The Story of Harvard

Author: Gu Feng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-01
Features: Entering the Harvard maze, remember the lyrics from the Harvard University song: "When the century glides through the current of truth, do not let the moss-covered faults hinder you." As the earliest private university in the United States, Harvard largely emulated the higher education model of Europe during its first and a half centuries of existence, particularly drawing on the educational experiences of the University of Cambridge and Oxford in the UK. Its primary goal was to train ministers, lawyers, and officials, leaving students with almost no freedom to choose their courses. In the early 19th century, "academic freedom" challenged the traditional curriculum design, and the system of freely selecting courses was supported...
Excerpt: "Mayflower" sails to North America On September 23, 1620, a multi-masted ship weighing about 180 tons struggled across the Atlantic Ocean—the ship was later named the "Mayflower." All 102 passengers aboard were from England, with 35 being Separatist Puritans, while the rest were craftsmen, fishermen, poor farmers, and 14 indentured servants. These British immigrants, who had long suffered persecution in their homeland, were forced to leave their homeland and cross the ocean in search of a new life under the leadership of a minister. After 66 days, they landed on the landmass of Cape Cod in North America. After resting ashore, they continued their journey to their destination, Virginia, but a heavy rainstorm caused the ship to deviate from its course. In the end, they anchored in a harbor surrounded by low-lying snow-capped mountains in Massachusetts (a Native American name meaning "mountainous land") on November 21. This was the largest North American immigration effort in British history at the time. Although it is generally believed that American history begins with the British establishing colonies in North America, in fact, as early as the fifth year after Columbus discovered the New World (1497), the Italian Cabot, carrying the British flag, sailed along the Atlantic coast of North America as far south as the Florida Peninsula, arrogantly claiming that all the lands he passed through belonged to the British king. In 1584, a man named Richard