美国大学学术自由的含义——基于终身教职保障制度的思考

美国大学的学术自由理念来自于德国柏林大学,但是美国大学在其发展中学术自由不再是一种形而上的学术理想与理念,而是一种具体的经济与职位保障制度。本文基于一种保障制度即终身教职的视角探讨了美国学术自由的产生、含义及其限制。美国的学术自由建立过程与美国大学职能的演变是直接联系起来的;终身教职中所保障的自由更多的指的是教师教学的自由,因而对教师在教学中的自由作了明确的限制。

The American Academic Freedom and Its Limits

The ideal of American academic freedom stems from German University,but it could not be transplanted directly into American soil.Rather than transplanting the ideal of German freedom into American soil,the idea of the German freedom was grafted into the American higher education to produce a conception of ideal that was unique to the United states.The real meaning of American academic freedom is tenured system,which protects professors from economic and career loss.Based on this perspective,the paper explores the production,the meaning and limits of American academic freedom:the process of academic freedom safeguard is associated with the essence and functions of University directly.There are many limits to professor in teaching:the limits of curriculum organization,the limits of methods and the limits of teaching attitude orientation.The tenured system using detailed statements and processes have given protection to academic freedom,the aim of the protection pointed to improve statues of profession.