A university for the postindustrial society

Abstract

The position of the United States in the past quarter century can be traced in no small part to its large and advanced system of higher education. The academic establishment has been at the forefront, providing the country with its most important resource: trained and knowledgeable manpower. But trouble looms and in a nightmare we are apt to have a vision reminiscent of the well-known cartoon which shows a crowd of running people trailed by one man desperately exclaiming: “There go my people. I must follow them for I am their leader.”

In the next quarter century the widening chasm between progress in technology and the social/behavioral sciences threatens to wreak havoc in the United States. And the same pattern may subsequently be repeated in the other advanced countries. The challenge posed to the leadership of the academic community is awesome indeed. With this paper, we hope to intensify the dialogue on the role university in reducing the chasm and thereby helping to propel the country toward the era of the post-industrial society.