PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

This article challenges the common notion that around 1800 the written essay (Hausarbeit) was established as a practice and form of examination within the newly founded institution of the Seminar. Academic and educational theory in the 19th century assigned obligatory writing to schooling and associated it with compulsion and control, thus being incompatible with academic freedom. For students, writing was voluntary and had its place within the lecture (Vorlesung) being understood as a productive enterprise. While the Seminar was reserved for a small minority of students, it was not until the 20th century that written papers became the now widely-known proof of academic achievement.