ABSTRACT
The assumption that advanced education needed to be specialized, and that specialized study was necessary for a professional career, was the basis of the transformation of higher education in the nineteenth century. Furthermore, some schools that were originally set up for specific training purposes and that continued to be regarded mainly as providing preparation for specific careers actually developed broad-gauged programs. A realistic definition has to recognize that the relationship between higher education and what are called professions is much more complex than it is made to appear in the current literature. Another reason for not insisting on a narrow definition of professional education requiring the existence of an intrinsic relationship between a field of specialized knowledge and an occupation is that specialized knowledge does not make a profession. The overt function of classical learning in professional training was to ensure that people performing certain vital functions would be of high intellectual quality.
