¶ … Colonial College
What was the attraction and intent of dormitories in the Colonial period?
In the Colonial period, the university was developed into a kind of aristocratic city in which life in England was emulated. In fact, "The residential pattern which made every American college a home away from home was of English origin" (26). Thus, the attraction of dormitory and on-campus life during the Colonial period was the ability to live as if one were in England.
The common residential experience was deemed critical to what was then constructed as a solid college education. Why? The common residential experience served many purposes throughout the early college's development. Not only did it serve as an institution for creating social values, but also for reinforcing the English or American experience, as well as fashioning the climate of religion in the United States. For instance, during the religious movement, the common residential experience was used to admonish or even expel those whose lives were not reflecting Christian virtue (79). However, some thought that the common residential experience, or the "collegiate way" did not positively foster the education required by colleges, as the collegiate way did not allow students to be alone enough, working out problems for themselves.
3. Most early colleges were always on the "edge of extinction." Why? There are several reasons why the early colleges hovered on the age of extinction. One of the more plausible is the fact that they college life did not appeal to many of the working class, which made up most of the Unite States. Numerous of these saw no practical reason for the college or university. In addition, institutions of higher learning were at the mercy of financial and natural disasters.
4. Did the American people not value education enough to support their emerging colleges? While the American people did value the college and university experience, Americans quickly created for themselves an identity that was different from the English identity. This different identity required a different kind of university. This is what prompted University of Nashville President Philip Lindsley to say, "our busy, restless, speculating, money-making people' required colleges as scattered and mobile as the American people themselves" (49).
