2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Historical Study on the Establishing Process of Academic Tenure in the United States Higher Education
| Project/Area Number |
10610279
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
Educaion
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Meiji Gakuin University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
MATSUURA Yoshimitsu Meiji Gakuin University, Faculty of Letters, Professor (30209499)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 2000
|
| Keywords | academic tenure / professor / academic freedom / higher education in the United States / undergraduate education / curriculum / education of colleges and universities / administration of colleges and universities |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
This study tried to give a clear picture of the establishing process of the academic tenure system and to elucidate the historical condition and background of the status and function of professors or teachers in the United States higher education. The tenure system of professors of universities and colleges in the United States was established in the first half of the twentieth century. The foundation of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the announcement of "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure" which was a joint statement of AAUP and the American Association of Colleges (AAC) had a significant influence on the development of the definition and meaning of the academic tenure. Therefore the theory that the academic tenure system was developed in order to protect academic freedom especially to keep professors' research activities free from unjustified and unreasonable interferences has been commonly accepted. This study, however, the development of the academic tenure system was closely related to the departmentalism and rank system of faculty in the United States higher education which would be the process of taking the initiative in administrative power politics at many higher education institutions. The departmentalism was not only the process of specializing activities by professors as researchers but of establishing the position of them as teaching professions. This study claims that the development of tenure system accompanied the diversification of college curriculum and the requirements for B. A. degree, the course elective system, and the functional differentiation of teaching or education and research in duties of colleges and university professors.
|
