German enlightenment in the American university

American higher education is currently receiving harsh criticism from both within and without. E. D. Hirsch of the University of Virginia considers American students to be \u27culturally illiterate. Allan Bloom of the University of Chicago argues that the common notion that all truth is relative has impoverished the souls of today\u27s students. But the most telling criticism comes from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Ernest Boyer, President of the foundation and former U. s. Commissioner of Education finds that, the undergraduate college, the very heart of higher learning, is a troubled institution.” In its recent report on American undergraduate education The Carnegie Foundation leveled a number of sharp criticisms at the current American higher educational enterprise. This article will consider three of the report\u27s specific complaints and recommendations and seek to trace a major source of the historical antecedents of these modern educational problems: the influence of Enlightenment philosophy on the Nineteenth Century German University and, in turn, German influence on American Universities after the Civil War. Additionally, this paper will suggest how this historical understanding could affect any attempt to bring about a greater openness to biblical ideas in secular colleges and universities. Finally, we will consider some warnings which are implied for Christian colleges and seminaries