"The Most Wonderful Thing Has Happened to Me in the Army": Psychology, Citizenship, and American Higher Education in World War II

2005 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Loss
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
World War ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
Wonderful Thing

The Democratization of Higher Education in America

1962 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Trow
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
World War ◽  
College Age ◽  
College And University ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
The Difference

American higher education is currently undergoing an enormous and rapid expansion. Between 1939 and 1961 the number of students enrolled in colleges and universities and earning credits toward degrees rose from about 1.3 million to over 3.9 million (1). This three-fold increase has resulted almost completely from increasing rates of enrollment, since the population of college age—that is, the 18 to 21 year olds—was almost exactly as large in 1939 as in 1960 (2). The difference is that in 1939 college and university enrollments comprised about 14% of the 18–21 year old population, while by 1961 that figure was about 38%. This rate has been increasing at an average of 1% a year since the end of World War II.

World War II and Institutional Shifts

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Gleason
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Korean War ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
World War ◽  
Catholic Colleges ◽  
American Higher Education ◽  
Steady Growth ◽  
Catholic Colleges And Universities ◽  
The Korean War

World War II set the stage for an era of tremendous growth in American higher education, growth in which the Catholic sector shared fully. Between 1940 and 1960 the number of Catholic colleges and universities increased by one-fifth (from 193 to 231), faculties grew by about 85 percent (from 13,142 to 24,255), and enrollments almost doubled that percentage, zooming from just under 162,000 to just over 426,000, an increase of 164 percent. Sheer growth was thus the most basic of the institutional developments that took place in this era, but it presented itself more as a series of crises than as a process of continuous accretion. The first crisis, brought on by the wartime draft and the attraction of highpaying jobs in defense industries, imperiled the very existence of the colleges by depleting their pool of potential students. Then came the overwhelming surge of postwar veterans that almost swamped the system. And just as educators were regaining their balance from that onslaught, the outbreak of the Korean War threatened to start the cycle all over again. Korea proved to be a mere dimple compared with World War II, but steady growth did not really begin until 1953.

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