890–1933, Cambridge, Harvard UP

• Ringer, F. (1986), Differences and Cross-National Similarities among Mandarins, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 28, 145-164

• Schimank, U. (2005), New Public Management’ and the Academic Profession: Reflections on the German Situation, Minerva, 43, 361-376

the humboldt myth and the bologna process hans pechar university of klagenfurt hanspechar, sept6,...

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