Knowledge, careers, and culture are and always have been the objectives of American higher education. … Wharton pioneered making business a learned profession, but conspicuously had no imitators before 1900. What altered business education after that date was the rise of accountancy as a necessary tool of managing large corporations. Here was a paper skill, in short supply, that was needed for career advancement. As states created licensing examinations for certified public accountants (1896–1923), aspirants filled the evening commerce classrooms of urban universities like NYU, Northeastern, YMCA schools, and Wayne. Other initiatives to create semiprofessional schools were not so fortunate. Automobile schools sponsored by the YMCA proved ephemeral, and more business-related specialties like insurance, sales, or advertising failed as separate schools.
Roger L. Geiger, The History of American Higher Education 1636–1940
p ix and p 445 (chapter 10 – Mass Higher Eucation, 1915–1940)
(slightly reworded by me)
