Older Than Snow: The Two Cultures And The Yale Report Of 1828

C. P. Snow's "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution" represents the most famous reincarnation of a debate concerning the clash of academic cultures in higher education. This essay explores the similarities and differences in the circumstances surrounding Snow's lecture addressing a widening gap between the scientific and literary cultures of the mid-twentieth century and the reactions to a similar "clash of cultures" in antebellum America. This nineteenth century episode was a debate between the traditional culture of classical education and the nascent culture of practical, professional education. The traditional culture in higher education was vigorously and eloquently defended in a report composed by the faculty at Yale College. Although the time and circumstances were different, the parallels between the arguments heard in 1959 and those put forth in 1828 are remarkably similar.