The Inception of Modern Professional Education

Christopher C Langdell (1826-1906) - the dean of Harvard Law School from 1870 to 1895 - conceived, designed, and built the educational model that leading professional schools subsequently emulated. This biography of the educator and jurist explores Langdell's controversial role in modern professional education and in jurisprudence.

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This is about establishing the model of academic meritocracy.Christopher C. Langdell (1826-1906) is one of the most influential figures in the history of American professional education. As dean of Harvard Law School from 1870 to 1895, he conceived, designed, and built the educational model that leading professional schools in virtually all fields subsequently emulated. In this first full-length biography of the educator and jurist, Bruce Kimball explores Langdell's controversial role in modern professional education and in jurisprudence.Langdell founded his model on the idea of academic meritocracy, in which scholastic achievement determines one's merit in professional life. Despite fierce opposition from students, faculty, alumni, and legal professionals, he designed and instituted a formal system of policies including the admission requirement of a bachelor's degree, the sequenced curriculum and its extension to three years, the hurdle of annual examinations for continuation and graduation, the independent career track for professional faculty, the transformation of the professional library into a scholarly resource, the inductive pedagogy of teaching from cases, the organization of alumni to support the school, and a new, successful financial strategy.Langdell's model was subsequently adopted by leading law schools, medical schools, business schools, and the schools of other professions throughout the United States.