The School and Society
{"WorkMasterId":6298,"WpPageId":281285,"ParentWpPageId":193822,"Slug":"school-and-society","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/john-dewey/school-and-society/","RelativeUrl":"theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/john-dewey/school-and-society/","HasFullText":true,"RawHtmlLength":297317,"CleanHtmlLength":241207,"Kicker":"Philosophy Work","Title":"The School and Society","Deck":"Dewey argues that schooling should be organized as social experience, practical inquiry, and democratic community rather than passive recitation.","BackLink":{"Text":"Back to John Dewey","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/john-dewey/"},"AuthorCard":{"Label":"Author","Title":"John Dewey","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/john-dewey/","MediaHref":"","ImageSrc":"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/john-dewey-01-portrait-by-underwood-underwood.jpg","ImageAlt":"Underwood and Underwood portrait of John Dewey","FilterTerra":"North America","ClickText":"John Dewey","ClickHref":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/philosophers/john-dewey/","Copies":["1859 CE – 1952 CE","Burlington, Vermont","American pragmatist philosopher of instrumentalism, democratic experimentalism, progressive education, inquiry, experience, logic, ethics, aesthetics, public life, science, and naturalistic religion."]},"ContextCards":[{"Label":"Period","Key":"Period:4","Title":"Modern History","DateText":"1800 CE – 1944 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-modern-history/"},{"Label":"Era","Key":"Era:11","Title":"Long 19th Century","DateText":"1870 CE – 1913 CE","Url":"https://chrisdeasy.com/theos/humanities/philosophy/eras-of-thought/philosophers-of-modern-history/philosophers-of-the-long-19th-century/"},{"Label":"Composition","Title":"1899 CE","Url":"","DateText":""}],"DateNote":"Displayed as 1899 CE for the published lectures.","GeoCards":[{"Label":"Region","Key":"Region:1"},{"Label":"Terra Avita","Key":"TerraAvita:6"},{"Label":"Terra Avita Region","Key":"TerraAvitaRegion:25"},{"Label":"Modern Country","Key":"Country:USA:6"}],"OriginalTitle":"The School and Society","Language":"English","DisciplineCards":[{"Label":"Primary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:political-philosophy"},{"Label":"Secondary Discipline","Key":"Discipline:ethics"}],"Tradition":"American pragmatism; instrumentalism; pragmatic naturalism; democratic experimentalism; progressive education","FullText":{"Title":"Full Text","Copy":"Public-domain full text from Project Gutenberg eBook #74376 .","Url":"","Label":"","Kicker":"","Cards":[]},"CoreThesis":["Dewey argues that schooling should be organized as social experience, practical inquiry, and democratic community rather than passive recitation."],"Classification":{"AlternateTitles":"School and Society","KeyConcepts":"school; society; education; democracy; laboratory school; social experience; activity","Methodology":"Direct Dewey work-cluster record based on SEP, IEP, Britannica, Center for Dewey Studies, Dewey scholarship, catalog records, and public edition evidence. 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Hegel, Darwinian naturalism, experimental science, Jane Addams and social reform, American democratic institutions, and educational practice.","InfluenceOn":""},"Significance":["Accepted as a direct Dewey work via Gutenberg, catalog, bibliography, and education scholarship evidence.","Dewey remains central for inquiry, democratic life, public problem-solving, education, experience, habits, art, values, religion as human faith, and experimental social intelligence."],"EvidenceNote":["Accepted as a direct Dewey work via Gutenberg, catalog, bibliography, and education scholarship evidence."],"MainSections":[{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Versions","BodyHtml":"\u003cdiv class=\"dz-philo__full-version-grid\"\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-version-card\"\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-provider\"\u003eProject Gutenberg\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ch3 class=\"dz-philo__full-version-title\"\u003eProject Gutenberg eBook #74376\u003c/h3\u003e\n \u003cp class=\"dz-philo__full-version-meta\"\u003eHtmlText · Imported\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003ca class=\"dz-philo__full-version-link\" href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74376\"\u003eOpen full version\u003c/a\u003e\n \u003c/article\u003e\n \u003c/div\u003e"},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Core Thesis","Paragraphs":["Dewey argues that schooling should be organized as social experience, practical inquiry, and democratic community rather than passive recitation."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Classification","Fields":[{"Label":"Alternate Titles","Value":"School and Society"},{"Label":"Key Concepts","Value":"school; society; education; democracy; laboratory school; social experience; activity"},{"Label":"Methodology","Value":"Direct Dewey work-cluster record based on SEP, IEP, Britannica, Center for Dewey Studies, Dewey scholarship, catalog records, and public edition evidence. No full text is imported."},{"Label":"Structure","Value":"One work-cluster page with explicit integer display year, date note, evidence note, discipline mapping, and public source evidence."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Arguments","Paragraphs":["Dewey argues that schooling should be organized as social experience, practical inquiry, and democratic community rather than passive recitation."]},{"Kind":"FieldSection","Title":"Influence","Fields":[{"Label":"Influenced By","Value":"William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, G. W. F. Hegel, Darwinian naturalism, experimental science, Jane Addams and social reform, American democratic institutions, and educational practice."},{"Label":"Influence On","Value":"Pragmatism, analytic and continental social philosophy, democratic theory, progressive education, inquiry theory, aesthetics, public philosophy, deliberative democracy, philosophy of science, and American philosophy."}]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Significance","Paragraphs":["Accepted as a direct Dewey work via Gutenberg, catalog, bibliography, and education scholarship evidence.","Dewey remains central for inquiry, democratic life, public problem-solving, education, experience, habits, art, values, religion as human faith, and experimental social intelligence."]},{"Kind":"TextSection","Title":"Evidence Note","Paragraphs":["Accepted as a direct Dewey work via Gutenberg, catalog, bibliography, and education scholarship evidence."]},{"Kind":"RawSection","Title":"Full Text","BodyHtml":"\u003cp class=\"dz-philo__section-copy dz-philo__full-text-source\"\u003ePublic-domain full text from \u003ca href=\"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/74376\"\u003eProject Gutenberg eBook #74376\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n \u003carticle class=\"dz-philo__full-text-body\"\u003e\r\n\u003ch1\u003eTHE SCHOOL AND SOCIETY\u003c/h1\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_ii\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[ii]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"titlepage\"\u003eTHE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"allsmcap\"\u003eCHICAGO, ILLINOIS\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp75\" id=\"star\" style=\"max-width: 0.9375em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-star.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"center smaller\"\u003eTHE BAKER \u0026amp; TAYLOR COMPANY\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"allsmcap\"\u003eNEW YORK\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"center smaller\"\u003eTHE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"allsmcap\"\u003eLONDON\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_iii\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[iii]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"box\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"center larger\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSCHOOL\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eand\u003c/i\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSOCIETY\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"titlepage mid\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eBy\u003c/i\u003e JOHN DEWEY\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"titlepage smaller\"\u003eREVISED EDITION\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter titlepage illowp64\" id=\"tp-deco\" style=\"max-width: 9.375em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-tp-deco.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"titlepage\"\u003eTHE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCHICAGO · ILLINOIS\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_iv\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[iv]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"titlepage smaller\"\u003eCOPYRIGHT 1900 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCOPYRIGHT 1900 AND 1915 BY JOHN DEWEY\u003cbr\u003e\r\nALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 1899\u003cbr\u003e\r\nSECOND EDITION AUGUST 1915\u003cbr\u003e\r\nFIFTEENTH IMPRESSION JULY 1942\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp75\" id=\"star_2\" style=\"max-width: 0.9375em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-star.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"center smaller\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"allsmcap\"\u003eCOMPOSED AND PRINTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS\u003cbr\u003e\r\nCHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_v\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[v]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"titlepage\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"allsmcap\"\u003eTO\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nMRS. EMMONS BLAINE\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"allsmcap\"\u003eTO WHOSE INTEREST IN EDUCATIONAL\u003cbr\u003e\r\nREFORM\u003cbr\u003e\r\nTHE APPEARANCE OF THIS BOOK\u003cbr\u003e\r\nIS DUE\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_vi\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[vi]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_vii\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[vii]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"CONTENTS\"\u003eCONTENTS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ctable\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg smaller\"\u003ePAGE\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003eI.\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eThe School and Social Progress\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#THE_SCHOOL_AND_SOCIAL_PROGRESS\"\u003e3\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003eII.\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eThe School and the Life of the Child\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#THE_SCHOOL_AND_THE_LIFE_OF_THE_CHILD\"\u003e31\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003eIII.\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eWaste in Education\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#WASTE_IN_EDUCATION\"\u003e59\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003eIV.\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eThe Psychology of Elementary Education\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#THE_PSYCHOLOGY_OF_ELEMENTARY_EDUCATION\"\u003e87\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003eV.\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eFroebel’s Educational Principles\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#FROEBELS_EDUCATIONAL_PRINCIPLES\"\u003e111\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003eVI.\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eThe Psychology of Occupations\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#THE_PSYCHOLOGY_OF_OCCUPATIONS\"\u003e131\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003eVII.\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eThe Development of Attention\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#THE_DEVELOPMENT_OF_ATTENTION\"\u003e141\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdr\"\u003eVIII.\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eThe Aim of History in Elementary Education\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#THE_AIM_OF_HISTORY_IN_ELEMENTARY_EDUCATION\"\u003e155\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003c/table\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_viii\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[viii]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_ix\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[ix]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS\"\u003eLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ctable\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg smaller\"\u003eFACING PAGE\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eDrawing of a Cave and Trees\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#illus1\"\u003e40\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eDrawing of a Forest\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#illus2\"\u003e42\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eDrawing of Hands Spinning\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#illus3\"\u003e44\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n \u003ctr\u003e\r\n \u003ctd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eDrawing of a Girl Spinning\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003ctd class=\"tdpg\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"#illus4\"\u003e46\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\r\n \u003c/tr\u003e\r\n\u003c/table\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_x\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[x]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_xi\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[xi]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"PUBLISHERS_NOTE\"\u003ePUBLISHER’S NOTE\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe first three chapters of this book were delivered\r\nas lectures before an audience of parents\r\nand others interested in the University Elementary\r\nSchool, in the month of April of the year 1899.\r\nMr. Dewey revised them in part from a stenographic\r\nreport, and unimportant changes and the\r\nslight adaptations necessary for the press have been\r\nmade in his absence. The lectures retain therefore\r\nthe unstudied character as well as the power of the\r\nspoken word. As they imply more or less familiarity\r\nwith the work of the Elementary School, Mr.\r\nDewey’s supplementary statement of this has been\r\nadded.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_xii\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[xii]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_xiii\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[xiii]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"AUTHORS_NOTE\"\u003eAUTHOR’S NOTE\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eA second printing affords a grateful opportunity\r\nfor recalling that this little book is a sign of the\r\nco-operating thoughts and sympathies of many\r\npersons. Its indebtedness to Mrs. Emmons\r\nBlaine is partly indicated in the dedication.\r\nFrom my friends Mr. and Mrs. George Herbert\r\nMead came that interest, unflagging attention to\r\ndetail, and artistic taste which, in my absence,\r\nremade colloquial remarks until they were fit to\r\nprint, and then saw the results through the press\r\nwith the present attractive result—a mode of\r\nauthorship made easy, which I recommend to\r\nothers fortunate enough to possess such friends.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt would be an extended paragraph which\r\nshould list all the friends whose timely and persisting\r\ngenerosity has made possible the school\r\nwhich inspired and defined the ideas of these\r\npages. These friends, I am sure, would be the\r\nfirst to recognize the peculiar appropriateness of\r\nespecial mention of the names of Mrs. Charles R.\r\nCrane and Mrs. William R. Linn.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the school itself in its educational work is\r\na joint undertaking. Many have engaged in\r\nshaping it. The clear and experienced intelligence\r\nof my wife is wrought everywhere into its\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_xiv\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[xiv]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ntexture. The wisdom, tact, and devotion of its\r\ninstructors have brought about a transformation\r\nof its original amorphous plans into articulate\r\nform and substance with life and movement of\r\ntheir own. Whatever the issue of the ideas presented\r\nin this book, the satisfaction coming from\r\nthe co-operation of the diverse thoughts and deeds\r\nof many persons in undertaking to enlarge the\r\nlife of the child will abide.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_xv\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[xv]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"AUTHORS_NOTE_TO_SECOND_EDITION\"\u003eAUTHOR’S NOTE TO SECOND EDITION\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe present edition includes some slight verbal\r\nrevisions of the three lectures constituting the first\r\nportion of the book. The latter portion is included\r\nfor the first time, containing material borrowed,\r\nwith some changes, from the author’s contributions\r\nto the \u003ci\u003eElementary School Record\u003c/i\u003e, long out of print.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe writer may perhaps be permitted a word to\r\nexpress his satisfaction that the educational point\r\nof view presented in this book is not so novel as\r\nit was fifteen years ago; and his desire to believe\r\nthat the educational experiment of which the book\r\nis an outgrowth has not been without influence\r\nin the change.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"right\"\u003eJ. D.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"hanging\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"smcap\"\u003eNew York City\u003c/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\nJuly, 1915\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_1\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[1]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"THE_SCHOOL_AND_SOCIAL_PROGRESS\"\u003eTHE SCHOOL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_2\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[2]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_3\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[3]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"I\"\u003eI\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003eTHE SCHOOL AND SOCIAL PROGRESS\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe are apt to look at the school from an individualistic\r\nstandpoint, as something between teacher\r\nand pupil, or between teacher and parent. That\r\nwhich interests us most is naturally the progress\r\nmade by the individual child of our acquaintance,\r\nhis normal physical development, his advance in\r\nability to read, write, and figure, his growth in\r\nthe knowledge of geography and history, improvement\r\nin manners, habits of promptness,\r\norder, and industry—it is from such standards as\r\nthese that we judge the work of the school. And\r\nrightly so. Yet the range of the outlook needs\r\nto be enlarged. What the best and wisest parent\r\nwants for his own child, that must the community\r\nwant for all of its children. Any other ideal for\r\nour schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon,\r\nit destroys our democracy. All that society has\r\naccomplished for itself is put, through the agency\r\nof the school, at the disposal of its future members.\r\nAll its better thoughts of itself it hopes to\r\nrealize through the new possibilities thus opened\r\nto its future self. Here individualism and socialism\r\nare at one. Only by being true to the full\r\ngrowth of all the individuals who make it up, can\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_4\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[4]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nsociety by any chance be true to itself. And in\r\nthe self-direction thus given, nothing counts as\r\nmuch as the school, for, as Horace Mann said,\r\n“Where anything is growing, one former is worth\r\na thousand re-formers.”\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhenever we have in mind the discussion of\r\na new movement in education, it is especially\r\nnecessary to take the broader, or social, view.\r\nOtherwise, changes in the school institution and\r\ntradition will be looked at as the arbitrary inventions\r\nof particular teachers; at the worst transitory\r\nfads, and at the best merely improvements\r\nin certain details—and this is the plane upon which\r\nit is too customary to consider school changes.\r\nIt is as rational to conceive of the locomotive or\r\nthe telegraph as personal devices. The modification\r\ngoing on in the method and curriculum of\r\neducation is as much a product of the changed\r\nsocial situation, and as much an effort to meet\r\nthe needs of the new society that is forming, as\r\nare changes in modes of industry and commerce.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is to this, then, that I especially ask your\r\nattention: the effort to conceive what roughly\r\nmay be termed the “New Education” in the light\r\nof larger changes in society. Can we connect this\r\n“New Education” with the general march of\r\nevents? If we can, it will lose its isolated character;\r\nit will cease to be an affair which proceeds\r\nonly from the over-ingenious minds of pedagogues\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_5\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[5]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ndealing with particular pupils. It will appear\r\nas part and parcel of the whole social evolution,\r\nand, in its more general features at least, as inevitable.\r\nLet us then ask after the main aspects\r\nof the social movement; and afterward turn to\r\nthe school to find what witness it gives of effort\r\nto put itself in line. And since it is quite impossible\r\nto cover the whole ground, I shall for the\r\nmost part confine myself to one typical thing in\r\nthe modern school movement—that which passes\r\nunder the name of manual training—hoping if the\r\nrelation of that to changed social conditions appears,\r\nwe shall be ready to concede the point as\r\nwell regarding other educational innovations.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eI make no apology for not dwelling at length\r\nupon the social changes in question. Those I shall\r\nmention are writ so large that he who runs may\r\nread. The change that comes first to mind, the\r\none that overshadows and even controls all others,\r\nis the industrial one—the application of science\r\nresulting in the great inventions that have utilized\r\nthe forces of nature on a vast and inexpensive scale:\r\nthe growth of a world-wide market as the object\r\nof production, of vast manufacturing centers to\r\nsupply this market, of cheap and rapid means of\r\ncommunication and distribution between all its\r\nparts. Even as to its feebler beginnings, this\r\nchange is not much more than a century old; in\r\nmany of its most important aspects it falls within\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_6\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[6]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthe short span of those now living. One can\r\nhardly believe there has been a revolution in\r\nall history so rapid, so extensive, so complete.\r\nThrough it the face of the earth is making over,\r\neven as to its physical forms; political boundaries\r\nare wiped out and moved about, as if they were\r\nindeed only lines on a paper map; population is\r\nhurriedly gathered into cities from the ends of the\r\nearth; habits of living are altered with startling\r\nabruptness and thoroughness; the search for the\r\ntruths of nature is infinitely stimulated and facilitated,\r\nand their application to life made not only\r\npracticable, but commercially necessary. Even\r\nour moral and religious ideas and interests, the\r\nmost conservative because the deepest-lying things\r\nin our nature, are profoundly affected. That this\r\nrevolution should not affect education in some other\r\nthan a formal and superficial fashion is inconceivable.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBack of the factory system lies the household\r\nand neighborhood system. Those of us who are\r\nhere today need go back only one, two, or at most\r\nthree generations, to find a time when the household\r\nwas practically the center in which were\r\ncarried on, or about which were clustered, all the\r\ntypical forms of industrial occupation. The clothing\r\nworn was for the most part made in the house;\r\nthe members of the household were usually familiar\r\nalso with the shearing of the sheep, the carding and\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_7\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[7]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nspinning of the wool, and the plying of the loom.\r\nInstead of pressing a button and flooding the house\r\nwith electric light, the whole process of getting\r\nillumination was followed in its toilsome length\r\nfrom the killing of the animal and the trying of\r\nfat to the making of wicks and dipping of candles.\r\nThe supply of flour, of lumber, of foods, of building\r\nmaterials, of household furniture, even of metal\r\nware, of nails, hinges, hammers, etc., was produced\r\nin the immediate neighborhood, in shops which\r\nwere constantly open to inspection and often\r\ncenters of neighborhood congregation. The entire\r\nindustrial process stood revealed, from the production\r\non the farm of the raw materials till the\r\nfinished article was actually put to use. Not only\r\nthis, but practically every member of the household\r\nhad his own share in the work. The children,\r\nas they gained in strength and capacity, were\r\ngradually initiated into the mysteries of the several\r\nprocesses. It was a matter of immediate and\r\npersonal concern, even to the point of actual\r\nparticipation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe cannot overlook the factors of discipline\r\nand of character-building involved in this kind of\r\nlife: training in habits of order and of industry,\r\nand in the idea of responsibility, of obligation to do\r\nsomething, to produce something, in the world.\r\nThere was always something which really needed\r\nto be done, and a real necessity that each member\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_8\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[8]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof the household should do his own part faithfully\r\nand in co-operation with others. Personalities\r\nwhich became effective in action were bred and\r\ntested in the medium of action. Again, we cannot\r\noverlook the importance for educational purposes\r\nof the close and intimate acquaintance got with\r\nnature at first hand, with real things and materials,\r\nwith the actual processes of their manipulation,\r\nand the knowledge of their social necessities and\r\nuses. In all this there was continual training of\r\nobservation, of ingenuity, constructive imagination,\r\nof logical thought, and of the sense of reality\r\nacquired through first-hand contact with actualities.\r\nThe educative forces of the domestic spinning\r\nand weaving, of the sawmill, the gristmill,\r\nthe cooper shop, and the blacksmith forge, were\r\ncontinuously operative.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eNo number of object-lessons, got up \u003ci\u003eas\u003c/i\u003e object-lessons\r\nfor the sake of giving information, can\r\nafford even the shadow of a substitute for acquaintance\r\nwith the plants and animals of the farm and\r\ngarden acquired through actual living among them\r\nand caring for them. No training of sense-organs\r\nin school, introduced for the sake of training, can\r\nbegin to compete with the alertness and fulness\r\nof sense-life that comes through daily intimacy and\r\ninterest in familiar occupations. Verbal memory\r\ncan be trained in committing tasks, a certain discipline\r\nof the reasoning powers can be acquired\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_9\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[9]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthrough lessons in science and mathematics; but,\r\nafter all, this is somewhat remote and shadowy\r\ncompared with the training of attention and of\r\njudgment that is acquired in having to do things\r\nwith a real motive behind and a real outcome ahead.\r\nAt present, concentration of industry and division\r\nof labor have practically eliminated household and\r\nneighborhood occupations—at least for educational\r\npurposes. But it is useless to bemoan the\r\ndeparture of the good old days of children’s modesty,\r\nreverence, and implicit obedience, if we expect\r\nmerely by bemoaning and by exhortation to bring\r\nthem back. It is radical conditions which have\r\nchanged, and only an equally radical change in\r\neducation suffices. We must recognize our compensations—the\r\nincrease in toleration, in breadth\r\nof social judgment, the larger acquaintance with\r\nhuman nature, the sharpened alertness in reading\r\nsigns of character and interpreting social situations,\r\ngreater accuracy of adaptation to differing personalities,\r\ncontact with greater commercial activities.\r\nThese considerations mean much to the\r\ncity-bred child of today. Yet there is a real\r\nproblem: how shall we retain these advantages,\r\nand yet introduce into the school something\r\nrepresenting the other side of life—occupations\r\nwhich exact personal responsibilities and which\r\ntrain the child in relation to the physical realities\r\nof life?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_10\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[10]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen we turn to the school, we find that one\r\nof the most striking tendencies at present is toward\r\nthe introduction of so-called manual training,\r\nshopwork, and the household arts—sewing and\r\ncooking.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis has not been done “on purpose,” with a\r\nfull consciousness that the school must now supply\r\nthat factor of training formerly taken care of in\r\nthe home, but rather by instinct, by experimenting\r\nand finding that such work takes a vital hold\r\nof pupils and gives them something which was not\r\nto be got in any other way. Consciousness of its\r\nreal import is still so weak that the work is often\r\ndone in a half-hearted, confused, and unrelated\r\nway. The reasons assigned to justify it are painfully\r\ninadequate or sometimes even positively\r\nwrong.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf we were to cross-examine even those who are\r\nmost favorably disposed to the introduction of\r\nthis work into our school system, we should, I\r\nimagine, generally find the main reasons to be that\r\nsuch work engages the full spontaneous interest\r\nand attention of the children. It keeps them\r\nalert and active, instead of passive and receptive;\r\nit makes them more useful, more capable, and\r\nhence more inclined to be helpful at home; it\r\nprepares them to some extent for the practical\r\nduties of later life—the girls to be more efficient\r\nhouse managers, if not actually cooks and seamstresses;\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_11\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[11]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthe boys (were our educational system\r\nonly adequately rounded out into trade schools)\r\nfor their future vocations. I do not underestimate\r\nthe worth of these reasons. Of those indicated\r\nby the changed attitude of the children I shall\r\nindeed have something to say in my next talk,\r\nwhen speaking directly of the relationship of the\r\nschool to the child. But the point of view is,\r\nupon the whole, unnecessarily narrow. We must\r\nconceive of work in wood and metal, of weaving,\r\nsewing, and cooking, as methods of living and\r\nlearning, not as distinct studies.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe must conceive of them in their social significance,\r\nas types of the processes by which society\r\nkeeps itself going, as agencies for bringing home to\r\nthe child some of the primal necessities of community\r\nlife, and as ways in which these needs have\r\nbeen met by the growing insight and ingenuity of\r\nman; in short, as instrumentalities through which\r\nthe school itself shall be made a genuine form of\r\nactive community life, instead of a place set apart\r\nin which to learn lessons.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eA society is a number of people held together\r\nbecause they are working along common lines, in\r\na common spirit, and with reference to common\r\naims. The common needs and aims demand a\r\ngrowing interchange of thought and growing unity\r\nof sympathetic feeling. The radical reason that\r\nthe present school cannot organize itself as a\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_12\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[12]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nnatural social unit is because just this element of\r\ncommon and productive activity is absent. Upon\r\nthe playground, in game and sport, social organization\r\ntakes place spontaneously and inevitably.\r\nThere is something to do, some activity to be\r\ncarried on, requiring natural divisions of labor,\r\nselection of leaders and followers, mutual co-operation\r\nand emulation. In the schoolroom the\r\nmotive and the cement of social organization are\r\nalike wanting. Upon the ethical side, the tragic\r\nweakness of the present school is that it endeavors\r\nto prepare future members of the social order in a\r\nmedium in which the conditions of the social spirit\r\nare eminently wanting.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe difference that appears when occupations\r\nare made the articulating centers of school life is\r\nnot easy to describe in words; it is a difference\r\nin motive, of spirit and atmosphere. As one enters\r\na busy kitchen in which a group of children are\r\nactively engaged in the preparation of food, the\r\npsychological difference, the change from more or\r\nless passive and inert recipiency and restraint to\r\none of buoyant outgoing energy, is so obvious as\r\nfairly to strike one in the face. Indeed, to those\r\nwhose image of the school is rigidly set the change\r\nis sure to give a shock. But the change in the\r\nsocial attitude is equally marked. The mere\r\nabsorbing of facts and truths is so exclusively individual\r\nan affair that it tends very naturally to\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_13\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[13]\u003c/span\u003e\r\npass into selfishness. There is no obvious social\r\nmotive for the acquirement of mere learning, there\r\nis no clear social gain in success thereat. Indeed,\r\nalmost the only measure for success is a competitive\r\none, in the bad sense of that term—a comparison\r\nof results in the recitation or in the examination to\r\nsee which child has succeeded in getting ahead of\r\nothers in storing up, in accumulating, the maximum\r\nof information. So thoroughly is this the prevailing\r\natmosphere that for one child to help another\r\nin his task has become a school crime. Where the\r\nschool work consists in simply learning lessons,\r\nmutual assistance, instead of being the most\r\nnatural form of co-operation and association, becomes\r\na clandestine effort to relieve one’s neighbor\r\nof his proper duties. Where active work is going\r\non, all this is changed. Helping others, instead of\r\nbeing a form of charity which impoverishes the\r\nrecipient, is simply an aid in setting free the powers\r\nand furthering the impulse of the one helped. A\r\nspirit of free communication, of interchange of\r\nideas, suggestions, results, both successes and\r\nfailures of previous experiences, becomes the\r\ndominating note of the recitation. So far as emulation\r\nenters in, it is in the comparison of individuals,\r\nnot with regard to the quantity of information\r\npersonally absorbed, but with reference to the\r\nquality of work done—the genuine community\r\nstandard of value. In an informal but all the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_14\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[14]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nmore pervasive way, the school life organizes itself\r\non a social basis.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWithin this organization is found the principle\r\nof school discipline or order. Of course, order is\r\nsimply a thing which is relative to an end. If you\r\nhave the end in view of forty or fifty children learning\r\ncertain set lessons, to be recited to a teacher,\r\nyour discipline must be devoted to securing that\r\nresult. But if the end in view is the development\r\nof a spirit of social co-operation and community\r\nlife, discipline must grow out of and be relative\r\nto such an aim. There is little of one sort of order\r\nwhere things are in process of construction; there\r\nis a certain disorder in any busy workshop; there\r\nis not silence; persons are not engaged in maintaining\r\ncertain fixed physical postures; their arms are\r\nnot folded; they are not holding their books thus\r\nand so. They are doing a variety of things, and\r\nthere is the confusion, the bustle, that results from\r\nactivity. But out of the occupation, out of doing\r\nthings that are to produce results, and out of doing\r\nthese in a social and co-operative way, there is\r\nborn a discipline of its own kind and type. Our\r\nwhole conception of school discipline changes when\r\nwe get this point of view. In critical moments\r\nwe all realize that the only discipline that stands\r\nby us, the only training that becomes intuition,\r\nis that got through life itself. That we learn from\r\nexperience, and from books or the sayings of others\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_15\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[15]\u003c/span\u003e\r\n\u003ci\u003eonly\u003c/i\u003e as they are related to experience, are not mere\r\nphrases. But the school has been so set apart, so\r\nisolated from the ordinary conditions and motives\r\nof life, that the place where children are sent for\r\ndiscipline is the one place in the world where it is\r\nmost difficult to get experience—the mother of all\r\ndiscipline worth the name. It is only when a narrow\r\nand fixed image of traditional school discipline\r\ndominates that one is in any danger of overlooking\r\nthat deeper and infinitely wider discipline that\r\ncomes from having a part to do in constructive\r\nwork, in contributing to a result which, social in\r\nspirit, is none the less obvious and tangible in\r\nform—and hence in a form with reference to which\r\nresponsibility may be exacted and accurate judgment\r\npassed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe great thing to keep in mind, then, regarding\r\nthe introduction into the school of various\r\nforms of active occupation, is that through them\r\nthe entire spirit of the school is renewed. It has\r\na chance to affiliate itself with life, to become the\r\nchild’s habitat, where he learns through directed\r\nliving, instead of being only a place to learn lessons\r\nhaving an abstract and remote reference to some\r\npossible living to be done in the future. It gets a\r\nchance to be a miniature community, an embryonic\r\nsociety. This is the fundamental fact, and from\r\nthis arise continuous and orderly streams of instruction.\r\nUnder the industrial régime described, the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_16\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[16]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nchild, after all, shared in the work, not for the sake\r\nof the sharing, but for the sake of the product.\r\nThe educational results secured were real, yet incidental\r\nand dependent. But in the school the typical\r\noccupations followed are freed from all economic\r\nstress. The aim is not the economic value of the\r\nproducts, but the development of social power and\r\ninsight. It is this liberation from narrow utilities,\r\nthis openness to the possibilities of the human\r\nspirit, that makes these practical activities in the\r\nschool allies of art and centers of science and\r\nhistory.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe unity of all the sciences is found in geography.\r\nThe significance of geography is that it\r\npresents the earth as the enduring home of the\r\noccupations of man. The world without its relationship\r\nto human activity is less than a world.\r\nHuman industry and achievement, apart from their\r\nroots in the earth, are not even a sentiment, hardly\r\na name. The earth is the final source of all man’s\r\nfood. It is his continual shelter and protection,\r\nthe raw material of all his activities, and the home\r\nto whose humanizing and idealizing all his achievement\r\nreturns. It is the great field, the great mine,\r\nthe great source of the energies of heat, light, and\r\nelectricity; the great scene of ocean, stream,\r\nmountain, and plain, of which all our agriculture\r\nand mining and lumbering, all our manufacturing\r\nand distributing agencies, are but the partial\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_17\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[17]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nelements and factors. It is through occupations\r\ndetermined by this environment that mankind has\r\nmade its historical and political progress. It is\r\nthrough these occupations that the intellectual\r\nand emotional interpretation of nature has been\r\ndeveloped. It is through what we do in and with\r\nthe world that we read its meaning and measure\r\nits value.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn educational terms, this means that these\r\noccupations in the school shall not be mere practical\r\ndevices or modes of routine employment, the\r\ngaining of better technical skill as cooks, seamstresses,\r\nor carpenters, but active centers of scientific\r\ninsight into natural materials and processes,\r\npoints of departure whence children shall be led\r\nout into a realization of the historic development\r\nof man. The actual significance of this can be told\r\nbetter through one illustration taken from actual\r\nschool work than by general discourse.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is nothing which strikes more oddly upon\r\nthe average intelligent visitor than to see boys as\r\nwell as girls of ten, twelve, and thirteen years of\r\nage engaged in sewing and weaving. If we look\r\nat this from the standpoint of preparation of the\r\nboys for sewing on buttons and making patches,\r\nwe get a narrow and utilitarian conception—a\r\nbasis that hardly justifies giving prominence to\r\nthis sort of work in the school. But if we look\r\nat it from another side, we find that this work\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_18\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[18]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ngives the point of departure from which the child\r\ncan trace and follow the progress of mankind in\r\nhistory, getting an insight also into the materials\r\nused and the mechanical principles involved. In\r\nconnection with these occupations the historic development\r\nof man is recapitulated. For example,\r\nthe children are first given the raw material—the\r\nflax, the cotton plant, the wool as it comes from\r\nthe back of the sheep (if we could take them to the\r\nplace where the sheep are sheared, so much the\r\nbetter). Then a study is made of these materials\r\nfrom the standpoint of their adaptation to the uses\r\nto which they may be put. For instance, a comparison\r\nof the cotton fiber with wool fiber is made.\r\nI did not know, until the children told me, that the\r\nreason for the late development of the cotton industry\r\nas compared with the woolen is that the cotton\r\nfiber is so very difficult to free by hand from the\r\nseeds. The children in one group worked thirty\r\nminutes freeing cotton fibers from the boll and\r\nseeds, and succeeded in getting out less than one\r\nounce. They could easily believe that one person\r\ncould gin only one pound a day by hand, and could\r\nunderstand why their ancestors wore woolen\r\ninstead of cotton clothing. Among other things\r\ndiscovered as affecting their relative utilities was\r\nthe shortness of the cotton fiber as compared with\r\nthat of wool, the former averaging, say, one-third\r\nof an inch in length, while the latter run to three\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_19\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[19]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ninches in length; also that the fibers of cotton are\r\nsmooth and do not cling together, while the wool\r\nhas a certain roughness which makes the fibers\r\nstick, thus assisting the spinning. The children\r\nworked this out for themselves with the actual\r\nmaterial, aided by questions and suggestions from\r\nthe teacher.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey then followed the processes necessary for\r\nworking the fibers up into cloth. They reinvented\r\nthe first frame for carding the wool—a couple of\r\nboards with sharp pins in them for scratching it\r\nout. They redevised the simplest process for\r\nspinning the wool—a pierced stone or some other\r\nweight through which the wool is passed, and which\r\nas it is twirled draws out the fiber; next the top,\r\nwhich was spun on the floor, while the children\r\nkept the wool in their hands until it was gradually\r\ndrawn out and wound upon it. Then the children\r\nare introduced to the invention next in historic\r\norder, working it out experimentally, thus seeing\r\nits necessity, and tracing its effects, not only upon\r\nthat particular industry, but upon modes of social\r\nlife—in this way passing in review the entire process\r\nup to the present complete loom, and all that goes\r\nwith the application of science in the use of our\r\npresent available powers. I need not speak of the\r\nscience involved in this—the study of the fibers,\r\nof geographical features, the conditions under\r\nwhich raw materials are grown, the great centers of\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_20\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[20]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nmanufacture and distribution, the physics involved\r\nin the machinery of production; nor, again, of the\r\nhistorical side—the influence which these inventions\r\nhave had upon humanity. You can concentrate\r\nthe history of all mankind into the evolution\r\nof the flax, cotton, and wool fibers into clothing.\r\nI do not mean that this is the only, or the best,\r\ncenter. But it is true that certain very real\r\nand important avenues to the consideration of the\r\nhistory of the race are thus opened—that the mind\r\nis introduced to much more fundamental and\r\ncontrolling influences than appear in the political\r\nand chronological records that usually pass for\r\nhistory.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eNow, what is true of this one instance of fibers\r\nused in fabrics (and, of course, I have only spoken\r\nof one or two elementary phases of that) is true\r\nin its measure of every material used in every occupation,\r\nand of the processes employed. The occupation\r\nsupplies the child with a genuine motive;\r\nit gives him experience at first hand; it brings him\r\ninto contact with realities. It does all this, but\r\nin addition it is liberalized throughout by translation\r\ninto its historic and social values and scientific\r\nequivalencies. With the growth of the child’s\r\nmind in power and knowledge it ceases to be a\r\npleasant occupation merely and becomes more and\r\nmore a medium, an instrument, an organ of understanding—and\r\nis thereby transformed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_21\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[21]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis, in turn, has its bearing upon the teaching\r\nof science. Under present conditions, all activity,\r\nto be successful, has to be directed somewhere\r\nand somehow by the scientific expert—it is a case\r\nof applied science. This connection should determine\r\nits place in education. It is not only that\r\nthe occupations, the so-called manual or industrial\r\nwork in the school, give the opportunity for the\r\nintroduction of science which illuminates them,\r\nwhich makes them material, freighted with meaning,\r\ninstead of being mere devices of hand and eye;\r\nbut that the scientific insight thus gained becomes\r\nan indispensable instrument of free and active\r\nparticipation in modern social life. Plato somewhere\r\nspeaks of the slave as one who in his actions\r\ndoes not express his own ideas, but those of some\r\nother man. It is our social problem now, even\r\nmore urgent than in the time of Plato, that method,\r\npurpose, understanding, shall exist in the consciousness\r\nof the one who does the work, that his\r\nactivity shall have meaning to himself.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen occupations in the school are conceived\r\nin this broad and generous way, I can only stand\r\nlost in wonder at the objections so often heard,\r\nthat such occupations are out of place in the school\r\nbecause they are materialistic, utilitarian, or even\r\nmenial in their tendency. It sometimes seems to\r\nme that those who make these objections must\r\nlive in quite another world. The world in which\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_22\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[22]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nmost of us live is a world in which everyone has a\r\ncalling and occupation, something to do. Some\r\nare managers and others are subordinates. But\r\nthe great thing for one as for the other is that each\r\nshall have had the education which enables him\r\nto see within his daily work all there is in it of large\r\nand human significance. How many of the employed\r\nare today mere appendages to the machines\r\nwhich they operate! This may be due in part to\r\nthe machine itself or the régime which lays so\r\nmuch stress upon the products of the machine;\r\nbut it is certainly due in large part to the fact that\r\nthe worker has had no opportunity to develop\r\nhis imagination and his sympathetic insight as\r\nto the social and scientific values found in his work.\r\nAt present, the impulses which lie at the basis of\r\nthe industrial system are either practically neglected\r\nor positively distorted during the school\r\nperiod. Until the instincts of construction and\r\nproduction are systematically laid hold of in the\r\nyears of childhood and youth, until they are trained\r\nin social directions, enriched by historical interpretation,\r\ncontrolled and illuminated by scientific\r\nmethods, we certainly are in no position even to\r\nlocate the source of our economic evils, much less\r\nto deal with them effectively.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf we go back a few centuries, we find a practical\r\nmonopoly of learning. The term \u003ci\u003epossession\u003c/i\u003e of\r\nlearning is, indeed, a happy one. Learning was\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_23\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[23]\u003c/span\u003e\r\na class matter. This was a necessary result of\r\nsocial conditions. There were not in existence\r\nany means by which the multitude could possibly\r\nhave access to intellectual resources. These were\r\nstored up and hidden away in manuscripts. Of\r\nthese there were at best only a few, and it required\r\nlong and toilsome preparation to be able to do\r\nanything with them. A high-priesthood of learning,\r\nwhich guarded the treasury of truth and which\r\ndoled it out to the masses under severe restrictions,\r\nwas the inevitable expression of these conditions.\r\nBut, as a direct result of the industrial revolution\r\nof which we have been speaking, this has been\r\nchanged. Printing was invented; it was made\r\ncommercial. Books, magazines, papers were multiplied\r\nand cheapened. As a result of the locomotive\r\nand telegraph, frequent, rapid, and cheap\r\nintercommunication by mails and electricity was\r\ncalled into being. Travel has been rendered easy;\r\nfreedom of movement, with its accompanying exchange\r\nof ideas, indefinitely facilitated. The result\r\nhas been an intellectual revolution. Learning has\r\nbeen put into circulation. While there still is, and\r\nprobably always will be, a particular class having\r\nthe special business of inquiry in hand, a distinctively\r\nlearned class is henceforth out of the question.\r\nIt is an anachronism. Knowledge is no longer\r\nan immobile solid; it has been liquefied. It is\r\nactively moving in all the currents of society itself.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_24\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[24]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is easy to see that this revolution, as regards\r\nthe materials of knowledge, carries with it a marked\r\nchange in the attitude of the individual. Stimuli\r\nof an intellectual sort pour in upon us in all kinds\r\nof ways. The merely intellectual life, the life of\r\nscholarship and of learning, thus gets a very altered\r\nvalue. Academic and scholastic, instead of being\r\ntitles of honor, are becoming terms of reproach.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut all this means a necessary change in the\r\nattitude of the school, one of which we are as yet\r\nfar from realizing the full force. Our school\r\nmethods, and to a very considerable extent our\r\ncurriculum, are inherited from the period when\r\nlearning and command of certain symbols, affording\r\nas they did the only access to learning, were\r\nall-important. The ideals of this period are still\r\nlargely in control, even where the outward methods\r\nand studies have been changed. We sometimes\r\nhear the introduction of manual training, art, and\r\nscience into the elementary, and even the secondary,\r\nschools deprecated on the ground that they tend\r\ntoward the production of specialists—that they\r\ndetract from our present scheme of generous,\r\nliberal culture. The point of this objection would\r\nbe ludicrous if it were not often so effective as to\r\nmake it tragic. It is our present education which\r\nis highly specialized, one-sided, and narrow. It\r\nis an education dominated almost entirely by the\r\nmediaeval conception of learning. It is something\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_25\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[25]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nwhich appeals for the most part simply to the\r\nintellectual aspect of our natures, our desire to\r\nlearn, to accumulate information, and to get control\r\nof the symbols of learning; not to our impulses\r\nand tendencies to make, to do, to create, to produce,\r\nwhether in the form of utility or of art. The\r\nvery fact that manual training, art, and science\r\nare objected to as technical, as tending toward\r\nmere specialism, is of itself as good testimony as\r\ncould be offered to the specialized aim which controls\r\ncurrent education. Unless education had\r\nbeen virtually identified with the exclusively intellectual\r\npursuits, with learning as such, all these\r\nmaterials and methods would be welcome, would\r\nbe greeted with the utmost hospitality.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp100\" id=\"illus1\" style=\"max-width: 43.75em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-illus1.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n \u003cfigcaption class=\"caption\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHILD’S DRAWING OF A CAVE AND TREES\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/figcaption\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhile training for the profession of learning\r\nis regarded as the type of culture, or a liberal education,\r\nthe training of a mechanic, a musician, a\r\nlawyer, a doctor, a farmer, a merchant, or a railroad\r\nmanager is regarded as purely technical and\r\nprofessional. The result is that which we see about\r\nus everywhere—the division into “cultured”\r\npeople and “workers,” the separation of theory and\r\npractice. Hardly 1 per cent of the entire school\r\npopulation ever attains to what we call higher\r\neducation; only 5 per cent to the grade of our high\r\nschool; while much more than half leave on or\r\nbefore the completion of the fifth year of the elementary\r\ngrade. The simple facts of the case are\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_26\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[26]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthat in the great majority of human beings the\r\ndistinctively intellectual interest is not dominant.\r\nThey have the so-called practical impulse and disposition.\r\nIn many of those in whom by nature\r\nintellectual interest is strong, social conditions\r\nprevent its adequate realization. Consequently\r\nby far the larger number of pupils leave school\r\nas soon as they have acquired the rudiments of\r\nlearning, as soon as they have enough of the\r\nsymbols of reading, writing, and calculating to\r\nbe of practical use to them in getting a living.\r\nWhile our educational leaders are talking of\r\nculture, the development of personality, etc., as\r\nthe end and aim of education, the great majority\r\nof those who pass under the tuition of the\r\nschool regard it only as a narrowly practical tool\r\nwith which to get bread and butter enough to eke\r\nout a restricted life. If we were to conceive our\r\neducational end and aim in a less exclusive way,\r\nif we were to introduce into educational processes\r\nthe activities which appeal to those whose dominant\r\ninterest is to do and to make, we should\r\nfind the hold of the school upon its members to\r\nbe more vital, more prolonged, containing more of\r\nculture.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp100\" id=\"illus2\" style=\"max-width: 43.75em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-illus2.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n \u003cfigcaption class=\"caption\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHILD’S DRAWING OF A FOREST\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/figcaption\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut why should I make this labored presentation?\r\nThe obvious fact is that our social life has\r\nundergone a thorough and radical change. If our\r\neducation is to have any meaning for life, it must\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_27\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[27]\u003c/span\u003e\r\npass through an equally complete transformation.\r\nThis transformation is not something to appear\r\nsuddenly, to be executed in a day by conscious\r\npurpose. It is already in progress. Those modifications\r\nof our school system which often appear\r\n(even to those most actively concerned with them,\r\nto say nothing of their spectators) to be mere\r\nchanges of detail, mere improvement within the\r\nschool mechanism, are in reality signs and evidences\r\nof evolution. The introduction of active occupations,\r\nof nature-study, of elementary science, of art,\r\nof history; the relegation of the merely symbolic\r\nand formal to a secondary position; the change in\r\nthe moral school atmosphere, in the relation of\r\npupils and teachers—of discipline; the introduction\r\nof more active, expressive, and self-directing\r\nfactors—all these are not mere accidents, they are\r\nnecessities of the larger social evolution. It remains\r\nbut to organize all these factors, to appreciate\r\nthem in their fulness of meaning, and to put\r\nthe ideas and ideals involved into complete, uncompromising\r\npossession of our school system. To\r\ndo this means to make each one of our schools an\r\nembryonic community life, active with types of\r\noccupations that reflect the life of the larger\r\nsociety and permeated throughout with the spirit\r\nof art, history, and science. When the school\r\nintroduces and trains each child of society into\r\nmembership within such a little community, saturating\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_28\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[28]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nhim with the spirit of service, and providing\r\nhim with the instruments of effective self-direction,\r\nwe shall have the deepest and best guaranty\r\nof a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and\r\nharmonious.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp100\" id=\"illus3\" style=\"max-width: 43.75em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-illus3.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n \u003cfigcaption class=\"caption\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHILD’S DRAWING OF HANDS SPINNING\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/figcaption\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp53\" id=\"illus4\" style=\"max-width: 31.25em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-illus4.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n \u003cfigcaption class=\"caption\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCHILD’S DRAWING OF A GIRL SPINNING\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/figcaption\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_29\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[29]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_30\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[30]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"THE_SCHOOL_AND_THE_LIFE_OF_THE_CHILD\"\u003eTHE SCHOOL AND THE LIFE OF THE CHILD\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_31\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[31]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"II\"\u003eII\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003eTHE SCHOOL AND THE LIFE OF THE CHILD\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eLast week I tried to put before you the relationship\r\nbetween the school and the larger life\r\nof the community, and the necessity for certain\r\nchanges in the methods and materials of school\r\nwork, that it might be better adapted to present\r\nsocial needs.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eToday I wish to look at the matter from the\r\nother side and consider the relationship of the\r\nschool to the life and development of the children\r\nin the school. As it is difficult to connect\r\ngeneral principles with such thoroughly concrete\r\nthings as little children, I have taken the liberty\r\nof introducing a great deal of illustrative matter\r\nfrom the work of the University Elementary\r\nSchool, that in some measure you may appreciate\r\nthe way in which the ideas presented work themselves\r\nout in actual practice.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eSome few years ago I was looking about the\r\nschool supply stores in the city, trying to find\r\ndesks and chairs which seemed thoroughly suitable\r\nfrom all points of view—artistic, hygienic,\r\nand educational—to the needs of the children.\r\nWe had a great deal of difficulty in finding what\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_32\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[32]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nwe needed, and finally one dealer, more intelligent\r\nthan the rest, made this remark: “I am afraid\r\nwe have not what you want. You want something\r\nat which the children may work; these are\r\nall for listening.” That tells the story of the traditional\r\neducation. Just as the biologist can take\r\na bone or two and reconstruct the whole animal,\r\nso, if we put before the mind’s eye the ordinary\r\nschoolroom, with its rows of ugly desks placed in\r\ngeometrical order, crowded together so that there\r\nshall be as little moving room as possible, desks\r\nalmost all of the same size, with just space enough\r\nto hold books, pencils, and paper, and add a table,\r\nsome chairs, the bare walls, and possibly a few pictures,\r\nwe can reconstruct the only educational\r\nactivity that can possibly go on in such a place.\r\nIt is all made “for listening”—because simply\r\nstudying lessons out of a book is only another kind\r\nof listening; it marks the dependency of one mind\r\nupon another. The attitude of listening means,\r\ncomparatively speaking, passivity, absorption;\r\nthat there are certain ready-made materials which\r\nare there, which have been prepared by the school\r\nsuperintendent, the board, the teacher, and of\r\nwhich the child is to take in as much as possible\r\nin the least possible time.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is very little place in the traditional\r\nschoolroom for the child to work. The workshop,\r\nthe laboratory, the materials, the tools with which\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_33\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[33]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthe child may construct, create, and actively inquire,\r\nand even the requisite space, have been for\r\nthe most part lacking. The things that have to\r\ndo with these processes have not even a definitely\r\nrecognized place in education. They are what the\r\neducational authorities who write editorials in the\r\ndaily papers generally term “fads” and “frills.”\r\nA lady told me yesterday that she had been\r\nvisiting different schools trying to find one where\r\nactivity on the part of the children preceded\r\nthe giving of information on the part of the\r\nteacher, or where the children had some motive\r\nfor demanding the information. She visited,\r\nshe said, twenty-four different schools before she\r\nfound her first instance. I may add that that was\r\nnot in this city.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAnother thing that is suggested by these schoolrooms,\r\nwith their set desks, is that everything is\r\narranged for handling as large numbers of children\r\nas possible; for dealing with children \u003ci\u003een masse\u003c/i\u003e,\r\nas an aggregate of units; involving, again, that\r\nthey be treated passively. The moment children\r\nact they individualize themselves; they cease to\r\nbe a mass and become the intensely distinctive\r\nbeings that we are acquainted with out of school,\r\nin the home, the family, on the playground, and\r\nin the neighborhood.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn the same basis is explicable the uniformity\r\nof method and curriculum. If everything is on\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_34\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[34]\u003c/span\u003e\r\na “listening” basis, you can have uniformity of\r\nmaterial and method. The ear, and the book\r\nwhich reflects the ear, constitute the medium\r\nwhich is alike for all. There is next to no opportunity\r\nfor adjustment to varying capacities and\r\ndemands. There is a certain amount—a fixed\r\nquantity—of ready-made results and accomplishments\r\nto be acquired by all children alike in a\r\ngiven time. It is in response to this demand\r\nthat the curriculum has been developed from the\r\nelementary school up through the college. There\r\nis just so much desirable knowledge, and there\r\nare just so many needed technical accomplishments\r\nin the world. Then comes the mathematical\r\nproblem of dividing this by the six,\r\ntwelve, or sixteen years of school life. Now\r\ngive the children every year just the proportionate\r\nfraction of the total, and by the time they have\r\nfinished they will have mastered the whole. By\r\ncovering so much ground during this hour or day\r\nor week or year, everything comes out with perfect\r\nevenness at the end—provided the children\r\nhave not forgotten what they have previously\r\nlearned. The outcome of all this is Matthew\r\nArnold’s report of the statement, proudly made\r\nto him by an educational authority in France, that\r\nso many thousands of children were studying at a\r\ngiven hour, say eleven o’clock, just such a lesson\r\nin geography; and in one of our own western\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_35\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[35]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ncities this proud boast used to be repeated to\r\nsuccessive visitors by its superintendent.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eI may have exaggerated somewhat in order to\r\nmake plain the typical points of the old education:\r\nits passivity of attitude, its mechanical massing of\r\nchildren, its uniformity of curriculum and method.\r\nIt may be summed up by stating that the center of\r\ngravity is outside the child. It is in the teacher,\r\nthe textbook, anywhere and everywhere you\r\nplease except in the immediate instincts and activities\r\nof the child himself. On that basis there\r\nis not much to be said about the \u003ci\u003elife\u003c/i\u003e of the child.\r\nA good deal might be said about the studying of\r\nthe child, but the school is not the place where\r\nthe child \u003ci\u003elives\u003c/i\u003e. Now the change which is coming\r\ninto our education is the shifting of the center\r\nof gravity. It is a change, a revolution, not\r\nunlike that introduced by Copernicus when the\r\nastronomical center shifted from the earth to\r\nthe sun. In this case the child becomes the sun\r\nabout which the appliances of education revolve;\r\nhe is the center about which they are organized.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf we take an example from an ideal home,\r\nwhere the parent is intelligent enough to recognize\r\nwhat is best for the child, and is able to supply\r\nwhat is needed, we find the child learning\r\nthrough the social converse and constitution of\r\nthe family. There are certain points of interest\r\nand value to him in the conversation carried on:\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_36\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[36]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nstatements are made, inquiries arise, topics are\r\ndiscussed, and the child continually learns. He\r\nstates his experiences, his misconceptions are corrected.\r\nAgain the child participates in the household\r\noccupations, and thereby gets habits of\r\nindustry, order, and regard for the rights and\r\nideas of others, and the fundamental habit of subordinating\r\nhis activities to the general interest of\r\nthe household. Participation in these household\r\ntasks becomes an opportunity for gaining knowledge.\r\nThe ideal home would naturally have a\r\nworkshop where the child could work out his\r\nconstructive instincts. It would have a miniature\r\nlaboratory in which his inquiries could\r\nbe directed. The life of the child would extend\r\nout of doors to the garden, surrounding fields,\r\nand forests. He would have his excursions, his\r\nwalks and talks, in which the larger world out of\r\ndoors would open to him.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eNow, if we organize and generalize all of this,\r\nwe have the ideal school. There is no mystery\r\nabout it, no wonderful discovery of pedagogy or\r\neducational theory. It is simply a question of\r\ndoing systematically and in a large, intelligent,\r\nand competent way what for various reasons can\r\nbe done in most households only in a comparatively\r\nmeager and haphazard manner. In the first place,\r\nthe ideal home has to be enlarged. The child\r\nmust be brought into contact with more grown\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_37\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[37]\u003c/span\u003e\r\npeople and with more children in order that there\r\nmay be the freest and richest social life. Moreover,\r\nthe occupations and relationships of the\r\nhome environment are not specially selected for\r\nthe growth of the child; the main object is something\r\nelse, and what the child can get out of them\r\nis incidental. Hence the need of a school. In\r\nthis school the life of the child becomes the all-controlling\r\naim. All the media necessary to further\r\nthe growth of the child center there. Learning?\r\ncertainly, but living primarily, and learning\r\nthrough and in relation to this living. When we\r\ntake the life of the child centered and organized\r\nin this way, we do not find that he is first of all a\r\nlistening being; quite the contrary.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe statement so frequently made that education\r\nmeans “drawing out” is excellent, if we mean\r\nsimply to contrast it with the process of pouring\r\nin. But, after all, it is difficult to connect the idea\r\nof drawing out with the ordinary doings of the\r\nchild of three, four, seven, or eight years of age.\r\nHe is already running over, spilling over, with\r\nactivities of all kinds. He is not a purely latent\r\nbeing whom the adult has to approach with great\r\ncaution and skill in order gradually to draw out\r\nsome hidden germ of activity. The child is already\r\nintensely active, and the question of education is\r\nthe question of taking hold of his activities, of\r\ngiving them direction. Through direction, through\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_38\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[38]\u003c/span\u003e\r\norganized use, they tend toward valuable results,\r\ninstead of scattering or being left to merely impulsive\r\nexpression.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf we keep this before us, the difficulty I find\r\nuppermost in the minds of many people regarding\r\nwhat is termed the new education is not so\r\nmuch solved as dissolved; it disappears. A question\r\noften asked is: If you begin with the child’s\r\nideas, impulses, and interests, all so crude, so\r\nrandom and scattering, so little refined or spiritualized,\r\nhow is he going to get the necessary discipline,\r\nculture, and information? If there were no\r\nway open to us except to excite and indulge these\r\nimpulses of the child, the question might well be\r\nasked. We should either have to ignore and\r\nrepress the activities or else to humor them. But\r\nif we have organization of equipment and of materials,\r\nthere is another path open to us. We can\r\ndirect the child’s activities, giving them exercise\r\nalong certain lines, and can thus lead up to the\r\ngoal which logically stands at the end of the paths\r\nfollowed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”\r\nSince they are not, since really to satisfy an impulse\r\nor interest means to work it out, and working it\r\nout involves running up against obstacles, becoming\r\nacquainted with materials, exercising ingenuity,\r\npatience, persistence, alertness, it of necessity\r\ninvolves discipline—ordering of power—and supplies\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_39\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[39]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nknowledge. Take the example of the little\r\nchild who wants to make a box. If he stops short\r\nwith the imagination or wish, he certainly will\r\nnot get discipline. But when he attempts to\r\nrealize his impulse, it is a question of making his\r\nidea definite, making it into a plan, of taking the\r\nright kind of wood, measuring the parts needed,\r\ngiving them the necessary proportions, etc. There\r\nis involved the preparation of materials, the sawing,\r\nplaning, the sandpapering, making all the edges\r\nand corners to fit. Knowledge of tools and processes\r\nis inevitable. If the child realizes his\r\ninstinct and makes the box, there is plenty of\r\nopportunity to gain discipline and perseverance,\r\nto exercise effort in overcoming obstacles, and to\r\nattain as well a great deal of information.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eSo undoubtedly the little child who thinks he\r\nwould like to cook has little idea of what it means\r\nor costs, or what it requires. It is simply a desire\r\nto “mess around,” perhaps to imitate the activities\r\nof older people. And it is doubtless possible\r\nto let ourselves down to that level and simply\r\nhumor that interest. But here, too, if the impulse\r\nis exercised, utilized, it runs up against the actual\r\nworld of hard conditions, to which it must accommodate\r\nitself; and there again come in the factors\r\nof discipline and knowledge. One of the children\r\nbecame impatient, recently, at having to work\r\nthings out by a long method of experimentation,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_40\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[40]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nand said: “Why do we bother with this? Let’s\r\nfollow a recipe in a cook-book.” The teacher asked\r\nthe children where the recipe came from, and the\r\nconversation showed that if they simply followed\r\nthis they would not understand the reasons for\r\nwhat they were doing. They were then quite\r\nwilling to go on with the experimental work. To\r\nfollow that work will, indeed, give an illustration\r\nof just the point in question. Their occupation\r\nhappened that day to be the cooking of eggs, as\r\nmaking a transition from the cooking of vegetables\r\nto that of meats. In order to get a basis of comparison\r\nthey first summarized the constituent food\r\nelements in the vegetables and made a preliminary\r\ncomparison with those found in meat. Thus they\r\nfound that the woody fiber or cellulose in vegetables\r\ncorresponded to the connective tissue in meat,\r\ngiving the element of form and structure. They\r\nfound that starch and starchy products were characteristic\r\nof the vegetables, that mineral salts were\r\nfound in both alike, and that there was fat in both—a\r\nsmall quantity in vegetable food and a large\r\namount in animal. They were prepared then to\r\ntake up the study of albumen as the characteristic\r\nfeature of animal food, corresponding to starch in\r\nthe vegetables, and were ready to consider the conditions\r\nrequisite for the proper treatment of\r\nalbumen—the eggs serving as the material of\r\nexperiment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_41\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[41]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThey experimented first by taking water at\r\nvarious temperatures, finding out when it was\r\nscalding, simmering, and boiling hot, and ascertained\r\nthe effect of the various degrees of temperature\r\non the white of the egg. That worked out,\r\nthey were prepared, not simply to cook eggs, but\r\nto understand the principle involved in the cooking\r\nof eggs. I do not wish to lose sight of the universal\r\nin the particular incident. For the child simply\r\nto desire to cook an egg, and accordingly drop it in\r\nwater for three minutes, and take it out when he\r\nis told, is not educative. But for the child to\r\nrealize his own impulse by recognizing the facts,\r\nmaterials, and conditions involved, and then to\r\nregulate his impulse through that recognition, is\r\neducative. This is the difference, upon which I\r\nwish to insist, between exciting or indulging an\r\ninterest and realizing it through its direction.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAnother instinct of the child is the use of pencil\r\nand paper. All children like to express themselves\r\nthrough the medium of form and color. If you\r\nsimply indulge this interest by letting the child go\r\non indefinitely, there is no growth that is more\r\nthan accidental. But let the child first express his\r\nimpulse, and then through criticism, question, and\r\nsuggestion bring him to consciousness of what he\r\nhas done, and what he needs to do, and the result\r\nis quite different. Here, for example, is the work\r\nof a seven-year-old child. It is not average work,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_42\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[42]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nit is the best work done among the little children,\r\nbut it illustrates the particular principle of which\r\nI have been speaking. They had been talking\r\nabout the primitive conditions of social life when\r\npeople lived in caves. The child’s idea of that\r\nfound expression in this way: the cave is neatly\r\nset up on the hillside in an impossible way. You\r\nsee the conventional tree of childhood—a vertical\r\nline with horizontal branches on each side. If\r\nthe child had been allowed to go on repeating this\r\nsort of thing day by day, he would be indulging\r\nhis instinct rather than exercising it. But the\r\nchild was now asked to look closely at trees, to\r\ncompare those seen with the one drawn, to examine\r\nmore closely and consciously into the conditions\r\nof his work. Then he drew trees from observation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eFinally he drew again from combined observation,\r\nmemory, and imagination. He made again\r\na free illustration, expressing his own imaginative\r\nthought, but controlled by detailed study of actual\r\ntrees. The result was a scene representing a bit\r\nof forest; so far as it goes, it seems to me to have\r\nas much poetic feeling as the work of an adult, while\r\nat the same time its trees are, in their proportions,\r\npossible ones, not mere symbols.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf we roughly classify the impulses which are\r\navailable in the school, we may group them under\r\nfour heads. There is the social instinct of the\r\nchildren as shown in conversation, personal intercourse,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_43\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[43]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nand communication. We all know how\r\nself-centered the little child is at the age of four or\r\nfive. If any new subject is brought up, if he says\r\nanything at all, it is: “I have seen that;” or, “My\r\npapa or mamma told me about that.” His horizon\r\nis not large; an experience must come immediately\r\nhome to him, if he is to be sufficiently interested to\r\nrelate it to others and seek theirs in return. And\r\nyet the egoistic and limited interest of little children\r\nis in this manner capable of infinite expansion.\r\nThe language instinct is the simplest form of the\r\nsocial expression of the child. Hence it is a great,\r\nperhaps the greatest of all educational resources.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThen there is the instinct of making—the constructive\r\nimpulse. The child’s impulse to do finds\r\nexpression first in play, in movement, gesture, and\r\nmake-believe, becomes more definite, and seeks\r\noutlet in shaping materials into tangible forms and\r\npermanent embodiment. The child has not much\r\ninstinct for abstract inquiry. The instinct of\r\ninvestigation seems to grow out of the combination\r\nof the constructive impulse with the conversational.\r\nThere is no distinction between experimental\r\nscience for little children and the work done in\r\nthe carpenter shop. Such work as they can do in\r\nphysics or chemistry is not for the purpose of\r\nmaking technical generalizations or even arriving\r\nat abstract truths. Children simply like to do\r\nthings and watch to see what will happen. But\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_44\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[44]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthis can be taken advantage of, can be directed into\r\nways where it gives results of value, as well as be\r\nallowed to go on at random.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so the expressive impulse of the children, the\r\nart instinct, grows also out of the communicating\r\nand constructive instincts. It is their refinement\r\nand full manifestation. Make the construction\r\nadequate, make it full, free, and flexible, give it\r\na social motive, something to tell, and you have a\r\nwork of art. Take one illustration of this in connection\r\nwith the textile work—sewing and weaving.\r\nThe children made a primitive loom in the\r\nshop; here the constructive instinct was appealed\r\nto. Then they wished to do something with this\r\nloom, to make something. It was the type of\r\nthe Indian loom, and they were shown blankets\r\nwoven by the Indians. Each child made a design\r\nkindred in idea to those of the Navajo blankets, and\r\nthe one which seemed best adapted to the work in\r\nhand was selected. The technical resources were\r\nlimited, but the coloring and form were worked out\r\nby the children. The example shown was made by\r\nthe twelve-year-old children. Examination shows\r\nthat it took patience, thoroughness, and perseverance\r\nto do the work. It involved not merely discipline\r\nand information of both a historical sort\r\nand the elements of technical design, but also\r\nsomething of the spirit of art in adequately conveying\r\nan idea.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_45\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[45]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eOne more instance of the connection of the art\r\nside with the constructive side: The children had\r\nbeen studying primitive spinning and carding,\r\nwhen one of them, twelve years of age, made a\r\npicture of one of the older children spinning. Here\r\nis another piece of work which is not quite average;\r\nit is better than the average. It is an illustration\r\nof two hands and the drawing out of the wool to\r\nget it ready for spinning. This was done by a child\r\neleven years of age. But, upon the whole, with\r\nthe younger children especially, the art impulse\r\nis connected mainly with the social instinct—the\r\ndesire to tell, to represent.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eNow, keeping in mind these fourfold interests—the\r\ninterest in conversation, or communication; in\r\ninquiry, or finding out things; in making things,\r\nor construction; and in artistic expression—we may\r\nsay they are the natural resources, the uninvested\r\ncapital, upon the exercise of which depends the\r\nactive growth of the child. I wish to give one or\r\ntwo illustrations, the first from the work of children\r\nseven years of age. It illustrates in a way\r\nthe dominant desire of the children to talk, particularly\r\nabout folks and of things in relation to\r\nfolks. If you observe little children, you will find\r\nthey are interested in the world of things mainly in\r\nits connection with people, as a background and\r\nmedium of human concerns. Many anthropologists\r\nhave told us there are certain identities in the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_46\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[46]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nchild interests with those of primitive life. There\r\nis a sort of natural recurrence of the child mind to\r\nthe typical activities of primitive peoples; witness\r\nthe hut which the boy likes to build in the yard,\r\nplaying hunt, with bows, arrows, spears, and so on.\r\nAgain the question comes: What are we to do with\r\nthis interest—are we to ignore it, or just excite\r\nand draw it out? Or shall we get hold of it and\r\ndirect it to something ahead, something better?\r\nSome of the work that has been planned for our\r\nseven-year-old children has the latter end in view—to\r\nutilize this interest so that it shall become a\r\nmeans of seeing the progress of the human race.\r\nThe children begin by imagining present conditions\r\ntaken away until they are in contact with nature\r\nat first hand. That takes them back to a hunting\r\npeople, to a people living in caves or trees and\r\ngetting a precarious subsistence by hunting and\r\nfishing. They imagine as far as possible the various\r\nnatural physical conditions adapted to that sort\r\nof life; say, a hilly, woody slope, near mountains,\r\nand a river where fish would be abundant. Then\r\nthey go on in imagination through the hunting to\r\nthe semi-agricultural stage, and through the\r\nnomadic to the settled agricultural stage. The\r\npoint I wish to make is that there is abundant\r\nopportunity thus given for actual study, for inquiry\r\nwhich results in gaining information. So, while\r\nthe instinct primarily appeals to the social side, the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_47\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[47]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ninterest of the child in people and their doings is\r\ncarried on into the larger world of reality. For\r\nexample, the children had some idea of primitive\r\nweapons, of the stone arrow-head, etc. That provided\r\noccasion for the testing of materials as regards\r\ntheir friability, their shape, texture, etc., resulting\r\nin a lesson in mineralogy, as they examined the\r\ndifferent stones to find which was best suited to the\r\npurpose. The discussion of the iron age supplied\r\na demand for the construction of a smelting oven\r\nmade out of clay and of considerable size. As the\r\nchildren did not get their drafts right at first, the\r\nmouth of the furnace not being in proper relation\r\nto the vent as to size and position, instruction in\r\nthe principles of combustion, the nature of drafts\r\nand of fuel, was required. Yet the instruction was\r\nnot given ready-made; it was first needed, and then\r\narrived at experimentally. Then the children\r\ntook some material, such as copper, and went\r\nthrough a series of experiments, fusing it, working\r\nit into objects; and the same experiments were\r\nmade with lead and other metals. This work\r\nhas been also a continuous course in geography,\r\nsince the children have had to imagine and work\r\nout the various physical conditions necessary to\r\nthe different forms of social life implied. What\r\nwould be the physical conditions appropriate to\r\npastoral life? to the beginning of agriculture? to\r\nfishing? What would be the natural method of\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_48\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[48]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nexchange between these peoples? Having worked\r\nout such points in conversation, they have afterward\r\nrepresented them in maps and sand-molding.\r\nThus they have gained ideas of the various forms\r\nof the configuration of the earth, and at the same\r\ntime have seen them in their relation to human\r\nactivity, so that they are not simply external facts,\r\nbut are fused and welded with social conceptions\r\nregarding the life and progress of humanity. The\r\nresult, to my mind, justifies completely the conviction\r\nthat children, in a year of such work (of\r\nfive hours a week altogether), get infinitely more\r\nacquaintance with facts of science, geography, and\r\nanthropology than they get where information is\r\nthe professed end and object, where they are\r\nsimply set to learning facts in fixed lessons. As\r\nto discipline, they get more training of attention,\r\nmore power of interpretation, of drawing inferences,\r\nof acute observation and continuous reflection,\r\nthan if they were put to working out arbitrary\r\nproblems simply for the sake of discipline.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eI should like at this point to refer to the recitation.\r\nWe all know what it has been—a place where\r\nthe child shows off to the teacher and the other children\r\nthe amount of information he has succeeded\r\nin assimilating from the textbook. From this other\r\nstandpoint the recitation becomes pre-eminently\r\na social meeting-place; it is to the school what the\r\nspontaneous conversation is at home, excepting\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_49\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[49]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthat it is more organized, following definite lines.\r\nThe recitation becomes the social clearing-house,\r\nwhere experiences and ideas are exchanged and subjected\r\nto criticism, where misconceptions are corrected,\r\nand new lines of thought and inquiry are\r\nset up.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis change of the recitation, from an examination\r\nof knowledge already acquired to the free play\r\nof the children’s communicative instinct, affects\r\nand modifies all the language work of the school.\r\nUnder the old régime it was unquestionably a\r\nmost serious problem to give the children a full\r\nand free use of language. The reason was obvious.\r\nThe natural motive for language was seldom offered.\r\nIn the pedagogical textbooks language is defined as\r\nthe medium of expressing thought. It becomes\r\nthat, more or less, to adults with trained minds,\r\nbut it hardly needs to be said that language is\r\nprimarily a social thing, a means by which we give\r\nour experiences to others and get theirs again in\r\nreturn. When it is taken away from its natural\r\npurpose, it is no wonder that it becomes a complex\r\nand difficult problem to teach language. Think\r\nof the absurdity of having to teach language as a\r\nthing by itself. If there is anything the child will\r\ndo before he goes to school, it is to talk of the things\r\nthat interest him. But when there are no vital\r\ninterests appealed to in the school, when language\r\nis used simply for the repetition of lessons, it is not\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_50\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[50]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nsurprising that one of the chief difficulties of school\r\nwork has come to be instruction in the mother-tongue.\r\nSince the language taught is unnatural,\r\nnot growing out of the real desire to communicate\r\nvital impressions and convictions, the freedom of\r\nchildren in its use gradually disappears, until\r\nfinally the high-school teacher has to invent all\r\nkinds of devices to assist in getting any spontaneous\r\nand full use of speech. Moreover, when the language\r\ninstinct is appealed to in a social way, there\r\nis a continual contact with reality. The result is\r\nthat the child always has something in his mind\r\nto talk about, he has something to say; he has a\r\nthought to express, and a thought is not a thought\r\nunless it is one’s own. On the traditional method,\r\nthe child must say something that he has merely\r\nlearned. There is all the difference in the world\r\nbetween having something to say and having to\r\nsay something. The child who has a variety of\r\nmaterials and facts wants to talk about them, and\r\nhis language becomes more refined and full, because\r\nit is controlled and informed by realities. Reading\r\nand writing, as well as the oral use of language,\r\nmay be taught on this basis. It can be done in a\r\n\u003ci\u003erelated\u003c/i\u003e way, as the outgrowth of the child’s social\r\ndesire to recount his experiences and get in return\r\nthe experiences of others, directed always through\r\ncontact with the facts and forces which determine\r\nthe truth communicated.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_51\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[51]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eI shall not have time to speak of the work of the\r\nolder children, where the original crude instincts\r\nof construction and communication have been\r\ndeveloped into something like scientifically directed\r\ninquiry, but I will give an illustration of the use of\r\nlanguage following upon this experimental work.\r\nThe work was on the basis of a simple experiment\r\nof the commonest sort, gradually leading the children\r\nout into geological and geographical study.\r\nThe sentences that I am going to read seem to me\r\npoetic as well as “scientific.” “A long time ago\r\nwhen the earth was new, when it was lava, there\r\nwas no water on the earth, and there was steam all\r\nround the earth up in the air, as there were many\r\ngases in the air. One of them was carbon dioxide.\r\nThe steam became clouds, because the earth began\r\nto cool off, and after a while it began to rain, and\r\nthe water came down and dissolved the carbon\r\ndioxide from the air.” There is a good deal more\r\nscience in that than probably would be apparent\r\nat the outset. It represents some three months\r\nof work on the part of the child. The children\r\nkept daily and weekly records, but this is part of the\r\nsumming up of the quarter’s work. I call this\r\nlanguage poetic, because the child has a clear image\r\nand has a personal feeling for the realities imaged.\r\nI extract sentences from two other records to illustrate\r\nfurther the vivid use of language when there\r\nis a vivid experience back of it. “When the earth\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_52\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[52]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nwas cold enough to condense, the water, with the\r\nhelp of carbon dioxide, \u003ci\u003epulled\u003c/i\u003e the calcium out of the\r\nrocks into a large body of water where the little\r\nanimals could get it.” The other reads as follows:\r\n“When the earth cooled, calcium was in the rocks.\r\nThen the carbon dioxide and water united and\r\nformed a solution, and, as it ran, it \u003ci\u003etore\u003c/i\u003e out the\r\ncalcium and carried it on to the sea, where there\r\nwere little animals who took it out of solution.”\r\nThe use of such words as “pulled” and “tore”\r\nin connection with the process of chemical combination\r\nevidences a personal realization which compels\r\nits own appropriate expression.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf I had not taken so much time in my other\r\nillustrations, I should like to show how, beginning\r\nwith very simple material things, the children are\r\nled on to larger fields of investigation and to the\r\nintellectual discipline that is the accompaniment of\r\nsuch research. I will simply mention the experiment\r\nin which the work began. It consisted in\r\nmaking precipitated chalk, used for polishing\r\nmetals. The children, with simple apparatus—a\r\ntumbler, lime water, and a glass tube—precipitated\r\nthe calcium carbonate out of the water; and\r\nfrom this beginning went on to a study of the\r\nprocesses by which rocks of various sorts, igneous,\r\nsedimentary, etc., had been formed on the surface\r\nof the earth and the places they occupy; then to\r\npoints in the geography of the United States,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_53\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[53]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nHawaii, and Porto Rico; to the effects of these\r\nvarious bodies of rock, in their various configurations,\r\nupon the human occupations; so that this\r\ngeological record finally rounded itself out into the\r\nlife of man at the present time. The children saw\r\nand felt the connection between these geologic\r\nprocesses, taking place ages and ages ago, and\r\nthe physical conditions determining the industrial\r\noccupations of today.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eOf all the possibilities involved in the subject,\r\n“The School and the Life of the Child,” I have\r\nselected but one, because I have found that that\r\none gives people more difficulty, is more of a\r\nstumbling-block, than any other. One may be\r\nready to admit that it would be most desirable for\r\nthe school to be a place in which the child should\r\nreally live, and get a life-experience in which he\r\nshould delight and find meaning for its own sake.\r\nBut then we hear this inquiry: How, upon this\r\nbasis, shall the child get the needed information;\r\nhow shall he undergo the required discipline? Yes,\r\nit has come to this, that with many, if not most,\r\npeople the normal processes of life appear to be\r\nincompatible with getting information and discipline.\r\nSo I have tried to indicate, in a highly\r\ngeneral and inadequate way (for only the school\r\nitself, in its daily operation, could give a detailed\r\nand worthy representation), how the problem works\r\nitself out—how it is possible to lay hold upon the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_54\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[54]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nrudimentary instincts of human nature, and, by\r\nsupplying a proper medium, so to control their\r\nexpression as not only to facilitate and enrich the\r\ngrowth of the individual child, but also to supply\r\nthe same results, and far more, of technical information\r\nand discipline that have been the ideals of\r\neducation in the past.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut although I have selected this especial way of\r\napproach (as a concession to the question almost\r\nuniversally raised), I am not willing to leave the\r\nmatter in this more or less negative and explanatory\r\ncondition. Life is the great thing after all; the\r\nlife of the child at its time and in its measure no\r\nless than the life of the adult. Strange would it\r\nbe, indeed, if intelligent and serious attention to\r\nwhat the child \u003ci\u003enow\u003c/i\u003e needs and is capable of in the\r\nway of a rich, valuable, and expanded life should\r\nsomehow conflict with the needs and possibilities\r\nof later, adult life. “Let us live with our children”\r\ncertainly means, first of all, that our children shall\r\nlive—not that they shall be hampered and stunted\r\nby being forced into all kinds of conditions, the\r\nmost remote consideration of which is relevancy to\r\nthe present life of the child. If we seek the kingdom\r\nof heaven, educationally, all other things shall\r\nbe added unto us—which, being interpreted, is\r\nthat if we identify ourselves with the real instincts\r\nand needs of childhood, and ask only after its fullest\r\nassertion and growth, the discipline and information\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_55\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[55]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nand culture of adult life shall all come in their due\r\nseason.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking of culture reminds me that in a way\r\nI have been speaking only of the outside of the\r\nchild’s activity—only of the outward expression\r\nof his impulses toward saying, making, finding\r\nout, and creating. The real child, it hardly need\r\nbe said, lives in the world of imaginative values\r\nand ideas which find only imperfect outward\r\nembodiment. We hear much nowadays about\r\nthe cultivation of the child’s “imagination.”\r\nThen we undo much of our own talk and work by a\r\nbelief that the imagination is some special part of\r\nthe child that finds its satisfaction in some one\r\nparticular direction—generally speaking, that of\r\nthe unreal and make-believe, of the myth and\r\nmade-up story. Why are we so hard of heart and\r\nso slow to believe? The imagination is the medium\r\nin which the child lives. To him there is everywhere\r\nand in everything which occupies his mind\r\nand activity at all a surplusage of value and significance.\r\nThe question of the relation of the school\r\nto the child’s life is at bottom simply this: Shall\r\nwe ignore this native setting and tendency, dealing,\r\nnot with the living child at all, but with the dead\r\nimage we have erected, or shall we give it play and\r\nsatisfaction? If we once believe in life and in the\r\nlife of the child, then will all the occupations and\r\nuses spoken of, then will all history and science,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_56\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[56]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nbecome instruments of appeal and materials of\r\nculture to his imagination, and through that to the\r\nrichness and the orderliness of his life. Where we\r\nnow see only the outward doing and the outward\r\nproduct, there, behind all visible results, is the\r\nreadjustment of mental attitude, the enlarged and\r\nsympathetic vision, the sense of growing power,\r\nand the willing ability to identify both insight and\r\ncapacity with the interests of the world and man.\r\nUnless culture be a superficial polish, a veneering\r\nof mahogany over common wood, it surely is this—the\r\ngrowth of the imagination in flexibility, in scope,\r\nand in sympathy, till the life which the individual\r\nlives is informed with the life of nature and of\r\nsociety. When nature and society can live in the\r\nschoolroom, when the forms and tools of learning\r\nare subordinated to the substance of experience,\r\nthen shall there be an opportunity for this identification,\r\nand culture shall be the democratic password.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_57\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[57]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_58\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[58]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"WASTE_IN_EDUCATION\"\u003eWASTE IN EDUCATION\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_59\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[59]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"III\"\u003eIII\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003eWASTE IN EDUCATION\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe subject announced for today was “Waste\r\nin Education.” I should like first to state briefly\r\nits relation to the two preceding lectures. The\r\nfirst dealt with the school in its social aspects,\r\nand the necessary readjustments that have to be\r\nmade to render it effective in present social conditions.\r\nThe second dealt with the school in\r\nrelation to the growth of individual children.\r\nNow the third deals with the school as itself an\r\ninstitution, in relation both to society and to its\r\nown members—the children. It deals with the\r\nquestion of organization, because all waste is the\r\nresult of the lack of it, the motive lying behind\r\norganization being promotion of economy and\r\nefficiency. This question is not one of the waste\r\nof money or the waste of things. These matters\r\ncount; but the primary waste is that of human\r\nlife, the life of the children while they are at\r\nschool, and afterward because of inadequate and\r\nperverted preparation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eSo, when we speak of organization, we are not\r\nto think simply of the externals; of that which\r\ngoes by the name “school system”—the school\r\nboard, the superintendent, and the building, the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_60\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[60]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nengaging and promotion of teachers, etc. These\r\nthings enter in, but the fundamental organization\r\nis that of the school itself as a community of individuals,\r\nin its relations to other forms of social\r\nlife. All waste is due to isolation. Organization\r\nis nothing but getting things into connection\r\nwith one another, so that they work easily, flexibly,\r\nand fully. Therefore in speaking of this\r\nquestion of waste in education I desire to call\r\nyour attention to the isolation of the various parts\r\nof the school system, to the lack of unity in the\r\naims of education, to the lack of coherence in its\r\nstudies and methods.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eI have made a chart (I) which, while I speak\r\nof the isolations of the school system itself, may\r\nperhaps appeal to the eye and save a little time\r\nin verbal explanations. A paradoxical friend of\r\nmine says there is nothing so obscure as an illustration,\r\nand it is quite possible that my attempt\r\nto illustrate my point will simply prove the truth\r\nof his statement.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp100\" id=\"chart1\" style=\"max-width: 43.75em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-chart1.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n \u003cfigcaption class=\"caption\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChart I.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/figcaption\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe blocks represent the various elements in\r\nthe school system and are intended to indicate\r\nroughly the length of time given to each division,\r\nand also the overlapping, both in time\r\nand in subjects studied, of the individual parts\r\nof the system. With each block is given the\r\nhistorical conditions in which it arose and its\r\nruling ideal.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_61\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[61]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe school system, upon the whole, has grown\r\nfrom the top down. During the Middle Ages it\r\nwas essentially a cluster of professional schools—especially\r\nlaw and theology. Our present university\r\ncomes down to us from the Middle Ages.\r\nI will not say that at present it is a mediaeval\r\ninstitution, but it had its roots in the Middle Ages,\r\nand it has not outlived all mediaeval traditions\r\nregarding learning.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe kindergarten, rising with the present century,\r\nwas a union of the nursery and of the philosophy\r\nof Schelling; a wedding of the plays and\r\ngames which the mother carried on with her\r\nchildren to Schelling’s highly romantic and symbolic\r\nphilosophy. The elements that came from\r\nthe actual study of child life—the continuation\r\nof the nursery—have remained a life-bringing\r\nforce in all education; the Schellingesque factors\r\nmade an obstruction between it and the rest of\r\nthe school system—brought about isolations.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe line drawn over the top indicates that\r\nthere is a certain interaction between the kindergarten\r\nand the primary school; for, so far as the\r\nprimary school remained in spirit foreign to the\r\nnatural interests of child life, it was isolated from\r\nthe kindergarten, so that it is a problem, at present,\r\nto introduce kindergarten methods into the\r\nprimary school; the problem of the so-called\r\nconnecting class. The difficulty is that the two\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_62\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[62]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nare not one from the start. To get a connection\r\nthe teacher has had to climb over the wall instead\r\nof entering in at the gate.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn the side of aims, the ideal of the kindergarten\r\nwas the moral development of the children,\r\nrather than instruction or discipline; an ideal\r\nsometimes emphasized to the point of sentimentality.\r\nThe primary school grew practically out\r\nof the popular movement of the sixteenth century,\r\nwhen, along with the invention of printing and\r\nthe growth of commerce, it became a business\r\nnecessity to know how to read, write, and figure.\r\nThe aim was distinctly a practical one; it was\r\nutility; getting command of these tools, the symbols\r\nof learning, not for the sake of learning, but\r\nbecause they gave access to careers in life otherwise\r\nclosed.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe division next to the primary school is the\r\ngrammar school. The term is not much used in\r\nthe West, but is common in the eastern states.\r\nIt goes back to the time of the revival of learning—a\r\nlittle earlier perhaps than the conditions\r\nout of which the primary school originated, and,\r\neven when contemporaneous, having a different\r\nideal. It had to do with the study of language\r\nin the higher sense; because, at the time of the\r\nRenaissance, Latin and Greek connected people\r\nwith the culture of the past, with the Roman and\r\nGreek world. The classic languages were the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_63\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[63]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nonly means of escape from the limitations of the\r\nMiddle Ages. Thus there sprang up the prototype\r\nof the grammar school, more liberal than\r\nthe university (so largely professional in character),\r\nfor the purpose of putting into the hands of\r\nthe people the key to the old learning, that men\r\nmight see a world with a larger horizon. The\r\nobject was primarily culture, secondarily discipline.\r\nIt represented much more than the\r\npresent grammar school. It was the liberal element\r\nin the college, which, extending downward,\r\ngrew into the academy and the high school. Thus\r\nthe secondary school is still in part just a lower\r\ncollege (having an even higher curriculum than\r\nthe college of a few centuries ago) or a preparatory\r\ndepartment to a college, and in part a rounding\r\nup of the utilities of the elementary school.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere appear then two products of the nineteenth\r\ncentury, the technical and normal schools.\r\nThe schools of technology, engineering, etc., are,\r\nof course, mainly the development of nineteenth-century\r\nbusiness conditions, as the primary school\r\nwas the development of business conditions of\r\nthe sixteenth century. The normal school arose\r\nbecause of the necessity for training teachers,\r\nwith the idea partly of professional drill and\r\npartly that of culture.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWithout going more into detail, we have some\r\neight different parts of the school system as represented\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_64\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[64]\u003c/span\u003e\r\non the chart, all of which arose historically\r\nat different times, having different ideals in view,\r\nand consequently different methods. I do not\r\nwish to suggest that all of the isolation, all of the\r\nseparation, that has existed in the past between\r\nthe different parts of the school system still persists.\r\nOne must, however, recognize that they have\r\nnever yet been welded into one complete whole.\r\nThe great problem in education on the administrative\r\nside is how to unite these different parts.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eConsider the training schools for teachers—the\r\nnormal schools. These occupy at present a\r\nsomewhat anomalous position, intermediate between\r\nthe high school and the college, requiring\r\nthe high-school preparation, and covering a certain\r\namount of college work. They are isolated\r\nfrom the higher subject-matter of scholarship,\r\nsince, upon the whole, their object has been to train\r\npersons \u003ci\u003ehow\u003c/i\u003e to teach, rather than \u003ci\u003ewhat\u003c/i\u003e to teach;\r\nwhile, if we go to the college, we find the other half\r\nof this isolation—learning \u003ci\u003ewhat\u003c/i\u003e to teach, with\r\nalmost a contempt for methods of teaching. The\r\ncollege is shut off from contact with children and\r\nyouth. Its members, to a great extent, away\r\nfrom home and forgetting their own childhood,\r\nbecome eventually teachers with a large amount of\r\nsubject-matter at command, and little knowledge\r\nof how this is related to the minds of those to whom\r\nit is to be taught. In this division between what\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_65\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[65]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nto teach and how to teach, each side suffers from\r\nthe separation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is interesting to follow out the interrelation\r\nbetween primary, grammar, and high schools.\r\nThe elementary school has crowded up and taken\r\nmany subjects previously studied in the old New\r\nEngland grammar school. The high school has\r\npushed its subjects down. Latin and algebra\r\nhave been put in the upper grades, so that the\r\nseventh and eighth grades are, after all, about\r\nall that is left of the old grammar school. They\r\nare a sort of amorphous composite, being partly\r\na place where children go on learning what they\r\nalready have learned (to read, write, and figure),\r\nand partly a place of preparation for the high\r\nschool. The name in some parts of New England\r\nfor these upper grades was “Intermediate School.”\r\nThe term was a happy one; the work was simply\r\nintermediate between something that had been\r\nand something that was going to be, having no\r\nspecial meaning on its own account.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eJust as the parts are separated, so do the ideals\r\ndiffer—moral development, practical utility, general\r\nculture, discipline, and professional training.\r\nThese aims are each especially represented in some\r\ndistinct part of the system of education; and, with\r\nthe growing interaction of the parts, each is supposed\r\nto afford a certain amount of culture, discipline,\r\nand utility. But the lack of fundamental\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_66\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[66]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nunity is witnessed in the fact that one study\r\nis still considered good for discipline, and another\r\nfor culture; some parts of arithmetic, for example,\r\nfor discipline and others for use; literature\r\nfor culture; grammar for discipline; geography\r\npartly for utility, partly for culture; and so on.\r\nThe unity of education is dissipated, and the\r\nstudies become centrifugal; so much of this study\r\nto secure this end, so much of that to secure\r\nanother, until the whole becomes a sheer compromise\r\nand patchwork between contending\r\naims and disparate studies. The great problem\r\nin education on the administrative side is to secure\r\nthe unity of the whole, in the place of a sequence\r\nof more or less unrelated and overlapping parts,\r\nand thus to reduce the waste arising from friction,\r\nreduplication, and transitions that are not properly\r\nbridged.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp100\" id=\"chart2\" style=\"max-width: 31.25em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-chart2.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n \u003cfigcaption class=\"caption\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChart II.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/figcaption\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn this second symbolic diagram (II) I wish to\r\nsuggest that really the only way to unite the parts\r\nof the system is to unite each to life. We can get\r\nonly an artificial unity so long as we confine our\r\ngaze to the school system itself. We must look\r\nat it as part of the larger whole of social life. This\r\nblock (A) in the center represents the school system\r\nas a whole. (1) At one side we have the\r\nhome, and the two arrows represent the free interplay\r\nof influences, materials, and ideas between\r\nthe home life and that of the school. (2) Below\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_67\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[67]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nwe have the relation to the natural environment,\r\nthe great field of geography in the widest sense.\r\nThe school building has about it a natural environment.\r\nIt ought to be in a garden, and the children\r\nfrom the garden would be led on to surrounding\r\nfields, and then into the wider country, with all\r\nits facts and forces. (3) Above is represented\r\nbusiness life, and the necessity for free play between\r\nthe school and the needs and forces of industry.\r\n(4) On the other side is the university proper, with\r\nits various phases, its laboratories, its resources in\r\nthe way of libraries, museums, and professional\r\nschools.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the standpoint of the child, the great\r\nwaste in the school comes from his inability to\r\nutilize the experiences he gets outside the school\r\nin any complete and free way within the school\r\nitself; while, on the other hand, he is unable to\r\napply in daily life what he is learning at school.\r\nThat is the isolation of the school—its isolation\r\nfrom life. When the child gets into the schoolroom\r\nhe has to put out of his mind a large part of\r\nthe ideas, interests, and activities that predominate\r\nin his home and neighborhood. So the school,\r\nbeing unable to utilize this everyday experience,\r\nsets painfully to work, on another tack and by a\r\nvariety of means, to arouse in the child an interest\r\nin school studies. While I was visiting in the city\r\nof Moline a few years ago, the superintendent told\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_68\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[68]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nme that they found many children every year\r\nwho were surprised to learn that the Mississippi\r\nriver in the textbook had anything to do with the\r\nstream of water flowing past their homes. The\r\ngeography being simply a matter of the schoolroom,\r\nit is more or less of an awakening to many\r\nchildren to find that the whole thing is nothing\r\nbut a more formal and definite statement of the\r\nfacts which they see, feel, and touch every day.\r\nWhen we think that we all live on the earth, that\r\nwe live in an atmosphere, that our lives are touched\r\nat every point by the influences of the soil, flora,\r\nand fauna, by considerations of light and heat,\r\nand then think of what the school study of geography\r\nhas been, we have a typical idea of the gap\r\nexisting between the everyday experiences of the\r\nchild and the isolated material supplied in such\r\nlarge measure in the school. This is but an\r\ninstance, and one upon which most of us may\r\nreflect long before we take the present artificiality\r\nof the school as other than a matter of course or\r\nnecessity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThough there should be organic connection\r\nbetween the school and business life, it is not\r\nmeant that the school is to prepare the child for\r\nany particular business, but that there should be\r\na natural connection of the everyday life of the\r\nchild with the business environment about him,\r\nand that it is the affair of the school to clarify\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_69\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[69]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nand liberalize this connection, to bring it to consciousness,\r\nnot by introducing special studies,\r\nlike commercial geography and arithmetic, but\r\nby keeping alive the ordinary bonds of relation.\r\nThe subject of compound-business-partnership is\r\nprobably not in many of the arithmetics nowadays,\r\nthough it was there not a generation ago,\r\nfor the makers of textbooks said that if they left\r\nout anything they could not sell their books.\r\nThis compound-business-partnership originated\r\nas far back as the sixteenth century. The joint-stock\r\ncompany had not been invented, and as\r\nlarge commerce with the Indies and Americas\r\ngrew up, it was necessary to have an accumulation\r\nof capital with which to handle it. One man\r\nsaid, “I will put in this amount of money for six\r\nmonths,” and another, “So much for two years,”\r\nand so on. Thus by joining together they got\r\nmoney enough to float their commercial enterprises.\r\nNaturally, then, “compound partnership”\r\nwas taught in the schools. The joint-stock company\r\nwas invented; compound partnership disappeared,\r\nbut the problems relating to it stayed\r\nin the arithmetics for two hundred years. They\r\nwere kept after they had ceased to have practical\r\nutility, for the sake of mental discipline—they\r\nwere “such hard problems, you know.” A great\r\ndeal of what is now in the arithmetics under the\r\nhead of percentage is of the same nature.\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_70\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[70]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nChildren of twelve and thirteen years of age go\r\nthrough gain and loss calculations, and various\r\nforms of bank discount so complicated that the\r\nbankers long ago dispensed with them. And\r\nwhen it is pointed out that business is not done\r\nthis way, we hear again of “mental discipline.”\r\nAnd yet there are plenty of real connections\r\nbetween the experience of children and business\r\nconditions which need to be utilized and illuminated.\r\nThe child should study his commercial\r\narithmetic and geography, not as isolated things\r\nby themselves, but in their reference to his social\r\nenvironment. The youth needs to become acquainted\r\nwith the bank as a factor in modern\r\nlife, with what it does, and how it does it; and\r\nthen relevant arithmetical processes would have\r\nsome meaning—quite in contradistinction to the\r\ntime-absorbing and mind-killing examples in percentage,\r\npartial payments, etc., found in all our\r\narithmetics.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe connection with the university, as indicated\r\nin this chart, I need not dwell upon. I\r\nsimply wish to indicate that there ought to be\r\na free interaction between all the parts of the\r\nschool system. There is much of utter triviality\r\nof subject-matter in elementary and secondary\r\neducation. When we investigate it, we find that\r\nit is full of facts taught that are not facts, which\r\nhave to be unlearned later on. Now, this happens\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_71\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[71]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nbecause the “lower” parts of our system\r\nare not, in vital connection with the “higher.”\r\nThe university or college, in its idea, is a place of\r\nresearch, where investigation is going on: a place\r\nof libraries and museums, where the best resources\r\nof the past are gathered, maintained, and organized.\r\nIt is, however, as true in the school as in\r\nthe university that the spirit of inquiry can be\r\ngot only through and with the attitude of inquiry.\r\nThe pupil must learn what has meaning, what\r\nenlarges his horizon, instead of mere trivialities.\r\nHe must become acquainted with truths, instead\r\nof things that were regarded as such fifty years\r\nago or that are taken as interesting by the misunderstanding\r\nof a partially educated teacher.\r\nIt is difficult to see how these ends can be reached\r\nexcept as the most advanced part of the educational\r\nsystem is in complete interaction with the\r\nmost rudimentary.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe next chart (III) is an enlargement of the\r\nsecond. The school building has swelled out, so\r\nto speak, the surrounding environment remaining\r\nthe same, the home, the garden and country, the\r\nrelation to business life and the university. The\r\nobject is to show what the school must become\r\nto get out of its isolation and secure the organic\r\nconnection with social life of which we have been\r\nspeaking. It is not our architect’s plan for the\r\nschool building that we hope to have; but it is a\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_72\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[72]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ndiagrammatic representation of the idea which\r\nwe want embodied in the school building. On\r\nthe lower side you see the dining-room and the\r\nkitchen, at the top the wood and metal shops and\r\nthe textile room for sewing and weaving. The\r\ncenter represents the manner in which all come\r\ntogether in the library; that is to say, in a collection\r\nof the intellectual resources of all kinds that\r\nthrow light upon the practical work, that give it\r\nmeaning and liberal value. If the four corners\r\nrepresent practice, the interior represents the\r\ntheory of the practical activities. In other words,\r\nthe object of these forms of practice in the school\r\nis not found chiefly in themselves, or in the technical\r\nskill of cooks, seamstresses, carpenters, and\r\nmasons, but in their connection, on the social\r\nside, with the life without; while on the individual\r\nside they respond to the child’s need of action, of\r\nexpression, of desire to do something, to be constructive\r\nand creative, instead of simply passive\r\nand conforming. Their great significance is that\r\nthey keep the balance between the social and\r\nindividual sides—the chart symbolizing particularly\r\nthe connection with the social. Here on\r\none side is the home. How naturally the lines of\r\nconnection play back and forth between the home\r\nand the kitchen and the textile room of the school!\r\nThe child can carry over what he learns in the\r\nhome and utilize it in the school; and the things\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_73\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[73]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nlearned in the school he applies at home. These\r\nare the two great things in breaking down isolation,\r\nin getting connection—to have the child\r\ncome to school with all the experience he has got\r\noutside the school, and to leave it with something\r\nto be immediately used in his everyday life. The\r\nchild comes to the traditional school with a\r\nhealthy body and a more or less unwilling mind,\r\nthough, in fact, he does not bring both his body\r\nand mind with him; he has to leave his mind\r\nbehind, because there is no way to use it in the\r\nschool. If he had a purely abstract mind, he\r\ncould bring it to school with him, but his is a\r\nconcrete one, interested in concrete things, and\r\nunless these things get over into school life he\r\ncannot take his mind with him. What we want\r\nis to have the child come to school with a whole\r\nmind and a whole body, and leave school with a\r\nfuller mind and an even healthier body. And\r\nspeaking of the body suggests that, while there\r\nis no gymnasium in these diagrams, the active\r\nlife carried on in its four corners brings with it\r\nconstant physical exercise, while our gymnasium\r\nproper will deal with the particular weaknesses\r\nof children and their correction, and will attempt\r\nmore consciously to build up the thoroughly\r\nsound body as the abode of the sound mind.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp100\" id=\"chart3\" style=\"max-width: 37.5em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-chart3.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n \u003cfigcaption class=\"caption\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChart III.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/figcaption\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThat the dining-room and kitchen connect with\r\nthe country and its processes and products it is\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_74\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[74]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nhardly necessary to say. Cooking may be so\r\ntaught that it has no connection with country life\r\nand with the sciences that find their unity in geography.\r\nPerhaps it generally has been taught\r\nwithout these connections being really made. But\r\nall the materials that come into the kitchen have\r\ntheir origin in the country; they come from the\r\nsoil, are nurtured through the influences of light\r\nand water, and represent a great variety of local\r\nenvironments. Through this connection, extending\r\nfrom the garden into the larger world, the\r\nchild has his most natural introduction to the\r\nstudy of the sciences. Where did these things\r\ngrow? What was necessary to their growth?\r\nWhat their relation to the soil? What the effect\r\nof different climatic conditions? and so on. We\r\nall know what the old-fashioned botany was:\r\npartly collecting flowers that were pretty, pressing\r\nand mounting them; partly pulling these\r\nflowers to pieces and giving technical names to\r\nthe different parts, finding all the different leaves,\r\nnaming all their different shapes and forms. It\r\nwas a study of plants without any reference to\r\nthe soil, to the country, or to growth. In contrast,\r\na real study of plants takes them in their natural\r\nenvironment and in their uses as well, not simply\r\nas food, but in all their adaptations to the social\r\nlife of man. Cooking becomes as well a most\r\nnatural introduction to the study of chemistry,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_75\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[75]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ngiving the child here also something which he can\r\nat once bring to bear upon his daily experience.\r\nI once heard a very intelligent woman say that she\r\ncould not understand how science could be taught\r\nto little children, because she did not see how they\r\ncould understand atoms and molecules. In other\r\nwords, since she did not see how highly abstract\r\nfacts could be presented to the child independently\r\nof daily experience, she could not understand how\r\nscience could be taught at all. Before we smile\r\nat this remark, we need to ask ourselves if she is\r\nalone in her assumption, or whether it simply\r\nformulates the principle of almost all our school\r\npractice.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe same relations with the outside world are\r\nfound in the carpentry and the textile shops.\r\nThey connect with the country, as the source of\r\ntheir materials, with physics, as the science of\r\napplying energy, with commerce and distribution,\r\nwith art in the development of architecture\r\nand decoration. They have also an intimate connection\r\nwith the university on the side of its\r\ntechnological and engineering schools; with the\r\nlaboratory and its scientific methods and results.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eTo go back to the square which is marked the\r\nlibrary (Chart III, A): if you imagine rooms half\r\nin the four corners and half in the library, you will\r\nget the idea of the recitation room. That is the\r\nplace where the children bring the experiences, the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_76\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[76]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nproblems, the questions, the particular facts which\r\nthey have found, and discuss them so that new\r\nlight may be thrown upon them, particularly new\r\nlight from the experience of others, the accumulated\r\nwisdom of the world—symbolized in the\r\nlibrary. Here is the organic relation of theory and\r\npractice; the child not simply doing things, but\r\ngetting also the \u003ci\u003eidea\u003c/i\u003e of what he does; getting\r\nfrom the start some intellectual conception that\r\nenters into his practice and enriches it; while\r\nevery idea finds, directly or indirectly, some application\r\nin experience and has some effect upon\r\nlife. This, I need hardly say, fixes the position of\r\nthe “book” or reading in education. Harmful\r\nas a substitute for experience, it is all-important\r\nin interpreting and expanding experience.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe other chart (IV) illustrates precisely the\r\nsame idea. It gives the symbolic upper story of\r\nthis ideal school. In the upper corners are the\r\nlaboratories; in the lower corners are the studios\r\nfor art work, both the graphic and auditory arts.\r\nThe questions, the chemical and physical problems,\r\narising in the kitchen and shop, are taken to the\r\nlaboratories to be worked out. For instance, this\r\npast week one of the older groups of children doing\r\npractical work in weaving, which involved the use\r\nof the spinning wheel, worked out the diagrams\r\nof the direction of forces concerned in treadle and\r\nwheel, and the ratio of velocities between wheel\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_77\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[77]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nand spindle. In the same manner, the plants\r\nwith which the child has to do in cooking afford\r\nthe basis for a concrete interest in botany and may\r\nbe taken and studied by themselves. In a certain\r\nschool in Boston science work for months was\r\ncentered in the growth of the cotton plant, and yet\r\nsomething new was brought in every day. We\r\nhope to do similar work with all the types of plants\r\nthat furnish materials for sewing and weaving.\r\nThese examples will suggest, I hope, the relation\r\nwhich the laboratories bear to the rest of the school.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cfigure class=\"figcenter illowp93\" id=\"chart4\" style=\"max-width: 31.25em;\"\u003e\r\n \u003cimg class=\"w100\" src=\"https://chrisdeasy.com/wp-content/uploads/gutenberg-school-and-society-chart4.jpg\" alt=\" \"\u003e\r\n \u003cfigcaption class=\"caption\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eChart IV.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/figcaption\u003e\r\n\u003c/figure\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe drawing and music, or the graphic and\r\nauditory arts, represent the culmination, the\r\nidealization, the highest point of refinement of\r\nall the work carried on. I think everybody who\r\nhas not a purely literary view of the subject recognizes\r\nthat genuine art grows out of the work of\r\nthe artisan. The art of the Renaissance was\r\ngreat because it grew out of the manual arts of\r\nlife. It did not spring up in a separate atmosphere,\r\nhowever ideal, but carried on to their\r\nspiritual meaning processes found in homely and\r\neveryday forms of life. The school should observe\r\nthis relationship. The merely artisan side is\r\nnarrow, but the mere art, taken by itself, and\r\ngrafted on from without, tends to become forced,\r\nempty, sentimental. I do not mean, of course,\r\nthat all art work must be correlated in detail to\r\nthe other work of the school, but simply that a\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_78\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[78]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nspirit of union gives vitality to the art and depth\r\nand richness to the other work. All art involves\r\nphysical organs—the eye and hand, the ear and\r\nvoice; and yet it is something more than the mere\r\ntechnical skill required by the organs of expression.\r\nIt involves an idea, a thought, a spiritual rendering\r\nof things; and yet it is other than any number of\r\nideas by themselves. It is a living union of\r\nthought and the instrument of expression. This\r\nunion is symbolized by saying that in the ideal\r\nschool the art work might be considered to be that\r\nof the shops, passed through the alembic of library\r\nand museum into action again.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eTake the textile room as an illustration of such\r\na synthesis. I am talking about a future school,\r\nthe one we hope, some time, to have. The basal\r\nfact in that room is that it is a workshop, doing\r\nactual things in sewing, spinning, and weaving.\r\nThe children come into immediate connection\r\nwith the materials, with various fabrics of silk,\r\ncotton, linen, and wool. Information at once\r\nappears in connection with these materials; their\r\norigin, history, their adaptation to particular uses,\r\nand the machines of various kinds by which the\r\nraw materials are utilized. Discipline arises in\r\ndealing with the problems involved, both theoretical\r\nand practical. Whence does the culture\r\narise? Partly from seeing all these things reflected\r\nthrough the medium of their scientific and historic\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_79\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[79]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nconditions and associations, whereby the child\r\nlearns to appreciate them as technical achievements,\r\nas thoughts precipitated in action; and\r\npartly because of the introduction of the art idea\r\ninto the room itself. In the ideal school there\r\nwould be something of this sort: first, a complete\r\nindustrial museum, giving samples of materials\r\nin various stages of manufacture, and the implements,\r\nfrom the simplest to the most complex\r\nused in dealing with them; then a collection of\r\nphotographs and pictures illustrating the landscapes\r\nand the scenes from which the materials\r\ncome, their native homes, and their places of\r\nmanufacture. Such a collection would be a vivid\r\nand continual lesson in the synthesis of art, science,\r\nand industry. There would be, also, samples of\r\nthe more perfect forms of textile work, as Italian,\r\nFrench, Japanese, and Oriental. There would\r\nbe objects illustrating motives of design and\r\ndecoration which have entered into production.\r\nLiterature would contribute its part in its idealized\r\nrepresentation of the world-industries, as\r\nthe Penelope in the \u003ci\u003eOdyssey\u003c/i\u003e—a classic in literature\r\nbecause the character is an adequate embodiment\r\nof a certain industrial phase of social life. So,\r\nfrom Homer down to the present time, there is\r\na continuous procession of related facts which\r\nhave been translated into terms of art. Music\r\nlends its share, from the Scotch song at the wheel\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_80\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[80]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nto the spinning song of Marguerite, or of Wagner’s\r\nSenta. The shop becomes a pictured museum,\r\nappealing to the eye. It would have not only\r\nmaterials—beautiful woods and designs—but would\r\ngive a synopsis of the historical evolution of\r\narchitecture in its drawings and pictures.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThus I have attempted to indicate how the\r\nschool may be connected with life so that the\r\nexperience gained by the child in a familiar,\r\ncommonplace way is carried over and made use of\r\nthere, and what the child learns in the school is\r\ncarried back and applied in everyday life, making\r\nthe school an organic whole, instead of a composite\r\nof isolated parts. The isolation of studies\r\nas well as of parts of the school system disappears.\r\nExperience has its geographical aspect, its artistic\r\nand its literary, its scientific and its historical sides.\r\nAll studies arise from aspects of the one earth and\r\nthe one life lived upon it. We do not have a series\r\nof stratified earths, one of which is mathematical,\r\nanother physical, another historical, and so on.\r\nWe should not be able to live very long in any one\r\ntaken by itself. We live in a world where all sides\r\nare bound together. All studies grow out of\r\nrelations in the one great common world. When\r\nthe child lives in varied but concrete and active\r\nrelationship to this common world, his studies\r\nare naturally unified. It will no longer be a problem\r\nto correlate studies. The teacher will not\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_81\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[81]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nhave to resort to all sorts of devices to weave a\r\nlittle arithmetic into the history lesson, and the like.\r\nRelate the school to life, and all studies are of\r\nnecessity correlated.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eMoreover, if the school is related as a whole to\r\nlife as a whole, its various aims and ideals—culture,\r\ndiscipline, information, utility—cease to be\r\nvariants, for one of which we must select one\r\nstudy and for another another. The growth of\r\nthe child in the direction of social capacity and\r\nservice, his larger and more vital union with life,\r\nbecomes the unifying aim; and discipline, culture,\r\nand information fall into place as phases of this\r\ngrowth.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eI wish to say one word more about the relationship\r\nof our particular school to the University.\r\nThe problem is to unify, to organize, education,\r\nto bring all its various factors together, through\r\nputting it as a whole into organic union with\r\neveryday life. That which lies back of the pedagogical\r\nschool of the University is the necessity\r\nof working out something to serve as a model for\r\nsuch unification, extending from work beginning\r\nwith the four-year-old child up through the\r\ngraduate work of the University. Already we\r\nhave much help from the University in scientific\r\nwork planned, sometimes even in detail, by heads\r\nof the departments. The graduate student comes\r\nto us with his researches and methods, suggesting\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_82\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[82]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nideas and problems. The library and museum\r\nare at hand. We want to bring all things educational\r\ntogether; to break down the barriers\r\nthat divide the education of the little child from\r\nthe instruction of the maturing youth; to identify\r\nthe lower and the higher education, so that it\r\nshall be demonstrated to the eye that there is no\r\nlower and higher, but simply education.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eSpeaking more especially with reference to the\r\npedagogical side of the work: I suppose the oldest\r\nuniversity chair of pedagogy in our country is\r\nabout twenty years old—that of the University\r\nof Michigan, founded in the latter seventies.\r\nBut there are only one or two that have tried to\r\nmake a connection between theory and practice.\r\nThey teach for the most part by theory, by lectures,\r\nby reference to books, rather than through the\r\nactual work of teaching itself. At Columbia,\r\nthrough the Teachers College, there is an extensive\r\nand close connection between the University and\r\nthe training of teachers. Something has been\r\ndone in one or two other places along the same\r\nline. We want an even more intimate union here,\r\nso that the University shall put all its resources\r\nat the disposition of the elementary school, contributing\r\nto the evolution of valuable subject-matter\r\nand right method, while the school in turn\r\nwill be a laboratory in which the student of education\r\nsees theories and ideas demonstrated,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_83\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[83]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ntested, criticized, enforced, and the evolution of\r\nnew truths. We want the school in its relation\r\nto the University to be a working model of a\r\nunified education.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eA word as to the relation of the school to educational\r\ninterests generally. I heard once that\r\nthe adoption of a certain method in use in our\r\nschool was objected to by a teacher on this ground:\r\n“You know that it is an experimental school.\r\nThey do not work under the same conditions that\r\nwe are subject to.” Now, the purpose of performing\r\nan experiment is that other people need\r\nnot experiment; at least need not experiment so\r\nmuch, may have something definite and positive\r\nto go by. An experiment demands particularly\r\nfavorable conditions in order that results may be\r\nreached both freely and securely. It has to work\r\nunhampered, with all the needed resources at\r\ncommand. Laboratories lie back of all the great\r\nbusiness enterprises of today, back of every great\r\nfactory, every railway and steamship system.\r\nYet the laboratory is not a business enterprise;\r\nit does not aim to secure for itself the conditions\r\nof business life, nor does the commercial undertaking\r\nrepeat the laboratory. There is a difference\r\nbetween working out and testing a new truth, or\r\na new method, and applying it on a wide scale,\r\nmaking it available for the mass of men, making\r\nit commercial. But the first thing is to discover\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_84\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[84]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthe truth, to afford all necessary facilities, for this\r\nis the most practical thing in the world in the long\r\nrun. We do not expect to have other schools\r\nliterally imitate what we do. A working model\r\nis not something to be copied; it is to afford a\r\ndemonstration of the feasibility of the principle,\r\nand of the methods which make it feasible. So\r\n(to come back to our own point) we want here to\r\nwork out the problem of the unity, the organization\r\nof the school system in itself, and to do this\r\nby relating it so intimately to life as to demonstrate\r\nthe possibility and necessity of such organization\r\nfor all education.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_85\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[85]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_86\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[86]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"THE_PSYCHOLOGY_OF_ELEMENTARY_EDUCATION\"\u003eTHE PSYCHOLOGY OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_87\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[87]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"IV\"\u003eIV\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003eTHE PSYCHOLOGY OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eNaturally, most of the public is interested in\r\nwhat goes on day by day in a school in direct\r\nrelation to the children there. This is true of\r\nparents who send their boys and girls for the sake\r\nof the personal results they wish to secure, not for\r\nthe sake of contributing to educational theory.\r\nIn the main, it is true of visitors to a school who\r\nrecognize, in varying degrees, what is actually\r\ndone with the children before their eyes, but who\r\nrarely have either the interest or the time to consider\r\nthe work in relation to underlying problems.\r\nA school cannot lose sight of this aspect of its work,\r\nsince only by attending to it can the school retain\r\nthe confidence of its patrons and the presence of its\r\npupils.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eNevertheless a school conducted by a department\r\nof a university must have another aspect.\r\nFrom the university standpoint, the most important\r\npart of its work is the scientific—the contribution\r\nit makes to the progress of educational\r\nthinking. The aim of educating a certain number\r\nof children would hardly justify a university in\r\ndeparting from the tradition which limits it to\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_88\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[88]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthose who have completed their secondary instruction.\r\nOnly the scientific aim, the conduct of a\r\nlaboratory, comparable to other scientific laboratories,\r\ncan furnish a reason for the maintenance by\r\na university of an elementary school. Such a\r\nschool is a laboratory of applied psychology. That\r\nis, it has a place for the study of mind as manifested\r\nand developed in the child, and for the search\r\nafter materials and agencies that seem most likely to\r\nfulfil and further the conditions of normal growth.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is not a normal school or a department for\r\nthe training of teachers. It is not a model school.\r\nIt is not intended to demonstrate any one special\r\nidea or doctrine. Its task is the problem of viewing\r\nthe education of the child in the light of the\r\nprinciples of mental activity and processes of\r\ngrowth made known by modern psychology. The\r\nproblem by its nature is an infinite one. All that\r\nany school can do is to make contributions here\r\nand there, and to stand for the necessity of considering\r\neducation, both theoretically and practically,\r\nin this light. This being the end, the\r\nschool conditions must, of course, agree. To\r\nendeavor to study the process and laws of growth\r\nunder such artificial conditions as prevent many\r\nof the chief facts of child life from showing themselves\r\nis an obvious absurdity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn its practical aspect, this laboratory problem\r\ntakes the form of the construction of a course of\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_89\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[89]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nstudy which harmonizes with the natural history\r\nof the growth of the child in capacity and experience.\r\nThe question is the selection of the kind,\r\nvariety, and due proportion of subjects, answering\r\nmost definitely to the dominant needs and powers\r\nof a given period of growth, and of those modes\r\nof presentation that will cause the selected material\r\nto enter vitally into growth. We cannot admit\r\ntoo fully or too freely the limits of our knowledge\r\nand the depths of our ignorance in these matters.\r\nNo one has a complete hold scientifically upon the\r\nchief psychological facts of any one year of child\r\nlife. It would be sheer presumption to claim that\r\njust the material best fitted to promote this growth\r\nhas as yet been discovered. The assumption of an\r\neducational laboratory is rather that enough is\r\nknown of the conditions and modes of growth to\r\nmake intelligent inquiry possible; and that it is\r\nonly by acting upon what is already known that\r\nmore can be found out. The chief point is such\r\nexperimentation as will add to our reasonable convictions.\r\nThe demand is to secure arrangements\r\nthat will permit and encourage freedom of investigation;\r\nthat will give some assurance that important\r\nfacts will not be forced out of sight; conditions\r\nthat will enable the educational practice indicated\r\nby the inquiry to be sincerely acted upon, without\r\nthe distortion and suppression arising from undue\r\ndependence upon tradition and preconceived\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_90\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[90]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nnotions. It is in this sense that the school would\r\nbe an experimental station in education.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhat, then, are the chief working hypotheses\r\nthat have been adopted from psychology? What\r\neducational counterparts have been hit upon as in\r\nsome degree in line with the adopted psychology?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe discussion of these questions may be\r\napproached by pointing out a contrast between\r\ncontemporary psychology and the psychology of\r\nformer days. The contrast is a triple one. Earlier\r\npsychology regarded mind as a purely individual\r\naffair in direct and naked contact with an external\r\nworld. The only question asked was of the ways\r\nin which the world and the mind acted upon each\r\nother. The entire process recognized would have\r\nbeen in theory exactly the same if there were one\r\nmind living alone in the universe. At present the\r\ntendency is to conceive individual mind as a function\r\nof social life—as not capable of operating or\r\ndeveloping by itself, but as requiring continual\r\nstimulus from social agencies, and finding its nutrition\r\nin social supplies. The idea of heredity has\r\nmade familiar the notion that the equipment of the\r\nindividual, mental as well as physical, is an inheritance\r\nfrom the race: a capital inherited by the\r\nindividual from the past and held in trust by him\r\nfor the future. The idea of evolution has made\r\nfamiliar the notion that mind cannot be regarded\r\nas an individual, monopolistic possession, but represents\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_91\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[91]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthe outworkings of the endeavor and thought\r\nof humanity; that it is developed in an environment\r\nwhich is social as well as physical, and that\r\nsocial needs and aims have been most potent in\r\nshaping it—and the chief difference between\r\nsavagery and civilization is not in the naked nature\r\nwhich each faces, but the social heredity and social\r\nmedium.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eStudies of childhood have made it equally apparent\r\nthat this socially acquired inheritance operates\r\nin the individual only under present social stimuli.\r\nNature must indeed furnish its physical stimuli\r\nof light, sound, heat, etc., but the significance\r\nattaching to these, the interpretation made of\r\nthem, depends upon the ways in which the society\r\nin which the child lives acts and reacts in reference\r\nto them. The bare physical stimulus of light is\r\nnot the entire reality; the interpretation given to it\r\nthrough social activities and thinking confers upon\r\nit its wealth of meaning. It is through imitation,\r\nsuggestion, direct instruction, and even more indirect\r\nunconscious tuition, that the child learns to\r\nestimate and treat the bare physical stimuli. It is\r\nthrough the social agencies that he recapitulates in\r\na few short years the progress which it has taken\r\nthe race slow centuries to work out.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eEducational practice has exhibited an unconscious\r\nadaptation to and harmony with the prevailing\r\npsychology; both grew out of the same soil.\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_92\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[92]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nJust as mind was supposed to get its filling by direct\r\ncontact with the world, so all the needs of instruction\r\nwere thought to be met by bringing the child\r\nmind into direct relation with various bodies of\r\nexternal fact labeled geography, arithmetic, grammar,\r\netc. That these classified sets of facts were\r\nsimply selections from the social life of the past\r\nwas overlooked; equally so that they had been\r\ngenerated out of social situations and represented\r\nthe answers found for social needs. No social\r\nelement was found in the subject-matter nor in the\r\nintrinsic appeal which it made to the child; it was\r\nlocated wholly outside in the teacher—in the\r\nencouragements, admonitions, urgings, and devices\r\nof the instructor in getting the child’s mind to work\r\nupon a material which in itself was only accidentally\r\nlighted up by any social gleam. It was forgotten\r\nthat the maximum appeal, and the full\r\nmeaning in the life of the child, could be secured\r\nonly when the studies were presented, not as bare\r\nexternal studies, but from the standpoint of the\r\nrelation they bear to the life of society. It was\r\nforgotten that to become integral parts of the\r\nchild’s conduct and character they must be assimilated,\r\nnot as mere items of information, but as\r\norganic parts of his present needs and aims—which\r\nin turn are social.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the second place, the older psychology was a\r\npsychology of knowledge, of intellect. Emotion\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_93\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[93]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nand endeavor occupied but an incidental and\r\nderivative place. Much was said about sensations—next\r\nto nothing about movements. There was\r\ndiscussion of ideas and of whether they originated\r\nin sensations or in some innate mental faculty;\r\nbut the possibility of their origin in and from the\r\nneeds of action was ignored. Their influence upon\r\nconduct, upon behavior, was regarded as an\r\nexternal attachment. Now we believe (to use the\r\nwords of Mr. James) that the intellect, the sphere\r\nof sensations and ideas, is but a “middle department\r\nwhich we sometimes take to be final, failing\r\nto see, amidst the monstrous diversity of the\r\nlength and complications of the cogitations which\r\nmay fill it, that it can have but one essential\r\nfunction—the function of defining the direction\r\nwhich our activity, immediate or remote, shall\r\ntake.”\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eHere also was a pre-established harmony\r\nbetween educational practice and psychological\r\ntheory. Knowledge in the schools was isolated\r\nand made an end in itself. Facts, laws, information\r\nhave been the staple of the curriculum. The\r\ncontroversy in educational theory and practice was\r\nbetween those who relied more upon the sense\r\nelement in knowledge, upon contact with things,\r\nupon object-lessons, etc., and those who emphasized\r\nabstract ideas, generalizations, etc.—reason,\r\nso called, but in reality other people’s ideas as\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_94\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[94]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nformulated in books. In neither case was there any\r\nattempt to connect either the sense training or the\r\nlogical operations with the problems and interests\r\nof the life of practice. Here again an educational\r\ntransformation is indicated if we are to suppose\r\nthat our psychological theories stand for any\r\ntruths of life.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe third point of contrast lies in the modern\r\nconception of the mind as essentially a process—a\r\nprocess of growth, not a fixed thing. According\r\nto the older view mind was mind, and that was\r\nthe whole story. Mind was the same throughout,\r\nbecause fitted out with the same assortment of\r\nfaculties whether in child or adult. If any difference\r\nwas made it was simply that some of these\r\nready-made faculties—such as memory—came into\r\nplay at an earlier time, while others, such as judging\r\nand inferring, made their appearance only after\r\nthe child, through memorizing drills, had been\r\nreduced to complete dependence upon the thought\r\nof others. The only important difference that was\r\nrecognized was one of quantity, of amount. The\r\nboy was a little man and his mind was a little\r\nmind—in everything but the size the same as that\r\nof the adult, having its own ready-furnished equipment\r\nof faculties of attention, memory, etc. Now\r\nwe believe in the mind as a growing affair, and\r\nhence as essentially changing, presenting distinctive\r\nphases of capacity and interest at different\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_95\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[95]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nperiods. These are all one and the same in the\r\nsense of continuity of life, but all different, in that\r\neach has its own distinctive claims and offices.\r\n“First the blade, then the ear, and then the full\r\ncorn in the ear.”\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is hardly possible to overstate the agreement\r\nof education and psychology at this point. The\r\ncourse of study was thoroughly, even if unconsciously,\r\ncontrolled by the assumption that since\r\nmind and its faculties are the same throughout, the\r\nsubject-matter of the adult, logically arranged\r\nfacts and principles, is the natural “study” of the\r\nchild—simplified and made easier of course, since\r\nthe wind must be tempered to the shorn lamb.\r\nThe outcome was the traditional course of study in\r\nwhich again child and adult minds are absolutely\r\nidentified, except as regards the mere matter of\r\namount or quantity of power. The entire range\r\nof the universe is first subdivided into sections\r\ncalled studies; then each one of these studies is\r\nbroken up into bits, and some one bit assigned to a\r\ncertain year of the course. No order of development\r\nwas recognized—it was enough that the\r\nearlier parts were made easier than the later. To\r\nuse the pertinent illustration of Mr. W. S. Jackman\r\nin stating the absurdity of this sort of curriculum:\r\n“It must seem to geography teachers that Heaven\r\nsmiled on them when it ordained but four or five\r\ncontinents, because starting in far enough along\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_96\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[96]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthe course it was so easy, that it really seemed to be\r\nnatural, to give one continent to each grade, and\r\nthen come out right in the eight years.”\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf once more we are in earnest with the idea of\r\nmind as growth, this growth carrying with it\r\ntypical features distinctive of its various stages, it\r\nis clear that an educational transformation is again\r\nindicated. It is clear that the selection and grading\r\nof material in the course of study must be done\r\nwith reference to proper nutrition of the dominant\r\ndirections of activity in a given period, not with\r\nreference to chopped-up sections of a ready-made\r\nuniverse of knowledge.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is, of course, comparatively easy to lay down\r\ngeneral propositions like the foregoing; easy to use\r\nthem to criticize existing school conditions; easy\r\nby means of them to urge the necessity of something\r\ndifferent. But art is long. The difficulty\r\nis in carrying such conceptions into effect—in seeing\r\njust what materials and methods, in what proportion\r\nand arrangement, are available and helpful\r\nat a given time. Here again we must fall back\r\nupon the idea of the laboratory. There is no\r\nanswer in advance to such questions as these.\r\nTradition does not give it because tradition is\r\nfounded upon a radically different psychology.\r\nMere reasoning cannot give it because it is a question\r\nof fact. It is only by trying that such things\r\ncan be found out. To refuse to try, to stick\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_97\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[97]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nblindly to tradition, because the search for the\r\ntruth involves experimentation in the region of\r\nthe unknown, is to refuse the only step which can\r\nintroduce rational conviction into education.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eHence the following statement simply reports\r\nvarious lines of inquiry started during the last five\r\nyears, with some of the results more recently indicated.\r\nThese results can, of course, make no\r\nclaim to be other than tentative, excepting in so far\r\nas a more definite consciousness of what the problems\r\nare, clearing the way for more intelligent\r\naction in the future, is a definitive advance. It\r\nshould also be stated that practically it has not as\r\nyet been possible, in many cases, to act adequately\r\nupon the best ideas obtained, because of administrative\r\ndifficulties, due to lack of funds—difficulties\r\ncentering in the lack of a proper building and\r\nappliances, and in inability to pay the amounts\r\nnecessary to secure the complete time of teachers\r\nin some important lines. Indeed, with the growth\r\nof the school in numbers, and in the age and maturity\r\nof pupils, it is becoming a grave question how\r\nlong it is fair to the experiment to carry it on\r\nwithout more adequate facilities.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn coming now to speak of the educational\r\nanswers which have been sought for the psychological\r\nhypotheses, it is convenient to start from\r\nthe matter of the stages of growth. The first stage\r\n(found in the child say of from four to eight years\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_98\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[98]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof age) is characterized by directness of social\r\nand personal interests, and by directness and\r\npromptness of relationship between impressions,\r\nideas, and action. The demand for a motor outlet\r\nfor expression is urgent and immediate. Hence\r\nthe subject-matter for these years is selected from\r\nphases of life entering into the child’s own social\r\nsurroundings, and, as far as may be, capable of\r\nreproduction by him in something approaching\r\nsocial form—in play, games, occupations, or miniature\r\nindustrial arts, stories, pictorial imagination,\r\nand conversation. At first the material is such as\r\nlies nearest the child himself, the family life and its\r\nneighborhood setting; it then goes on to something\r\nslightly more remote, social occupations (especially\r\nthose having to do with the interdependence of\r\ncity and country life), and then extends itself to\r\nthe historical evolution of typical occupations and\r\nof the social forms connected with them. The\r\nmaterial is not presented as lessons, as something\r\nto be learned, but rather as something to be taken\r\nup into the child’s own experience, through his\r\nown activities, in weaving, cooking, shopwork,\r\nmodeling, dramatic plays, conversation, discussion,\r\nstory-telling, etc. These in turn are direct agencies.\r\nThey are forms of motor or expressive\r\nactivity. They are emphasized so as to dominate\r\nthe school program, in order that the intimate\r\nconnection between knowing and doing, so characteristic\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_99\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[99]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof this period of child life, may be maintained.\r\nThe aim, then, is not for the child to go to\r\nschool as a place apart, but rather in the school so\r\nto recapitulate typical phases of his experience\r\noutside of school, as to enlarge, enrich, and gradually\r\nformulate it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the second period, extending from eight or\r\nnine to eleven or twelve, the aim is to recognize and\r\nrespond to the change which comes into the child\r\nfrom his growing sense of the possibility of more\r\npermanent and objective results and of the necessity\r\nfor the control of agencies for the skill necessary\r\nto reach these results. When the child recognizes\r\ndistinct and enduring ends which stand out and\r\ndemand attention on their own account, the previous\r\nvague and fluid unity of life is broken up. The\r\nmere play of activity no longer directly satisfies.\r\nIt must be felt to accomplish something—to lead\r\nup to a definite and abiding outcome. Hence the\r\nrecognition of rules of action—that is, of regular\r\nmeans appropriate to reaching permanent results—and\r\nof the value of mastering special processes so\r\nas to give skill in their use.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eHence, on the educational side, the problem is, as\r\nregards the subject-matter, to differentiate the\r\nvague unity of experience into characteristic\r\ntypical phases, selecting such as clearly illustrate\r\nthe importance to mankind of command over\r\nspecific agencies and methods of thought and\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_100\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[100]\u003c/span\u003e\r\naction in realizing its highest aims. The problem\r\non the side of method is an analogous one: to bring\r\nthe child to recognize the necessity of a similar\r\ndevelopment within himself—the need of securing\r\nfor himself practical and intellectual control of\r\nsuch methods of work and inquiry as will enable\r\nhim to realize results for himself.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn the more direct social side, American history\r\n(especially that of the period of colonization) is\r\nselected as furnishing a typical example of patience,\r\ncourage, ingenuity, and continual judgment in\r\nadapting means to ends, even in the face of great\r\nhazard and obstacle; while the material itself is\r\nso definite, vivid, and human as to come directly\r\nwithin the range of the child’s representative and\r\nconstructive imagination and thus becomes, vicariously\r\nat least, a part of his own expanding consciousness.\r\nSince the aim is not “covering the\r\nground,” but knowledge of social processes used\r\nto secure social results, no attempt is made to go\r\nover the entire history, in chronological order, of\r\nAmerica. Rather a series of types is taken up:\r\nChicago and the northwestern Mississippi valley;\r\nVirginia, New York, and the Puritans and Pilgrims\r\nin New England. The aim is to present a variety\r\nof climatic and local conditions, to show the different\r\nsorts of obstacles and helps that people found,\r\nand a variety of historic traditions and customs\r\nand purposes of different people.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_101\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[101]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe method involves presentation of a large\r\namount of detail, of minutiae of surroundings,\r\ntools, clothing, household utensils, foods, modes\r\nof living day by day, so that the child can reproduce\r\nthe material as life, not as mere historic information.\r\nIn this way, social processes and\r\nresults become realities. Moreover, to the personal\r\nand dramatic identification of the child with the\r\nsocial life studied, characteristic of the earlier\r\nperiod, there now supervenes an \u003ci\u003eintellectual\u003c/i\u003e identification—the\r\nchild puts himself at the standpoint\r\nof the problems that have to be met and rediscovers,\r\nso far as may be, ways of meeting them.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe general standpoint—the adaptation of\r\nmeans to ends—controls also the work in science.\r\nFor purposes of convenience, this may be regarded\r\nas now differentiated into two sides—the geographical\r\nand the experimental. Since, as just stated,\r\nthe history work depends upon an appreciation of\r\nthe natural environment as affording resources\r\nand presenting urgent problems, considerable\r\nattention is paid to the physiography, mountains,\r\nrivers, plains, and lines of natural travel and\r\nexchange, flora and fauna of each of the colonies.\r\nThis is connected with field excursions in order\r\nthat the child may be able to supply from observation,\r\nas far as possible, the data to be used by constructive\r\nimagination, in reproducing more remote\r\nenvironments.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_102\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[102]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe experimental side devotes itself to a study\r\nof processes which yield typical results of value\r\nto men. The activity of the child in the earlier\r\nperiod is directly productive, rather than investigative.\r\nHis experiments are modes of active\r\ndoing—almost as much so as his play and games.\r\nLater he tries to find out how various materials\r\nor agencies are manipulated in order to give certain\r\nresults. It is thus clearly distinguished from\r\nexperimentation in the scientific sense—such as\r\nis appropriate to the secondary period—where the\r\naim is the discovery of facts and verification of\r\nprinciples. Since the practical interest predominates,\r\nit is a study of applied science rather than of\r\npure science. For instance, processes are selected\r\nfound to have been of importance in colonial life—bleaching,\r\ndyeing, soap and candle-making, manufacture\r\nof pewter dishes, making of cider and vinegar,\r\nleading to some study of chemical agencies,\r\nof oils, fats, elementary metallurgy. “Physics”\r\nis commenced from the same applied standpoint.\r\nA study is made of the use and transfer of energy\r\nin the spinning-wheel and looms; everyday uses\r\nof mechanical principles are taken up—in locks,\r\nscales, etc., going on later to electric appliances\r\nand devices—bells, the telegraph, etc.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe relation of means to ends is emphasized also\r\nin other lines of work. In art attention is given\r\nto practical questions of perspective, of proportion\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_103\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[103]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof spaces and masses, balance, effect of color\r\ncombinations and contrasts, etc. In cooking, the\r\nprinciples of food-composition and of effects of\r\nvarious agencies upon these elements are taken\r\nup, so that the children may deduce, as far as\r\npossible, their own rules. In sewing, methods of\r\ncutting, fitting (as applied to dolls’ clothing)\r\ncome up, and later on the technical sequence of\r\nstitches, etc.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is clear that with the increasing differentiation\r\nof lines of work and interest, leading to greater\r\nindividuality and independence in various studies,\r\ngreat care must be taken to find the balance\r\nbetween, on one side, undue separation and isolation,\r\nand, on the other, a miscellaneous and casual\r\nattention to a large number of topics, without\r\nadequate emphasis and distinctiveness to any.\r\nThe first principle makes work mechanical and\r\nformal, divorces it from the life-experience of the\r\nchild and from effective influence upon conduct.\r\nThe second makes it scrappy and vague and leaves\r\nthe child without definite command of his own\r\npowers or clear consciousness of purposes. It is\r\nperhaps only in the present year that the specific\r\nprinciple of the conscious relation of means to ends\r\nhas emerged as the unifying principle of this period;\r\nand it is hoped that emphasis of this in all lines of\r\nwork will have a decidedly cumulative and unifying\r\neffect upon the child’s development.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_104\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[104]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eNothing has been said, as yet, of one of the most\r\nimportant agencies or means in extending and\r\ncontrolling experience—command of the social or\r\nconventional symbols—symbols of language, including\r\nthose of quantity. The importance of\r\nthese instrumentalities is so great that the traditional\r\nor three R’s curriculum is based upon them—from\r\n60 to 80 per cent of the time program of the\r\nfirst four or five years of elementary schools being\r\ndevoted to them, the smaller figure representing\r\nselected rather than average schools.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThese subjects are social in a double sense.\r\nThey represent the tools which society has evolved\r\nin the past as the instruments of its intellectual\r\npursuits. They represent the keys which will\r\nunlock to the child the wealth of social capital\r\nwhich lies beyond the possible range of his limited\r\nindividual experience. While these two points of\r\nview must always give these arts a highly important\r\nplace in education, they also make it necessary\r\nthat certain conditions should be observed in\r\ntheir introduction and use. In a wholesale and\r\ndirect application of the studies no account is\r\ntaken of these conditions. The chief problem at\r\npresent relating to the three R’s is recognition of\r\nthese conditions and the adaptation of work to\r\nthem.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe conditions may be reduced to two: (1) The\r\nneed that the child shall have in his own personal\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_105\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[105]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nand vital experience a varied background of contact\r\nand acquaintance with realities, social and\r\nphysical. This is necessary to prevent symbols\r\nfrom becoming a purely second-hand and conventional\r\nsubstitute for reality. (2) The need that\r\nthe more ordinary, direct, and personal experience\r\nof the child shall furnish problems, motives, and\r\ninterests that necessitate recourse to books for their\r\nsolution, satisfaction, and pursuit. Otherwise, the\r\nchild approaches the book without intellectual\r\nhunger, without alertness, without a questioning\r\nattitude, and the result is the one so deplorably\r\ncommon: such abject dependence upon books as\r\nweakens and cripples vigor of thought and inquiry,\r\ncombined with reading for mere random stimulation\r\nof fancy, emotional indulgence, and flight from\r\nthe world of reality into a make-belief land.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe problem here is then (1) to furnish the child\r\nwith a sufficiently large amount of personal activity\r\nin occupations, expression, conversation, construction,\r\nand experimentation, so that his individuality,\r\nmoral and intellectual, shall not be\r\nswamped by a disproportionate amount of the\r\nexperience of others to which books introduce\r\nhim; and (2) so to conduct this more direct experience\r\nas to make the child feel the need of resort to\r\nand command of the traditional social tools—furnish\r\nhim with motives and make his recourse to\r\nthem intelligent, an addition to his powers, instead\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_106\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[106]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof a servile dependency. When this problem shall\r\nbe solved, work in language, literature, and number\r\nwill not be a combination of mechanical drill,\r\nformal analysis, and appeal, even if unconscious,\r\nto sensational interests; and there will not be the\r\nslightest reason to fear that books and all that\r\nrelates to them will not take the important place\r\nto which they are entitled.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is hardly necessary to say that the problem is\r\nnot yet solved. The common complaints that\r\nchildren’s progress in these traditional school\r\nstudies is sacrificed to the newer subjects\r\nthat have come into the curriculum is sufficient\r\nevidence that the exact balance is not yet\r\nstruck. The experience thus far in the school,\r\neven if not demonstrative, indicates the following\r\nprobable results: (1) the more direct modes of\r\nactivity, constructive and occupation work, scientific\r\nobservation, experimentation, etc., present\r\nplenty of opportunities and occasions for the\r\nnecessary use of reading, writing (and spelling),\r\nand number work. These things may be introduced,\r\nthen, not as isolated studies, but as organic\r\noutgrowths of the child’s experience. The problem\r\nis, in a systematic and progressive way, to\r\ntake advantage of these occasions. (2) The\r\nadditional vitality and meaning which these\r\nstudies thus secure make possible a very considerable\r\nreduction of the time ordinarily devoted\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_107\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[107]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nto them. (3) The final use of the symbols, whether\r\nin reading, calculation, or composition, is more\r\nintelligent, less mechanical; more active, less\r\npassively receptive; more an increase of power,\r\nless a mere mode of enjoyment.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eOn the other hand, increasing experience seems\r\nto make clear the following points: (1) that it is\r\npossible, in the early years, to appeal, in teaching\r\nthe recognition and use of symbols, to the child’s\r\npower of production and creation; as much so in\r\nprinciple as in other lines of work seemingly much\r\nmore direct, and that there is the advantage of a\r\nlimited and definite result by which the child may\r\nmeasure his progress. (2) Failure sufficiently to\r\ntake account of this fact resulted in an undue\r\npostponement of some phases of these lines of\r\nwork, with the effect that the child, having progressed\r\nto a more advanced plane intellectually,\r\nfeels what earlier might have been a form of power\r\nand creation to be an irksome task. (3) There is\r\na demand for periodic concentration and alternation\r\nin the school program of the time devoted to\r\nthese studies—and of all studies where mastery of\r\ntechnique or special method is advisable. That is to\r\nsay, instead of carrying all subjects simultaneously\r\nand at an equal pace upon the program, at times\r\none must be brought to the foreground and others\r\nrelegated to the background, until the child is\r\nbrought to the point of recognizing that he has a\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_108\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[108]\u003c/span\u003e\r\npower or skill which he can now go ahead and use\r\nindependently.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe third period of elementary education is\r\nupon the borderland of secondary. It comes when\r\nthe child has a sufficient acquaintance of a fairly\r\ndirect sort with various forms of reality and modes\r\nof activity; and when he has sufficiently mastered\r\nthe methods, the tools of thought, inquiry, and\r\nactivity, appropriate to various phases of experience,\r\nto be able profitably to specialize upon\r\ndistinctive studies and arts for technical and intellectual\r\naims. While the school has a number of\r\nchildren who are in this period, the school has not,\r\nof course, been in existence long enough so that\r\nany typical inferences can be safely drawn. There\r\ncertainly seems to be reason to hope, however, that\r\nwith the consciousness of difficulties, needs, and\r\nresources gained in the experience of the last five\r\nyears, children can be brought to and through this\r\nperiod without sacrifice of thoroughness, mental\r\ndiscipline, or command of technical tools of learning,\r\nand with a positive enlargement of life, and a\r\nwider, freer, and more open outlook upon it.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_109\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[109]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_110\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[110]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"FROEBELS_EDUCATIONAL_PRINCIPLES\"\u003eFROEBEL’S EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_111\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[111]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"V\"\u003eV\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003eFROEBEL’S EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the traditions of the Elementary School\r\nof the University of Chicago is of a visitor who, in\r\nits early days, called to see the kindergarten. On\r\nbeing told that the school had not as yet established\r\none, she asked if there were not singing,\r\ndrawing, manual training, plays and dramatizations,\r\nand attention to the children’s social relations.\r\nWhen her questions were answered in the\r\naffirmative, she remarked, both triumphantly and\r\nindignantly, that that was what she understood\r\nby a kindergarten, and that she did not know\r\nwhat was meant by saying that the school had no\r\nkindergarten. The remark was perhaps justified\r\nin spirit, if not in letter. At all events, it suggests\r\nthat in a certain sense the school endeavors\r\nthroughout its whole course—now including children\r\nbetween four and thirteen—to carry into effect\r\ncertain principles which Froebel was perhaps the\r\nfirst consciously to set forth. Speaking still in\r\ngeneral, these principles are:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e1. That the primary business of school is to\r\ntrain children in co-operative and mutually\r\nhelpful living; to foster in them the consciousness\r\nof mutual interdependence; and to help them\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_112\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[112]\u003c/span\u003e\r\npractically in making the adjustments that will\r\ncarry this spirit into overt deeds.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e2. That the primary root of all educative activity\r\nis in the instinctive, impulsive attitudes and\r\nactivities of the child, and not in the presentation\r\nand application of external material, whether\r\nthrough the ideas of others or through the senses;\r\nand that, accordingly, numberless spontaneous\r\nactivities of children, plays, games, mimic efforts,\r\neven the apparently meaningless motions of\r\ninfants—exhibitions previously ignored as trivial,\r\nfutile, or even condemned as positively evil—are\r\ncapable of educational use; nay, are the foundation-stones\r\nof educational method.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e3. That these individual tendencies and activities\r\nare organized and directed through the uses\r\nmade of them in keeping up the co-operative living\r\nalready spoken of; taking advantage of them to\r\nreproduce on the child’s plane the typical doings\r\nand occupations of the larger, maturer society\r\ninto which he is finally to go forth; and that it is\r\nthrough production and creative use that valuable\r\nknowledge is secured and clinched.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eSo far as these statements correctly represent\r\nFroebel’s educational philosophy, the School should\r\nbe regarded as its exponent. An attempt is making\r\nto act upon them with as much faith and\r\nsincerity in their application to children of twelve\r\nas to children of four. This attempt, however, to\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_113\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[113]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nassume what might be called the kindergarten\r\nattitude throughout the whole school makes necessary\r\ncertain modifications of the work done in\r\nwhat is more technically known as the kindergarten\r\nperiod—that is, with the children between\r\nthe ages of four and six. It is necessary only to\r\nstate reasons for believing that in spite of the\r\napparently radical character of some of them they\r\nare true to the spirit of Froebel.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch3\u003eAS REGARDS PLAY AND GAMES\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003ePlay is not to be identified with anything which\r\nthe child externally does. It rather designates his\r\nmental attitude in its entirety and in its unity.\r\nIt is the free play, the interplay, of all the child’s\r\npowers, thoughts, and physical movements, in\r\nembodying, in a satisfying form, his own images\r\nand interests. Negatively, it is freedom—from\r\neconomic pressure—the necessities of getting a\r\nliving and supporting others—and from the fixed\r\nresponsibilities attaching to the special callings of\r\nthe adult. Positively, it means that the supreme\r\nend of the child is fulness of growth—fulness of realization\r\nof his budding powers, a realization which\r\ncontinually carries him on from one plane to another.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a very general statement, and taken in\r\nits generality, is so vague as to be innocent of practical\r\nbearing. Its significance in detail, in application,\r\nhowever, means the possibility, and in many\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_114\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[114]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nrespects the necessity, of quite a radical change of\r\nkindergarten procedure. To state it baldly, the\r\nfact that “play” denotes the psychological attitude\r\nof the child, not his outward performances, means\r\ncomplete emancipation from the necessity of\r\nfollowing any given or prescribed system, or\r\nsequence of gifts, plays, or occupations. The\r\njudicious teacher will certainly look for suggestions\r\nto the activities mentioned by Froebel (in his\r\n\u003ci\u003eMother-Play\u003c/i\u003e and elsewhere), and to those set forth\r\nin such minute detail by his disciples; but she will\r\nalso remember that the principle of play requires\r\nher carefully to investigate and criticize these\r\nthings, and decide whether they are really activities\r\nfor her own children, or just things which may\r\nhave been vital in the past to children living in\r\ndifferent social conditions. So far as occupations,\r\ngames, etc., simply perpetuate those of Froebel and\r\nhis earlier disciples, it may fairly be said that in\r\nmany respects the presumption is against them—the\r\npresumption is that in the worship of the\r\nexternal doings discussed by Froebel we have\r\nceased to be loyal to his principle.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe teacher must be absolutely free to get\r\nsuggestions from any and from every source, asking\r\nherself but these two questions: Will the proposed\r\nmode of play appeal to the child as his own? Is it\r\nsomething of which he has the instinctive roots in\r\nhimself, and which will mature the capacities\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_115\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[115]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthat are struggling for manifestation in him?\r\nAnd again: Will the proposed activity give that\r\nsort of expression to these impulses that will carry\r\nthe child on to a higher plane of consciousness and\r\naction, instead of merely exciting him and then\r\nleaving him just where he was before, plus a\r\ncertain amount of nervous exhaustion and appetite\r\nfor more excitation in the future?\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is every evidence that Froebel studied\r\ncarefully—inductively we might now say—the\r\nchildren’s plays of his own time, and the games\r\nwhich mothers played with their infants. He also\r\ntook great pains—as in his \u003ci\u003eMother-Play\u003c/i\u003e—to point\r\nout that certain principles of large import were\r\ninvolved. He had to bring his generation to\r\nconsciousness of the fact that these things were\r\nnot merely trivial and childish because done by\r\nchildren, but were essential factors in their growth.\r\nBut I do not see the slightest evidence that he supposed\r\nthat just these plays, and only these plays,\r\nhad meaning, or that his philosophic explanation\r\nhad any motive beyond that just suggested. On\r\nthe contrary, I believe that he expected his followers\r\nto exhibit their following by continuing\r\nhis own study of contemporary conditions and\r\nactivities, rather than by literally adhering to the\r\nplays he had collected. Moreover, it is hardly\r\nlikely that Froebel himself would contend that in\r\nhis interpretation of these games he did more than\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_116\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[116]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ntake advantage of the best psychological and\r\nphilosophical insight available to him at the time;\r\nand we may suppose that he would have been the\r\nfirst to welcome the growth of a better and more\r\nextensive psychology (whether general, experimental,\r\nor as child study), and would avail himself\r\nof its results to reinterpret the activities, to discuss\r\nthem more critically, going from the new\r\nstandpoint into the reasons that make them educationally\r\nvaluable.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch3\u003eSYMBOLISM\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt must be remembered that much of Froebel’s\r\nsymbolism is the product of two peculiar conditions\r\nof his own life and work. In the first place, on\r\naccount of inadequate knowledge at that time of the\r\nphysiological and psychological facts and principles\r\nof child growth, he was often forced to resort to\r\nstrained and artificial explanations of the value\r\nattaching to the plays, etc. To the impartial\r\nobserver it is obvious that many of his statements\r\nare cumbrous and far-fetched, giving abstract\r\nphilosophical reasons for matters that may now\r\nreceive a simple, everyday formulation. In the\r\nsecond place, the general political and social conditions\r\nof Germany were such that it was impossible\r\nto conceive continuity between the free, co-operative\r\nsocial life of the kindergarten and that of\r\nthe world outside. Accordingly, he could not regard\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_117\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[117]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthe “occupations” of the schoolroom as literal\r\nreproductions of the ethical principles involved in\r\ncommunity life—the latter were often too restricted\r\nand authoritative to serve as worthy models.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAccordingly he was compelled to think of them\r\nas symbolic of abstract ethical and philosophical\r\nprinciples. There certainly is change enough and\r\nprogress enough in the social conditions of the\r\nUnited States of today, as compared with those\r\nof the Germany of his day, to justify making\r\nkindergarten activities more natural, more direct,\r\nand more real representations of current life than\r\nFroebel’s disciples have done. Even as it is, the\r\ndisparity of Froebel’s philosophy with German\r\npolitical ideals has made the authorities in Germany\r\nsuspicious of the kindergarten, and has been undoubtedly\r\none force operating in transforming its\r\nsocial simplicity into an involved intellectual\r\ntechnique.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch3\u003eIMAGINATION AND PLAY\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAn excessive emphasis on symbolism is sure to\r\ninfluence the treatment of imagination. It is of\r\ncourse true that a little child lives in a world of\r\nimagination. In one sense, he can only “make\r\nbelieve.” His activities represent or stand for the\r\nlife that he sees going on around him. Because\r\nthey are thus representative they may be termed\r\nsymbolic, but it should be remembered that this\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_118\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[118]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nmake-believe or symbolism has reference to the\r\nactivities suggested. Unless they are, to the child,\r\nas real and definite as the adult’s activities are to\r\nhim, the inevitable result is artificiality, nervous\r\nstrain, and either physical and emotional excitement\r\nor else deadening of powers.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere has been a curious, almost unaccountable,\r\ntendency in the kindergarten to assume that\r\nbecause the value of the activity lies in what it\r\nstands for to the child, therefore the materials used\r\nmust be as artificial as possible, and that one must\r\nkeep carefully away from real things and real acts\r\non the part of the child. Thus one hears of gardening\r\nactivities which are carried on by sprinkling\r\ngrains of sand for seeds; the child sweeps and dusts\r\na make-believe room with make-believe brooms and\r\ncloths; he sets a table using only paper cut in the\r\nflat (and even then cut with reference to geometric\r\ndesign, rather then to dishes), instead of toy tea\r\nthings with which the child outside of the kindergarten\r\nplays. Dolls, toy locomotives, and trains\r\nor cars, etc., are tabooed as altogether too grossly\r\nreal—and hence not cultivating the child’s imagination.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAll this is surely mere superstition. The imaginative\r\nplay of the child’s mind comes through the\r\ncluster of suggestions, reminiscences, and anticipations\r\nthat gather about the things he uses.\r\nThe more natural and straightforward these are,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_119\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[119]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nthe more definite basis there is for calling up and\r\nholding together all the allied suggestions which\r\nmake his imaginative play really representative.\r\nThe simple cooking, dishwashing, dusting, etc.,\r\nwhich children do are no more prosaic or utilitarian\r\nto them than would be, say, the game of the Five\r\nKnights. To the children these occupations are\r\nsurcharged with a sense of the mysterious values\r\nthat attach to whatever their elders are concerned\r\nwith. The materials, then, must be as “real,”\r\nas direct and straightforward, as opportunity\r\npermits.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut the principle does not end here—the reality\r\nsymbolized must also lie within the capacities of\r\nthe child’s own appreciation. It is sometimes\r\nthought the use of the imagination is profitable in\r\nthe degree it stands for very remote metaphysical\r\nand spiritual principles. In the great majority of\r\nsuch cases it is safe to say that the adult deceives\r\nhimself. He is conscious of both the reality and\r\nthe symbol, and hence of the relation between\r\nthem. But since the truth or reality represented\r\nis far beyond the reach of the child, the supposed\r\nsymbol is not a symbol to him at all. It is simply\r\na positive thing on its own account. Practically\r\nabout all he gets out of it is its own physical and\r\nsensational meaning, plus, very often, a glib facility\r\nin phrases and attitudes that he learns are expected\r\nof him by the teacher—without, however, any\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_120\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[120]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nmental counterpart. We often teach insincerity,\r\nand instil sentimentalism, and foster sensationalism\r\nwhen we think we are teaching spiritual truths by\r\nmeans of symbols. The realities reproduced,\r\ntherefore, by the child should be of as familiar,\r\ndirect, and real a character as possible. It is\r\nlargely for this reason that in the kindergarten\r\nof our School the work centers so much about the\r\nreproduction of home and neighborhood life.\r\nThis brings us to the topic of\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch3\u003eSUBJECT-MATTER\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe home life in its setting of house, furniture,\r\nutensils, etc., together with the occupations carried\r\non in the home, offers, accordingly, material which\r\nis in a direct and real relationship to the child, and\r\nwhich he naturally tends to reproduce in imaginative\r\nform. It is also sufficiently full of ethical\r\nrelations and suggestive of moral duties to afford\r\nplenty of food for the child on his moral side. The\r\nprogram is comparatively unambitious compared\r\nwith that of many kindergartens, but it may be\r\nquestioned whether there are not certain positive\r\nadvantages in this limitation of the subject-matter.\r\nWhen much ground is covered (the work going over,\r\nsay, industrial society, army, church, state, etc.),\r\nthere is a tendency for the work to become over-symbolic.\r\nSo much of this material lies beyond the\r\nexperience and capacities of the child of four and\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_121\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[121]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nfive that practically all he gets out of it is the\r\nphysical and emotional reflex—he does not get any\r\nreal penetration into the material itself. Moreover,\r\nthere is danger, in these ambitious programs,\r\nof an unfavorable reaction upon the child’s own\r\nintellectual attitude. Having covered pretty\r\nmuch the whole universe in a purely make-believe\r\nfashion, he becomes blasé, loses his\r\nnatural hunger for the simple things of direct\r\nexperience, and approaches the material of the\r\nfirst grades of the primary school with a feeling\r\nthat he has had all that already. The later years\r\nof a child’s life have their own rights, and a superficial,\r\nmerely emotional anticipation is likely to do\r\nthe child serious injury.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eMoreover, there is danger that a mental habit\r\nof jumping rapidly from one topic to another be\r\ninduced. The little child has a good deal of\r\npatience and endurance of a certain type. It is\r\ntrue that he has a liking for novelty and variety;\r\nthat he soon wearies of an activity that does not\r\nlead out into new fields and open up new paths for\r\nexploration. My plea, however, is not for monotony.\r\nThere is sufficient variety in the activities,\r\nfurnishings, and instrumentalities of the\r\nhomes from which the children come to give continual\r\ndiversity. It touches the civic and the\r\nindustrial life at this and that point; these concerns\r\ncan be brought in, when desirable, without going\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_122\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[122]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nbeyond the unity of the main topic. Thus there\r\nis an opportunity to foster that sense which is\r\nat the basis of attention and of all intellectual\r\ngrowth—a sense of continuity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis continuity is often interfered with by the\r\nvery methods that aim at securing it. From the\r\nchild’s standpoint unity lies in the subject-matter—in\r\nthe present case, in the fact that he is always\r\ndealing with one thing: home life. Emphasis is\r\ncontinually passing from one phase of this life\r\nto another; one occupation after another, one\r\npiece of furniture after another, one relation after\r\nanother, etc., receive attention; but they all fall\r\ninto building up one and the same mode of living,\r\nalthough bringing now this feature, now that, into\r\nprominence. The child is working all the time\r\n\u003ci\u003ewithin a unity\u003c/i\u003e, giving different phases of its clearness\r\nand definiteness, and bringing them into\r\ncoherent connection with each other. When there\r\nis a great diversity of subject-matter, continuity\r\nis apt to be sought simply on the formal side; that\r\nis, in schemes of sequence, “schools of work,” a\r\nrigid program of development followed with every\r\ntopic, a “thought for the day” from which the\r\nwork is not supposed to stray. As a rule such\r\nsequence is purely intellectual, hence is grasped only\r\nby the teacher, quite passing over the head of the\r\nchild. Hence the program for the year, term,\r\nmonth, week, etc., should be made out on the basis\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_123\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[123]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof estimating how much of the common subject-matter\r\ncan be covered in that time, not on the\r\nbasis of intellectual or ethical principles. This\r\nwill give both definiteness and elasticity.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch3\u003eMETHOD\u003c/h3\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe peculiar problem of the early grades is, of\r\ncourse, to get hold of the child’s natural impulses\r\nand instincts, and to utilize them so that the child\r\nis carried on to a higher plane of perception and\r\njudgment, and equipped with more efficient habits;\r\nso that he has an enlarged and deepened consciousness\r\nand increased control of powers of action.\r\nWherever this result is not reached, play results in\r\nmere amusement and not in educative growth.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eUpon the whole, constructive or “built up”\r\nwork (with, of course, the proper alternation of\r\nstory, song, and game which may be connected,\r\nso far as is desirable, with the ideas involved in the\r\nconstruction) seems better fitted than anything\r\nelse to secure these two factors—initiation in the\r\nchild’s own impulse and termination upon a higher\r\nplane. It brings the child in contact with a\r\ngreat variety of material: wood, tin, leather, yarn,\r\netc.; it supplies a motive for using these materials\r\nin real ways instead of going through exercises\r\nhaving no meaning except a remote symbolic one;\r\nit calls into play alertness of the senses and acuteness\r\nof observation; it demands clear-cut imagery\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_124\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[124]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof the ends to be accomplished, and requires ingenuity\r\nand invention in planning; it makes\r\nnecessary concentrated attention and personal responsibility\r\nin execution, while the results are in\r\nsuch tangible form that the child may be led to\r\njudge his own work and improve his standards.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eA word should be said regarding the psychology\r\nof imitation and suggestion in relation to kindergarten\r\nwork. There is no doubt that the little\r\nchild is highly imitative and open to suggestions;\r\nthere is no doubt that his crude powers and immature\r\nconsciousness need to be continually enriched\r\nand directed through these channels. But on\r\nthis account it is imperative to discriminate between\r\na use of imitation and suggestion which is so\r\nexternal as to be thoroughly non-psychological, and\r\na use which is justified through its organic relation\r\nto the child’s own activities. As a general principle\r\nno activity should be \u003ci\u003eoriginated\u003c/i\u003e by imitation.\r\nThe start must come from the child; the model or\r\ncopy may then be supplied in order to assist the\r\nchild in imaging more definitely what it is that he\r\nreally wants—in bringing him to consciousness.\r\nIts value is not as model to copy in action, but as\r\nguide to clearness and adequacy of conception.\r\nUnless the child can get away from it to his own\r\nimagery when it comes to execution, he is rendered\r\nservile and dependent, not developed. Imitation\r\ncomes in to reinforce and help out, not to initiate.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_125\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[125]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no ground for holding that the teacher\r\nshould not suggest anything to the child until he\r\nhas \u003ci\u003econsciously\u003c/i\u003e expressed a want in that direction.\r\nA sympathetic teacher is quite likely to know more\r\nclearly than the child himself what his own instincts\r\nare and mean. But the suggestion must \u003ci\u003efit in\u003c/i\u003e with\r\nthe dominant mode of growth in the child; it\r\nmust serve simply as stimulus to bring forth more\r\nadequately what the child is already blindly striving\r\nto do. Only by watching the child and seeing\r\nthe attitude that he assumes toward suggestions\r\ncan we tell whether they are operating as factors\r\nin furthering the child’s growth, or whether they\r\nare external, arbitrary impositions interfering with\r\nnormal growth.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe same principle applies even more strongly\r\nto so-called dictation work. Nothing is more\r\nabsurd than to suppose that there is no middle\r\nterm between leaving a child to his own unguided\r\nfancies and likes or controlling his activities by a\r\nformal succession of dictated directions. As just\r\nintimated, it is the teacher’s business to know\r\nwhat powers are striving for utterance at a given\r\nperiod in the child’s development, and what sorts\r\nof activity will bring these to helpful expression, in\r\norder then to supply the requisite stimuli and\r\nneeded materials. The suggestion, for instance, of\r\na playhouse, the suggestion that comes from seeing\r\nobjects that have already been made to furnish it,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_126\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[126]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nfrom seeing other children at work, is quite sufficient\r\ndefinitely to direct the activities of a normal\r\nchild of five. Imitation and suggestion come in\r\nnaturally and inevitably, but only as instruments to\r\nhelp him carry out his own wishes and ideas. They\r\nserve to make him realize, to bring to consciousness,\r\nwhat he already is striving for in a vague,\r\nconfused, and therefore ineffective way. From\r\nthe psychological standpoint it may safely be said\r\nthat when a teacher has to rely upon a series of\r\ndictated directions, it is just because the child has\r\nno image of his own of what is to be done or why it\r\nis to be done. Instead, therefore, of gaining power\r\nof control by conforming to directions, he is really\r\nlosing it—made dependent upon an external source.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn conclusion, it may be pointed out that such\r\nsubject-matter and the method connect directly\r\nwith the work of the six-year-old children (corresponding\r\nto the first grade of primary work).\r\nThe play reproduction of the home life passes\r\nnaturally on into a more extended and serious\r\nstudy of the larger social occupations upon which\r\nthe home is dependent; while the continually\r\nincreasing demands made upon the child’s own\r\nability to plan and execute carry him over into\r\nmore controlled use of attention upon more distinctively\r\nintellectual topics. It must not be forgotten\r\nthat the readjustment needed to secure\r\ncontinuity between “kindergarten” and “first-grade”\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_127\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[127]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nwork cannot be brought about wholly from\r\nthe side of the latter. The school change must be\r\nas gradual and insensible as that in the growth of\r\nthe child. This is impossible unless the subprimary\r\nwork surrenders whatever isolates it, and hospitably\r\nwelcomes whatever materials and resources\r\nwill keep pace with the full development of the\r\nchild’s powers, and thus keep him always prepared,\r\nready, for the next work he has to do.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_128\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[128]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_129\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[129]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"THE_PSYCHOLOGY_OF_OCCUPATIONS\"\u003eTHE PSYCHOLOGY OF OCCUPATIONS\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_130\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[130]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_131\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[131]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"VI\"\u003eVI\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003eTHE PSYCHOLOGY OF OCCUPATIONS\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBy occupation is not meant any kind of “busy\r\nwork” or exercises that may be given to a child\r\nin order to keep him out of mischief or idleness\r\nwhen seated at his desk. By occupation I mean\r\na mode of activity on the part of the child which\r\nreproduces, or runs parallel to, some form of work\r\ncarried on in social life. In the University Elementary\r\nSchool these occupations are represented\r\nby the shopwork with wood and tools; by cooking,\r\nsewing, and by the textile work herewith reported\r\nupon.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe fundamental point in the psychology of an\r\noccupation is that it maintains a balance between\r\nthe intellectual and the practical phases of experience.\r\nAs an occupation it is active or motor;\r\nit finds expression through the physical organs—the\r\neyes, hands, etc. But it also involves continual\r\nobservation of materials, and continual\r\nplanning and reflection, in order that the practical\r\nor executive side may be successfully carried on.\r\nOccupation as thus conceived must, therefore, be\r\ncarefully distinguished from work which educates\r\nprimarily for a trade. It differs because its end\r\nis in itself; in the growth that comes from the\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_132\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[132]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ncontinual interplay of ideas and their embodiment\r\nin action, not in external utility.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is possible to carry on this type of work in\r\nother than trade schools, so that the entire emphasis\r\nfalls upon the manual or physical side. In such\r\ncases the work is reduced to a mere routine or\r\ncustom, and its educational value is lost. This is\r\nthe inevitable tendency wherever, in manual\r\ntraining for instance, the mastery of certain tools,\r\nor the production of certain objects, is made the\r\nprimary end, and the child is not given, wherever\r\npossible, intellectual responsibility for selecting\r\nthe materials and instruments that are most fit,\r\nand given an opportunity to think out his own\r\nmodel and plan of work, led to perceive his own\r\nerrors, and find out how to correct them—that is,\r\nof course, within the range of his capacities. So\r\nfar as the external result is held in view, rather than\r\nthe mental and moral states and growth involved\r\nin the process of reaching the result, the work may\r\nbe called manual, but cannot rightly be termed\r\nan occupation. Of course the tendency of all\r\nmere habit, routine, or custom is to result in what\r\nis unconscious and mechanical. That of occupation\r\nis to put the maximum of consciousness into\r\nwhatever is done.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis enables us to interpret the stress laid (\u003ci\u003ea\u003c/i\u003e)\r\nupon personal experimenting, planning, and reinventing\r\nin connection with the textile work, and (\u003ci\u003eb\u003c/i\u003e)\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_133\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[133]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nits parallelism with lines of historical development.\r\nThe first requires the child to be mentally quick\r\nand alert at every point in order that he may do\r\nthe outward work properly. The second enriches\r\nand deepens the work performed by saturating it\r\nwith values suggested from the social life which it\r\nrecapitulates.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eOccupations, so considered, furnish the ideal\r\noccasions for both sense-training and discipline in\r\nthought. The weakness of ordinary lessons in\r\nobservation, calculated to train the senses, is that\r\nthey have no outlet beyond themselves, and hence\r\nno necessary motive. Now, in the natural life\r\nof the individual and the race there is always a\r\nreason for sense-observation. There is always\r\nsome need, coming from an end to be reached, that\r\nmakes one look about to discover and discriminate\r\nwhatever will assist him. Normal sensations\r\noperate as clues, as aids, as stimuli, in directing\r\nactivity in what has to be done; they are not ends\r\nin themselves. Separated from real needs and\r\nmotives, sense-training becomes a mere gymnastic\r\nand easily degenerates into acquiring what are\r\nhardly more than mere knacks or tricks in\r\nobservation, or else mere excitement of the\r\nsense organs.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe same principle applies in normal \u003ci\u003ethinking\u003c/i\u003e.\r\nIt also does not occur for its own sake, nor end in\r\nitself. It arises from the need of meeting some\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_134\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[134]\u003c/span\u003e\r\ndifficulty, in reflecting upon the best way of overcoming\r\nit, and thus leads to planning, to projecting\r\nmentally the result to be reached, and deciding\r\nupon the steps necessary and their serial order.\r\nThis concrete logic of action long precedes the logic\r\nof pure speculation or abstract investigation, and\r\nthrough the mental habits that it forms is the best\r\nof preparations for the latter.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eAnother educational point upon which the psychology\r\nof occupations throws helpful light is the\r\nplace of interest in school work. One of the objections\r\nregularly brought against giving in school\r\nwork any large or positive place to the child’s\r\ninterest is the impossibility on such a basis of\r\nproper selection. The child, it is said, has all kinds\r\nof interests, good, bad, and indifferent. It is\r\nnecessary to decide between the interests that are\r\nreally important and those that are trivial; between\r\nthose that are helpful and those that are harmful;\r\nbetween those that are transitory or mark immediate\r\nexcitement, and those which endure and are permanently\r\ninfluential. It would seem as if we had\r\nto go beyond interest to get any basis for using\r\ninterest.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eNow, there can be no doubt that occupation\r\nwork possesses a strong interest for the child. A\r\nglance into any school where such work is carried\r\non will give sufficient evidence of this fact. Outside\r\nof the school, a large portion of the children’s\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_135\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[135]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nplays are simply more or less miniature and haphazard\r\nattempts at reproducing social occupations.\r\nThere are certain reasons for believing that the\r\ntype of interest which springs up along with these\r\noccupations is of a thoroughly healthy, permanent,\r\nand really educative sort; and that by giving a\r\nlarger place to occupations we should secure an\r\nexcellent, perhaps the very best, way of making\r\nan appeal to the child’s spontaneous interest, and\r\nyet have, at the same time, some guaranty that\r\nwe are not dealing with what is merely pleasure-giving,\r\nexciting, or transient.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the first place, every interest grows out of\r\nsome instinct or some habit that in turn is finally\r\nbased upon an original instinct. It does not follow\r\nthat all instincts are of equal value, or that we do\r\nnot inherit many instincts which need transformation,\r\nrather than satisfaction, in order to be useful\r\nin life. But the instincts which find their conscious\r\noutlet and expression in occupation are bound to be\r\nof an exceedingly fundamental and permanent\r\ntype. The activities of life are of necessity directed\r\nto bringing the materials and forces of nature\r\nunder the control of our purposes; of making them\r\ntributary to ends of life. Men have had to work\r\nin order to live. In and through their work they\r\nhave mastered nature, they have protected and\r\nenriched the conditions of their own life, they have\r\nbeen awakened to the sense of their own powers—have\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_136\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[136]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nbeen led to invent, to plan, and to rejoice\r\nin the acquisition of skill. In a rough way, all\r\noccupations may be classified as gathering about\r\nman’s fundamental relations to the world in which\r\nhe lives through getting food to maintain life;\r\nsecuring clothing and shelter to protect and\r\nornament it, and thus, finally, to provide a permanent\r\nhome in which all the higher and more spiritual\r\ninterests may center. It is hardly unreasonable\r\nto suppose that interests which have such a history\r\nbehind them must be of the worthy sort.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, these interests as they develop in the\r\nchild not only recapitulate past important activities\r\nof the race, but reproduce those of the child’s\r\npresent environment. He continually sees his\r\nelders engaged in such pursuits. He daily has to\r\ndo with things which are the results of just such\r\noccupations. He comes in contact with facts that\r\nhave no meaning, except in reference to them.\r\nTake these things out of the present social life and\r\nsee how little would remain—and this not only on\r\nthe material side, but as regards intellectual,\r\naesthetic, and moral activities, for these are largely\r\nand necessarily bound up with occupations. The\r\nchild’s instinctive interests in this direction are,\r\ntherefore, constantly reinforced by what he sees,\r\nfeels, and hears going on around him. Suggestions\r\nalong this line are continually coming to him;\r\nmotives are awakened; his energies are stirred to\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_137\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[137]\u003c/span\u003e\r\naction. Again, it is not unreasonable to suppose\r\nthat interests which are touched so constantly, and\r\non so many sides, belong to the worthy and enduring\r\ntype.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn the third place, one of the objections made\r\nagainst the principle of interest in education is that\r\nit tends to disintegration of mental economy by\r\nconstantly stirring up the child in this way or that,\r\ndestroying continuity and thoroughness. But\r\nan occupation (such as the textile one herewith\r\nreported on) is of necessity a continuous thing.\r\nIt lasts, not only for days, but for months and\r\nyears. It represents, not a stirring of isolated\r\nand superficial energies, but rather a steady,\r\ncontinuous organization of power along certain\r\ngeneral lines. The same is true, of course, of any\r\nother form of occupation, such as shopwork with\r\ntools, or as cooking. The occupations articulate\r\na vast variety of impulses, otherwise separate and\r\nspasmodic, into a consistent skeleton with a firm\r\nbackbone. It may well be doubted whether,\r\nwholly apart from some such regular and progressive\r\nmodes of action, extending as cores throughout\r\nthe entire school, it would be permanently safe to\r\ngive the principle of “interest” any large place in\r\nschool work.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_138\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[138]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_139\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[139]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"THE_DEVELOPMENT_OF_ATTENTION\"\u003eTHE DEVELOPMENT OF ATTENTION\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_140\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[140]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_141\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[141]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"VII\"\u003eVII\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003eTHE DEVELOPMENT OF ATTENTION\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe subprimary or kindergarten department is\r\nundertaking the pedagogical problems growing out\r\nof an attempt to connect kindergarten work intimately\r\nwith primary, and to readapt traditional\r\nmaterials and technique to meet present social conditions\r\nand our present physiological and psychological\r\nknowledge. A detailed statement of\r\nthe work will be published later.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eLittle children have their observations and\r\nthoughts mainly directed toward people: what\r\nthey do, how they behave, what they are occupied\r\nwith, and what comes of it. Their interest is of a\r\npersonal rather than of an objective or intellectual\r\nsort. Its intellectual counterpart is the story-form;\r\nnot the task, consciously defined end, or\r\nproblem—meaning by story-form something psychical,\r\nthe holding together of a variety of persons,\r\nthings, and incidents through a common idea that\r\nenlists feeling; not an outward relation or tale.\r\nTheir minds seek wholes, varied through episode,\r\nenlivened with action and defined in salient features—there\r\nmust be go, movement, the sense of\r\nuse and operation—inspection of things separated\r\nfrom the idea by which they are carried. Analysis\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_142\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[142]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof isolated detail of form and structure neither\r\nappeals nor satisfies.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eMaterial provided by existing social occupations\r\nis calculated to meet and feed this attitude. In\r\nprevious years the children have been concerned\r\nwith the occupations of the home, and the contact\r\nof homes with one another and with outside life.\r\nNow they may take up typical occupations of society\r\nat large—a step farther removed from the\r\nchild’s egoistic, self-absorbed interest, and yet dealing\r\nwith something personal and something which\r\ntouches him.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the standpoint of educational theory, the\r\nfollowing features may be noted:\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e1. The study of natural objects, processes, and\r\nrelations is placed in a human setting. During the\r\nyear, a considerably detailed observation of seeds\r\nand their growth, of plants, woods, stones, animals,\r\nas to some phases of structure and habit, of geographical\r\nconditions of landscape, climate, arrangement\r\nof land and water, is undertaken. The\r\npedagogical problem is to direct the child’s power of\r\nobservation, to nurture his sympathetic interest in\r\ncharacteristic traits of the world in which he lives,\r\nto afford interpreting material for later more special\r\nstudies, and yet to supply a carrying medium for the\r\nvariety of facts and ideas through the dominant\r\nspontaneous emotions and thoughts of the child.\r\nHence their association with human life. Absolutely\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_143\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[143]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nno separation is made between the “social”\r\nside of the work, its concern with people’s activities\r\nand their mutual dependencies, and the “science,”\r\nregard for physical facts and forces—because the\r\nconscious distinction between man and nature is\r\nthe result of later reflection and abstraction, and to\r\nforce it upon the child here is not only to fail to\r\nengage his whole mental energy, but to confuse\r\nand distract him. The environment is always\r\nthat in which life is situated and through which\r\nit is circumstanced; and to isolate it, to make it\r\nwith little children an object of observation and\r\nremark by itself, is to treat human nature inconsiderately.\r\nAt last, the original open and free\r\nattitude of the mind to nature is destroyed;\r\nnature has been reduced to a mass of meaningless\r\ndetails.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn its emphasis upon the “concrete” and “individual,”\r\nmodern pedagogical theory often loses\r\nsight of the fact that the existence and presentation\r\nof an individual physical thing—a stone, an orange,\r\na cat—is no guaranty of \u003ci\u003econcreteness\u003c/i\u003e; that this is a\r\npsychological affair, whatever appeals to the mind\r\nas a whole, as a self-sufficient center of interest\r\nand attention. The reaction from this external\r\nand somewhat dead standpoint often assumes,\r\nhowever, that the needed clothing with human\r\nsignificance can come only by direct personification,\r\nand we have that continued symbolization of a\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_144\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[144]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nplant, cloud, or rain which makes only pseudo-science\r\npossible; which, instead of generating love\r\nfor nature itself, switches interest to certain sensational\r\nand emotional accompaniments, and leaves\r\nit, at last, dissipated and burnt out. And even\r\nthe tendency to approach nature through the\r\nmedium of literature, the pine tree through the\r\nfable of the discontented pine, etc., while recognizing\r\nthe need of the human association, fails to note\r\nthat there is a more straightforward road from\r\nmind to the object—direct through connection\r\nwith life itself; and that the poem and story, the\r\nliterary statement, have their place as reinforcements\r\nand idealizations, not as foundation stones.\r\nWhat is wanted, in other words, is not to fix up a\r\nconnection of child mind and nature, but to give\r\nfree and effective play to the connection already\r\noperating.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e2. This suggests at once the practical questions\r\nthat are usually discussed under the name of\r\n“correlation,” questions of such interaction of the\r\nvarious matters studied and powers under acquisition\r\nas will avoid waste and maintain unity of\r\nmental growth. From the standpoint adopted\r\nthe problem is one of differentiation rather than\r\nof correlation as ordinarily understood. The unity\r\nof life, as it presents itself to the child, binds\r\ntogether and carries along the different occupations,\r\nthe diversity of plants, animals, and geographic\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_145\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[145]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nconditions; drawing, modeling, games, constructive\r\nwork, numerical calculations are ways of carrying\r\ncertain features of it to mental and emotional\r\nsatisfaction and completeness. Not much attention\r\nis paid in this year to reading and writing;\r\nbut it is obvious that if this were regarded as\r\ndesirable, the same principle would apply. It is\r\nthe community and continuity of the subject-matter\r\nthat organizes, that correlates; correlation\r\nis not through devices of instruction which the\r\nteacher employs in tying together things in themselves\r\ndisconnected.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e3. Two recognized demands of primary education\r\nare often, at present, not unified or are even\r\nopposed. The need of the familiar, the already\r\nexperienced, as a basis for moving upon the unknown\r\nand remote, is a commonplace. The\r\nclaims of the child’s imagination as a factor is at\r\nleast beginning to be recognized. The problem\r\nis to work these two forces together, instead of\r\nseparately. The child is too often given drill upon\r\nfamiliar objects and ideas under the sanction of\r\nthe first principle, while he is introduced with\r\nequal directness to the weird, strange, and impossible\r\nto satisfy the claims of the second. The\r\nresult, it is hardly too much to say, is a twofold\r\nfailure. There is no special connection between\r\nthe unreal, the myth, the fairy tale, and the play\r\nof mental imagery. Imagination is not a matter\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_146\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[146]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof an impossible subject-matter, but a constructive\r\nway of dealing with any subject-matter under the\r\ninfluence of a pervading idea. The point is not to\r\ndwell with wearisome iteration upon the familiar\r\nand under the guise of object-lessons to keep the\r\nsenses directed at material which they have already\r\nmade acquaintance with, but to enliven and\r\nillumine the ordinary, commonplace, and homely\r\nby using it to build up and appreciate situations\r\npreviously unrealized and alien. And this also is\r\nculture of imagination. Some writers appear to\r\nhave the impression that the child’s imagination\r\nhas outlet only in myth and fairy tale of ancient\r\ntime and distant place or in weaving egregious\r\nfabrications regarding sun, moon, and stars; and\r\nhave even pleaded for a mythical investiture of all\r\n“science”—as a way of satisfying the dominating\r\nimagination of the child. But fortunately these\r\nthings are exceptions, are intensifications, are\r\nrelaxations of the average child; not his pursuits.\r\nThe John and Jane that most of us know let their\r\nimaginations play about the current and familiar\r\ncontacts and events of life—about father and\r\nmother and friend, about steamboats and locomotives,\r\nand sheep and cows, about the romance of\r\nfarm and forest, of seashore and mountain. What\r\nis needed, in a word, is to afford occasion by which\r\nthe child is moved to educe and exchange with\r\nothers his store of experiences, his range of information,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_147\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[147]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nto make new observations correcting and\r\nextending them in order to keep his images moving,\r\nin order to find mental rest and satisfaction in\r\ndefinite and vivid realization of what is new and\r\nenlarging.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWith the development of reflective attention\r\ncome the need and the possibility of a change in the\r\nmode of the child’s instruction. In the previous\r\nparagraphs we have been concerned with the direct,\r\nspontaneous attitude that marks the child till into\r\nhis seventh year—his demand for new experiences\r\nand his desire to complete his partial experiences by\r\nbuilding up images and expressing them in play.\r\nThis attitude is typical of what writers call spontaneous\r\nattention, or, as some say, non-voluntary\r\nattention.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe child is simply absorbed in what he is doing;\r\nthe occupation in which he is engaged lays complete\r\nhold upon him. He gives himself without reserve.\r\nHence, while there is much energy spent, there is\r\nno \u003ci\u003econscious\u003c/i\u003e effort; while the child is intent to the\r\npoint of engrossment, there is no \u003ci\u003econscious\u003c/i\u003e intention.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWith the development of a sense of more remote\r\nends, and of the need of directing acts so as to make\r\nthem means for these ends (a matter discussed\r\nin the second number), we have the transition to\r\nwhat is termed indirect, or, as some writers prefer\r\nto say, voluntary, attention. A result is imaged,\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_148\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[148]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nand the child attends to what is before him or what\r\nhe is immediately doing because it helps to secure\r\nthe result. Taken by itself, the object or the act\r\nmight be indifferent or even repulsive. But\r\nbecause it is felt to belong to something desirable\r\nor valuable, it borrows the latter’s attracting and\r\nholding power.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the transition to “voluntary” attention,\r\nbut only the transition. The latter comes fully\r\ninto being only when the child entertains results\r\nin the form of problems or questions, the solution of\r\nwhich he is to seek for himself. In the intervening\r\nstage (in the child from eight to, say, eleven or\r\ntwelve), while the child directs a series of intervening\r\nactivities on the basis of some end he wishes\r\nto reach, this end is something to be done or made,\r\nor some tangible result to be reached; the problem\r\nis a practical difficulty, rather than an intellectual\r\nquestion. But with growing power the child can\r\nconceive of the end as something to be found out,\r\ndiscovered; and can control his acts and images\r\nso as to help in the inquiry and solution. This is\r\nreflective attention proper.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn history work there is change from the story\r\nand biography form, from discussion of questions\r\nthat arise, to the formulation of questions. Points\r\nabout which difference of opinion is possible,\r\nmatters upon which experience, reflection, etc.,\r\ncan be brought to bear, are always coming up in\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_149\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[149]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nhistory. But to use the discussion to develop\r\nthis matter of doubt and difference into a definite\r\nproblem, to bring the child to feel just what the\r\ndifficulty is, and then throw him upon his own\r\nresources in looking up material bearing upon the\r\npoint, and upon his judgment in bringing it to bear,\r\nor getting a solution, is a marked intellectual\r\nadvance. So in the science there is a change from\r\nthe practical attitude of making and using cameras\r\nto the consideration of the problems intellectually\r\ninvolved in this—to principles of light, angular\r\nmeasurements, etc., which give the theory or\r\nexplanation of the practice.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn general, this growth is a natural process. But\r\nthe proper recognition and use of it is perhaps the\r\nmost serious problem in instruction upon the intellectual\r\nside. A person who has gained the power\r\nof reflective attention, the power to hold problems,\r\nquestions, before the mind, \u003ci\u003eis\u003c/i\u003e in so far, intellectually\r\nspeaking, educated. He has mental discipline—power\r\n\u003ci\u003eof\u003c/i\u003e the mind and \u003ci\u003efor\u003c/i\u003e the mind. Without\r\nthis the mind remains at the mercy of custom and\r\nexternal suggestions. Some of the difficulties may\r\nbe barely indicated by referring to an error that\r\nalmost dominates instruction of the usual type.\r\nToo often it is assumed that attention can be given\r\ndirectly to any subject-matter, if only the proper\r\nwill or disposition be at hand, failure being regarded\r\nas a sign of unwillingness or indocility. Lessons in\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_150\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[150]\u003c/span\u003e\r\narithmetic, geography, and grammar are put before\r\nthe child, and he is told to attend in order to learn.\r\nBut excepting as there is some question, some\r\ndoubt, present in the mind as a \u003ci\u003ebasis\u003c/i\u003e for this\r\nattention, \u003ci\u003ereflective\u003c/i\u003e attention is impossible. If\r\nthere is sufficient \u003ci\u003eintrinsic\u003c/i\u003e interest in the material,\r\nthere will be direct or spontaneous attention, which\r\nis excellent so far as it goes, but which merely of\r\nitself does not give power of thought or internal\r\nmental control. If there is not an inherent\r\nattracting power in the material, then (according to\r\nhis temperament and training, and the precedents\r\nand expectations of the school) the teacher will\r\neither attempt to surround the material with\r\nforeign attractiveness, making a bid or offering a\r\nbribe for attention by “making the lesson interesting”;\r\nor else will resort to counterirritants (low\r\nmarks, threats of non-promotion, staying after\r\nschool, personal disapprobation, expressed in a\r\ngreat variety of ways, naggings, continuous calling\r\nupon the child to “pay attention,” etc.); or,\r\nprobably, will use some of both means.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eBut (1) the attention thus gained is never more\r\nthan partial, or divided; and (2) it always remains\r\ndependent upon something external—hence, when\r\nthe attraction ceases or the pressure lets up, there\r\nis little or no gain in inner or intellectual control.\r\nAnd (3) such attention is always for the sake of\r\n“learning,” i.e., \u003ci\u003ememorizing ready-made answers\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_151\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[151]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nto possible questions to be put by another\u003c/i\u003e. True,\r\nreflective attention, on the other hand, always\r\ninvolves judging, reasoning, deliberation; it means\r\nthat the child has a \u003ci\u003equestion of his own\u003c/i\u003e and is\r\nactively engaged in seeking and selecting relevant\r\nmaterial with which to answer it, considering\r\nthe bearings and relations of this material—the\r\nkind of solution it calls for. The problem is one’s\r\nown; hence also the impetus, the stimulus to attention,\r\nis one’s own; hence also the training secured\r\nis one’s own—it is discipline, or gain in power of\r\ncontrol; that is, a \u003ci\u003ehabit\u003c/i\u003e of considering problems.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIt is hardly too much to say that in the traditional\r\neducation so much stress has been laid upon\r\nthe presentation to the child of ready-made material\r\n(books, object-lessons, teacher’s talks, etc.),\r\nand the child has been so almost exclusively held\r\nto bare responsibility for reciting upon this ready-made\r\nmaterial, that there has been only accidental\r\noccasion and motive for developing reflective\r\nattention. Next to no consideration has been\r\npaid to the fundamental necessity—leading the\r\nchild to realize a problem as his own, so that he is\r\nself-induced to attend in order to find out its\r\nanswer. So completely have the conditions for\r\nsecuring this self-putting of problems been neglected\r\nthat the very idea of voluntary attention\r\nhas been radically perverted. It is regarded as\r\nmeasured by unwilling effort—as activity called\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_152\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[152]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nout by foreign, and so repulsive, material under conditions\r\nof strain, instead of as self-initiated effort.\r\n“Voluntary” is treated as meaning the reluctant and\r\ndisagreeable instead of the free, the self-directed,\r\nthrough personal interest, insight, and power.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_153\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[153]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_154\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[154]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"THE_AIM_OF_HISTORY_IN_ELEMENTARY_EDUCATION\"\u003eTHE AIM OF HISTORY IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003chr class=\"chap x-ebookmaker-drop\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"chapter\"\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_155\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[155]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003ch2 class=\"nobreak\" id=\"VIII\"\u003eVIII\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cspan class=\"smaller\"\u003eTHE AIM OF HISTORY IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003c/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf history be regarded as just the record of the\r\npast, it is hard to see any grounds for claiming\r\nthat it should play any large rôle in the curriculum\r\nof elementary education. The past is the past,\r\nand the dead may be safely left to bury its dead.\r\nThere are too many urgent demands in the present,\r\ntoo many calls over the threshold of the future,\r\nto permit the child to become deeply immersed\r\nin what is forever gone by. Not so when history\r\nis considered as an account of the forces and forms\r\nof social life. Social life we have always with us;\r\nthe distinction of past and present is indifferent to\r\nit. Whether it was lived just here or just there is a\r\nmatter of slight moment. It is life for all that;\r\nit shows the motives which draw men together and\r\npush them apart, and depicts what is desirable\r\nand what is hurtful. Whatever history may be\r\nfor the scientific historian, for the educator it must\r\nbe an indirect sociology—a study of society which\r\nlays bare its process of becoming and its modes\r\nof organization. Existing society is both too complex\r\nand too close to the child to be studied. He\r\nfinds no clues into its labyrinth of detail and can\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_156\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[156]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nmount no eminence whence to get a perspective\r\nof arrangement.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIf the aim of historical instruction is to enable\r\nthe child to appreciate the values of social life, to\r\nsee in imagination the forces which favor and let\r\nmen’s effective co-operation with one another, to\r\nunderstand the sorts of character that help on and\r\nthat hold back, the essential thing in its presentation\r\nis to make it moving, dynamic. History must be\r\npresented, not as an accumulation of results or\r\neffects, a mere statement of what happened, but\r\nas a forceful, acting thing. The motives—that\r\nis, the motors—must stand out. To study history\r\nis not to amass information, but to use information\r\nin constructing a vivid picture of how and why men\r\ndid thus and so; achieved their successes and came\r\nto their failures.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen history is conceived as dynamic, as moving,\r\nits economic and industrial aspects are emphasized.\r\nThese are but technical terms which express\r\nthe problem with which humanity is unceasingly\r\nengaged; how to live, how to master and use nature\r\nso as to make it tributary to the enrichment of\r\nhuman life. The great advances in civilization\r\nhave come through those manifestations of intelligence\r\nwhich have lifted man from his precarious\r\nsubjection to nature, and revealed to him how he\r\nmay make its forces co-operate with his own purposes.\r\nThe social world in which the child now\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_157\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[157]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nlives is so rich and full that it is not easy to see\r\nhow much it cost, how much effort and thought lie\r\nback of it. Man has a tremendous equipment\r\nready at hand. The child may be led to translate\r\nthese ready-made resources into fluid terms; he\r\nmay be led to see man face to face with nature,\r\nwithout inherited capital, without tools, without\r\nmanufactured materials. And, step by step, he\r\nmay follow the processes by which man recognized\r\nthe needs of his situation, thought out the weapons\r\nand instruments that enable him to cope with them;\r\nand may learn how these new resources opened\r\nnew horizons of growth and created new problems.\r\nThe industrial history of man is not a\r\nmaterialistic or merely utilitarian affair. It is a\r\nmatter of intelligence. Its record is the record\r\nof how man learned to think, to think to some\r\neffect, to transform the conditions of life so that\r\nlife itself became a different thing. It is an\r\nethical record as well; the account of the conditions\r\nwhich men have patiently wrought out\r\nto serve their ends.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe question of how human beings live, indeed,\r\nrepresents the dominant interest with which the\r\nchild approaches historic material. It is this\r\npoint of view which brings those who worked in\r\nthe past close to the beings with whom he is daily\r\nassociated, and confers upon him the gift of sympathetic\r\npenetration.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_158\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[158]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe child who is interested in the way in which\r\nmen lived, the tools they had to do with, the new\r\ninventions they made, the transformations of life\r\nthat arose from the power and leisure thus gained,\r\nis eager to repeat like processes in his own action,\r\nto remake utensils, to reproduce processes, to\r\nrehandle materials. Since he understands their\r\nproblems and their successes only by seeing what\r\nobstacles and what resources they had from nature,\r\nthe child is interested in field and forest, ocean and\r\nmountain, plant and animal. By building up a\r\nconception of the natural environment in which\r\nlived the people he is studying, he gets his hold\r\nupon their lives. This reproduction he cannot\r\nmake excepting as he gains acquaintance with the\r\nnatural forces and forms with which he is himself\r\nsurrounded. The interest in history gives a more\r\nhuman coloring, a wider significance, to his own\r\nstudy of nature. His knowledge of nature lends\r\npoint and accuracy to his study of history. This\r\nis the natural “correlation” of history and science.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis same end, a deepening appreciation of social\r\nlife, decides the place of the biographic element in\r\nhistorical instruction. That historical material\r\nappeals to the child most completely and vividly\r\nwhen presented in individual form, when summed\r\nup in the lives and deeds of some heroic character,\r\nthere can be no doubt. Yet it is possible to use\r\nbiographies so that they become a collection of\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_159\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[159]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nmere stories, interesting, possibly, to the point of\r\nsensationalism, but yet bringing the child no nearer\r\nto comprehension of social life. This happens\r\nwhen the individual who is the hero of the tale is\r\nisolated from his social environment; when the\r\nchild is not brought to feel the social situations\r\nwhich evoked his acts and the social progress to\r\nwhich his deeds contributed. If biography is presented\r\nas a dramatic summary of social needs and\r\nachievements, if the child’s imagination pictures\r\nthe social defects and problems that clamored\r\nfor the man and the ways in which the individual\r\nmet the emergency, then the biography is an organ\r\nof social study.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eA consciousness of the social aim of history prevents\r\nany tendency to swamp history in myth,\r\nfairy story, and merely literary renderings. I\r\ncannot avoid the feeling that much as the Herbartian\r\nschool has done to enrich the elementary\r\ncurriculum in the direction of history, it has often\r\ninverted the true relationship existing between\r\nhistory and literature. In a certain sense the\r\nmotif of American colonial history and of De Foe’s\r\n\u003ci\u003eRobinson Crusoe\u003c/i\u003e are the same. Both represent\r\nman who has achieved civilization, who has\r\nattained a certain maturity of thought, who has\r\ndeveloped ideals and means of action, but suddenly\r\nthrown back upon his own resources, having to\r\ncope with a raw and often hostile nature, and to\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_160\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[160]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nregain success by sheer intelligence, energy, and\r\npersistence of character. But when \u003ci\u003eRobinson\r\nCrusoe\u003c/i\u003e supplies the material for the curriculum of\r\nthe third- or fourth-grade child, are we not putting\r\nthe cart before the horse? Why not give the child\r\nthe reality with its much larger sweep, its intenser\r\nforces, its more vivid and lasting value for life, using\r\nthe \u003ci\u003eRobinson Crusoe\u003c/i\u003e as an imaginative idealization\r\nin a particular case of the same sort of problems\r\nand activities? Again, whatever may be the worth\r\nof the study of savage life in general, and of the\r\nNorth American Indians in particular, why should\r\nthat be approached circuitously through the\r\nmedium of \u003ci\u003eHiawatha\u003c/i\u003e, instead of at first hand?\r\nemploying indeed the poem to furnish the idealized\r\nand culminating touches to a series of conditions\r\nand struggles which the child has previously realized\r\nin more specific form. Either the life of the\r\nIndian presents some permanent questions and\r\nfactors in social life, or it has next to no place in a\r\nscheme of instruction. If it has such a value, this\r\nshould be made to stand out on its own account,\r\ninstead of being lost in the very refinement and\r\nbeauty of a purely literary presentation.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe same end, the understanding of character\r\nand social relations in their natural dependence,\r\nenables us, I think, to decide upon the importance\r\nto be attached to chronological order in historical\r\ninstruction. Considerable stress has of late been\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_161\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[161]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nlaid upon the supposed necessity of following the\r\ndevelopment of civilization through the successive\r\nsteps in which it actually took place—beginning\r\nwith the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile, and\r\ncoming on down through Greece, Rome, etc. The\r\npoint urged is that the present depends upon the\r\npast and each phase of the past upon a prior past.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eWe are here introduced to a conflict between the\r\nlogical and psychological interpretation of history.\r\nIf the aim be an appreciation of what social life is\r\nand how it goes on, then, certainly, the child\r\nmust deal with what is near in spirit, not with the\r\nremote. The difficulty with the Babylonian or\r\nEgyptian life is not so much its remoteness in time,\r\nas its remoteness from the present interests and\r\naims of social life. It does not simplify enough\r\nand does not generalize enough; or, at least, it\r\ndoes not do so in the right way. It does it by\r\nomission of what is significant now, rather than\r\nby presenting these factors arranged on a lower\r\nscale. Its salient features are hard to get at and\r\nto understand, even by the specialist. It undoubtedly\r\npresents factors which contributed to later\r\nlife, and which modified the course of events in the\r\nstream of time. But the child has not arrived\r\nat a point where he can appreciate abstract causes\r\nand specialized contributions. What he needs is a\r\npicture of typical relations, conditions, and activities.\r\nIn this respect, there is much of prehistoric\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_162\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[162]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nlife which is much closer to him than the complicated\r\nand artificial life of Babylon or of Egypt.\r\nWhen a child is capable of appreciating institutions,\r\nhe is capable of seeing what special institutional\r\nidea each historic nation stands for, and what\r\nfactor it has contributed to the present complex\r\nof institutions. But this period arrives only\r\nwhen the child is beginning to be capable of\r\nabstracting causes in other realms as well; in\r\nother words, when he is approaching the time of\r\nsecondary education.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn this general scheme three periods or phases\r\nare recognized: first comes the generalized and\r\nsimplified history—history which is hardly history\r\nat all in the local or chronological sense, but which\r\naims at giving the child insight into, and sympathy\r\nwith, a variety of social activities. This period\r\nincludes the work of the six-year-old children in\r\nstudying typical occupations of people in the\r\ncountry and city at present; of the seven-year-old\r\nchildren in working out the evolution of inventions\r\nand their effects upon life, and of the eight-year-old\r\nchildren in dealing with the great movements of\r\nmigration, exploration, and discovery which have\r\nbrought the whole round world into human ken.\r\nThe work of the first two years is evidently quite\r\nindependent of any particular people or any particular\r\nperson—that is, of historical data in the\r\nstrict sense of the term. At the same time, plenty\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_163\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[163]\u003c/span\u003e\r\nof scope is provided through dramatization for the\r\nintroduction of the individual factor. The account\r\nof the great explorers and the discoverers serves\r\nto make the transition to what is local and specific,\r\nthat which depends upon certain specified persons\r\nwho lived at certain specified places and times.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThis introduces us to the second period where\r\nlocal conditions and the definite activities of particular\r\nbodies of people become prominent—corresponding\r\nto the child’s growth in power of\r\ndealing with limited and positive fact. Since\r\nChicago, since the United States, are localities\r\nwith which the child can, by the nature of the case,\r\nmost effectively deal, the material of the next\r\nthree years is derived directly and indirectly from\r\nthis source. Here, again, the third year is a\r\ntransitional year, taking up the connections of\r\nAmerican life with European. By this time the\r\nchild should be ready to deal, not with social life\r\nin general, or even with the social life with which\r\nhe is most familiar, but with certain thoroughly\r\ndifferentiated and, so to speak, peculiar types of\r\nsocial life; with the special significance of each and\r\nthe particular contribution it has made to the whole\r\nworld-history. Accordingly, in the next period the\r\nchronological order is followed, beginning with the\r\nancient world about the Mediterranean and coming\r\ndown again through European history to the peculiar\r\nand differentiating factors of American history.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"pagenum\"\u003e\u003ca id=\"Page_164\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e[164]\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe program is not presented as the only one\r\nmeeting the problem, but as a contribution; the\r\noutcome, not of thought, but of considerable experimenting\r\nand shifting of subjects from year to\r\nyear, to the problem of giving material which\r\ntakes vital hold upon the child and at the same\r\ntime leads on, step by step, to more thorough and\r\naccurate knowledge of both the principles and\r\nfacts of social life, and makes a preparation for\r\nlater specialized historic studies.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp class=\"titlepage allsmcap\"\u003ePRINTED IN THE U.S.A.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003c/article\u003e"}],"SectionSequence":["Back Link","Work Title","Deck","Author","Period","Era","Composition","Date Note","Region","Terra Avita","Terra Avita Region","Modern Country","Original Title","Language","Primary Discipline","Secondary Discipline","Tradition","Full Versions","Core Thesis","Classification","Arguments","Influence","Significance","Evidence Note","Full Text"],"Counts":{"ContextCards":3,"GeoCards":4,"DisciplineCards":2,"Links":11,"Sections":25,"Styles":3,"Scripts":1}}