2006 Volume 73 Issue 1 Pages 1-14
A large number of studies have been made of Max Weber's (1864-1920) writings on the problems of the German universities. In these studies the policy aspects of science or his methodology have been examined. Little attention, however, has been given to his educational thought that German university professors should have "pedagogical tasks". The notion "Weber as Educator" (Wilhelm Hennis, 1996) offers the key to an understanding of his educational thoughts. In his best-known work on science "science as a vocation" Weber said: "He [A German university professor] should be qualified not only as a research worker but also as a teacher". The purposes of this paper are to propound Weber's theory of the German higher education from the viewpoint of teaching and learning practice inside the classroom (a "compulsory" organization), and to consider the significance of theory in the history of educational ideas since Humboldt's fundamental principles (1809). This paper, like Dirk Kaesler's suggestive paper (2003) gives weight to Weber's critical diagnosis regarding the capitalization, mass-democratization and bureaucratization on the universities. The results of Weber's theories were as follows: 1) Professors need not meet the demands of a large audience, seeking above all to be "interesting". They should "expose scientific problems in such a manner that an untrained but receptive mind can understand them and think independently about them". 2) Professors who are not to be as leaders but as teachers in the classroom, should not inculcate absolute or ultimate moral values under the name of "academic freedom". But they should (and can) teach the capacity to think clearly and "to know what one wants". 3) An intense enthusiasm for idols of "personality" and "experience" has become prevalent among the younger generation. In science, only the person who serves his task has "personality", which is true not only of science. It is important for science that the individual (student) can accomplish something by the most rigorous specialization. Weber's educational ideal in these arguments is also characterized as the important term "Sachlichkeit" in his general sociology. Weber was well aware that his ideal was in accord with the tradition of the German universities. In fact, Weber's theory succeeded Humboldt's principles regarding the "genuine" community of professor and students for the pursuit of truths, and "unintended" formation of personality through scientific training, except for his emphasis on specialization. At the same time his theory revealed an acute problem-solving principle of higher education in the face of inevitable situations encountered by modern societies. Finally, Weber's theoretical standpoints - like Humbolt's - had a duality deeply traditionalistic on the one hand, and actually contemporary on the other. In other words, Max Weber expected professors (including himself) to be "teachers" with "aristocratic spirit" inside classrooms, each living in the tension between two historical standpoints. Similarly, he expected students to be so. Moreover the tension contains, apparently unlike Humbolt's, other meaning: Weber's educational demand on "specialization" indispensably needs an attitude of "Sachlichkeit", characterized by the viewpoint of bureaucratic principles and educational ideas which seem to be incompatible. Such characteristics of "Sachlichkeit" could be mutually converted by teacher and student approaches.
