ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how colleges assumed their unique role as advanced American education was systematized. Institutions that originated in small-town America—academies, normal schools, and collegiate preparatory departments—had to adjust to a more bureaucratic system demanded by an urbanizing society. Franklin and Marshall created a bachelor of philosophy degree in 1899 to enable future physicians to study more science and enter the second year of medical school. Even some Franklin and Marshall Academy graduates bypassed the college to go directly into the medical colleges. College and university presidents shared a desire to clarify the line between collegiate and university studies. The collegiate spirit appealed to the popular mind, an attraction reinforced by collegiate novels and athletics. In Germany students progressed from a restrictive secondary education directly to the social freedom and academic specialization of the university without an intervening collegiate experience.
