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In the late 19th-century, US author, Alger, wrote fictional stories intended for boys. These tales taught readers that a steady rise through the ranks is the way to middle-class success. Agler's target audience soon became college students and US colleges the perfect testing ground for this theory of stratified social mobility (Ris, 2015). Thus, the college degree gained popularity in the business sector.
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When W.F. Foster, a white candidate for the state senate, asked Lewis Adams, a former slave and prominent leader in the Black community of Macon County, Alabama what he would like in return for securing the Black vote, Adams requested an institution of higher education for Blacks. After Foster won the election, $2,000 annually was earmarked from the state general budget and the Normal School for Colored Teachers at Tuskegee was founded.
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Although there was a significant focus on university building in this era, there was little thought placed on what it took to be considered a quality institution (Thelin, 2011). In 1900, presidents from 14 universities formed the AAU to promote higher standards for US universities. In 1914, the AAU produced a list of U.S. institutions whose graduates were considered capable of success in European universities (Association of American Universities, 2016).
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In 1905, industrialists and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie established the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie Foundation, 2018). Of the many accomplishments to come out of the Carnegie Foundation during this period was the Flexner Report in 1910. The report was a review of the state of medical education in the early 1900s. The report instigated crucial reforms in the standards, organization, and curriculum of North American medical schools (Beck, 2004).
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Because of the war, loss of attendance ranged from 10 percent to 40% in one year. The changing levels of enrolment significantly impacted the colleges. In 1917, President Wilson formed the Student Army Training Corps and established government-funded, on-campus training program for cadets and officers (Thelin, 2011).
