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CUBBERLEY PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION AND DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION STANFORD UNIVERSITY Greeting his pupils, the master asked: What would you learn of me? And the reply came: How shall we care -for our bodies ? How shall we rear our children? How shall we work together ? How shall we live with our fellowmen? How shall we play ? For what ends shall we live? ... And the teacher pondered these words, and sorrow was in his heart, for his own learning touched not these things. PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATIO J. CROSBY CHAPMAN \Z B.A. (Cantab.), D.Sc. (London), Ph.D. (Columbia) Late Professor of Educational Psychology Yale University N AY Xt a hl 4 AO “ JAN 22 192! Pw A “OLog ? GEORGE 5. COUNTS Ph.D. (Chicago) Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, and Associate Director of the International Institute Riverside HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON - NEW YORK - CHICAGO - DALLAS : SAN FRANCISCO The Riverside Press Cambridge COPYRIGHT, 1924 BY J. CROSBY CHAPMAN AND GEORGE S. COUNTS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE - MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. TO CHARLES H. JUDD EDWARD L. THORNDIKE hia si a he bie tel Ne el (5 SS 8 in or Vis " AAs TR: . ~ Silat. mt)? a ‘A ian EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION WITHIN recent years, the demand of students in education in colleges and universities has seemed, more than ever before, to be for practical rather than for theoretical courses. This tendency is in keeping with the new demands in other fields of study, and indicates a healthy interest in concrete mate- rials and in training that gives the ability to do. While this is very good and very encouraging, and indicates a desirable change in education itself from a philosophy about instruc- tion to professional preparation for an important phase of so- cial engineering, there is danger that those in training to-day may grow up and pass out of our training institutions with- out gaining that sound grounding in the philosophy of the educative process which has been the great strength of the older generation of professional educators. Say all we may in favor of the newer engineering-type courses of instruction in education, and there is much to be said for them, the fact remains that one of the most important duties of the young teacher or student is gradually to formulate, for himself, a sound working philosophy of the educative process. Such a philosophy will guide him in his future work and vitalize all his later procedure. While the importance of practical courses in his training cannot be gainsaid, he must still somewhere be led to see how education itself has slowly evolved, until it stands to- day as the most important creative institution of the State; the institution whereby its citizens anticipate and solve the problems of national welfare. To meet this specific need in his training there is nothing that can take the place of a good course in the history of our educational evolution. He must also be led to seize intelligent hold on the conception that ed- Viil EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION ucation stands for the higher evolution of both the individual and the race, and that, after all, the details of organization and administration and supervision must be relegated to their proper places in the scheme of human training. For this second need there is no substitute for a good course in the principles or philosophy of education. Without a uni- fied view of the whole educative process, and such a guiding conception as to purpose and plan, administrative work soon becomes dull and fruitless routine and the worker fails to reach the higher levels of professional service. To meet this second need for a course on the philosophy of the educative process the present volume in this series of text- books has been prepared. As the quotation opposite the Title-Page indicates, its viewpoint is thoroughly modern. Discarding the old philosophical conceptions and terminol- ogy, the two authors have based their work firmly on the conceptions of modern biology and psychology and the’ changing needs of an economic and industrial civilization. They have thus built up for us a philosophy of the educative process centered about the desirability of knowledge under conditions of modern civilization concerning the six funda- mental life-needs — health, family life, economic adjust- ment, civic life, recreation, and religion — and then have applied the results of the study to the organization and work of the different divisions of the school. For the writing of such a book the authors have had an especially good preparation. ‘Their education and train- ing — one brought up in the best schools of England, and one in the public schools and colleges of the Middle West in the United States; one finishing his training in the atmos- phere of Columbia, and the other in the atmosphere of Chi- cago — have given each quite a different background for an educational philosophy, and have served to make their joint production much more than a reflection of a local point of EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 1X view or of a single school of thought. Still more, the book, from beginning to end, is a thoroughly joint product, and as such free from the usual demerits of joint work. The book was outlined together and each section roughly sketched; it was used for a time in classes at Yale, and then so written and criticized and combined by both men that practically every page reflects the point of view of the two authors. That the work has been well done the arrangement and style of the book reveals, for the text is interesting throughout, and at times the style rises to unusual levels in clearness and charm and force of expression. The methodology of the book, from the instructor’s point of view, is especially good. Having been written in and around a series of fundamental educational problems, the ar- rangement of the text is such as to give material aid to the teacher. The additional problems for discussion, which close each chapter, have been carefully thought out and organized to enable the teacher to carry forward the discussion of prin- ciples laid down in the chapter. Often the questions are those raised by the authors’ own students, and as.an out- growth of group thinking on the problems under considera- tion. In consequence these supplemental problems have been more carefully selected and formulated than would be the case with questions which the instructor ordinarily would raise. Ina way they are questions which the authors themselves would like to have dealt with in the text, had there been time and space for their consideration. In the form as presented it is believed that this book on the Principles of Education offers a thoroughly modern phi- losophy of the educative process, and that this, coupled with its readable style and good teaching organization, serves to make it an important textbook for use in colleges and univer- sities giving courses in the Principles of Education. ExLiwoop P. CuBBERLEY Ay a’ a. scene ete. f | LAP AS My he py Peis oat We ooh qe rt ful ; on “i oan at ara Re, a ROed ety be ese: Ay) ey ra Hake) Th, isthe “a ned ii iis Rowers! Sie ay -* fe ; y rs e.e ty yer bl 4 wh tie MPO otc 2a ee is ‘i | bi ie re, et aa vehe Deeg ie , Fe Sn ae ie Mite bh ailing i btn hi oy godeotiam i Mas Ai: ae est ud ee awplahol She ¥ Ns Wu} Ave Ay en ul pl “a age | in ; Ve Koes he wth Lr gitin m sie ie ct we ae ne Seas WTR PS ae A eoll hairs tii angel spent iia sie SPINE shel aK .) eau! bia hi < eae Hy | te ip A Ore Were Ui ale Hat Me akan inh Ke Cease Me aa Pee ah vs? a ye bal ye! ik ey é ‘ANC: sR ae en ou A iain ms eee pet ti Hpalaaehaby hapa BUM jie .* Ly fal Lee wr Ge ee ee ad 15. How may Epucation ADVANCE THE Civic Lire? . . 264 16. How may Epucation ENRICH THE RECREATIONAL LIFE? 294 w17. How may Epucation Foster tHE REeticious Lire? . 330 PART IV. WHA'F PRINCIPLES GOVERN THE CONDUCT OF THE SCHOOL? 18. WHat CoNSTITUTES THE VALUE OF A SCHOOL STUDY Oh AGPIVITY af ele ef) ce ee 19. WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? . 402 20. WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL? . 437 21. WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE COLLEGE? . . .. . A479 22. WHAT Is THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SCHOOL FOR Vo- CATIONAL EDUCATION? . MA ie yikes hee Bed! a ese fs 23. Wuat Metuops sHouLD CoNTROL THE CONDUCT OF INSTRUCTION? ash OS oT ee erent Set) 24. To WHOM SHOULD Society DELEGATE THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION? id PO) ey ee cag io Rasy i: 25. How sHoutp Soctety Support AND Contront Epv- CATION Bare tediciic Ceo ite ae Se ans ate a de ns oo APPENDIRU Reno c.f eR irae eee a Uae meee SUGGESTIONS FOR FurRTHER READING . . . . . 631 INDESAG evi iiss ke ble. (ay ek ee ee Rain tree PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION PART ONE WHAT IS THE PLACE OF EDUCATION IN INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL LIFE? Att living things possess some capacity for adjusting themselves to the conditions of existence: through the modification of response, adaptation occurs throughout the whole range of life. This process of adaptation is education in its widest sense. ‘The scope of education is dependent in part on the complexity of the environment, but much more on the capaci- ties for learning possessed by the organism. In man the inner desires and learning capacities are so great that he has not only adjusted himself most intimately to his surroundings, but also has remoulded the world nearer to his heart’s desires. So extensive has been the shaping of this environment that in the course of ages he has created a most complex material and social world: a world which is constantly making increasing demands on his adaptability. So far-reaching is this demand that, in recent generations, man, finding incidental and unorganized learning inade- quate and uneconomical, has brought into existence the special agency of the school. This institution, born in obscurity, but occupying a strategic position in the life of society, must be guided and criticized by the most intelligent and high-minded counsel. An understanding of the place of education in individual and social life requires the discussion of the following problems: ProsieM 1. How 1s Epucation ReLateD TO ADJUSTMENT? ProsBLem 2. Wuat Properties or THE HumMAN OrcanisM MaKe Epv- CATION PossiIBLE? ProsieM 3. WHat Properties of SocteTy MAKE EpucaTIon NECESSARY? ProsieM 4. Wuy Has Society ESTABLISHED THE SCHOOL TO PROMOTE EDUCATION? PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION PROBLEM I HOW IS EDUCATION RELATED TO ADJUSTMENT? How universal is adjustment in life? — Why is adjustment not merely adaptation to the environment? — How does biological differ from educa- tional adjustment? — What is the scope of education? — How is adjust- ment a function of an organism seeking its own ends? — What is the range of educational adjustment? — How do biological and educational adjust- ment give continuity to life? — What factors necessitate adjustment? — What is education? How universal is adjustment in life? In the thought of to-day education is regarded as a method of adjustment. Education is such an essential part of the fabric of life that we should expect it to be interwoven with that process of adaptation which characterizes every level of life at every moment of existence. Man, in common with all living organisms, is compelled to bring himself into harmony with his surroundings. The penalty of extreme and long- continued failure to make the larger adjustments is death; the penalty of-failure to make the smaller adjustments is arrest of growth. Man is goaded into the eternal vigilance which characterizes living by the punishments and rewards which attend his action. Why is adjustment not merely adaptation to the en- vironment? The term “adjustment” as commonly em- ployed may easily carry too narrow a meaning. While in the case of the animal the process may be regarded as consisting essentially of a “ fitting into” the environment, in the case of man, especially in his more advanced types 4 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION . of activity, such a simple statement is apt to be misleading. Adjustment is something more than the forcing of a plastic and passive individual into agreement with a fixed and unchangeable environment. The animal, owing to its small capacity for altering the external conditions of life, is forced into the simple type of adjustment and accepts nature asitis. But in man adaptation involves much more, including not only the changing of the individual to fit the environment, but also the most thoroughgoing at- tempts on his part to change the conditions under which he lives. As man removes political tyrants who would require his complete submission to their purposes, so in the realm of physical nature he may banish from the earth scourges, such as bubonic plague and typhus, which threaten his existence. By harnessing the forces of his environment and converting its materials into tools, he is enabled to overcome its more formidable and dangerous aspects. Thus he alters the conditions of life. The artificial environ- ment found in any advanced civilization is illustrative of the manner in which aggressive action can modify and even determine the conditions under which life is led. Any adequate conception of adjustment as a life process must therefore include its twofold aspect, involving, on the one hand, the modification of the organism to meet the external environment, and, on the other, the modifi- cation of the environment to further the ends of life. How does biological differ from educational adjustment? In preparing man to meet the conditions of life, Nature may be said to have endowed him with two methods of response which in their extreme form may be contrasted. Both of these modes of response find their basis in biological inheritance. The first shows itself in the development of a definitely specialized organic structure or in certain fixed ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATION 5 modes of response to particular stimulations of the en- vironment, while the second involves a system of response which is generalized in its character and not immediately serviceable to meet any specific condition. Under the process of living these generalized tendencies make possible all those adjustments which are necessary to meet the different aspects of an environment which is constantly changing. As illustrations of the first type of direct and fixed biological adaptations we may cite the circulatory, diges- tive, excretory, and reproductive systems. ‘These mech- anisms provided by heredity adapt the organism to meet certain aspects of the life-condition which are relatively unchanging from age to age. As an illustration of the second method of adaptation we may cite any of the processes of learning found in man. He is able to learn to use the hand and fingers for many and varied purposes, ranging from carrying food to the mouth to painting an elaborate canvas. He is enabled to make this wide range of adjustment because in his biological structure the mechanisms which control the movements of the arm, hand, and fingers are so flexible at birth as to permit a diversity of useful movements. Instead of the special- ization and fixity of response to which reference has just been made, there is a flexibility in action and modifiability of response which facilitate adaptation. Because man inherits a nervous system that is exceptionally plastic, he is the adaptable animal par excellence. Were man to inherit a very much richer repertoire of fixed responses, he might, without experience, be in a better position to meet the more immediate demands of his environment. But, since he would for that very reason lack the modifiability which is the foundation of all learning and progress, he would purchase this initial facility at a heavy price. 6 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION The fixed and abiding methods of reaction, which are the free gift of heredity, can only serve, therefore, to adjust the individual to certain elemental and immutable aspects of his existence. To the rapidly changing conditions of the ordinary environment this type of biological inheritance is totally incapable of providing the individual with adequate modes of response. If we are to understand the manner in which the human organism meets the complex and fleeting demands of life, attention must be focussed on that flexible part of the biological inheritance which is chiefly resident in the nervous system. The biological inheritance, exhibiting these two different aspects, may with obvious limitations be likened to a legacy received by a son from his father. A certain part of the inheritance is invested in fixed directions and, by the terms of the will, must always be devoted to these purposes, while the remainder of the property is in an unsettled form. This convertible portion of the inherit- ance, after it has been worked over, may then be applied in many and diverse ways. If we assume that the fixed portion provides merely the irreducible minimum for existence, obviously any growth or any entrance into new fields is dependent on the development of the remainder of the legacy which comes down in flexible form. The greater the amount of this adaptable inheritance, the greater is the chance for growth, and the larger is the opportunity to take advantage of any changes which conditions create. To the type of adaptation secured through these fixed modes of response the term “ biological adjustment ”’ has been applied; and to the other type, made possible by the flexibility of other portions of the biological inheritance, the term “educational adjustment” has been given. While all adjustment is clearly conditioned by the biological ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATION r inheritance, it is convenient to make this distinction be- tween the universal biological accommodations and the other forms of adaptation which are individual in their nature and are dependent on the experience and education to which each member of the race is subjected. If we are to understand the complex process of adaptation in its entirety, we must take into account the gradual enrich- ment over long periods of time of the biological inheritance, particularly as this enrichment proceeds in the direction of increased plasticity and the accumulation of those resources which facilitate educational adjustment. What is the scope of education? At this point the relation which exists between adjustment and education should be made more explicit. While many have restricted the connotation of the term “education” to those changes which are consciously made in the immature individual by society through the special institution of the school, such a restriction of the term is unwarrantable and in- defensible. Under education, used in its widest sense, must be included all those changes which from birth to death are wrought in the individual by the process of learning. Whether these changes take place in extreme infancy or old age, whether they occur in the home, in the school, or in the market-place, is a matter of no conse- quence — they are all essentially alike in form and must be included under the term “education.” It is only through the writings of a special group of individuals known as schoolmasters, possessing a false sense of values with reference to their own particular occupation, that the term “education” has been restricted to certain processes that take place in the limited environment of the school. In so far as any individual holds rigidly to this idea of education, he is in fact, as in name, a master of a school and not an educator. 8 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION How is adjustment a function of an organism seeking its own ends? As we have already noted, man is not merely a passive organism which adapts itself to certain external conditions; adaptation is more properly described as a process whereby the organism takes advantage of certain elements of its environment to further its own ends. ‘The individual endowed with certain native urges and drives, finding himself in an environment which is partly friendly and partly hostile, seeks to direct its forces towards the satisfaction of these cravings within himself. Group life, with its infinite ramifications and subtle rela- tionships, has evolved unconsciously and consciously a mode of existence whereby man can gratify his impulses in increasing measure. A progressive society seeks only within certain limits to make the individual member conform, but rather strives to make the nature of its organization such that scope will be given to the social and inventive powers of the individual. Considered from the more comprehensive point of view, the total process of adjustment and education may properly be regarded as a reaction between man and the environment which results in furnishing the conditions for his physical, intellectual, and moral growth. While common parlance speaks of the environment producing certain changes in the individual, interpreted too strictly this form of speech is in error. The environment can never produce an adjustment; adap- tation is always the act of the organism in response to a certain stimulation. While it is conditioned by the environ- ment, the initiative is always with the organism. Failure to make the adequate adjustment may always be traced to one of two causes: either the individual does not possess the necessary contributing mechanisms to consummate the adaptation, or else, given the necessary contributing mechanisms, the wrong combination of actions is elicited. ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATION 9 What is the range of educational adjustment? Adapta- tions may be of all degrees of complexity, ranging from the simplest form of physiological adjustment, typified by improvement in the sucking reactions of the infant, to intellectual adaptations which demand the highest form of consciousness. While many writers have sought to draw a sharp line of demarcation between the lower types of adjustment, which they have termed physical, and the higher types termed mental, it is extremely difficult to make such a distinction. We must merely note, at this time, that there are great differences mm the degree of complexity required for adjustments of various kinds. The highest form of mental adaptation must be regarded as having elements in common with the more simple types of adjustment at a purely physiological level. The scien- tist, attempting to solve an intricate intellectual problem, is engaging in an activity which, in many respects, is not essentially different from that occurring in some of the very elementary adaptive processes of childhood. How do biological and educational adjustment give continuity to life? Having shown the relationship between biological inheritance and the educational process, we must now view, as from a distance, the wide sweep of the vast process of adaptation taking place during the progress of the ages. With feverish haste each generation attempts to make those adjustments which are essential to its continuous life and growth. Each generation, starting with the plastic- ity characteristic of infancy, when subjected to the processes of a formal and informal education, undergoes certain changes which bring it into harmony with the more pressing aspects of its environment. Useful at the time of inception, these adaptations are rendered obsolete by continuous varia- tion in the environment; moreover, they inhibit the forma- tion of new habits and result in an old age which, on account 10 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION of its fixity of response, is incapable of meeting the changing scenes of life. At this time death draws the curtain and the veteran actors leave the stage. If this were all, the tale would have beentold. But the process of reproduction enables the play to continue, for at the time when the previous generation is losing its capacity for further growth a new generation arises, buoyant and impressionable, which, while capable of acquiring the ad- vantageous adaptations of the preceding generation, has still before it, owing to the non-transmission of acquired physiological characteristics, the possibilities of growth which its forebears have lost. Birth, education, repro- duction, death form the four acts of this life-drama. The infant, through a process of training, becomes the responsi- ble adult, who having reproduced himself in his offspring tarries sufficiently long to coach the new generation in its initial parts. When the stage is becoming full and the older actors are losing the mental and physical energy necessary to the later scenes, they are called away by the great prompter Death, and the play is carried forward by their erstwhile pupils. Unhampered by the weakness and conservatism of those who have been called, the younger performers carry on the drama until such time as they in their turn, losing their flexibility and resiliency, must make room on the stage for their children. This over- lapping of the successive generations, during which the process of education may take place, supplies to mankind a continuity of growth which is denied to each single gen- eration. What factors necessitate adjustment? Mention must still be made of the various factors which make adjustment necessary. Whenever the environment makes demands upon the individual which cannot be met by instinctive or habitual responses, the process of adjustment is condi- ADJUSTMENT AND EDUCATION il tioned. A consideration of the simple types of reaction of which the new-born infant is capable, and the com- plexity of the environment into which he is born, reveals the range of the adjustment which would be necessary even if the environment were static. But a static environ- ment is impossible; its very complexity works for changes which augment the demand for adaptation. In addition, certain changes within the individual which are partly the result of the environment, but largely due to internal processes, bring about the necessity for further adjust- ments. The development of the instincts and inborn capacities bring with them their imperative urges to new types of activity and new modes of response. Adjust- ment is a state that is never completely attained; it is a continuous process, made necessary by: (1) the complex- ity of the environment; (2) changes in the environment; (3) inner changes in the organism. While often defined in terms of adjustment, education should for scientific pur- poses be considered as a series of adjustments. The com- plexity of the environment and other factors that we have discussed make complete adaptation out of the question; only certain limited adjustments may be made. It is the obligation of society to ascertain the peculiar adjustments which are desirable for each particular individual, and, then, to discover the most economical methods of aiding this individual to bring these changes into effect. What is education? Looked at from this point of view, education, as a social process, is nothing more than an economical method of assisting an initially ill-adapted individual, during the short period of a single life, to cope with the ever-increasing complexities of the world. One thing is certain, either we must contrive to make education more effective, or else we must be satisfied with a simpler civilization. The biological equipment of the individual 12 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION —. cannot be altered; the life-period of man cannot be extended beyond threescore years and ten; the conditions of our natural and social life do not lend themselves to simpli- fication. These limitations create the necessity for more clearly conceived ideals of conscious effort in the service of education. To creative thought in this field the best minds of each age must be dedicated, for education is the parent and guardian of civilization. 10. ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION . How is adjustment exhibited in the realm of inanimate nature? How does this type of adjustment differ from that shown by living things? . What bearing has the evolutionary concept of adjustment on the at- tempt to formulate a final and fixed aim for the process of education? . What are the main distinctions between the process of adaptation as found in the animal and as found in man? . Why is the genius impelled to make so many more adjustments than the feeble-minded individual? How does the method of adjustment differ in these two extremes? . How would the process of adjustment be modified if the life-span of each member of the race were four times its present length? . What strong evidence is there for the statement that the adjustment process in the social and moral realm has not kept pace with the ad- vance in the adjustment in the material and scientific realm? . Show in detail how: (1) internal bodily changes, and (2) mental changes, bring about a condition of maladjustment. . Is the environment a stronger factor in controlling the nature of the adaptive forms in the case of the animal than in the case of man? . List all the environmental influences which work for the education of man in the savage state. Compare these with those now brought to bear on civilized man. In the case of man, how is education made necessary by the fact of reproduction? PROBLEM 2 WHAT PROPERTIES OF THE HUMAN ORGANISM MAKE EDUCATION POSSIBLE? How does reproduction necessitate educational adjustment? — How is education dependent on infancy? — What is man’s equipment for edu- cational adjustment? — How do individuals differ in this equipment? — How is behavior modified by experience? — What is the mechanism under- lying habit formation? — How is memory related to habit formation? — How do social impulses motivate adaptation? — How does the integration of habits complicate behavior? — What rdle does reflection play in adjust- ment? — How does integration culminate in personality? How does reproduction necessitate educational adjust- ment? In the discussion of the previous problem, mankind was shown to make its long-range adjustment, involving countless ages, through a process of reproduction which in each generation rejuvenates the race. On the other hand, the short-range adjustment made necessary through reproduction, takes place during the limited life-period of the individual; consequently the properties of the organism conditioning this process must now receive our attention. How is education dependent on infancy? We have seen how the immaturity of the new-born infant, involving a total incompetence in its unchanged form to meet even the simple requirements of its existence, makes necessary a lifetime process of adjustment. Stressing, as it does, the inadequacy of the initial equipment of the child, this is a negative way in which to regard infancy. Looked at from the standpoint of plasticity, it must be noted that the physiological factors which characterize infancy carry within themselves positive forces and powers which more than compensate for the inadequacy of the initial responses. The young chick, hastening from its prison shell, is far 14 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION better adapted to meet its limited environment than is the human infant. The former, inheriting certain fixed modes of useful response, becomes at once capable of a relatively independent existence; the latter, muling and puking in its nurse’s arms, is helpless and must be tended for many years. Nevertheless, hidden in the nervous system of the child are the possibilities of a far-reaching development denied the chick., In fact, the capacity for development seems to vary directly with the length of infancy; the longer this period and the greater the initial helplessness, the more the final achievement. ‘This helplessness, while not good in itself, serves to call forth a solicitude and tender care on the part of the parent and society, a care which in an advanced civilization may extend over twenty or more years, covering a third of the span of a well-rounded life. How is it that the child can derive benefit from such prolonged dependence? What properties of the human organism make possible such diverse and intricate adjust- ments? What is man’s equipment for educational adjustment? The answer to this question must be found in the human body, including the grosser structures of head, neck, arms, legs, and trunk, the tissues of bone, cartilage, blood, and flesh, and the functioning systems for respiration, circula- tion, digestion, excretion, secretion, reproduction, together with that marvelously intricate and delicate mechanism for coérdination and control to which the term “nervous system” is given. It is the unification in this intricate physiological structure, made possible through the continu- ous functioning of the higher mental processes, that per- mits the process of growth to be so far-reaching and pro- longed. | Regarded from the widest viewpoint the human body is PROPERTIES OF HUMAN ORGANISM 15 an exquisite mechanism which is adapted, on the one hand, to receive impressions and, on the other, to make certain internal and external reactions as a result of these impres- sions. To liken this human connection system to any invention of man, such as a vast telephone exchange, while possibly helpful to the student, is totally inade- quate to convey a conception of its complexity, its precision, and its vitality. For the most part, the grosser physical equipment is not markedly different from that of the higher animals; but a superficial examination of the nervous system of man shows an unusual degree of complexity resident in the higher nerve centers of the brain. Confining our at- tention chiefly to man, we may note four possessions of the human organism: (1) certain reflexes, instincts and original capacities with their corresponding wants, cravings and drives, many present at birth, and the others maturing more or less independently of external conditions; (2) an ac- tion system through the functioning and modification of which the equilibrium is maintained; (3) a sensitivity to a lack of adjustment, causing the individual to attempt to reéstablish equilibrium; (4) a power to retain impressions as a result of a physiological structure which registers the responses of the past and thereby changes the organism. Although this classification is somewhat arbitrary and forced, it is helpful in educational analysis. The sensi- tivity and the action system cannot, of course, be divorced from the instincts themselves; nor can the retentivity be considered apart from the action system. In the last analysis the only properties which the individual brings into the world are found in his reflexes, his instincts, and his inborn capacities. These, constituting his total action system, make him sensitive to lack of adjustment, and_ cause him to initiate a wide variety of responses from 16 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION | which permanent modifications of the action system result. With this word of caution in mind no misconcep- tion need arise from the use of this classification. How do individuals differ in this equipment? In the adaptive system of every child, by virtue of inheritance, these four possessions are found; but the qualitative and quantitative differences in each one of these properties varies greatly from individual to individual. At the one extreme is the master mind dominated by powerful drives and sensitive to the smallest maladjustment, possessing a nervous system which is capable of a rich variety of re- sponses and able to retain in a marked degree the impres- sions left by previous successful reactions; while, at the other, is the idiot, who, deficient in both instinctive drives and sensitivity, is equipped with an inadequate action system from which the effects of past experience are quickly erased. | How is behavior modified by experience? Starting with the four elementary properties of the organism just outlined, we may now trace that gradual process of develop- ment whereby the infant progresses from the stage of diffuse and ineffective response to that ordered and unified behavior which characterizes what is commonly called adult personal- ity. In this brief statement we can only point out the more important stages which mark the long journey from a help- less infancy to an adult competency. Whenever the child, driven by its inner urges and feelings, or disturbed by some change in the environment, finds itself in a state of malad- justment, certain reactions are made in an effort to reéstab- lish a condition of equilibrium. If these reactions are suc- cessful, the adjustment takes place and the path along which the discharge of nervous energy occurs suffers change. As a result there is facilitation of the same response to the same situation in the future. If, however, the initial PROPERTIES OF HUMAN ORGANISM i? reactions are unsuccessful, other types of response are tried until the organism either makes the adequate re- sponse or becomes exhausted through fatigue. Even in the case of the unsuccessful reaction, as is indicated by the reduced probability of the repetition of this response in the future, some trace is left in nervous tissue. But, confining ourselves to the successful reaction which eventuates from the process of trial and error, we must assume certain changes taking place in the nervous system which increase the likelihood that the successful response will recur on the return of the same or a similar situation. This whole process is illustrated by the infant which, ly- ing in its crib and impelled by the urge of hunger, makes a host of random movements, eventuating sooner or later in a lusty cry that attracts the nurse and brings relief. Day by day, thereafter, as the infant faces the ever-recurring problem of hunger, these random and unnecessary move- ments gradually fall away; there finally remains only that element which attracts attention —the cry. The process illustrated by the formation of this simple reaction is found in all higher types of human response. What is the mechanism underlying habit formation? To this alteration of the path of discharge, to this forma- tion within the organism of certain preferential associa- tions, to this memory trace of past experience, the name habit formation is given. Through habit all previous acquisitions of the system tend to be preserved to form a basis for the later acquisition of more complex forms of behavior. The phenomena of habit formation are dependent on the inherent property of the physiological structure to suffer change by experience and, at the same time, to preserve the new set that has been given. In other words, plasticity and retentivity are the essential factors in this fundamental process. Thus each new 18 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION method of response, growing out of the original responses and contributing to the total reaction system of the indi- vidual, is made available for yet higher forms of adjust- ment. The simpler habit systems are combined to form higher systems until the organism acquires a vast repertoire of habits which, by selection and coérdination, enable the individual to adjust himself to the more complex aspects of the environment. An example of the existence and co- ordinate functioning of such a repertoire may be observed in the debater who, while pursuing a line of rigorous thought, brings into service the extraordinarily \intricate mechan- isms of speech, the habits of bodily posture and equilibrium, and the acquisitions of appropriate gesture and delicate facial expression. To put it briefly, in making a most diffi- cult and complicated adjustment the trained speaker is able, through the use of countless habits and habit systems, to marshal forces that represent the results of years of practice and effort. How is memory related to habit formation? Habit for- mation clearly bears an intimate relation to memory; for the latter is merely a name for the phenomenon which re- veals itself when an acquired group of connections, which has been idle, manifests itself at a later time. In spite of many attempts to differentiate between these two types of activity, no useful purpose will be served at this time by stressing the distinction. Emphasis should rather be laid on the close similarity, if not the identity, of the two pro- cesses. ‘This is recognized even in common speech, since, in referring to the formation of the motor habits involved in some game, such as billiards, we speak of forgetting a certain shot; and since, after years of absence from the skating rink, we wonder to what degree the various move- ments involved in skating will be remembered. In just the same fashion with reference to language habits, ten years PROPERTIES OF HUMAN ORGANISM 19 after learning a piece of poetry, we are interested in the degree that the skill acquired at the initial learning has been retained. How do social impulses motivate adaptation? Before going further the reader must note that adaptations to the material environment, though fundamental, consume but a small part of the energy of man. The social instincts and tendencies which man inherits make him peculiarly sensi- tive to the actions and the thought of others, with the result that the more numerous adjustments which he is called upon to make are to the social aspects of his environment. To the powers which grow out of this inherent desire to pay attention to others, to seek the approval and avoid the dis- approval of ‘his fellows, man’s biological success must be ascribed. His sensitiveness to the social part of his en- vironment, his consciousness of kind, his capacity for work- Ing in co-operation with others like himself, his adapta- bility to the thought, feeling, and action of his associates, his willingness to submit, his desire to exploit — these so- cial traits give man his elevated and unique status. In so far as these powers are highly developed, the organism be- comes distinctively human; in so far as they are lacking, it degenerates to the animal level. On this capacity of the human organism to form social habits, a capacity conspicu- ously absent in any high degree in the lower animals, we must focus, if we are to understand man as an adaptive mechanism. How does the integration of habits complicate behavior? The alterations which are made in the action system by experience and which constitute our habits and memories, together with inborn differences, serve to differentiate one individual from another. As these alterations or changes in the individual become increasingly numerous, as higher and higher integrations of lower mechanisms take place, the 20 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION process of training and education proceeds. The skills, the information, and the character of the individual, however intricate these may seem in the adult, must be traced, on the physiological side, to the growth of these preferential paths of energy discharge. ‘Taking into account the initial complexity of the nervous system, combined with the al- most infinite capacity for registering changes resulting from the material and social contacts incident to living, it 1s not difficult to realize how intricate may become the final re- actions of the individual. If we assume at birth a highly en- dowed nature to whose physical wants the closest attention is given, and if we assume that this nature is submitted to a wise and rich home training, followed by a balanced and economical formal education in the school and university, rounded by a life of travel full of diverse experiences, how subtle may be the final product! How different are the re- actions of such an individual from those found in the ordi- nary man! How totally different from those found in the highest animal! What role does reflection play in adjustment? To under- stand the process of integration and unification which pro- duces this difference, attention must be concentrated on the higher mental processes of reflection. ‘To these processes must be ascribed the leading réle in the production of those types of behavior which are exclusively human. While it is a mistake to attribute the most complex forms of conduct to the working of some mysterious “self” or “ selective force ’ divorced from the rest of the reaction system, it seems equally fallacious to attempt to explain behavior, which is commonly attributed to thinking, choice, and pur- pose, wholly in terms of physiological mechanisms. We are not prepared to believe that thinking, the biological climax of a long period of selection, is nothing more than an unnecessary accompaniment of an elaborate interplay of PROPERTIES OF HUMAN ORGANISM 21 physiological forces. While recognizing the manner in which thinking is dependent on these physiological mechan- isms, we do not believe that the unification of behavior which it brings can be wholly explained in terms of physio- logical changes. While we may be forever in ignorance as to the relation that exists between mental and nervous pro- cesses, and as to the exact manner in which thought can affect action, this enigma must not cause us to overlook the fundamental part played by the higher thought processes in the determination of conduct. But this theoretical point we shall consider later; meanwhile it will be sufficient to regard the processes of thought and will, with their obvious selective functions, as being the highest means yet evolved of making adjustments to the more intricate aspects of the environment. How does integration ‘culminate in personality? From this discussion, even though the more delicate lines and tints are still lost in shadow, the bold outline of the integrated individual emerges. ‘This outline reveals a reaction system in which there is greater and greater complexity of nervous structure, In which the lower mechanisms are combined to form higher mechanisms, and in which these higher mechan- isms form the basis of still higher adjustments until, in re- flective conduct, the highest form of coérdination of be- havior is achieved. ‘To the individual exhibiting this last form of integration, with its vast range of possibilities, we have every right to ascribe personality ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What instinctive tendencies have you observed in children? Tlus- trate. How do you know these tendencies are instinctive? 2. How does the instinctive equipment of man resemble and differ from that of the dog? 3. How would you justify the statement that ‘‘all education is depend- ent on the instinctive equipment’’? 22 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION . What is the distinction between an instinctive action and an action which is the result of habit formation? . What habits are formed by man and domestic animals alike? What are the habits which distinguish man most completely from the animal? . What is the relationship between habit and what is commonly called memory? Why is memory so essential to adjustment? . Can man conduct elaborate trains of thought without language? What: is the relationship in the child between language habits and motor habits? . Why is there often a conflict between the “dictates of reason”’ and the “dictates of instinct?”’ . When does the child begin to think? . How does the phenomenon of the total eclipse of the sun differ in its meaning for the astronomer and his dog? Show further that every experience we undergo is relatively meaningless unless accompanied by the thought process. . How do the emotions help or hinder clear thinking? . What economy does thinking introduce into the process of adapta- tion? . In what sense are all men created equal? What is the distinction be- tween equality in the sight of the law and equality in native equip- ment? Can education “destroy”? physical, mental, and moral dif- ferences? PROBLEM 3 WHAT PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY MAKE EDUCATION NECESSARY? How universal is group life? — Why do men live in groups? — What is the survival value of group life? — What réle has the family played in the de- velopment of group life? — How does the growth of folkways make edu- cation necessary? — How may education at this level bar the way to progress? — How has the primitive group expanded? — What are the advantages of life in the Great Society? — Can man prosper in the Great Society? — Is man’s versatility adequate to the task? — Can education make man equal’to the task? How universal is group life? Group life is a universal characteristic of mankind. Into the group man is born, through it he acquires skills and knowledges, at its behest he learns the use of tools and processes, in its ranks he earns his daily bread, under its banners he marches forth to battle, with its members he learns to sing and dance and play, from it he receives religions and philosophies, and by it the last rites are said over his inanimate form. Mythology, it is true, tells us of a Romulus nursed and cared for through in- fancy by a she-wolf, fiction has created for us a Robinson Crusoe cast up on an uninhabited island, and an occasional individual voluntarily withdraws from human companion- ship to live a life of solitude; but such cases are either the product of imagination or so rare as to be quite unrepre- sentative of normal human behavior. ‘Throughout the long ages of man’s career upon the earth, and probably during many preceding ages, as the slowly evolving primate was assuming the human form, man and his progenitors have experienced more or less constant membership in the family, if not in some larger group. ‘To-day there is no race known 24 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION to the anthropologist whose members avoid social contacts and pursue a life of complete isolation. Why do men live in groups? Although the philosophers of earlier centuries speculated much upon the problem, the question as to why men live in groups is not difficult to an- swer to-day. If we confine ourselves to the situation as it presents itself in the modern age, the obvious reply to our query is that men live in social groups because they are born into them, and cannot very well get out of them. Another and more fundamental answer directs attention to that native equipment of the individual which was the sub- ject of analysis in the preceding discussion. Men live in groups because they are constituted as they are; for the same reason in fact that geese fly in flocks, and cattle run in herds. They participate in social life because they like it; and they like it because every member of the race possesses, as part of his original equipment, certain social tendencies which can only find their satisfaction in the contacts af- forded by a social environment. If it is denied him for a season, man actually hungers for human companionship. He continually derives satisfaction from securing the ap- proval and avoiding the disapproval of others, from assum- ing the leadership of others in group undertakings, and from following some dominating personality in the achievement of a desired social end. In and through the group the nature of the individual finds expression and develops into what is commonly called human personality. What is the survival value of group life? This tendency of man to be interested in his fellows and to seek their com- panionship has great utility. The advantages of group life in adjusting the individual and the race to the conditions of life are many and obvious. Any organism that develops a compact group life in which individuals work together for common ends has greater chances for survival than the PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY 25 organism that clings to modes of isolated living. The poet, the moralist, and the philosopher have all described and marveled at the truly extraordinary achievements of ants, wasps, and bees; achievements which may be traced directly to their remarkable powers of codperative endeavor. Many simple though heavy tasks, capable of being performed easily through the codperation of a few individuals, are utterly beyond the powers of a single member. When the task is one that requires various types of special talents, skills, and knowledges, there is an added advantage. Then individuals, following the line of aptitude and specializing in training and experience, may raise the general level of achievement far above the possibilities of that isolated indi- vidual effort which permits no specialization. When an organism possesses the property of learning from the ex- perience of others, group life becomes yet more significant and advantageous. Association then makes possible not only the pooling of native abilities for collective effort, but also the pooling and transferring of experiences from one individual to other members of the group. Furthermore, ' this pooling and transference of experiences through the instrument called language makes the effective group in- clude the dead as well as the living, and the dead in increas- ing measure as generations come and go. In a word, social life makes possible the discovery, accumulation, and utiliza- tion of an unlimited number of tools, skills, procedures, and appreciations through which the welfare of the race may be promoted. What role has the family played in the development of group life? There is one part of man’s life that is so essen- tial to an understanding of the origin of the group, and so central to the growth of human society, as to deserve expli- cit attention. We may say without exaggeration that the group has grown up around the infant and the phenomena 26 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION of reproduction. Wherever an animal species is perpetuated through sexual reproduction, forces are in operation which require in the process of mating at least the fleeting con- tacts of the sexes, even though the more extended process of courtship is absent. Likewise, among all those organ- isms which bring forth their young in a fully formed condi- tion, or incubate their eggs during the period of embryonic development, an intimate relationship of shorter or longer duration is established between the mother and the off- spring. If, at the time of birth, the organism is relatively helpless, this period of contact between mother and ofi- spring is lengthened beyond the time consumed in the ac- tual process of birth to cover the entire period of helpless- ness. With an occasional visit from the unhampered male, this group of two constitutes the beginning of genuine social life. As soon as this period of dependence exceeds the period of gestation a third member is automatically added to the group, and the ties which bind the father are drawn a trifle closer. In the case of man, this period of infancy is greatly lengthened, and there grows up about the mother and father a family of children. Here is the oppor- tunity for the development and elaboration of social tenden- cles. How does the growth of folkways make education neces-= sary? Asthis family group persists, as it becomes more per- manent, and eventually expands into the larger kinship groups of primitive times; and, as this group adjusts itself more fully to life situations, there is a gradual and constant accumulation of practices, customs, laws, and traditions. This accumulation widens the gulf which separates the in- fant from the adult. Through the efforts of the older mem- bers of the group these past achievements are conserved and transmitted to each succeeding generation. In considerable measure this is apparently a by-product of the endeavor of PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY 27 the elders to secure stability within the group and to main- tain their own supremacy. It must not be supposed that there is any large conscious recognition of the wider func- tions which stability serves, but rather, a natural resistance on their part to the modification of their own customs. They occupy a position of privilege in the group and their habits and dispositions constitute a vested interest. Thus, these ways of doing and thinking, these folkways, as they have been styled, gradually take on great authority and come to be regarded as wholly good, true, and final. Viewed from this standpoint, group life may be likened to an intricate game; those who are playing it are jealous of its rules; their habits and supremacy, as well as the immedi- ate success of the game, depend on a careful adherence to the code; and all beginners are required to learn and follow it. In this great social game of life the children are the be- ginners. In fact every individual is a complete stranger in the group into which he is born. He is ignorant of every rule; he knows neither its language nor its customs; and he possesses none of those skills on which the very existence of the group depends. He must become a full-fledged mem- . ber of the group; he must come to act and feel and think as its older members do; he must become a robust trustee into whose care all its possessions may be confidently committed. Since the renewal of social life is possible only through the induction of new members, unless he is able to sustain this difficult réle, the group perishes. As nothing is more cer- tain than the eventual death of each member, the education of the young in the customs of the group — in the ways of the folk — is absolutely essential to the stability and per- petuity of society. \ How may education at this level bar the way to progress? This demand for the acquisition of and conformity to the folkways is not however an unmixed blessing, for many of 28 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION the practices of the group are based on error and others are vicious. This dominant interest of the primitive group in conserving the achievements of the past 1s a powerful obsta- cle to the promotion of more comprehensive and delicate adjustments in the interests of future security. Returning to the analogy of the preceding paragraph, we may note that some of the rules of the game are not worthy of ob- servation, and that others need radical alteration. Con- servatism must therefore be balanced by some creative principle, if social stagnation is to be avoided. This principle of change is found in that non-conforming, restless and adventurous element which exists at least poten- tially in every group. This element is always on the look-out for inadequacies in the old methods of adjustment. More- over, while man possesses certain inborn social tendencies that require group life for their expression, he is at the same time only imperfectly equipped by nature for participation in such life. He brings with him powerful egoistic impulses that keep him in more or less constant conflict with the group. From the earliest times, therefore, by taking ad- vantage of crises precipitated by external changes, certain of the bolder individuals, chafing at the restraints put upon them by the vested interests, have occasionally challenged group customs and, gathering to their standard the like- minded and the dissatisfied, have effected substantial al- terations in the social order. How has the primitive group expanded? These two forces, the one conservative and the other creative, consti- tute the basis of all orderly social change. In primitive society the former played the dominant part, while in recent generations the latter has become increasingly active. As we look over the world to-day, we realize that the character and conditions of social life have undergone striking changes since the days when the first men, in search of food and PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY 29 shelter, wandered in loosely formed bands over the face of the earth. For countless ages man lived in small and isolated groups, composed of individuals brought together by the accidents of kinship and united by the bonds of frequent association. ‘Through the primitive and direct occupations of hunting and fishing these groups wrested a meager sub- sistence from the earth. By invention and discovery, the achievement of the daring and gifted individual, man was gradually able to supplement his own limited-action system by means of fire, tools, weapons, and machines, and such immaterial instruments as language, number, and moral codes. Through these achievements the power and range of human operations were greatly extended in both space and time. Because of this ability to invent and to utilize the results of invention man, a being of but moderate physical powers, is now able to move more rapidly than the swiftest of animals, to destroy with ease those savage and powerful beasts which struck terror into the hearts of his primitive ancestors, to live in relative comfort in arctic snows and under the tropic sun, to create new forms of animals and plants for either use or fancy, to move mountains and turn the course of rivers, to see further than the eagle and more minutely than the fly, to make his voice carry around the world and even to future generations. Accumulating at a constantly accelerating rate, this long series of inventions has given birth to a new world, a world unlike anything that has existed in the past. Measured in terms of travel and communication the earth has been greatly reduced in size, while, through more effective con- trol of the forces governing the food supply, its population kas been vastly augmented. Since ancient times the small kinship group, as the unit for human association, has given place to larger and larger societies. First, as an expansion of the family there came the large tribal organization, then 30 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION the city-state of the ancient world, followed in more recent times by the nation. But to-day human association refuses to recognize the boundaries of nations, with the result that a war arising from the immediate rivalries of two minor States becomes of world moment. Thus the smaller socie- ties in which man has lived in the past are being integrated into a great industrial and cultural society which knits the whole of mankind together in intimate association; a society which is now seeking in halting fashion to give itself political expression through a League of Nations. It is in this Great Society that modern man lives and moves and has his being, and it is to this Great Society that his nature must be attuned. What are the advantages of life in the Great Society? The benefits that accrue to the individual from this expan- sion of social life are many. Adjustment has been facili- tated and the satisfactions of life have been increased. Most of the advantages afforded by the small group are found in greater measure in the larger group. ‘The extraor- dinary advance in the control of the forces of nature has markedly improved the material basis of life. Greater specialization of function has been made possible. So far has this process of differentiation been carried that in some instances a whole people or region, because of its possession of certain natural advantages or gifts, specializes in the production of some useful commodity or cultural service. Other peoples or regions, specializing in other directions, make necessary the development of a complicated system of exchange and communication whereby the material and spiritual products of all are made generally accessible. A gigantic undertaking, like the construction of a Panama Canal, which would have been regarded as an extravagant and fantastic dream in a more primitive age, can now, in the course of a few years, be carried through to a successful end. PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY 31 Released from the necessity of bending their energies to the making of the more immediate and direct adjustments to life, individuals and peoples of special and superior talent can apply themselves to the study of those natural and social forces upon which man’s existence depends. Through an understanding of these forces a yet more complete adjust- ment to the environment is furthered. Man has already banished from the great society one of the three great scourges that in ancient times periodically decimated the race, namely, famine; he has greatly reduced the ravages of a second, disease; and he is seriously considering the early abolition of the third, war. If space permitted, this list of advantages could be indefinitely prolonged. Can man prosper in the Great Society? There is another side to the picture, however. Many thoughtful men to-day are wondering if these great societies of the present are not too large and complicated for the promotion of the genuine interests of mankind. Is man able to control the forces which he has unloosed on a primitive world? Has he not through his inventions opened a second Pandora’s box, _ more real than the first, out of which has come ills that will eventually work his own destruction? In our economic life there looms a bitter struggle between the different interests engaged in the production and the distribution of the fruits of codperative endeavor; and the conflict is further embit- tered by that differentiation and mechanization of the pro- ductive process which, by fostering the development of a highly unnatural life, creates a situation so artificial as to thwart the expression of powerful inborn tendencies. Be- cause of the impracticability and even impossibility of sustaining close contacts in the wide associations of the larger groups the relationships of individual to individual, of group to group, and of individual to group, have of neces- sity become largely impersonal. Man’s original social 32 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION nature was evolved under conditions of most intimate per- sonal relations, and it responds to situations arising in such a setting. We are disturbed again and again in our political life because the level of achievement of even a group of in- telligent, sincere, and public spirited legislators is too low to meet the needs of society. — This situation recalls the dictum of the Greek philosopher, who claimed that the extension of efficient democratic government was definitely limited by the number of persons who are able at one and the same time to come within the tange of a single human voice. While the miraculous de- velopment of the means of communication in the form of newspapers, telegraph, telephone, amplifiers, and radio makes necessary the revision of this early political notion, it serves to direct attention to the type of group life for which man is naturally fitted. This equipment seems yet more inadequate to meet the difficulties arising out of the relations of nations, races, and religious sects. Here, espe- cially, the process of adjustment halts. These relations seem to generate conflicts that in recent years have de- stroyed a goodly portion of civilization, and in the future may destroy it beyond redemption. The man of thought to-day holds up his hands in intellectual despair at the sight of two peoples engaging in deadly conflict, each thoroughly convinced that it fights in a righteous cause and for the ultimate welfare of mankind. Many of these difficulties may be traced to the fact that man’s biological inheritance was evolved to make adjustments to a much simpler en- vironment than that in which he finds himself at present. Equipped by nature to settle family squabbles, man now finds himself compelled to adjust the conflicts of nations. Is man’s versatility adequate to the task? While it is impossible to avoid such disquieting thoughts, one cannot help feeling that the general tone of pessimism current to-day PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY $8 comes from an undue emphasis upon what man is by origi- nal nature, rather than on what he may become through education. It may also be traced to the tendency to as- sume that this inborn equipment is relatively fixed in its expression, and that in general there is but one type of en- vironment to which it can be made to respond. Do not those who insist on the hopeless nature of the maladjust- ment which we see in the world to-day make the mistake of placing the emphasis on that part of the native endowment which insures stereotyped and unmodifiable responses, rather than on that portion composed of highly adjustable mechanisms which not only adapt the organism to changes in the environment but also enable the organism to modify the environment in its own interests? Through his own thought and labor the mighty inventions and the great societies have come into existence. By yet greater thought and more arduous labor man will find the means of controlling these children of his brain. Such isa legitimate educational faith. ‘Those who would sound the note of despair must admit that they know next to nothing regarding the absolute potentialities of this nature of man. If we turn from man’s primitive nature and with Hamlet exclaim, “ What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! ’’ — the more hopeful and equally human side of the picture is exhibited. If only man can be brought to use those higher powers, which he possesses and which are as real as the more primitive ones, for the solution of the very problems which his efforts have created, he can put his house in order. But to do this he must be prepared to turn his back on the folkways; he must rid himself of ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving which are not adapted.to the present conditions of his life. Can education make man equal to the task? The com- plex and intricate problems of a scientific, intellectual, and 34 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION social world cannot be met by an education which is not equally scientific, intellectual and social in its conception. The marvelous expansion of the material culture has not been accompanied by a corresponding expansion of the moral culture. Only through the latter may the former be made to serve the purposes of mankind. In our mastery of the forces of physical nature, thanks to the genius and de- votion of a relatively small number of men, we have made extraordinary advances during the last few centuries, and have developed skills and knowledges of endless variety, complexity, and usefulness; but advances and improve- ments of equal significance in the world of social relations have been notably lacking. To use a figure, the chariot of human destiny, which at one time rumbled slowly along its path, now, driven by vastly more powerful forces, is rushing along a road at such a pace as to invite disaster. In the slowly moving vehicle of primitive times man was quite at home, and a very mediocre level of horsemanship was sufficient to keep it on its course; but, as the power of its steeds has increased and as its pace has accelerated, the driver has been forced to carry heavier and heavier responsi- bilities. This he has been compelled to do with a native equipment but little changed and with a cultural equipment adapted to the simple tasks of the less strenuous past. To a carefully-planned and rigorous system of education, con- sciously conceived in the light of the need, society must turn, if man is to come into the possession of the skill, knowledge, and character commensurate with his great social responsi- bility. Is not the impasse in which the race finds itself to-day to be explained partly by the fact that an unanalyzed process of education is still imparting old habits which had their origin and justification in an environment of an earlier and simpler age? Owing toa social and intellectual inertia, are PROPERTIES OF SOCIETY - $5 we not still insisting that our children acquire adjustments which articulate with conditions that have passed from the earth? Under these circumstances is it any wonder that men are overwhelmed by the demands of the present social life? Moreover, universal formal education has been con- templated only in most recent times, and has never been thoroughly analyzed or adequately enforced. We must not fatalistically lament the limitations of human nature, as in ages past our ancestors bowed resignedly before the forces of physical nature. It is our bounden duty to set ourselves definitely to the task of utilizing more effectively the po- tentialities for good resident in our own capacities. What- ever may be the view as to the possibility of man’s controlling and guiding the vast social mechanisms which he has brought into existence, he is, perforce, driven to accept the challenge and engage in the heroic struggle. And this heroic struggle can only be carried to a successful issue by equip- ping him with an education which in its scope and thorough- ness matches the forces which must be controlled. ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Why do men live in groups? What are the advantages of group life? 2. Why is solitary confinement regarded as one of the most severe forms of punishment? 8. What truth is there in the statement that the child is anti-social? What human traits cause friction in society? 4, Why has the family been called the mother of society and of all social institutions? 5. How do you explain the increased power of successive generations in the light of our definite knowledge that man’s native equipment has changed but little since the days of savagery? 6. What is the relation of progress to social change? 7. How has society been transformed by great inventions in the realms of transportation, communication, and economic production? 8. In what respects has the growth of the Great Society increased both the demands and the possibilities for systematic education in the fields of: (a) health; (b) family life; (c) industry; (d) citizenship; (e) recreation; and (f) religion? 36 11. 12. PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION . Show how the impersonality and complexity of the Great Society have raised all but insoluble problems in the realms of industry, pclitics, and religion. . How do folkways come into existence? Are they good or evil? How are they changed? What are the advantages and disadvantages of imposing the folk- ways of one generation on the succeeding generation? It has been remarked that the folkways are the product of intelli- gence and at the same time the negation of intelligence. Explain this paradox. PROBLEM 4 WHY HAS SOCIETY ESTABLISHED THE SCHOOL TO PROMOTE EDUCATION? How universal is the process of education? — Why is informal education adequate in primitive society? — When did informal education become inadequate? — Why did formal education precede the school? — For what ends were the first formal educational agencies established? — How did the initiation ceremony foreshadow universal education? — How did the development of language affect education? — How has the growth of the Great Society made necessary a new and wider conception of education?— How has the formal educational agency become differentiated? — What advantages may the school environment possess over a chance environment? — What dangers commonly accompany the formal institution? — How may these dangers be mitigated? — What must be the foundations of a sound educational program? How universal is the process of education? As an indi- vidual process, education in its wider sense has existed since the appearance of the first organism possessing the property of learning. As a social process, education has existed since organisms possessing this property first associated in groups. Man has therefore experienced the process of education throughout his long career upon the earth. Wherever man reacts to some inadequacy in his environment, wherever man is subject to the influence of his fellows, the process of education advances. In a word, all living men are being educated. Depending on the operation of factors internal or external to the organism, here the process moves forward rapidly and there slowly. Why is informal education adequate in primitive society? During the early history of mankind, education was directed by no conscious purpose. As a by-product of living, each individual born into the world gradually acquired those forms of adjustment necessary in the relatively simple en- 38 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION vironment of his age. The young accompanied the parent as the latter moved about in search of edible roots or succu- lent berries, a wounded animal or a stranded fish. There were no highly specialized skills associated with the securing of food, nor were there complex processes involved in its preparation. Likewise, as with food, no specialized skills were demanded to satisfy the needs for shelter and clothing. Life was raw, simple, and direct. ‘The acquisitions of the race were not many, and the action-system was not greatly extended beyond that of the higher animals. The adults were not conscious of the process of teaching, and the young acquired the little there was to be learned as they at an early age sought food, shelter, and clothing to satisfy their own organic cravings. Unaware of the process, they learned from the older members of the group and from the harder school of individual experience. When did informal education become inadequate? As social life became more complex, as successive generations added to the stock of skills and ideas: as man learned to control fire and apply it to the satisfaction of his wants; to fabricate robes, coats, and shoes to shield himself from the winds and frosts of winter; to construct traps, knives, and spears to increase and stabilize the food-supply; to fashion pots, kettles, and baskets to be used in cooking and trans- portation; to use the rudiments of speech as the basic instru- ment of thought and social codperation, —as all these precious secrets were wrested one by one from nature, it became increasingly necessary for the adult members of the group to give explicit attention to the process of tuition lest some of the group-acquisitions be lost. When the first parent, with conscious intent, slowed up the productive process in order to facilitate and perfect the learning of the child, the beginnings of formal education were made. Edu- cation then became an end to which the more immediate THE SCHOOL 89 demands of existence were subordinated. Under these con- ditions there was no clear line of cleavage between incidental and formal education. As the boy accompanied his father on a hunting expedition, or as the girl took part with her mother in the dressing and curing of game, these two forms of education went on side by side or in alternation. Why did formal education precede the school? For ages the entire education of the young was gained through this participation in the life of the group. But during this period, without the assistance of any formal or specialized educational agency, the maturer members gave an ever in- creasing amount of attention and effort to the process of instruction. The conscious direction of learning greatly antedated the rise of the formal institution. ‘There is a law of social evolution that the worth of a function must be demonstrated through the services of an unspecialized agency before a specialized agency is brought into existence in the social order. Moreover, the beginnings of education may be traced back to that generalized and undifferentiated source of all institutions, the primitive family, which performed all the functions necessary to the maintenance of social life. With its limited membership this small group could not establish a special agency for the performance of any special function, since the only possible division of labor was that which fol- lowed the line of sex. Any further differentiation waited upon the expansion of the group; and expansion, in turn, was dependent on the development of a technique to in- crease the food supply. So long as the social group re~ mained small, however necessary the education of the immature may have appeared, it was quite impossible to devote the entire services of one of its few members to this special task. Such a differentiation of function would have involved the direction to this purpose of more of the energy 40 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION of the group than could well be spared. The force of this argument is apparent when we consider that, even in our own extraordinarily wealthy society, we find it a burden to dedicate the talents of but one in a hundred of our number exclusively to the enterprise of education. For what ends were the first formal educational agencies established? Probably the earliest manifestation of a formal educational agency with a conscious educational purpose centered around those individuals, of superior skill and knowledge, to whom the group had become accustomed to turn in times of crisis for its defense and perpetuation. A warrior or hunter of uncommon courage and skill was ex- pected to give instruction not only to his own sons, but also to the sons of his kinsmen; and the matron of exceptional proficiency in the arts of the home and peace was called upon to serve the group by giving its daughters tuition in the deft performance of those duties allotted to her sex. But it seems probable that the most systematic and thorough efforts at transmitting the acquisitions of the group to the younger generation grew up around religious belief and practice. Through this division of the social in- heritance, surprisingly elaborate and intricate even among the most primitive of peoples, man sought to determine the course of events in the world of sense by influencing through prayer, sacrifice, threat, or cajolery, the spirits and powers of an unseen world —a world which his primitive mind postulated as lying back of andcontrolling all the phenomena of nature. Here was a body of tradition that was looked upon as immeasurably precious, for it was thought to give control over those happenings, which though vital to group welfare, were not directly amenable to human influence. Through these practices they fondly thought to become masters of their own fate: to control the forces of life and death, to increase the number of their children and defer the THE SCHOOL 41 approach of age, to check the ravages of disease and pro- mote the blessings of health, to forestall the visits of famine and insure an abundance of food, to soften the rigors of winter and bring the warmth of spring, to determine the issue of battle and shape the ends of peace, and to give their souls safe convoy to a land of eternal bliss. Little wonder that this heritage, so freighted with power . over good and evil, was guarded with the most jealous care. Little wonder that there gradually evolved an order of spe- cialists whose sole business was to preserve this lore and, through its use, to promote the welfare of the group. In the hands of the specialist, whether priest, shaman, medicine- man, or magician, this body of tradition was gradually elab- orated and consequently became, in yet greaver measure, the unique possession of a class. This made necessary the formal organization of instruction about certain callings intimately associated with the life of the group. In one way or another, provision was made for the selection of promis- ing youth who, under the direct tuition of the elders, were trained to discharge this important and esoteric social func- tion. Out of this situation emerge the beginnings of pro- fessional training. How did the initiation ceremony foreshadow universal education? The earliest formal educational agencies affect- ing directly the entire membership of the group were in a sense complementary to those agencies which were pro- vided for the training of its leaders. Side by side with the development of the latter there appeared a considerable variety of ceremonies to which all the members of the group were submitted. Whether designed for the younger or older members, the great object of these ceremonies was social control. Certain of them, serving to initiate the youth into the fuller and wider life of the adult, were models of solemnity and were calculated to convey to the initiate 42 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION the impression that the authority of the group, the authority of its customs, and the authority of its leaders, were abso- lute and binding on all its members. ‘The entire proceed- ings bore a sanction that transcended the limits set by a single generation. Through feasting, fasting, fatigue, and elaborate ceremonial, and through appeal to supernatural sanction, the whole initiation was enveloped in an emo- tional mist that inhibited the process of thinking. Involv- ing but little intellectual content and no thorough mastery of any tools of knowledge, this special form of exoteric edu- cation was directed to moral and social ends. ‘Transmitting unchanged the inheritance of the group, this form of tuition stressed the great passive virtues of undivided loyalty and unswerving obedience. While a powerful conservative force in society, and necessary for group survival under the hard conditions of the time, it was undoubtedly a serious ob- stacle to change and progress. How did the development of language affect education? With the refinement of the mechanisms of speech, by means of which increasingly delicate shades of meaning could be conveyed from one individual to another, and with the ex- tension of the powers of speech through space and time by the invention of writing, the development of formal educa- tional agencies was greatly stimulated. No longer depend- ent for their transmission on oral speech, the traditions, laws, and customs of the group were worked into clay, stone, or papyrus, and thereby given a permanence and an inflexibility which were previously lacking. The variable elements of individual experience and the imperfection of transmission, so long as dependence on oral speech is com- plete, are certain to change both the form and the meaning, the letter and the spirit, of that which is handed down. But with the invention of writing, the dead hand of the past takes a firmer grip on the present and the written word THE SCHOOL 43 becomes sacred. The natural conservatism of a primitive race drives it to find’refuge in the thoughts, struggles, and achievements of past generations whose leaders become gods and humblest members demigods. Under these con- ditions education tends to become a worship of scripture, both error and truth are dressed in identical garb, and the folkways are hardened into a Medieval Europe or an His- toric China. In such a world may be observed the perfect and final expression of the spirit of the initiation ceremony of the savage tribe. The development of speech and writing, however, in- fluenced education in other ways. The integration of man- kind into those larger groups, in which great differentiation of structure and function is possible, was dependent on improved methods of recording and transmitting thought. The size of a group is definitely limited by the stage reached in the development of the means of communication. Ina very real sense the modern world is built upon writing and reading. ‘Thus, while the invention of writing was super- ficially conservative, seeming but to perpetuate the estab- lished order, it was fundamentally radical. Writing is the sine qua non for an enlarged social life, and ultimately the solvent of its own conservatism. This invention did much more than make possible the rigorous teaching and learning of the content of scripture; in time it made necessary the teaching of reading and writing. And, since these arts are not easily acquired, society was compelled to establish spe- cial agencies for the purpose of ensuring their acquisition. At first the social need was met by training a few spe- cialists to do all the reading and writing required by the group — to keep the records, to send and interpret messages, to make, transcribe, and decipher important documents. But even this limited use of written language promoted that widening of the group and that complex organization of the AA PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION political and economic life which in turn created an in- creased need for both reading and writing. This was a _potent factor fostering the growth of the formal educational agency. With the passage of time, civilization becomes so dependent on written language that every fully functioning member of society is forced to master the rudiments of the literary arts. The ordinary tasks of life come to require the acquisition of the elementary phases of reading, writing, and arithmetic. ‘Thus the school for the masses has naturally placed its great emphasis on the mastery of the tools of knowledge. And these arts have so placed their stamp on the school, and even on the idea of education, that to the uncritical mind to-day education is identified with literacy and book learning. How has the growth of the Great Society made necessary a new and wider conception of education? This narrow conception of education and of the function of the school is undergoing rapid modification in the modern world. It no longer meets the educational needs of social life. On an ever-increasing scale those very forces, which in primitive times created the initiation ceremony and in a later age the reading and writing school, continue in operation. The life of the group is renewed from generation to generation, but always on a more complicated pattern, always with an en- larged experience. Consequently the generation that re- quired only to be taught to read and write and figure has given place to one that must be introduced to the life of society In many of its aspects through the medium of a carefully prepared environment. Society has become a vast and intricate mechanism. At many points, its proper functioning requires the long and careful training of its members. The world of to-day is based not only on reading and writing and arithmetic, but also on a great body of tested THE SCHOOL Ad and refined experience regarding the working of the various forces which condition human existence. Man has evolved a method of studying this world which has created the ever- growing sciences of physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and sociology. From this body of refined and organized knowledge there flows to the race a constantly increasing number of benefits. In recent centuries man has learned that the world in which he lives is but a tiny speck in an un- measured universe, and not the major and central part of creation; he has discovered that the history of the world can be measured only in geologic ages, and not in generations of men; he has found that he lives in a world of law, and not in a world of caprice. To this new world, this large world, this complex world, the child, without expert guidance and merely as an incident to the satisfaction of his own wants, can no longer make his adjustments. Moreover, because of the development of the factory, the city, and the State, certain non-specialized educational agencies, such as the home, the community, and the church, which in the past have borne large educational burdens, are losing much of their vitality. And with the growth of our knowledge of psychology and with the clearer formulation of social ideals, attention has gradually come to focus on education as a means to the reconstruction of individual and social life. The school is thus gradually becoming a spe- cialized environment through which every individual must pass, if he is to render the largest service to his fellows and enjoy to the full the advantages of life in the Great Society. How has the formal educational agency become differ- entiated? We have now passed in brief review those forces working in human society which make necessary the estab- lishment of this specialized institution known as the school. We have seen how the perpetuation of the group has always required that the new generation be educated by the old, 46 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION © and how, as society has grown more complex and increased its acquisitions, the educational function has been gradually given over in increasing measure to this special agency. To the two-fold task of guarding the interests of the group and assisting the individual in his efforts to adjust himself to the environment this agency has been dedicated. So far has this development proceeded that to-day a school is associ- ated with almost every complex activity found in the life of society. There are the common schools, emphasizing the universal needs of men, to which all are admitted; there are differentiated schools for those following specialized oc- cupations — schools for cooks and clergymen, for farmers and teachers, for salesmen and nurses, and, according to a recent press dispatch, a school for burglars in one of our large cities. It has even been thought necessary in our colleges to give hours of theoretical instruction in some classroom far removed from the gridiron to the athletes who compose the football squad. In view of the rapid rise of these specialized educational agencies we may well consider the merits and demerits of formal education. What advantages may the school environment possess over a chance environment? The school is a specialized environment in which the child is placed. It cannot in the original sense create powers. At most the school serves as an instrument for the selective stimulation of the powers already inherent in the child. There are three primary ad- vantages of this environment of design over an environment of chance which have been suggested by Dewey. In the first place, at least for the earlier years of childhood, it is a simplified environment from which the more difficult and complex aspects of the adult world have been removed. The child, if introduced directly into the larger life of the Great Society, would be overwhelmed. This is true in some measure in even the simplest and most primitive societies. THE SCHOOL A” In the second place, it is a purified environment, from which the harsh and corrupt practices of social life have been ban- ished. There is much in any society, which certainly does not merit perpetuation. In the third place, it is a broad- ened environment through which the individual may derive perspective for evaluating and passing judgment on the af- fairs of his group. Into the school may be concentrated all the experiences of the race which history records, as well as the customs, knowledges, and ideals of the various peoples inhabiting the earth to-day. A fourth advantage, although a corollary of Dewey’s first principle, should be mentioned. The school is a graduated environment, which is consciously organized in such a way as to facilitate the process of adjust- ment. Since these activities are arranged in a graded series the individual is led, step by step, from the simple experi- ences of childhood to the complexities of adult life. Each of these features of the school has played an important part in securing the support of society. What dangers commonly accompany the formal institu- tion? But these advantages are apt to be accompanied by two dangers which always attend the development of a specialized institution, and which manifest themselves in full strength in the educational agency. In the first place, the school may become isolated from the rest of life, and lose touch with the world of men and things. Particularly, among social institutions, has the school tended to become highly artificial, so artificial indeed that at times it has not only failed to promote adjustment to the actual conditions of life but has even increased the difficulties attending the process. Taking place in a natural medium, incidental and informal education always manifests a genuineness and ex- hibits a directness that formal education so frequently lacks. While the latter may give the impression of an adventitious and external acquisition, the former is made an integral 48 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION part of one’s personality and tends to become second nature. In the second place, because of the resistance to change on the part of the vested interests within itself, the school may block the way of progress. The teacher, always taught in a school of an earlier generation, tends to per- petuate the knowledges and skills that he was taught; he opposes quite naturally any important change in either method of presentation or materials of instruction. Such a change is pernicious because it interferes with his routine, and even destroys a part of his working capital! Whenever society establishes an institution, it creates a structure that resists change, it gives a hostage to things as they are; and, while this institution at the time of its inception may repre- sent an advance over the past, it may also be an obstacle to further achievement. If its functioning requires a class of specialists whose security in the social order is contingent on its perpetuation, this reactionary tendency becomes especially pronounced. As Todd has remarked, throughout the history of education the school has never wholly on its own initiative introduced a single subject into the curri- culum. How may these dangers be mitigated? For these ills to which the formal educational agency is subject, no simple remedy has been discovered. Although their virulence and frequency of attack may be greatly reduced, they probably can never be wholly banished. The great desideratum, and all for which we may legitimately hope, is the maximum advantage and the minimum disadvantage attainable in a special agency. Artificiality, the basic evil of formal edu- cation, is amenable to treatment. ‘Those features of inci- dental and informal education, that are not indissolubly linked with the unspecialized environment, must be intro- duced into the school. Unless the child feels the genuine- THE SCHOOL 49 ness of the activity in which he engages, unless that activity is charged with meaning to him, unless it comes within the range of his life and interests, it is difficult to make the process truly educative. In so far as this vital element fails to be introduced into the work of the school the final outcome of its ministrations, however glibly its victims may repeat the formule of the classroom, can be nothing more than sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Only to the degree that the pupil enters wholeheartedly into the life of the school and reacts vigorously to its curriculum, will the aims of education be fulfilled. The second great evil towards which the school is in- clined, is that of making adjustments to the world of the dead rather than to the world of the living. Since the days of the initiation ceremony formal education has perpetuated the folkways. In them the group has always had supreme confidence, and through them the group has always exerted its authority. Two great attributes of the folkways are fixity and finality. In them therefore we see the negation of progress —a deep-seated mistrust of that process of continuous change upon which the advance of mankind depends. ‘These practices of course, have always contained much of worldly wisdom, but they are very imperfect and in constant need of revision. ‘They are foreign to the genius of education; they are far too rigid to render the highest service in the world of to-day. Our attitude towards them must undergo radical alteration. We need a new type of education — an education that recognizes frankly the temporary nature of all that is. Whatever may have been the conditions of primitive life, or of the life of the day before yesterday, we are certain that the world of the present is moving. We know of a surety that in another generation the conditions of human life on the earth will be greatly changed through an application of the logic of inventions 50 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION already made and of others certain to follow; but what the aspect of this new world will be in detail nobody knows, the guess of the stupid being only less trustworthy than that of the wise. The educator of to-day, as he faces this situation, could learn much from the ways of nature. She, having wrought into the organism certain fixed modes of response to life’s conditions and discovering the limitations of such a form of adaptation, may be said to have turned her attention to the much more difficult but fruitful task of creating an adjusta- ble mechanism capable of gradually working out adapta- tions to varied and changing situations. ‘The same meth- odology must be exhibited by that serviceable education which would adapt man to the world of to-morrow. In- stead of being perfectly adjusted to any particular en- vironment, his educational equipment should be made as flexible as possible. Rather than stress perfect adjustment, we should emphasize perfect adjustability. In the world of the future the individual will require many habits, but hab- its that serve rather than habits that govern. Thus, by placing trust in his extraordinary gift of intelligence, man will reverse the process of education in its beginnings, and, by bending his energies to the removal of obstacles blocking his progress, move forward to a happier world. What must be the foundations of a sound educational program? In the past the development of education has proceeded in response to the more immediate and pressing demands of the environment. As a rule the shaping of educational policy and institutions has not rested on a thorough consideration of educational needs. Society has usually provided for no more education than was required by the dictates of convention and the demands of powerful interests. In actual practice its possibilities as a great posi- tive social force have seldom been recognized. Our own THE SCHOOL 51 educational system, with its varied forms and activities, has grown up without design; in very large measure it is a pro- duct of the blind give and take of circumstance. Institu- tions which originated for one purpose have been turned to the achievement of others. At no time have we exhibited a strong educational consciousness; never have we vigorously and wholemindedly set ourselves to the task of bringing education into relation with modern life. But, if the school is to render that very exceptional service to society which lies latent within it to-day, this task must be undertaken. With- out delay we should seek the formulation of an educational program bold in its conception and humane in its outlook. This program must be based on patient study of the nature of the individual and of society. It should be so shaped as to take into strict account the forces which condi- tion the growth of the human organism from birth to ma- turity. Taking its departure from the inborn equipment of man, it must seek, in accordance with the laws of his devel- opment, to bring into being an individual educated to par- ticipate effectively and sympathetically in the social life of his time. This program must consequently reflect the so- cial situation in which man is placed to-day. We may ad- vantageously think of human activities as centering about six great interests — health, family, industry, citizenship, recreation, and religion. ‘Through a balanced participation in all of these six fields of activity the nature of the individ- ual finds fulfillment; and, through the gradual perfecting of these interests, the race moves onward. Hence an educa- tion that is related to life, an education that is life, must in- troduce man to these activities, for they are life. In the three remaining divisions of this volume we shall attempt a somewhat elaborate analysis of man and society, and then draw in broad outline the educational program suggested by this analysis. 52 15. 16. PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION . Hlastrate from your own experience powers socially acquired: (1) without any conscious attempt at teaching on the part of others; (2) through the efforts of others outside any formal educational agency; (3) through the instrumentality of the school. . Why is there an intimate relation between the growth of culture and the duration of education? Why would a twelve-year period of formal education have been an absurdity under primitive social conditions? . How has the steady growth of culture made increasingly necessary the education of specialists? . Why in modern society has education for leadership been supple- mented by some form of education for all? . Justify the statement that the process of formal education is the “initiation ceremony of the Great Society.”’ . How has the growth of culture been dependent on the development of oral and written speech? Show how this development has rendered inadequate the methods of incidental education. . Explain in detail the meaning of Dewey’s statement that the school is a simplified, a purified, and a broadened environment. . What in your own educational experience justifies the statement that the school is artificial in its methods and motivation, and conservative in its administration and influence? . On what grounds would you defend the introduction of any particular subject into the curriculum of the elementary school? . Why are the more advanced countries moving towards the goal of extending secondary education to all children? . What are the educational functions which the college, as a selective and formal agency, should perform? . Why from the earliest times has professional education made exacting demands on the formal agencies? Why has the number of profes- sional occupations been greatly increased during the last century? . How are the methods of education employed in the school superior to those used in incidental education? . Comment on the statement made by Bernard Shaw that “He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches.”’ Justify the statement of H. G. Wells that the teacher is the most important person in society. What may be said for and against the proposition that the State should support education by public taxation and control it through its representatives? PART TWO WHAT ARE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDA- TIONS OF EDUCATION ? Man owes the favored position which he occupies in the animal kingdom and in the world to his inheritance of a peculiar array of reflexes, instincts and capacities. These inborn tendencies, by making him extremely sensi- tive to small differences in environmental stimulation, cause him to lead a restless, inquisitive and creative existence. Due to the interplay of these inborn tendencies with environmental forces, habits eventuate which modify later behavior.» This modifiability conditions versatility. As behavior becomes dependent on the higher forms of habit integration involving the symbolism of language, the adaptive process termed thought or reflection is predominant. Adequate adjustment demands reaction to the more remote social implications of the situation, implications which can only be manifest to the thinker. As a result of habit formation and reflection in the countless experiences of life, man’s behavior becomes modified almost beyond the limits of recognition. Particularly the ap- proval and disapproval of his fellows mould his conduct to a social form. The results of these experiences are reflected in personality or character. Naturally so complicated an experience is liable to show abnormalities which manifest themselves in unbalanced or anti-social conduct. Effective guidance of the learning process requires a prolonged period of guardian- ship, in which the child is freed from the more pressing economic demands. Physiological infancy covers ten to fifteen years, but social infancy may in modern society cover a third of the span of life. The nature of the guid- ance and education given during this period is the outstanding problem of society, because upon education hangs the fate of civilization. This prob- lem is much complicated by the diverse activities and occupations of modern life, and by the great differences in original capacities possessed by men. ‘To adjust the multiform varieties of human talent to the multiform activities and opportunities of life, and by so doing to satisfy each indi- vidual and advance the common good, is the highest service each succeed- ing generation can render to the generation which it begets. An understanding of the psychological foundations of education requires the discussion of the following problems: Prostem 5. How 1s Epucation CONDITIONED BY ORIGINAL NATURE? ProsuteEM 6. How 1s EpucatTion ConDITIONED BY Haxsit ForRMATION? ProspLeM 7. How 1s EpucatTion CoNDITIONED BY LANGUAGE? Proptem 8. How 1s Epucation CoNDITIONED BY REFLECTION? ProsLtemM 9. How pores PERSONALITY EMERGE THROUGH EDUCATION? PrRoBLEM 10. How 1s EpucatTion CoNDITIONED BY PROLONGED GUARD- IANSHIP? ProspieM 11. How 1s EpucaTIon CONDITIONED BY INDIVIDUAL DIFFER- ENCES? PROBLEM 5 HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY ORIGINAL NATURE? How does man’s behavior reflect his inner drives? — How do these inborn tendencies differ in complexity? — Why is it so difficult to catalogue these inborn tendencies? — What common errors vitiate the ordinary classifica- tion? — What réle do the emotions play? — What is the relation of instinct to consciousness? — How may an instinct be described? — Why is it difficult to isolate the instinctive element in behavior? — What is the simplest picture of human motivation? — What factors complicate final behavior? — How is education conditioned by original nature? — How may the rdéle of instinct be overemphasized? How does man’s behavior reflect his inner drives? (Man spends all his days in a valiant struggle to satisfy his im- perious wants. On entering the world the first inner ten- sion is relieved by crying; he eats, drinks, fights, loves, mates, and thinks, to relieve other tensions; and on his death bed, in the act of blessing his family, he relieves a last tension. The play is meaningless unless interpreted in terms of desire, appetite, yearning, and passion.) To explain human action as an environmental moulding of a sluggish, inert, and passive individual is to misread the whole process. Only because man is so helpless at birth, and because so many of his powers are latent, has this strange idea found a foothold in the popular mind. Man’s nature is not to be compared with a mass of putty in th the hands of the } moulder. It has dynamic properties whereby it nypals itself; it is not like the elements of the inorganic world, “ kicked around ” by external forces. Rather is it to be likened to an explo- sive compound which, unless carefully handled and studied, is liable at any moment to dissipate itself and damage its surroundings. What are these inborn dynamic properties 56 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION which, under the stimulation of the material and social en- vironment, quicken, agitate, and make effervescent the process of living? What are the inborn dynamic properties of man? Were it possible to answer this question by saying that man in- herits eight or ten perfectly distinct tendencies to react, just as he inherits two separate kidneys, our problem would be simple. We should then be able to catalogue these tendencies and, allowing for the effect of experience upon them, interpret all behavior in terms of their action and re- action upon one another. While such a simple presentation works for clarity, it conveys such an erroneous conception of the original equipment that the student must be guarded against it. Unfortunately the picture of the human me- chanism that we shall be compelled to draw will lack both the brevity and simplicity of this false teaching. Man is born into the world with a definite physiological structure. This structure contains mechanisms which cause him to make certain responses when he is submitted to various situations.) To these sets of structure, with their corresponding functional possibilities, the terms reflex and instinct have been applied. The colorless phrase — a set of the structure — gives a much truer account of the nature of the instinct than do the statements of many authors who write almost as though the instincts were disembodied forces which, by some miracle, control the behavior. Instincts only exist when some one is attending, feeling, or acting in a specific situation. The instingt.is the behavior. The ani- mistic terms we are bound to apply must not lead the reader away from this important point — the behavior is not in scientific literalness caused by the instinct; to postulate an instinct is only a convenient way of saying that here is a cer- tain set of structure, which, when stimulated, produces a certain type of behavior. (On account of these mechanisms ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 57 man will become hungry and cry for food, he will spit out any acid substance that is put into the mouth, he will regis- ter fear when suddenly dropped, anger when tightly held, he will utter strange sounds, he will seek the company of others, he will at a certain stage of his growth exhibit characteristic sex behavior, and so we might continue the list of typical activities. ) How do these inborn tendencies further adjustment? There can be no question that these responses to stimula- tion of the environment and to stimulation from inside the organism itself, by relieving tensions which arise in the body, serve in general to ee the life process. Only be- cause man is endowe ountless which are capable aes modified by Ce oeeane to adjust himself to hisenvironment. To a consideration of SMEAR EH I demas nL TE Da ROE these fundamental mechanisms attention must now be directed. | How do these inborn tendencies differ in complexity? A cursory examination of the behavior of a young child reveals the fact that there are great differences in the number and complexity of the mechanisms which contribute to various characteristic types of action. Starting with a very simple type, such as that found in the closing of the eye on the near approach of an object, we may note that the minor mechan- isms which contribute to such a response are relatively few in number and fixed in manner of operation. Such a com- bination of mechanisms is called a reflex. In a less simple type of behavior, such as that shown by a young child when made thoroughly angry, many more minor mechanisms are required to bring about the response, and this response is not so fixed as that found in reflex action. Tosucha group- ing of Jnechanisms which, when Balecustelyh stimulated, nee 58 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION Instinct, rigorously defined, is a complex response de- termined wholly by inherited structure. As such a descrip- tion of the reflex and instinct clearly shows, there is no sharp line of demarcation which divides the two. The reflex involves but comparatively few mechanisms, while the in- stinct requires the functioning and integrating of a large number of smaller reaction units. ‘These response integra- tions are dependent on an inherited pattern in the reaction system which serves as the physiological basis of the instinct. Under appropriate stimulation the instinct reveals itself: in a series of activities which, in their manifestation, follow a definite order. The nature and order of these activities are independent of experience. In the language of McDou- gall, the presence of the instinct causes the individual, with- out training, to attend to certain objects of the environment, to feel in a certain way towards these objects, and to react to them in a characteristic manner. It is the presence of the instinct that lowers the threshold of stimulation. To at- tempt to explain why the child becomes angry when tightly held is as stupid as it is futile to wonder why the dog is so violent in his reactions to the rat and so apathetic to the frog. The answer to both of these questions must be found in certain hereditary pattern reactions. Why is it so difficult to catalogue these inborn tenden- cies? That man inherits a repertoire of reflexes and in- stincts, and that all his future powers evolve from modifi- cations and elaborations of this repertoire, every one in practice agrees. But as to the exact cataloguing of this repertoire there is the greatest difference of opinion. To see how inevitable is this disagreement as to what constitutes the instinctive equipment of man is not difficult. As we have already stated, the body is the seat of a host of reaction mechanisms. An infinite mind studying human behavior would clearly recognize and definitely label each one of these ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 59 behavior-patterns. Such a mind, because of its ability to grasp each of these mechanisms separately and in its rela- tions, would not have to resort, as the finite mind must, to the expedient of grouping certain of these reaction units together and attaching definite names to these somewhat arbitrary arrangements. ‘There would be no need, except in the interests of economy, to speak of the instinct of flight, the instinct of fighting, the instinct of curiosity, etc., for these tendencies would be thought of in terms of the be- havior-units from which they are built. What common errors vitiate the ordinary classification? If this were possible, the two following errors would be avoided which at the present moment are made by many educational and social psychologists: (1) The error of regarding the instinct as a definite iso- lated entity, and not as an arbitrary grouping of certain forms of reaction; and (2) The error of supposing that many forms of behavior are manifestations of the instinct in its unmodified form, while, in reality the behavior is partly the re- sult of habit formation. The first error is exhibited by the psychologists who, disre- garding the fact that only to arbitrary groupings of mechan- isms, resulting in certain general forms of behavior, may the terms flight, repulsion, curiosity, etc., be assigned, furnish a perfectly definite and final list of supposedly easily isolated instincts. Thus each writer furnishes a very different list of what he is pleased to term the fundamental instincts of man. This simple and obvious fact accounts for the wide dis- crepancies in the lists furnished by various authors. One will explain behavior on the basis of three wide instincts, such as sex, herd, and self, while another will furnish a list covering a number of pages. Both are viewing the same mechanism, and their analyses are both made in the attempt 60 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ~ to classify human conduct; one has made a very general analysis of the behavior machine, while the other has em- barked on a description of the smaller contributing mechan- isms. How detailed, then, should the analysis be? Convenience and the specific purpose for which the analysis is being made must determine the answer. The analysis must not be so general as to furnish an inadequate basis for an understand- ing of the complexity of original behavior; on the other hand, it must not be so detailed as to hamper the explana- tory process. It is as absurd to describe man’s original be- havior in terms of a single instinct of sex as to explain it in terms of the interaction of a thousand tendencies. There is a happy mean and, for convenience of thought, this mean should veer in the direction of a list of tendencies sufficiently few in number to make each one fairly inclusive in its scope. The second error is so universal that it has made the term instinct one of the loosest in psychological literature. In the study of all save the youngest children it is impossible to say just what is original and what is acquired in any re- sponse. Instinct is, when used strictly, a most definite con- cept. Rigidly defined, it is a tendency, apart from all train- ing, to attend to certain objects, to feel in a certain way towards these objects, and to act in a characteristic manner towards them. The difficulty resides in the statement “apart from all training.”” A child cannot be brought up an vacuo, and so there is room for endless and fruitless dis- cussion as to whether a particular reaction observed at any time is original, or a slight modification of original tenden- cles. How may these tendencies be conveniently classified? We shall avoid both errors by the following statement. With the minimum of stimulation afforded by the simplest environment, every individual will exhibit, in varying de- ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 61 grees, behavior-phenomena indicative of tendencies ! which may roughly and arbitrarily be classified as follows: TENDENCIES ACCOMPANYING EMOTIONAL STATES To fight Anger To flee, or be paralyzed Fear To mate Lust To be self-assertive Arrogance To be submissive Humility To be curious Wonder To be repulsed Disgust To cherish Tenderness To seek the company of others Sociability Because this classification is designed to form the basis of an understand- ing of complex conduct, it does not include excretion, such tendencies as those accompanying the simpler organic processes of breathing, seeking food, drink, warmth, etc.; nor is mention made of the tendencies to vocalize which manifest themselves as part of so many of the other tendencies, and from which evolve the delicate language mechanisms upon which com- munication of thought and thought itself become so intimately dependent. No one is in a position to state, with ref any—of these forms of behavior, what precisely is the contributicn of of origin imal nature a and what has been n_ superimposed | by the experience of the ind ial. Nor can this debatable point be settled here; it is sufficient to call attention to the fact that there are groups of mechanisms corresponding to each one of these tendencies which are called forth by the appro- priate internal or external stimulus. These tendencies, when each is interpreted widely, furnish a list which is rea- sonably useful in classifying human behavior. What réle do the emotions play? So far, merely a passing 1The descriptive terms covering these tendencies, and particularly the emotional states, are extremely vague and misleading unless the reader realizes that they are taken ready-made from a language which has read into each a wealth of meaning and intellectual significance which is neces- sarily absent in the term as used of an original or “near-original”’ tendency. J 62 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION mention has been made of the emotional state which ac- companies the stimulation of these tendencies. We have called attention to the fact that a particular tendency not only causes the individual to pay attention to a particular type of stimulation, and to make certain observable reac- tions as a result of this stimulation, but, we have also stated that a characteristic feeling accompanies the process. These emotions are to be traced to sensations aroused by the bodily changes which follow directly upon the stimula- tion. Thus, when an individual is aroused to a state of an- ger, within the organism certain visceral tensions are set up and particular glandular secretions are called forth. These changes serve to brace the organism for the conflict. To the sensations which accompany these bodily changes the strong and characteristic feelings of anger must be traced. Furthermore these tensions, with their corresponding ele- ments In consciousness, serve to carry on the activity and to impart to it its specific drive. Were it not for these peculiar emotional disturbances life, if possible at all, would be lived or rather endured on a vegetative level. Man might derive benefit from the absence of certain harmful feelings attend- ing the arousal of fear and anger, but he would lose the joys and thrills which accompany the satisfaction of other tend- encies. ‘These emotional disturbances furnish the drive and serve as the motivation of the elaborate life-long process of habit formation upon which learning depends. In fact the chief function served by these tendencies in promoting ad- justment to a complex environment is to initiate activities which, through conflict, lead to new forms of behavior. How differentiated is emotional reaction? Whether the majority of these tendencies carry with them their own unique emotional state is a matter of dispute. We realize that when fighting we are angry, when fleeing we are afraid, when caressing and fondling we are experiencing tender ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 63 feelings, when mating we are moved by lust, etc. While certain of these emotional states have been carefully studied, our knowledge is very fragmentary and does not permit us to assume that each one of these tendencies has its own peculiar and separateemotional accompaniment. The work of Cannon and Watson would suggest that there are but few fundamental emotional reactions, prominent among which are love, rage, and fear. These, presumably, are com- pounded together in various proportions to form the particu- lar emotional state which the individual experiences when stimulated. What is the relation of instinct to consciousness? Hay- ing considered the emotional accompaniment of the excita- tion of an instinct, we should mention in passing the dispute that has arisen concerning the relation of consciousness to the instinctive process. This dispute is due to the twofold manner in which the term consciousness has been inter- preted. The instinctive process is certainly not conscious, if by this term we mean that the individual clearly antici- pates, when the behavior-pattern is first stimulated, the na- ture of the end or outcome of the act. On the other hand, it is distinctly conscious in the sense that there is a keen aware- ness of certain stimulation, and of the movements involved in the course of the instinctive action. In fact it may be said that consciousness is at its height at those times when certain of the more intense instincts are aroused. How may an instinct be described? ‘Jo return to the main issue, each one of these tendencies that we have listed impels its possessor to make certain characteristic responses to certain fairly definite types of internal and external stimu- lation, and it also impels him to make aggressive search for stimulation. In illustration of the former a few of the typi- cal situations and the characteristic responses which are connected with the manifestation of fear may be cited. G4 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION That the infant reacts to the situation created by “ being suddenly dropped,” or subjected to a “loud noise,” with many of the usual signs of fear is a well-established fact. Such a careful writer as Thorndike claims that “on the whole it seems likely that an unlearned tendency exists to respond by the physical and mental condition known as fear to the situation, thunder-storm, reptiles, large animal approaching one, certain vermin, darkness, and strange persons of unfriendly mien.” The more observable re- sponses in the case of this instinct are numerous, including running to cover, clutching, clinging, nestling, remaining stock still, being semi-paralyzed, falling down, raising the eyebrows, sweating, manifesting diminished action of the salivary glands, exhibiting erection of the hair, etc. Simi- larly each one of the other tendencies could be analyzed in terms of situations and responses. For such an account the student is referred to one of the standard text-books of psychology. Why is it difficult to isolate the instinctive element in behavior? Careful study of the situations and the responses which are listed by most authors as characteristic of any particular instinct raises the question to which reference has already been made. Is not the potency of a large number of these situations to be ascribed to the effects of experience? Is their potency not to be traced to acquired reaction- patterns rather than to truly original tendencies? Watson’s recent work on very young children seems to suggest that but few original situations are liable to cause fear, and that we must attribute the long list of supposedly original ex- citants of fear to the effects of learning and not to original nature. Just as the adult learns to be afraid of the dentist’s chair, so the child, under an environment which cannot fail to provide the adequate situations, learns to be afraid of animals, darkness, and crawling insects. In fact, owing to ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 65 the ready manner in which the individual learns, it is almost impossible to decide what is truly instinctive behavior. Un- less the particular reaction is observed on its first appear- ance and under conditions controlled with extreme care, when seen at a later time, it is already changed by experi- ence and has ceased to be truly instinctive in its nature. Most of the instincts about which the social and educational psychologists write, and to which they trace the motivation of human conduct, are not unalloyed instincts at all, but rather behavior-patterns created out of the original patterns by the effects of a simple environment — an environment so necessary to life that it may be regarded as being approxi- mately uniform for all individuals. To such combinations, which grow out of thé original instinct even in the simplest environments, the term “instinct-habit consolidation” has been aptly given. From many points of view it is of little practical concern whether a particular phase of behavior can be traced to the purely instinctive fear-mechanism or to the instinct-habit-fear consolidation. Certain it is that, at the age of five or six, most children will be afraid of other than original excitants of fear. ‘These instinct-habit consolida- tions, which appear to grow with the minimum stimulation out of the original instinct may, when they are once formed, be regarded as the raw material of education and be treated almost as if they were inborn. What is the simplest picture of human motivation? Bear- ing in mind the facts that we have just stated, we may now focus attention on the simple picture of the original equip- ment to which reference was made at the opening of the discussion. We may now, without fear of great error, con- ceive of man as possessing, and being driven through the stimulation of, the tendencies which we have listed as well as through other tendencies which escape the broad classifica- tion supplied by our list. Given the adequate situation, 66 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION these tendencies not only carry the mechanism for their arousal, but also the necessary energy or drive to keep them in operation. What factors complicate final behavior? The complexity / of man’s final behavior must be traced to three causes: (1) The large number of tendencies to action; (2) The modification through habit formation of these. separate tendencies from the standpoint of the situa- tion calling them forth, as well as from the standpoint a of the overt responses accompanying their excitation; (3) The interaction of these tendencies, due to an en- vironmental stimulation which is usually so complex as to call forth, at any particular time, many of these tendencies. At all times, in considering human behavior, it should be remembered that even under a narrow stimulation the whole organism reacts. Convenience necessitates isolation for purposes of thought, but the unity of the organism must never be forgotten. How does the process of modification take place? On account of certain instinctive tendencies man will, wholly without training, be made violently afraid by sudden and loud noises; he will exhibit curiosity in a brightly colored: object that is dangled before him; he will when roused fight in random fashion with his arms and legs. With a minimum of training he will show his fear of darkness and animals; he will direct his curiosity to all kinds of pictures; and he will readily learn to defend himself and attack others with an orderly system of arm-and-fist movements. If he is edu- cated carefully, he may be taught to be afraid of attractive and sparkling waters the purity of which is unknown; his. attention may be directed to a tedious and laborious re- search; and he may learn to fight his deadly enemy with the refined instruments of rhetoric and the slow process of the ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 67 law. Only as initially we can use the drive attaching to these original tendencies, and later as we can use the drive attached to acquired tendencies which have evolved from the original ones, can we train and educate the individual. How is education conditioned by original nature? Though the instinctive basis of his conduct becomes in- creasingly less and less obvious as habit formation and in- telligence modify and direct its original modes of expression, human life is permeated through and through with instine- tive action. ‘This instinctive equipment, regarded by cer- tain stern moralists as essentially bad, viewed by certain irresponsible lovers of liberty as essentially good, furnishes the only groundwork for the process of training and educa- tion. To eradicate these innate tendencies is no more pos- sible than to allow them an uncharted liberty. Any system of education or morals is certain to fail unless it recognizes these inextinguishable forces. By adapting its methods it must exercise, curb, modify, and harness them for the achievement of its purposes. “The common problem, yours, mine, everyone’s, Is not to fancy what were fair in life, Provided it could be— but, finding first What may be, then find how to make it fair Up to our means—a very different thing.” To spend time evaluating the equipment is futile; whether we like it or not, this equipment is the raw material of the _ educative process. Because of the similarity among all men of this original equipment, the behavior of diverse races and peoples remains much the same. As Bryce, in his Modern Democracies, has said: 4 There is in the phenomena of human society one ‘‘Constant,” ‘one element or factor which is practically always the same, and 1 Bryce, James: Modern Democracies, vol. 1, p. 94. 68 ~ PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION therefore the basis of all the so-called “‘Social Sciences.” This is Human Nature itself. All fairly normal men have like passions and desires. They are stirred by like motives, they think upon similar lines. When they have reached the stage of civilization in which arts and letters have developed, and political institutions have grown up, reason has become so far the guide of conduct, that sequences in their action can be established and their be- havior under given conditions can to some extent be foretold. Human nature is that basic and ever-present element in the end- less flux of social and political phenomena which enables general principles to be determined. And though the action of individual men may often be doubtful, the action of a hundred or a thousand men all subjected to the same influences at the same time may be much more predictable, because in a large number the idiosyn- crasies of individuals are likely to be eliminated or evened out. The great institutions, such as the family, the church, the ], and the theater exist to gi > givg-economical and social expression to the instincts of man. While the more primi- tive of these must be rigorously curbed, repression as a method of social control is only tolerable in so far as it is the necessary accompaniment of a more adequate and satisfying type of expression. Re-direction of native impulses rather than repression is, as a rule, the wiser policy. Allowing for this process of modification we may say with McDougall: ! / that directly or indirectly the instincts are the prime movers | of all human activity; by the impulsive force of some instinct, \. or of some habit derived (either directly or remotely) from an 7 instinct, every bodily activity is both initiated and carried along towards its end. The instinctive impulses determine the ends of all activity and supply the driving power by which these ends are itt attained. Education can build only o1 on the original equipment. Using the inheritedtenden ncies, ies, it must teach the individual to react o ) many situations t to which nature p » prov vides | no TORII EE a A) PRO nce anne ETN 1 McDougall, William: Social Psychology, p. 44. ORIGINAL NATURE AND EDUCATION 69 adequate response; it must teach him to make many com- plicated responses which in combined form are not present in the original repertoire of reactions; it must teach him to find satisfaction in a multitude of activities which make no direct emotional appeal to primitive man. It is because the individual inherits such a marvelous modifiability as an essential property of his instinctive system that the be- havior of civilized man is so different in different environ- ments and always so far removed from that of the savage. How may the role of instinct be overemphasized? Dewey, considering the relative social significance of instinct and habit, while admitting the importance of the former, em- phasizes the opposite point of view from Bryce when he calls attention to thé fact that the modes through which original nature expresses itself may follow the most diverse patterns. Hesays:! At some place on the globe, at some time, every kind of practice seems to have been tolerated or even praised. How is the tre- mendous diversity of institutions, including moral codes, to be accounted for? ‘The native stock of instincts is practically the same everywhere. Exaggerate as much as we like the native differences of Patagonians and Greeks, Sioux Indians and Hin- doos, Bushmen and Chinese, their original differences will bear no comparison to the amount of difference found in custom and cul- ture. Since such a diversity cannot be attributed to an original identity, the development of native impulse must be stated in terms of acquired habits, not the growth of customs in terms of instincts. Such considerations as these are often overlooked in naive attempts to reduce social behavior to the direct mani- festation of instincts. At the risk of being misunderstood, we may say, original nature determines the animal, but habit formation creates man. To this question of the modi- fication of original nature by habit we must now turn. 1 Dewey, John: Human Nature and Conduct, p. 91. 70 10. th. 12: PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION . Why is it impossible to draw a sharp line of distinction between reflex action and instinctive action? . What is the physiological basis of instinct? How can an instinct be regarded as a mechanism? . Why have students of human nature abandoned the old practice of explaining conduct in terms of ‘‘an instinct of self preservation?” What type of instinctive behavior could not be classified under this broad category? . Why is it more consistent with the mechanistic conception of behav- ior to speak of “tendencies to fight,’ rather than a single “tendency to fight’’? . What original tendencies in modified form are obviously expressed or repressed in the following occupations? (1) Physician; (2) the parent; (3) the capitalist; (4) the common laborer; (5) the labor agitator; (6) the miser; (7) the philanthropist; (8) the sister of mercy; (9) the scientist; (10) the gambler; (11) the politician; (12) the private sol- dier; (13) the general; (14) the explorer; (15) the statesman; (16) the stamp collector; (17) the professional pugilist; (18) the amateur sports- man; (19) the executioner; (20) the priest; (21) the ascetic; (22) the libertine; (23) the teacher; (24) the grade pupil; (25) the research student. . What justification is there for the statement that modern civilization demands the eradication of many of the instinctive tendencies? In the absence of war, what outlet would be provided for those tendencies which war calls forth? . What happens when an instinctive tendency is thwarted? . Why, under the old-fashioned type of rigorous education, was it easy to gain the idea that the child was “‘sluggish, inert, and passive? How does modern education recognize the inner properties of the child? . In a high school, what instinctive tendencies in modified form are involved in the following situations? (1) The giving and receiving of marks and grades; (2) the promotion of students; (3) co-education; (4) the disciplining of students; (5) the study of civics; (6) secret societies; (7) participation in athletics; (8) dancing parties; (2) truancy. Why is it extremely difficult to distinguish between action which is purely instinctive, and action which is a combination of instinct and habit? How do you reconcile the position of Bryce and Dewey as stated in the text? How can modern society, in the interests of human happiness en-_ courage the expression of the creative rather than the acquisitive tendencies? PROBLEM 6 HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY HABIT FORMATION? How does the behavior of civilized man differ from that of the savage? — What is the widest conception of habit? — How do original tendencies function in habit formation? — How does trial and error function in habit formation? — How do old habits function in the formation of new habit systems? — What forces resist the formation of new habits? — How do habit systems integrate? — How does the external situation function in habit formation? — What general rules should contro] habit formation? — What are the ethical implications of habit formation? — How do lan- guage habits refine behavior? How does the behavior of civilized man differ from that of the savage? Each generation witnesses the transforma- tion of a potential savage into a responsible citizen. Only the frequency of this process blinds us to the miracle. The problem with which we are now concerned is, What is the nature of this process which modifies, almost beyond the limits of recognition, the original behavior of man? An- swering this question in the broadest fashion we may say that: (1) The responses of the cultured to any particular situa- tion vary markedly from those of the untrained in- dividual. (2) The cultured man reacts to and finds significant many situations which to the untrained are virtually non- existent. The untutored is as incapable of understanding the studied restraint of the cultivated man when angry, as he is mystified by the absorbed attention which a few hiero- glyphics on a piece of parchment can command in the per- son of literary habits. In the words of Plato: “ Man, if he 12 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION enjoys a right education and a happy endowment, becomes the most divine and civilized of all living beings; but he is the most savage of all the products of the earth if he is inadequately and improperly traimed.”” And Santayana makes the same point: “the intelligent man known to his- tory flourishes within a dullard and holds a lunatic at leash.” What is the widest conception of habit? Through a proc- ess of training a situation derives a significance, it acquires a meaning, it calls forth a response which is not linked with it by original nature. On the physiological side, all habit, memory, and association phenomena may be reduced to the simple concept of the organism acquiring certain connections — connections which cause it to meet a situation with a response that is not native, or cause it to react to a situation which has only become significant because of training. The connections may be the precipitate of: (1) A process akin to animal learning. (2) A process involving what are commonly called ideas. (3) A process of reasoning (reflection). In these pages the term habit will be made to include all effects on behavior of the physiological traces left in the nervous system as a result of these three processes working alone or in combination. Habit is the modification of be- havior —executive, emotional and intellectual — consequent upon experience. How does this wide conception differ from the popular notion of habit? ‘To the extent that the so-called popular instincts are not original modes of response, but rather habit-consolidations built up by a simple and uniform ex- perience, the subject of habit formation gains in importance. It is to the slow but continuous changes made in the original equipment, to the series of habits developing from the native impulses, to the acquired behavior-patterns built up neu- rone-mosaic-fashion out of the original behavior-patterns HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 73 that the complexity of the adult’s conduct must be ascribed. A habit in this wide psychological sense is nothing more than a disposition left by previous experience. Even though the effect of later experience may wipe away all apparent trace of the ephemeral change, every response that is made forms a habit. To restrict habit formation, as is popularly done, to certain sensori-motor connections which by repeti- tion become relatively automatic and fixed in their nature, is to miss the psychological significance of habit formation. Even though a particular reaction — executive, emotional or intellectual — is made but once, however fleeting may be its nature, some trace is left. In this process is the essen- tial mechanism of habit formation. The number of times the connection may be made is merely a quantitative mat- ter; as we employ the term, whether the connection is used once or a million times, the process of habit formation appears. Convenience suggests that separate words be employed to distinguish popular from scientific usage, but it is too late to make such a distinction. What has just been said must serve to warn the reader against the narrow concep- tion of this term. To repeat, any change made in the nerv- ous system through learning, however slight this may be, constitutes a habit; whether it be a transitory and fugitive change or one that is deeply rooted, it is a habit neverthe- less. Throughout the discussion of education the use of habit in this double sense will be necessary, but in every case the context will make clear whether reference is to the mere fact of making, at a particular time, a connection but once, or to the fact of so firmly establishing this connection as to form a habit in the ordinary sense. If the term habit be used to cover all the connections made in the nervous system as the result of experience, it will readily be seen that the phenomena of memory and association must re- 74 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ceive their explanation on the physiological side from the study of habit formation. How do original tendencies function in habit formation? While the large fact is patent that all acquired tendencies can be nothing more than the outgrowth of the original tendencies, the manner in which habits evolve from simple native unit-reactions tends to be fogged by the presence, at any particular time, in the older child or adult of a vast number of habits previously formed. That the process, shorn of all complications, may be seen, a few illustrations of the acquisition of very simple habits — habits so simple indeed as to bring out the obvious instinctive nature of the contributing mechanisms — will be given. Pavlow’s famous experiment on salivary flow in the dog will provide a point of departure. In this experiment, by taking a healthy dog in which the taste of food produced a plentiful flow of saliva, Pavlow devised a technique whereby the actual quantity of the secretion could be measured. The original or adequate stimulus of such a flow is, of course, the taste of meat. Now suppose, over a number of trials, the animal is stimulated by a light and immediately afterwards fed. Experiment shows that after a short period of training the meat is not necessary to start the secretion. The light, by itself, is sufficient stimulus. In this experi- ment the process of learning is reduced to its simplest terms. A situation — stimulation by light — having by native en- dowment not the slightest effect on the response — flow of saliva — becomes connected with it, and, after a period of training, causes the animal to react in a definite way to a previously neutral and indifferent stimulus. Such a substitution of stimulus cannot be effected unless at the beginning the experimenter can provide the original stimulus to call forth the response. A homely illustration will make this clear. Consider the difficulty which would HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 75 be experienced by the reader in associating the movement of the ears with a verbal command. This difficulty is to be traced to the relative impossibility of finding an original stimulus which will cause the ears to move. The relative impossibility in this case should be compared with the ease with which the eyelid can be trained to close in response to a verbal suggestion. The process of habit formation is lim- ited by the modes of response which are native to the indi- vidual; only as certain responses are physiologically possi- ble and only, then, as they are capable of being called forth, can habit systems be constructed. Another simple case of habit formation will further the discussion. Suppose a child of two years is, for the first time, brought into a room where a steam radiator is in use. The child, stimulated by the sight of the unfamiliar object, will in the process of exploration approach and touch it; in the most general way it is permissible to say that certain of the responses loosely associated with curiosity have been called forth. On touching the object the child, experienc- ing the painful sensations of burning, exhibits an avoidance response. The sight of the radiator, after one or two ex- periences of this kind, will immediately call forth an avoid- ance reaction. ‘There is a change in the internal structure of the nervous system so that a situation which originally prompted to exploration and manipulation now calls forth a definite response of an opposite character. To add a slight complication to the illustration, we may further suppose that, just as the child is about to touch the radiator, his action attracts the attention of the nurse. Uttering the word “hot,” she thereby initiates a process which may re- sult in the association of the mere sound “ Hot ” with an avcidance response. How does trial and error function in habit formation? So far only the simplest types of learning have received con- 76 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION sideration. A slightly more complex illustration will focus attention on the.manner in which all habit formation is de- pendent on a trial-and-error process. A child is shown a metal puzzle box in which he is told a bon-bon has been placed. On being given the box he at once proceeds, in a trial-and-error fashion, to use his repertoire of manipula- tory responses. After some time spent in fruitless effort, an- ger ensues, and the guarded exploration and manipulation give place to coarser random movements. Eventually in despair the box is thrown to the ground and stamped upon in rage. None of these actions avails to open the box and the child, attracted by some other interest, abandons the problem. In afew minutes, however, he hears the remark, ‘You surely aren’t such a baby as to give up.” Nettled into action by this additional stimulation he takes up the box again, and, after further careful manipulation, discovers — the exact spot which, when pressed, causes the lid to fly open and the candy to be released. After two or three further trials the puzzle box will elicit, without delay, the appropriate response. The long process of trial and error, the reader will observe, was motivated in this case by a de- sire for the candy, a certain curiosity, anger, and a desire for approval. All these drives were necessary to bring the activity to a successful conclusion. How do old habits function in the formation of new habit systems? At the hazard of being tedious we must give one further illustration, which is designed to bring out the man- ner in which previously acquired habits function in the formation of more elaborate hierarchies. Imagine a man, who has played baseball, basketball, and tennis, taking up the game of football. His first attempts to meet the novel situations induced by the new game show how the old habits of judging the flight of the ball, of throwing, of catch- ing, of running and dodging ete. etc., are being used with but HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 77 little modification as they were built up in the other games. Initial skill is due to these factors contributed by previous experience. The individual, however, if he is to become a superior player, will have to modify a large number of these responses in order to meet the conditions peculiar to the game; his action after catching the ball cannot be the same as in basketball, and the hand-and-arm movement must be different from that in baseball. Furthermore, he will be compelled to break himself of certain habits acquired with great pains in the other games — modes of behavior which positively interfere with the acquirement of skill in the novel sport. The acquisition of the added skills demands that some of the old skills be used unchanged, that other skills be modified, and that still others be completely eradicated. Legion is the number of adult golfers who find their progress barred by the extreme difficulty which is experienced in *“ dropping ”’ the baseball or the cricket “‘ swing.”’ Why is trial and error evident even in the higher forms of habit formation? In general, when facing some new aspect of the environment, the individual tries a repertoire of in- herited and acquired responses until an adequate response relieves the internal tension created by the situation. Later when the habit is established, it causes the individual to initiate a series of activities which follows a certain well- defined order. This system of reactions, built up from more elementary reactions, is termed an acquired-reaction pattern. Often, through the disintegration of a complex habit, certain elements which compose it are released and are made available for further habit formation. The new habit is nothing more than the integration of a series of separate responses which finally function as a unit. As the repertoire of habits possessed by the individual increases, and this repertoire becomes available for future habits, the trial-and-error nature of the process becomes obscured. 78 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION Nevertheless, as an essential accompaniment of any new adaptation, this method of learning is always present. What is the physiological basis of habit formation? Per- haps, at the risk of being sketchy, we may make some brief mention of the physiological basis of habit formation by revealing the mechanical process which conditions the ac- quirement of new modes of response. This may serve to make the phenomenon more intelligible. The nervous sys- tem may be regarded as a vast telephone exchange, of which the smallest communicating unit is the neurone. Any habit involves a codperative functioning or a unified action of a large number of these neurones. Each neurone connects with neighboring neurones through a junction of varying resistance, called the “‘ synapse.”’ The fact that a discharge, which originally passed from neurone A to neurone B, now passes from A to C must be ascribed to some alteration, through fatigue, drainage, or other means, in the synapse between A and B. In some way or another a resistance is set up in the latter synapse, which makes the path of least resistance no longer A to B, but A to C. This passage of energy in the new direction alters the synapse more or less permanently, making the path A to C more readily travers- able on future occasions. The acquirement of new be- havior-patterns must in the last analysis be traced to cer- tain bio-chemical changes which take place at the synapses. What forces resist the formation of new habits? Habit formation of any kind is dependent on the modifiability of the nervous system. Inability to form new habits must be ascribed to two allied causes. In the first place, the lack may be traced to certaim general physiological changes which, occurring with age, prevent the formation of new methods of response. The aged scholar who in spite of strong desire is unable to acquire a new language or a new terminology is a case in point. Qne can only have compas- HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 19 sion on such an individual. But the less kind and more common explanation for most of the lack of modifiability is found in a certain physiological set which, on the psychologi- cal side, can only be described as a certain stubbornness or loyalty to old and established habits. ‘The presence of pref- erential associations formed by past experience gives a sense of adjustment which is illusory, and the individual re- fuses to overcome the inertia of the old and satisfying “habit ways.” The man who is always justifying his con- duct by saying that what was good enough for his father is good enough for him, is a sad example of this blocking of new activity by old habits. The scientists in the late eighties and nineties who refused to reorganize their thought in the light of the evolutionary theory cannot be said to have lost their inherent physiological elasticity, but their previous habits of thought bound them to their old moorings and prevented their sailing on new and uncharted seas. How do habit systemsintegrate? From hour to hour, day to day, month to month, these countless trial-and-error ex- periments take place, each one of them making through the synapses certain changes in the inner organization, each one leaving its trace in an acquired behavior-pattern wrought in the physiological structure. From original modes of response, there first develop the very simple habits; with these habits formed the child then proceeds, through the combination and recombination of these more simple pat- terns, to form further and more complex habits. On the basis of these habit systems the higher forms of habit can then be built up, until, in the most complex form of be- havior which man is called upon to initiate, before the re- sponses necessary for successful adjustment are forthcom- ing, vast numbers or hierarchies of lower habits have to be- come iitegrated together. On this account a particular habit system may have but slight terminal value; its desir- 80 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ' ability resides in its transitional value. It must be judged by its usefulness in facilitating further adaptation. Most habit systems must be progressive, they must lead on to something better. ‘This is the basis of Dewey’s statement that the aim of education is to produce capacity for further education. How does the external situation function in habit forma- tion? From what has been said, two important aspects of habit formation should be apparent. In the first place, habits are not changes which can be thrust upon the indi- vidual. The external situations by themselves do not de- termine what shall be learned; they merely “ upset ” the organism so that certain responses are initiated. This ““commotional state ’’ but serves to rouse the organism to initiate certain more or less random reactions designed to relieve the existing tension. If one type of reaction is not successful, the internal state of tension, though modified, persists, and further reactions are tried, until, eventually, the successful reaction is made. The individual feels the want and registers the sensitivity to the situation; the in- dividual, through the reaction system, initiates the process of trial-and-error learning. An internal tension starts the activity and the final relief from strain, accompatiying the successful reaction, closes the activity. Situations can ‘never in the strict sense cause reactions; reactions are ex- pressions of the individual organism. Why is the individual enslaved by his habit systems? In the second place, habits are not mere additional trappings to be donned or removed at will; habits — motor, emotional, or intellectual — are nothing more than dispositions to react to certain aspects of the environment. The forma- tion of a habit implies the giving of an hostage to the envi- ronment; for as long as this habit endures the individual will react, or at least tend to react, in the manner determined by HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 81 this habit. Just as an instinct is defined as an inborn tend- ency which compels us to attend to certain objects, and to feel and act in certain ways towards these objects, so a habit, which is not perfectly automatic may well be re- garded as an acquired tendency which makes us pay atten- tion to certain objects, to feel in a certain way towards these objects, and to act in a certain way with respect to them. The similarity between habit and instinct in their effect on behavior is obvious. The peculiar habit, or group of habits, which rides us at any particular moment may seem to be rather arbitrary, but the apparent arbitrariness is to be explained in terms of the internal set of the individual. The internal states produced by previous experience, espe- cially the relatively immediate experiences, are all present to determine which aspect of the situation will claim our attention, and what series of responses will be forthcoming. Unless we consider, at any moment, the state of tension prior to every action, man’s conduct, far from being deter- mined by previous experience, appears as free and as vari- able as the wind. When this factor is taken into account there is every reason to suppose that man, except in earliest infancy, is habit-ridden at every moment of his existence. The manner in which habits control us is not particularly apparent when we consider such groupings of habits as skating, typewriting, and piano-playing, which are com- monly isolated from the main trends of life. Because we can avoid the situations that evoke these responses the idea is easily gained that habits are mere servants to be called upon when they happen to further our purpose, and equally to be held in check when they are not serviceable. To the so- called bad habits we may turn for peculiarly apt illustrations of this point. Smoking, drinking, idling, and backbiting all illustrate the hold which habits can take upon us and the manner in which, perforce, they mould our conduct. Hav- 82 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ing once formed a thorough dislike for a person, however much we may wish or however much it may be to our ad- vantage to be well disposed towards him, to control our conduct and more particularly our feelings is all but im- possible. Having formed a habit of idling, how a host of situations lures us to our wasted hours! On the other hand, our good habits function in the same way; for an industrious man almost any situation arouses the desire to‘control and direct the sequence of events. So tightly held is man by his habits that, in case they are bad, he is only able to ration- alize their fatal effect on his conduct by claiming himself possessed and ridden by the devil; but when good habits are in the saddle, with pardonable partiality, he ascribes his actions to his “better self’? and not to the guiding hand of the angels! What general rules should control habit formation? JIn- terpreting situation and response in the comprehensive man- ner indicated, we can see that the problem of education and of human engineering consists in building up certain con- nections within the individual. We choose our schools, we choose our teachers, we choose our subjects, and we frame our institutions in order that this connection-forming may proceed economically and socially. The rules of such a com- plex process can no more be covered by a few simple state- ments than the difficult game of diplomacy can be guided by afew wise canons. ‘The art of making and breaking connec- tions is too continuous with the whole process of living to be reduced to a few rubrics. In spite of this obvious fact, attention may be directed to certain helpful rules which serve as guideposts on the road to learning. The first is the Rule of Repetition. In establishing any connection, cause the connection to be made a sufficient number of times to make the bond as strong as is demanded. The second is the Rule of Distribution of Praciice. In the HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 83 case of those connections that have to be made relatively permanent, so control the learning as to allow longer and longer intervals of time to elapse between the successive periods of practice, which should become increasingly shorter in duration. The third is the Rule of Direct Action. As far as possible form every connection in the exact form and in the exact setting in which later it is to be employed. The fourth is the Rule of General Motivation. Whenever it is desired to establish connections, so arrange the conditions that satisfaction will accompany or follow the adequate response; and, conversely, that dissatisfaction will accom- pany or follow the inadequate response. As a further guide there follows a fifth rule, the Rule of Self-Motivation. Whenever possible, so arrange the condi- tions of learning that the connections established shall be the outcome of self-initiated and self-driven activity, rather than the result of externally-imposed and _ artificially- motivated labor. Professor James, in his famous chapter or rather sermon on habit formation, says that the great desideratum is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy. With great effect he points out that habit formation not only simplifies the movements necessary to the achievement of a certain result, but, also, by diminishing the attention necessary to attain this end, enables the individual to give his attention to more complicated features of the situation. Writing with reference to the formation of habits, using habit in the popular sense, he cites the following three maxims: 1, Launch any new habit with as strong and decided initiative as possible. 2. Never suffer an exception to occur until the new habit is securely rooted. | | 84 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 3. Seize every possible opportunity to air the habit until it is securely formed. What are the ethical implications of habit formation? To show the fundamental réle played by habit formation in the conduct of the individual, we cannot do better than quote verbatim the passage with which James closes his exhortation. He says: ! The physiological study of mental conditions is thus the most powerful ally of hortatory ethics. The hell to be endured here- after, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way. Could the young but realize how soon they will become mere walking bundles of habits, they would give more heed to their conduct while in the plastic state. We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson’s play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, “I won’t count this time!” Well! he may not count it, and a kind Heaven may not count it; but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve-cells and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering and storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes. Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. Of course this has its good side as well as its bad one. As we become permanent drunkards by so many separate drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and authorities and experts in the practical and scientific spheres, by so many separate acts and hours of work. How do language habits refine behavior? As this life- long interplay of restless organism and a changing environ- ment takes place, the process of habit formation continues. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of situations become linked or bound through the acquired structure of the indi- vidual with thousands and hundreds of thousands of re- sponses. ‘The situations, at first original in their nature, ' 1James, William: Psychology, vol. 1, p. 127. HABIT FORMATION AND EDUCATION 85 become more and more refined and symbolic until a word heard, read, or spoken, becomes potent in its effect on be- havior, and a motto such as noblesse oblige may drive the man, attuned to its stirring message, to the most heroic acts of devotion. In the same manner the responses which are at first crude and gross become increasingly refined and implicit, until a major part of the response of the highly trained adult will, on the physiological side, be found to center in the explicit or implicit language mechanisms. In the case of a political prisoner, whose death sentence is con- veyed to him by means of a few black symbols on a piece of official paper, and whose only overt action to the news is contained in the spoken phrase, “ I am ready and glad to die for my cause,’’ we see the extreme manner in which both the situation and the response can be refined. ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What is the distinction between the popular and the scientific usage | of the term habit? In what respects is the latter usage the wider? Illustrate your answers. 2. Why in the case of the acquirement of a habit on the part of an adult is it so difficult to trace the process back to instinctive origins? 3. What are the physiological mechanisms upon which plasticity de- pends? In what way do these mechanisms set bounds to the plas- ticity of the child? How was Locke wrong when he spoke of the human mind as a sheet of blank paper on which experience writes? 4, What prompts the individual to form a habit? Under what condi- tions does he continue to use the habit? 5. Why, in the case of the formation of new modes of reaction by the adult, is the process of trial-and-error so short-circuited as to be barely noticeable, even when meeting apparently new situations? Why is it so difficult to get a novel situation for an adult? 6. How can you reconcile the statement of Rousseau that Emile should form but one habit, namely, the habit of forming no habits, with that of James who urges the individual to make automatic as early as pos- sible a large number of habits? 7. Why does the objective situation alone never determine the response? Show how the same person, at different times depending on his set, will react to the same objective situation in radically different ways. 86 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 8: From the standpoint of habit, what justification is there for the 10. statement that the genius, on facing a familiar situation, does not react in the customary manner? . How is (a) the learning of French pronunciation: (b) the following _ of scientific procedure; (c) the learning of algebra; (d) the formation of health habits; and (e) learning to read in the first grade, hindered and helped by habits previously formed? Taking the five arbitrary rules of learning, show in detail how they are followed and violated in the learning process of the classroom. What devices might be employed in recognition of these laws in teaching the multiplication table, a poem, handwriting, or honesty? PROBLEM 7 HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY LANGUAGE? What is the objective physiological theory of behavior? — What réle does language play in behavior? — What is thinking? — How does the be- haviorist justify his position? — Does his theory cover the facts? — Is behaviorism a helpful methodology? — How may our position be sum- marized? 5 What is the objective physiological theory of behavior? The reader may feel that, in the previous treatment, we have beguiled him into a false position in that we have reduced all behavior to the interaction of the physiological mechan- isms. Such a position is the logical outcome of the fore- going discussion, and is championed by an influential school of students of human behavior. With the physiological evidence before them which so clearly shows that there can be no psychical process, or consciousness, which is not ac- companied by the corresponding neural process — a fact which is usually referred to as the law of psycho-neural parallelism — a large number of psychologists feel them- selves forced to go even further and deny the least influence on behavior of the conscious processes. ‘This school con-° tends that if we could get a complete picture, at any time, of the structure of the nervous system, and had a perfect knowledge of the laws of the physical and chemical processes that occur therein, we should be able to account completely for all the conduct of the individual. Put more bluntly, the popular notion that the conscious process of thought in some way presides over behavior and determines its nature is in error. In view of the fact that so many writers on education, in 88 - PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION laying the foundations of their psychology assume a rigid mechanical physiological theory, and later, without any attempt to pave the way for a complete change in their posi- tion or terminology, assume in their subsequent treatment that consciousness affects conduct, the authors have deemed it essential to give this aspect of the behavior problem some slight attention before passing on to the question of the modification of conduct by reflection. To introduce ourselves to the cogent and attractive argu- ments of the physiological school, to which reference has been made, we may put an extreme question: Does the conscious process of thought influence behavior, or is such behavior completely explicable in physiological terms? ‘To put the question in a slightly different form: Is the be- havior which accompanies thinking explicable wholly in terms of an elaborate interplay of the inherited and ac- quired habits registered in physiological mechanisms? ‘The first tendency is to conclude that behavior accompanied by thinking and behavior controlled by habits are poles asunder. But, on the other hand, the conscious process called thinking is itself dependent on past habits, especially language habits, and may, it is urged, be conceivably noth- ing more than an accompaniment of the functioning of a large number of these mechanisms. ‘To help us to see this ‘point, we may note that when a habit or particular group of habits can run itself off in straightforward fashion, thinking and deliberation are at a minimum. But when a situation becomes so intricate as to call forth not one group of habits, but many groups of conflicting habits, then the so-called process of deliberation supervenes. This would at least suggest that thinking may be merely the psychological ac- companiment of a clash of habit forces, no one of which is for the time capable of overcoming its opponents and lead- ing to overt action. | LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 89 To continue the argument and to make this position clearer, we will direct attention to an aspect of habit for- mation which has already been illustrated. Just as, in the case of the dog and the salivary flow, an indifferent stimulus is substituted for an adequate one, so in the case of the child and the radiator, the word “ hot,” uttered by the nurse, is made to evoke an avoidance response. May we not sup- pose that due to this experience the word “ hot,” when re- peated by the child himself, can in the same way call forth this response? Here is the clue to the understanding of the manner in which a language mechanism (saying the word “hot ’?) may control the behavior (the avoidance response). This is a very simple illustration of the way in which the physiological mechanisms of language begin to take their place with other mechanisms and through the process of integration begin to exert a powerful effect on conduct. If the reader grasps, once and for all, the general principle that a word may serve as a substitute stimulus for the in- dividual who speaks it, many of the difficulties which at- tend the understanding of the position here considered will disappear. What réle does language play in behavior? Aristotle suggests that man is a political animal; it might perhaps be more profound to say that man is a talking animal. Ina world in which language is such a constant source of com- munication, and therefore of stimulation, experience cannot fail to introduce many language mechanisms which interact with each other and with the remaining mechanisms con- trolling behavior. As the individual develops in this lan- guage-controlled world, the situations to which he reacts and the responses which he makes become more and more symbolic through the aid of language. Owing to the ex- treme flexibility of speech, the situations which can be com- pounded out of a vocabulary of even one thousand words 90 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION are almost infinite in number. Similarly with such a vocab- ulary the verbal responses to situations are innumerable. When once the mechanisms of language have been built up the range of: stimulation is increased, and, at the same time, an enormous complexity is introduced into human be- havior. An external stimulus arouses a large number of these conflicting language mechanisms; an intense conflict of a trial-and-error order arises among these various mech- anisms; finally, after a prolonged process of interference and facilitation, the conflict resolves itself and eventuates in a definite line of conduct. Needless to say there is no clear consciousness of the manifold language mechanisms; but delicate instruments attached to certain parts of the throat reveal implicit movements of the vocal organs. Even our most private thinking is dependent upon a sub- vocal use of those habits which, expressed in overt form, result in speech. Thought without traces of laryngeal movements, it is claimed, is in the normal person extremely rare, and in these cases can only occur through the use of other substitute stimulus mechanisms, such as the hands in the deaf or other gestural forms. What is thinking? What is thinking in these terms? On the physiological side it is a type of behavior in which lan- guage mechanisms play an important rdle. On the psychi- cal side it is the necessary concomitant of the functioning of these language mechanisms. The popular conception of the “ thought behind ” the final action as the cause of the action is, from this extreme point of view, a myth, like the nature myths of a savage people. The conscious process termed thinking exists; it is, so to speak, the shadow — the ever-present shadow — of the reality, language mechanism; but it is merely an idle accompaniment and, because of its immaterial nature, can never affect the physiological mech- anisms that condition behavior. LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 91 Such is a fair statement of one theory of behavior. Un- less we step out of the narrow confines, many think wide confines of objective science, we are compelled to accept this view. We are bound to assume, if we are loyal to our scientific method, that a scholar, when brought face to face with an abstruse problem, and driven by certain internal physiological tensions, goes through his repertoire of physio- logical reactions. The only difference between the scholar in his intellectual maze and the dog in his physical maze is in the nature of the mechanisms used; the latter goes through a form of trial and error in his overt reactions, while the former follows a similar process of trial and error in which a vast host of implicit language mechanisms oc- cupies the central position. Will our loyalty to the canons of objective science carry - us so far? Is this position tenable? The reader may feel inclined to laugh this principle of explanation out of court. What would be the reply of the thorough-going physiological psychologist? He would urge the argument already put forward that, as more and more habit mechanisms are built up, including the vast number in the realm of language, a simple line of discharge of energy is often not available. To the peculiar conscious accompaniment of the conflict that arises between the various mechanisms, the terms re- flection and deliberation have been applied. ‘The indeci- sion and temporal duration of this process gives merely an appearance of control which, could we realize the mechani- cal nature of each element in the activity, would be seen to be illusory. How does the behaviorist justify his position? Holt has presented the arguments in favor of this theory in their most appealing form. He shows that, as the process of habit formation progresses, the individual exhibits a greater and greater independence of the immediate situation and a 92 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION correspondingly greater power to react to the wider aspect of the environment. ‘This is made possible through the integrative properties of the nervous system. In the higher forms of behavior, the importance of the immediate stimulus diminishes. The belief in conscious control of the activity, which is popularly assumed, is in error. The appearance of deliber- ate control is to be ascribed to these complex mechanisms of facilitation and inhibition which delay the reaction and prevent it from culminating in overt conduct before it has become compounded with responses to earlier and later and different aspects of the situation. When finally the process of resolution has been carried to the point where overt ac- tion takes place, the behavior shows an adaptation to the ‘more remote aspects of the situation. To this process may be traced the appearance of conscious control which charac- terizes the whole activity. If at all times the immediate reaction were to an obvious environmental stimulus, con- scious interference would never have been postulated; but, when through the integration of the nervous system, the reaction is more and more to a wider aspect of the situation, the sense of control is felt. ‘To the enormous complexity of mechanism, especially to the large number of language mechanisms, and to the manner in which, owing to the physiological properties and structure of the nervous sys- tem, these mechanisms are integrated, the final complexity of conduct must be ascribed. Does this theory cover the facts? Such is, perhaps, the most satisfying statement of the rigid parallelist or physio- logical view of the life process. But does this statement take into account all the facts? The interactionists who claim that psychical and physical processes interact or re- act upon one another, and that psychical processes (con- sciousness) play an important part in determining conduct, LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION © 98 reply emphatically in the negative. But this philosophical question cannot be settled; for the benefit of the reader interested in this theoretical problem, the position of the interactionist is briefly stated in the following sub- section. Is behaviorism a helpful methodology? Meanwhile, solely for the purpose of methodology, we shall assume the objective physiological theory to hold. An exact natural scientist studying the phenomena of behavior is forced into this as the only tenable position. As we consider the topics of reflection and the growth of character we shall, therefore, continue to suppose that the same mechanical principles of explanation operate as in the simpler processes of reaction. We shall, in the interests of methodology, regard thinking as a product of hosts of language habits; we shall regard character as a convenient term for expressing the mechan- istic possibilities of the individual. In the interests of straightforward expression, and with a freedom of approach and a lack of verbal restraint which is wanting to the whole subject, when treated in these strictly scientific terms, we shall feel perfectly free to use the popu- lar terminology. To avoid a great deal of circumlocution we shall speak of thought controlling action, etc., without feeling the necessity of translating such phrases into the more recondite terms of habit mechanisms, and saying — “my action was controlled by a series of past language habits.” ‘To the meticulous scientific reader it will be com- forting to observe that the same license is taken by the astronomer when he refers to the “ rising’ and “ setting ” of the sun; but such popular usage must be sanctioned if we are to avoid such an absurdly pedantic statement as “the earth revolved to a position where the rays of the sun were beginning to strike the observer.” How may our position be summarized? Before proceed: 94 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ing to a consideration of the reflective process, a digression into the realm of philosophy must be pardoned; the more practical reader is at liberty to omit this excursion. But for the benefit of the reader who wisely exercises this pre- rogative we may point out that it is only as a methodology that we embrace behaviorism. As psychologists, writing an exact psychology, we champion it for its usefulness, but as philosophers, writing a theory of education, we reject it for its arrogance. A philosophy of education bound by a rigid behaviorism, disregarding by definition the core of human experience, would be fatuous and futie. SUB-PROBLEM 7 Do conscious processes affect behavior? — What deterraines the choice between behaviorism and interactionism? — What are the limitations of behaviorism for an educational philosophy? Do conscious processes affect behavior? In interpreting the facts of behavior in the text, we have followed strictly the line of argument used by the extreme physiological psychologist. We have done this because behaviorism provides, as far as one can now see, the only possible hypothesis on which to build an exact science of conduct. That this behaviorist explanation, however, is but hypothetical must be clearly realized; it is resorted to only because the scientist, concerned with objective phenomena, is totally un- able to fit into his scheme of thought any theory which assumes the interaction of conscious processes with those neural processes which form the legitimate object of scientific study. Within the narrow limits of the natural scientist who would reduce every- thing to an objective situation, there is no room for consciousness as a causative factor. Every phenomenon must be explicable in terms of the usual physical entities. It is significant to note that physicists, such as Einstein and Bohr, and philosophers, such as Russell and Whitehead, seem to be much more open-minded as to the nature of these entities than do the physiologists and psychologists. Therefore, the scientist adopts the necessary hy- pothesis; he disregards consciousness and builds up his system of explanation without its introduction. Loyal to the rules of his LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 95 game, he has formulated his theory. And the extremists! have even persuaded themselves that the conscious states of the indi- vidual, except as they are the necessary companions of certain scientifically respectable neural processes, are so superfluous as not to merit even a nod in passing! What is the reply of the interactionist? Before leaving this matter, however, the question may fairly be asked, Does this physiological theory of behavior cover adequately all the facts, and, on this account, satisfy all competent students of human con- duct? Not to the objective scientist, trammelled by his physical concepts, but to the philosopher with his wider range of interest, we shall have to address this question. ‘To it, the interactionist, who claims that psychical and physical processes interact or react upon one another, and that psychical processes play an important part in determining conduct, returns, as we have already said, an unequivocal “ No.” He claims that, however attractive may be the behaviorist explanation of conduct, unless it is able to give a more gripping explanation of those peculiar and intimate processes called memory, choice, deliberation, reasoning, persistence, imagery, its claim to be the whole explanation must be rigorously rejected. The interactionist is perfectly willing to accept, as we have done, the mechanistic idea as a scientific hypothesis, and work with it as far as it will carry him; but, if some important aspect of human experience still defies explanation in these terms, he claims that a wider hypothesis must be sought — an hypothesis that will in- clude all the valuable elements of the behaviorist explanation, and, at the same time, leave room for the entrance of conscious processes as determiners of conduct. The behaviorist conception certainly serves the valuable purpose of providing a psychological meth- odology by directing attention to the intimate manner in which the higher mental processes are related to physiological dispositions, but when it says that they are completely subsumed under an elaborate conflict of physiological mechanisms it passes outside the realm of possible proof into a realm of speculation. In the 1 Weiss goes to the logical extreme: “The formulation of the behav- ioristic position is then expressed in the statement that all human con- duct and achievement is nothing but (a) different kinds of electron- proton groupings characterized according to geometrical structure: (b) the motions that occur when one structural or dynamic form changes into another.’ Psychol. Rev., Jan., 1924. 96 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION first realm decision is forced by the weight of evidence, but in the second varied interpretations are permitted by the facts, even when there is no disagreement as to what shall be accepted as a fact. The interactionist refuses to believe, as the behaviorist theory implies, that consciousness is a mere epi-phenomenon, that “‘ thinking” while a necessary concomitant of complex neural proc- esses, does not and can not produce an effect on action. He re- fuses to regard the psychical part of the activity as having no influence on conduct, and on this account a biological superfluity. He refuses to make man a mere puppet whose behavior is con- trolled wholly by physiological mechanisms. Above all he refuses to believe a recent behaviorist writer! when he says that “‘ the statement, ‘I am conscious’ does not mean anything more than the statement that such and such physiological processes are going on within me.” What determines the choice between behaviorism and in- teractionism ?/ The choice between a rigid behaviorism and the common-sense interactionism is at best hard. ‘The choice cannot be made in the interests of convenience, nor can it be made by the appeal to our present knowledge of the facts. The behaviorist and the interactionist are both studying the same total process, and they come to diametrically opposite conclusions. The be- haviorist rightly claims that there are great difficulties in the as- sumption of the interactionists, in so far as we cannot conceive the “how ” of the process. ‘To conceive of psychical energy as inter- acting with physical energy is indeed most difficult. But we have just the same d)fficulty in conceiving in the physical realm the “how ” of gravitation. Furthermore, the behaviorist points out that the law of conservation of energy — the most fruitful gen- eralization in the natural sciences — would forbid our assuming that thought (immaterial) can control behavior (material). To this argument the reply of the interactionist is that the law of con- servation of energy is at best an hypothesis, and that there is no justification for supposing that physical energy is the only type of energy, and therefore that the physical universe is a closed system which excludes any possibility of psychical and physical energy being measured in some common units. The common-sense position of interactionism is supported by as distinguished names as is the theory of parallelism. James con- 1 Lashley, K.S.: Psychol. Rev., July, 1923. LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION 97 cluded, when considering this question: ‘“‘ There result two con- ceptions of possibility, face to face, with no facts definitely known to stand as arbiter between them.”’ As Garnett points out:} If the theory (of parallelism) that the psychic side of human nature is not free to influence the stream of thought and to direct the accompanying neural activity so as to produce desired movements be correct, then we need make (or, rather, pretend to make) no further effort, whether to formulate laws of thought or to accomplish any other thing: all will happen as is foreordained. And, if we were to make the mistake of assuming that the psychic side of human nature — our souls and their agents, our wills — were free, no harm would be done by our (imaginary) decision to accept the wrong theory; for our mistake (like everything else) would be inevi- table. But if the second theory is right, if psycho-physical interaction is a reality and human souls are really free to influence neural activities by the exercise of will and so to modify behaviour, the consequences of assuming and acting upon the opposite theory would be terrible in the extreme. Being born to freedom, we should live as slaves. There is therefore every- thing to lose, and nothing to gain, by deciding against the hypothesis of interaction, unless and until we are forced to do so by the facts. What are the limitations of behaviorism for an educational philosophy? ‘The reader is free to choose between these two inter- pretations. In the interests of presenting a coherent account of the development of personality, it is possible, as an exact natural scientist, to assume, as we have done in the text, the behavioristic position, and yet, with the wider sweep of the philosopher, to sup- pose that in some way or another the psychical and the physical do interact, or possibly that the two sets of data are but different aspects of a single process.2 Even if the reader champions the doctrine of interactionism, the behaviorist hypothesis we have tentatively adopted as our psychological groundwork will be serv- iceable as far as it goes. It has at least the merit of being a con- sistent and most fascinating theory, though, in our opinion, in spite of the cogent arguments of Perry, it can never form the sole psychological foundation for a philosophy of education which is concerned with the choice of human purposes and the weighing of human values. The point cannot be overstressed that human purposes and 1 Garnett, J. C. M.: Education and World Citizenship, p. 97. ?No dogmatic position can be taken as to the final nature of physio- logical process. Perchance, this process, as Royce, Russell, and White- head have hinted, may, in the last analysis, be inherently conscious. 98 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION values, and even attitudes and appreciations — the central concern of education — cannot be described in mechanistic terms without losing their meaning and significance. Behaviorism as a meth- odology for the scientific investigation of the habit processes in education is invaluable, and as a methodology we embrace it willingly. But, as a theory covering all aspects of human ex- perience, especially the more intimate facts of consciousness, it must be vigorously rejected. Unless it is made to play the sub- sidiary rdle of an instrumentality for the achievement of educa- tional purposes its influence on educational thinking will be per- nicious. A philosophy of education must not be held in bondage by its servant, behaviorism. After this short excursion into the realm of philosophical speculation, the reader will be gratified to turn to the study of reflection. ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Why is language always symbolic? Why is language, whether ges- tural, spoken, or written, of such essential significance to man? 2. Why is man unable to conduct elaborate trains of thought without language? 3. Why is a wealth of language mechanisms so important for economi- cal and accurate thinking? 4. Why, in times of emotional and intellectual tension, is there a con- stant tendency to allow the implicit language mechanisms to become explicit? 5. What are the main objections to the common-sense view that “thought” can affect ‘‘conduct’’? ; 6. What is the objection to the theory which assumes that consciousness is a biological superfluity? 7. Why is the theory of behaviorism so useful from the standpoint of methodology in education? . What réle does imagery play in the adaptive process? 9. How would the establishment on firm scientific ground of the fact of telepathy upset the general theories of causation in psychology? ive) PROBLEM 8 HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY REFLECTION? What is reflection? — What is the adaptive significance of reflection? — What is the occasion of thought? — What is the process of thought? — What constitutes the solution of a problem? — How do errors in inference arise? — Why must society cultivate the reflective attitude in its mem- bers? — What are the uses and abuses of reflection? — What is the atti- tude of society towards creative thinking? — Can reflection be fostered? — How is reflection dependent upon intellectual fertility? — How is reflection . dependent on effectual auto-criticism? — Does the school encourage re- flection? — What must the school do to encourage reflection? What is reflection? Reflective conduct, on its physiological side, must be regarded as a manifestation of a complex in- teraction of internal drives working through mechanisms in which those related to language largely predominate. Nevertheless, the difference in complexity between habitual sensori-motor action, as popularly known, and reflective behavior is so great that for purposes of exposition it is per- missible to stress the distinction. We may rightly contrast unreflective behavior, controlled by simple habits, with re- flective behavior, the product of the action of the more in- tricate and symbolic language mechanisms. Whereas con- duct of the first type may be readily predicted, the complex- ity and symbolic nature of the interacting mechanisms in reflection make prediction a most hazardous undertaking. In common parlance, reflection has a narrower connota- tion than thought. Through ordinary usage the latter has come to mean any form of mental activity from day dream- ing and idle imagining to the most profound speculation of which man iscapable. According to the custom of psychol- ogists, thinking is restricted to those cases in which there is a conscious attempt to control activity by tracing out im- 100 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION plications, deductions, and inferences. Binet, in his study of intelligence, calls attention to three characteristics of the reflective process: (1) its tendency to take and maintain a definite direction; (2) the capacity to make adaptations for the purpose of attaining a desired end; (3) the power of auto- criticism. Thinking occurs when the process of trial-and- error learning is transferred from the sensori-motor to the so-called ideational realm. Under these conditions, the behavior in question is adapted not to the immediate situa- tion, but to a situation spatially, temporally, and socially enlarged. Whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dig- nity of thinking beings. This expansion of the adjustment process 1s made possible through the dispositions built up by past experience. Only to such processes, included under thinking, may the term reflection be strictly applied; but in the rest of this discussion the terms thinking and reflection will be used interchangeably. What is the adaptive significance of reflection? Biologi- cally considered, reflection is the most highly evolved device for coping with the problems arising from the interaction of the individual with his natural and social environment. This is apparent, but that the degree of the complexity of the environment of the cultivated man is cue largely to this power of reflection is not always so obvious. The idiot and the genius may both be submitted to the same external en- vironment, but the complexity of these surroundings to the latter will only be equalled by their simplicity to the former. The degree of complication which any environment is ca- pable of assuming is a function of the reflective powers. The philosopher not only attacks the obvious practical problems which are forced upon him by circumstances, but he, also, creates problems which to an unreflecting mind are non- existent. REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 101 How does reflection operate in a concrete situation? Perhaps the most helpful way in which to gain a useful con- ception of the nature and significance of the process of re- flection is by a concrete illustration. The other day one of the writers walked into his lecture room expecting to find his class, when to his great astonishment he discovered an empty room. This was a situation that had never arisen before; it put him in a state of hesitation, for the event con- flicted with routine. Any ready-made response to this peculiar situation was not immediately available; the novelty of the circumstance was arresting. How was this astonish- ing state of affairs to be harmonized with the rest of experi- ence? What missing link could possibly be introduced into the chain of events to give order and sequence to an other- wise perplexing world? At once, various possible explanations or solutions of this disquieting problem came to mind. Certain tentative and likely guesses were followed up. Was this the usual hour? The watch said so. Was the watch right? Yes, it agreed with the university clock system. Had some mistake been made in the day or room? ‘The previous occurrences of the day confirmed the fact that such was not the case. This was the only lecture room used on that day. Had classes been sacrificed to some other event by university authority? On telephoning to the office he had to abandon this hypothe- sis. Perchance there had been a strike? As an instructor he had never been a taskmaster; his teaching was probably no worse than the usual efforts in this direction; further- more, he had seen no signs of a bellicose disposition in any members of the class. Was there some practical joke? Per- haps, but no known reason for it. So, hypothesis after hypothesis, guess after guess was tried, each one increasing the tension. He was about to give up the matter, and, with the problem unsolved, turn to some other work, when it sud- 102 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION denly occurred to him that two weeks previously he had made tentative arrangements for the class, instead of attend- ing the usual morning period, to engage in experimental work in the laboratory during the afternoon. He was not aware that this tentative arrangement had been given any finality; but here was a promising lead. ‘To test it he walked over to the library, and discovered several of his students quietly reading. All thought of a strike was dissipated! But was his guess correct? Yes, on questioning the stu- dents, he was glad to hear that they were of the belief that the tentative suggestion was a final arrangement; they were coming to the laboratory in the afternoon. ‘The knowledge of this fact brought order into the sequence of events and relieved the state of tension. What is the occasion of thought? In the light of this illustration the act of thought can be considered from the standpoint of: (1) its occasion; and (2) its process. Put briefly, the occasion of all thought is some problem or per- plexity which necessitates adaptation on the part of the individual through a process of trial and error in the mental rather than the motor realm. To the vast majority of situa- tions, at least in their more superficial aspects, previous habits and experience furnish adequate responses. Only as a situation arises to. which previous experience provides no ready-made adequate mode of behavior is the reflective process made necessary. ‘Thinking takes place only when automatic responses fail. Whatever may be the minor or accidental elements of the situation which provokes thought, the one common element is some perplexity or obscurity, some event which does not harmonize with other events, some end which can be attained only by a conscious adapta- tion and use of the means at disposal. As long as it is possi- ble to follow the beaten track and run in the easy groove of habit, the higher mental processes are inactive. Only when REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 103 some practical or intellectual difficulty arises, when some unexpected hindrance appears, is the mind quickened into activity; and even when the obstacle is present the thinker must be intent on surmounting it. The obstacle, in other words, does not of itself cause the individual to think, it _ provides merely the occasion for thought. In summary, reflection occurs and proceeds: (1) when there is a definite problem which calls for an ideational trial-and-error proc- ess; (2) when the problem is of sufficient interest to rouse the energy necessary for the attack; and (3) when the diffi- culty of the problem is within the capacity of the thinker. Most thinking is done for the purpose of solving relatively simple practical problems. In cases of this type, owing to the limited use of abstraction, relatively little demand is made on the more intricate language mechanisms. But in the degree that the problem becomes complex all the re- sources of a highly abstract symbolism are employed. How do problems originate? ‘The straightforward state- ment that thinking is occasioned by some problem arising in the course of experience, is misleading, if it conveys the impression that all problems force themselves upon atten- tion. This simple notion must be combated. Problems of the higher order do not challenge attention as does the rising sun, or as a fence blocking the path of the pedestrian. The problem does not spring Minerva-like out of the surround- ings, but is, at all times, the product of the interaction of the environment and an individual, whose past experience has left a certain behavior-set. In the absence of these con- siderations the common fact may not be explained that a situation, to which habit has furnished a satisfying response a thousand times or more, suddenly takes on a new meaning and manifests a new problem. What has caused the change? Obviously nothing in the external world. Why then, failing to react in the habitual manner, does the individual hesitate 104 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION and ponder the circumstance? What causes this familiar situation to become so unexpectedly pregnant with further significance? ‘The answer to this question must be found in the state of the individual at the time the familiar situation is encountered. Due to past experience, remote or immedi- ate, a certain behavior-set must be functioning which is so different from the previous sets as to make the old reactions inadequate. ‘To these subtle changes of set, that vary from moment to moment, the great intellectual and social inven- tions must be ascribed. Education, by changing the behavior-set, fills the envi- ronment with problems; not only is the student made to realize the presence of new perplexities, but he is also stimu- lated to be extremely critieal of, and in many cases dissatis- fied with, customary and commonly accepted explanations. So far is this carried in modern society that im our research departments specialists devote their time exclusively to the search for problems which, in the ordinary course of living, would never thrust themselves on thé unreflective. Only as society frees certain of its members from the necessity of devoting their attention to the more pressing and primitive problems growing out of the need for clothing, shelter, and food, can it expect to have its more subtle problems per- ceived and solved. In a democratic society, relative free- dom from the more immediate and petty demands of life should be a free gift only to those individuals who can make this respite socially profitable by attacking the more recondite problems of our civilization. What is the process of thought? Having considered the occasion of thought, the process itself remains to be ex- amined. When, as in the illustration given, habitual re- sponses no longer suffice to remove the perplexity, sugges- tions or leads from previous experience are followed. From the standpoint of its bearing on the question, each one of REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 105 these leads or suggestions is carefully examined. Adoption or rejection of the tentative hypothesis takes place accord- ing as it appears to satisfy or to fail to satisfy the conditions of the problem. Dewey, in his analysis of the complete act of thought, directs attention to the following “five logi- cally distinct steps”’: (1) Occurrence of the vague problen —a felt difficulty; (2) Localization and limitation of the problem, analysis of its precise nature; (3) Exploration for possible suggestions, hypotheses, generalizations, and explanations; (4) Rational and experimental elaboration of the pro- posed hypothesis; and (5) Adoption or rejection of the hypothesis in the light of its implications and consequences. If not interpreted too rigidly, such an analysis 1s helpful and illuminating. It presents different forms which the thought- process is capable of assuming, rather than five stages which must be passed through in a serial order. Each one of the steps, instead of involving an isolated and different mental process, requires the act of thought itself. To realize, for example, that the situation is problematical, that it presents some factor which does not harmonize with the rest of the experience, involves the processes of inference and deduc- tion. ‘That the realization of the problem demands in- ference is apparent when the problem is complex, but this point is equally true when the problem is comparatively straightforward. A stalled engine on a hill is only a prob- lematical situation as one realizes that the present state of affairs means lateness and inconvenience and responsibility for an inert piece of machinery. ‘To the Small child the halting of the car means nothing more than a glorious op- portunity to gather flowers by the roadside. Similarly, in the second stage of localization of the precise nature of the 106 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION problem, to see that the wider question reduces itself to the narrower issue requires a process of deduction, inference, and guessing. If we bear this fact in mind, and, on this account, refuse to force the most subtle mental process into a stereotyped sequence of events, the analysis is valuable because it calls attention to the different aspects which a complete act of thought assumes. — What constitutes the solution of a problem? In order to decide what constitutes the solution of a problem, attention must be directed to the fact that logically all reasoning, which does not, as in mathematics, follow axiomatically from certain definitions, takes place on a balance of proba- bilities. When the inference is made from a broken window that a missile of some kind has been thrown, the process of thought is guided by a balance of probability. On finding a foreign object in the room, the inference is commonly re- garded as established. ‘This can only mean that the balance of probability in favor of the inference has been greatly in- creased, but the proof is not absolute and rests merely on a more favorable balance of probability. Conceivably the window might have been broken with a hammer and the missile thrown through the broken pane. Naturally, when the balance of probability becomes sufficiently great, it is feasible to speak of an inference as being established. Not, however, until every conceivable hypothesis but one has been tested and rejected, can the correctness of the solution be assumed. This shows that probability can only become certainty for an infinite mind. This brings us to the question: What constitutes for a finite mind the solution of any difficulty or perplexity? It has already been pointed out that the problem arises be- cause it sets up within the thinker an internal tension; we must suppose therefore that psychologically the solution is reached when this internal tension is relieved. But does REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 107 this mean that a satisfactory solution has been reached? For the particular individual and for the moment, “ Yes.” But may not the solution beerroneous? For the individual, solution only means that the particular fact has been made to harmonize with his own limited experience. What then constitutes an adequate solution? Such a solution must bring the particular occurrence into relation with all the relevant facts, and not merely with those facts which are known to an isolated and unenlightened person. Two illustrations will make this point clear. The native Australian, on discovering himself afflicted with some ill- ness, will reconcile this fact with the rest of his experience by attributing it to a spell thrown by the witch doctor in the service of his enemy. ‘This solution of the problem is so adequate to the sufferer, and is so in accord with his usual modes of thought that, in the event of his death, his friends, bound by the same system of explanation, will feel them- selves in honor bound to exact the life of hisenemy. Super- stitions are nothing more than inadequate explanations. The second illustration will show, at a more sophisticated level, the manner in which incorrect solutions are readily accepted. The political partisan, compelled to reconcile the overwhelming defeat of his party at the polls with his own unbounded faith in its sterling integrity and consum- mate wisdom, easily does so by ascribing the debacle to the nefarious practices of the opposing group. How do errors in inference arise? Wrong inferences of this kind are all too readily made. The field of reasoning is such a fertile soil for fallacy that the formal statement of a few commonly accepted principles may be useful. If we fol- low the analysis of Karl Pearson, four caveats may be issued: 1. Superfluous or more remote causes must never be sought until the more obvious methods of explanation have proved inadequate. 108 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 2. In the minor affairs of life where rapidity of decision is essential, inference must inevitably take place on slender evidence, and belief, on a small balance of probability, but this necessity must not blind the individual to the dangerous consequences of this practice when applied to the more im- portant affairs of life. 3. The truth of any statement may be safely inferred only when its contents are consistent and continuous with the rest of experience, and when there is reasonable ground for supposing that the source of the statement is an individual knowing and reporting the facts. 4. Inference from the known to the unknown is possibla only in so far as the unknown is of the same nature as the known, and in similar surroundings. Space will not permit more than a brief comment on each of these points. When the first principle is not recognized, the way is open for all kinds of magical explanation, such as that found in the superstition associated with the falling of a picture. The second statement calls attention to the ever- present tendency to justify thoughtless behavior on the erounds that life is short and time is fleeting. In the third principle, where the importance of examining the reliability and source of any statement or doctrine is stressed, the credibility of evidence is given consideration. Unless care is taken to observe this rule, thought is spent in explaining events that were falsely reported, and mere tradition or hearsay is regarded as furnishing adequate material on which to rear the superstructure of explanation. Often it is the “will to doubt ” that needs encouragement. The fourth principle emphasizes the point that, while thinking must proceed from the known to the unknown, only in so far as the unknown has the properties of the known is sound inference possible. To assume that an administrative de- vice which has worked well in one country will, when trans- REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 109 lated to another, function with equal success, is legitimate only as the relevant conditions of the two countries are identical. Why must society cultivate the reflective attitude in its members? Urgent need exists for the cultivation of the reflective attitude of mind. For the sake of economy of action, ideational adjustment must be substituted for the time-consuming and dangerous trial-and-error process char- acteristic of animal behavior. In the interests of attaining a richness and breadth of action, the powers of reflection must be cultivated by each individual to the limit of his capacity. Only in so far as we are capable, through the process of reflection, of passing from the present event to its past and future meaning are we able to sense those persistent and ideal harmonies which impart worth to life. The person, whose inability to reflect renders him in- capable of taking heed to his ways, is so dangerous to society that special institutions have been created, at public ex- pense, to guard him and others from the consequences of his action. In these institutions the life of the inmates is re- duced to the simplest elements, and routine takes the place of decision. ‘Their problems are solved for them; their life- plans are imposed by others. In such an institution a gracious paternalism fittingly rules, but such a system of control, when applied to individuals capable of reflection, is rightly regarded as immoral. If the process of living is to exert its maximum educative effect, the normal members of society must be carefully guarded from any form of govern- ment which interferes unduly with their liberties of action and thought. Without clear thinking in all departments of life, man easily, and one might also say willingly, degener- ates into a creature of circumstance, a slave of supersti- tion, and a vassal of prejudice. Only as man understands the activities and processes of life can he guide them, or re- 110 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ceive from them their intellectual and moral teaching. In the day of crisis reflection is the only resort; and at all times it is the one activity which is essential “if a steadfast art of living is to supervene upon instinct and dream.” Without -it life becomes flat, stale, and unprofitable, for living then loses its most precious element — its educative value. What are the uses and abuses of reflection? James Harvey Robinson, who may be accused of overstressing the power of reflection in solving the problems of mankind, has brought out in an interesting, if provoking, manner the way in which thought is employed for three different purposes. Its most familiar occasion is found in the minor practical problems which arise from hour to hour in the ordinary course of living. Thought of this kind demands no elabo- rate cultivation, and is used by savage and civilized man alike. This indispensable use of thinking is contrasted with the second and illegitimate use of such a high function, known as rationalization. In this process the individual justifies lines of conduct which are not pursued for the pur- pose of achieving reasonable and social ends, but because they have that imperative urge which accompanies a primi- tive desire or the almost equally imperative urge of custom, habit, or tradition. How often do we catch ourselves in the act of using a laborious process of reasoning to justify a line of conduct, the true motive of which we know to be irra- tional, or even anti-social! The mental energy which should be devoted to evaluating behavior is prostituted to the task of justifying, to ourselves and our fellows, the selfish pur- suits of individual ends. Presumably the reader is not so completely dominated by humane and intellectualistic considerations that his own ex- perience will not provide all too many illustrations of this deplorable practice. How rare is the man who can say with Anatole France, “* I have sought truth strenuously: I have REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 111 met her boldly — I have never turned from her, even when she wore an unexpected aspect.” Could the energy which is used in rationalization be applied to the third use of re- flection, and employed in the solution of the problems of our eivilization, nothing short of a new world would arise — the dreams of young men would come to pass, and the visions of old men would be realized. ‘The problems of mankind, the problems of health, of family life, of economic existence, of national and international relations, of leisure, of religion and morals — these can only be met by creative thinking, and then only by thinking guided and enriched by deep feeling. Rationalization holds man in the grip of the folk- ways; creative thought guides him out of the folkways into the path of progress. False rationalization tends to rec- oncile man to the fetters which creative thought bursts asunder. - What is the attitude of society towards creative thinking? To the fact that the enthusiasm for creative thought is com- paratively rare must be added the fact that it is extremely modern. Its conscious cultivation is exhibited by but a small part of mankind, and by that part for but a short period during a history of incalculable length. Sir Henry Maine has attributed the stagnation of the Chinese civiliza- tion to the fact that, over long periods, attention was given exclusively to the copying and the memorization of rela- tively useless classics. This learning contained neither mathematics nor science, and involved an emphasis on rules of thumb rather than on principles. Similarly, to the long delay in the coming of scientific invention in the west- ern world must be attributed the way in which a narrow religion, stressing other-worldliness, occupied the attention of the most acute and devout minds of the middle ages. By directing attention to the solution of arid problems, accepted intellectual prejudices can stifle creative thought. ‘This is 112 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION well illustrated by the following resolution,! which was passed in solemn conclave at the Congregation of Prelates and Cardinals on June 22, 1633: The doctrine that the earth is neither the centre of the universe nor immoveable, but moves even with a daily rotation, is absurd, and both philosophically and theologically false, and at the least an error of faith. One may smile at such an edict as this, but Darwin, two hundred and fifty years later, faced the same conservatism. In our own day experimentation in the field of medicine and - eugenics, and bold speculation in the region of economic and political, social and religious theory, is given the same hostile reception. And even in modern education there are still relics of the medieval finalism which sought to give finished explanations to all problems of existence; in many departments that interrogative attitude, that straight- forwardness, that open-mindedness which is essential to thought, is repressed so that some sacred dogma or estab- lished social privilege shall remain uncriticized. As Ber- trand Russell says: Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth — more than ruin, more even than death.. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible; thought is merciless te privilege, established institutions and comfortable habits: thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent’to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. The conservative, and, therefore, the larger element of society, while it gives lip service to great thinkers and re- formers, is too prone to curb them whenever the results of their thought begin to disturb the more intimate folkways and break the cherished cake of custom. For this reason, education, with its evolutionary concept stressing the neces- 1 Cited by Karl Pearson, in his The Grammar of Science. REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 113 sity for continuous change and greater adaptability, must direct its energy and order its ways sc that thinking in every member of society, with reference to every phase of life, may be not merely tolerated but whole-heartedly and studiously encouraged. Can reflection be fostered? In enlightened circles, what- ever differences there may be with regard to the objectives of education, there is unanimity respecting the fundamental importance of inculcating sound habits of thinking. Un- fortunately the agreement with reference to the objective does not extend to agreement on the methods which can be most profitably used in its attainment. While all are pre- pared to regard this function as one of the main goals, the methods by which various schools propose to reach this end have been astoundingly diverse. The reasons for this di- versity are to be traced to the extreme complexity of the thought process; fruitful reflection is dependent upon a mul- tiplicity of factors. It is not surprising, therefore, that the various schools of educational thought have, in their at- tempt to train this process, given very different weights to these contributing factors. The dream of the educator is to formulate so clearly the steps of the complete act of thought, to issue such clear warnings as to possible places of stumbling, that, in spite of the difficulty of the journey, all the faithful may be guided safely along the road which leads to effective and critical behavior. But it will always remain a dream, for the path of thinking can never be made so straight that the way- faring man though a fool shall not err therein. Such a direct statement of the various aspects of the thought proc- ess as that made by Dewey tends to convey the impression that, for its successful operation, a clear recognition of these various steps will suffice. Many have felt that if only sufficient ingenuity could be used, if only the requirements 114 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION of the process could be completely laid bare and rigidly enough defined, somehow or other, this most important adaptive process could be brought within the reach of all. With the best of motives people have even gone so far as to suggest that special courses in the art of thinking should be included in the curriculum of the schools. ‘Three considera- tions will be sufficient to show the absurdity of trying to reduce thinking to a mechanical procedure, a procedure which will be available to all in much the same way that a mechanical invention can be made available to the whole population. How is reflection dependent upon factual information? In the first place, thinking does not proceed in vacuo. Think- ing takes place only with reference to a particular body of facts; defactualized thinking is as absurd as a de-mechanized automobile engine. So important are facts for this process that the school, forgetting that knowledge only serves its function as it may be used in reflection, has gone to the ex- treme of imparting facts for their own sake. To attempt to train a person to think in a certain realm of knowledge, without providing him with information in the field, is veritably to attempt to make bricks without straw. This, then, is the first difficulty in any project for training thought in general. How is reflection dependent upon intellectual fertility? The second difficulty lies in the fact that every problem is dependent for its solution upon a fertility of thought which will provide the necessary suggestions, inferences, and hypotheses. After the hypothesis is advanced the process of testing is often relatively simple. It is at this crucial stage in the complete act of thought, the point at which brilliant guessing must take place, that any reduction of the thought process to straightforward pattern halts. There is no method of forcing the suggestion; the mind may be tense REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 115 with expectation; desire for solution may be at a maximum; but still the happy thought may not come to mind. If the reader will try to solve the following problem, not- ing very carefully what happens when the guess or hypothe- sis stage is reached, he will see the utter impossibility of forcing this part of the process: A certain word contains seven letters, the second letter is v and the last ise. Itisa human trait and facilitates the accumulation of wealth. It is also the cause of much suffering. In his Inquiries into the Human Faculty, Galton illustrates the same point.! When I am engaged in trying to think anything out, the process of doing so appears to me to be this: The ideas that lie at any moment within my full consciousness seem to attract of their own accord the most appropriate out of a number of other ideas that are lying close at hand, but imperfectly within the range of my consciousness. ‘There seems to be a presence-chamber in my mind where full consciousness holds court, and where two or three ideas are at the same time in audience, and an antechamber full of more or less allied ideas, which is situated just beyond the full ken of consciousness. Out of this ante-chamber the ideas most nearly allied to those in the presence-chamber appear to be sum- moned in a mechanically logical way, and to have their turn of audience. ... The successful progress of thought appears to depend — first, on a large attendance in the ante-chamber; secondly, on the presence there of no ideas except such as are strictly germane to the topic under consideration; thirdly, on the justness of the logical mechanism that issues the summons. ‘The thronging of the ante-chamber is, I am convinced, altogether be- yond my control; if the ideas do not appear, I cannot create them, nor compel them to come. “The wind bloweth where it listeth ” seems to be, as far as self-analysis reveals, a fair description of the subtlety of the processes which lie back of this elaborate act of guessing. If the reader had difficulty in guessing the word “ avarice ” 1 Cited by Thorndike, in his Principles of Psychology. ” 116 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION in the riddle cited, the significance of this statement will be apparent. If tentative solutions come to the mind, well and good; if not, neither prayers, entreaties, nor sweat of the brow can force them to appear. All that can be said is that a person, well equipped with the necessary factual information and endowed with high native intelligence, is more apt to be fertile in suggestion than one possessing less information and endowed with inferior intelligence. Certainly the process itself can never be coerced; one can merely urge the thinker to keep his attention focussed on the main problem by repeatedly putting subsidiary questions to himself, in the hope that the desired solution will eventually be reached. How is reflection dependent on effectual auto-criticism? The third obstacle which has to be encountered, when at- tempting to reduce thought to a simple process, is the pitfall which ensnares the mind into accepting superficial and in- adequate solutions. This matter has already been dis- cussed, but it is well to mention it again. Unfortunately there 1s no magic bell which announces the correct solution of the problem. ‘Thought arises because of internal tension, and ceases when this internal tension is relieved. Only in an extremely acute mind, which is already capable of stren- uous and rigorous thinking, is the disappearance of the tension any adequate guarantee that the correct solution has been reached. While this difficulty is not met in deal- ing with simple practical problems, where failure is attended by an obviously unsatisfactory result, it forces itself on at- tention in all abstract fields. If a man fails to solve the problem of a stalled engine, his failure is patent — the machine refuses to budge; but the same individual, when pondering the cause of a particular war, may accept an erroneous answer and, at the same time, feel satisfied with the explanation. All of us “ solve ” hundreds of problems REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 117 in this unsatisfactory way without being brought to book for our sins. Into a vicious circle is the immature thinker thrown when given no guidance in the more abstract fields of learning; for the purpose of being trained in reflection he engages in the activity, and yet only as his mind is already disciplined is he capable of evaluating the solution. These considerations, showing how utterly futile is the endeavor to reduce correct thinking to any mechanical process, reveal the extent to which the learner, if he is to receive the maxi- mum benefit from the activity, is dependent on skilful guidance. Does the school encourage reflection? Enough has been said to indicate how Herculean, or rather Socratic, is the task which the school undertakes when seeking to foster in its pupils the power of thought. Later a more detailed an- alysis will be made of this problem, but to give point to the present discussion at this juncture, methods, curriculum, and personnel of the teaching force should be briefly eval- uated from the standpoint of this objective. To aid the reader in making this evaluation the following questions may be asked. Does the teaching of the school center around problems? Are such problems as arise of sufficient intellectual or social interest to warrant the effort expended in solution? Is the curriculum selected and or- ganized from the standpoint of furthering growth in reflec- tion? Are the textbooks written im a manner calculated to foster the problem-solving attitude of mind? Is the teach- ing personnel itself highly endowed with the mentality that seeks and aggressively attacks problems? Question after question of this disquieting nature might be asked, to each of which the answer would have to be largely in the nega- tive. Why has the school fallen so far short of its high callmg? Our duty is not merely to point out the failure of the institution; we must push the inquiry further and show 118 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION reasons for the error. It is a safe canon to assume that no widespread evil exists without good reason. In order to institute remedial measures, and at the risk of appearing to condone the faults of the school, we may well examine here some of the more obvious extenuating circumstances. How does the memoriter tradition of the school discour- age reflection? In the first place, all thinking is dependent for its content on a body of information; only as the pupil is informed will problems be visible or soluble. The school- master has been so impressed with the need of imparting information, of filling the void of immaturity, that he has studied and reduced to a fine art the process of cramming uninteresting material into passively resisting or passively assisting minds! In his lust for facts he has forgotten too often that these are only significant as they contribute to the solution of problems. But the schoolmaster, knowing that thinking is a slow and laborious process, contents him- self with presenting to memory the material for thought and, losing heart, fails to give exercise in the thought process it- self. For many teachers information has ceased to be a means and has become an end in itself. But in defence of the classroom teacher it must be remembered that he is called upon to present material which in its nature and amount makes the problem-method of instruction ex- tremely difficult. This evil in present practice can only be laid at the feet of the teacher to the extent that he is responsible for the con- struction of the course of study. It must be traced rather to the detached administrative official who has either never known, or has completely forgotten, the limitations of the human mind. This office-bound individual insists that year after year the sterile procedure of imparting information be repeated, in the hope that after a certain period of latency the pupil will begin spontaneously to think for himself. REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 119 How does the dulling of curiosity in the teacher discour- age reflection? _A second difficulty facing the teacher must also be mentioned. A considerable period of time elapses between greeting material as a learner and imparting it as an instructor. Any sense of mystery, therefore, which at one time enshrouded a study has long since vanished. The subject-matter, if it has not been repeated a hundred times, has all the staleness of a twice-told tale. Only interest in the constantly varying psychological processes of the learner will avail to counteract the necessary but unfortunate cir- cumstance that prevents the teacher from being a co-dis- coverer with the child. How do individual differences in the group discourage reflection? ‘The third and most widespread obstacle which the teacher meets remains to be discussed. ‘Thinking is the most intricate and exhausting mode of adjustment; it is the most highly evolved integrative device for meeting crises. Much as children differ in the gross physical traits of height and weight, much as they differ in such simple capacities as tapping, steadiness, or throwing a dart, they differ far more, at any particular age, in their powers of critical analysis and in their fertility of mental response. Over these subtle forms of human behavior the teacher can at best have little control. Yet he is confronted, in every large class, with the widest range of talent from the borderline case of feeble- mindedness up to the level of very superior intelligence. ‘To force an individual of low capacity to think with reference to a relatively abstract problem is an utter impossibility. Make the problem sufficiently easy and even the lowest will reflect in an elementary way, but this is the one thing that cannot be done in the school as now organized. The curricu- lum is relatively fixed — the same for all pupils of the same chronological age. Under these conditions it is little wonder that memory drills are substituted for thinking exercises. 120 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION What must the school do to encourage reflection? Here is not the place to take up the manner in which these diffi- culties may be met; it must suffice at this juncture, to point them out and call attention to the necessity for their careful study if the school is to change its ways. Different text- books, different courses of study, more homogeneous group- ings, a different mental level of teachers, different training of teachers — these are some of the changes that must be made before any radical alteration can be made in the effectiveness of the school. How does the task of encouraging reflection influence the curriculum? ‘T’o avoid misunderstanding one must add that thinking, like appreciation, cannot be so cultivated as to function with equal effectiveness in all fields. The act of thought involves both method and content; while the former varies in different realms, the latter changes com- pletely from field to field. A bitter war is now waging as to whether certain subjects such as Latin and mathematics, subjects rich in procedure values but meager in social values, shall be taught in preference to the more socially meaningful studies such as civics, sociology, and psychology, which, from their very nature, are less exacting in their intellectual demands. As far as one can judge the present trend is away from the more rigorous disciplines to the less exacting studies. To what extent shall procedure values be sacrificed to content values? For what individuals shall such sacrifice be made? These and many other questions of the curriculum will be dealt with later; their adequate solution awaits a vast amount of experimental work on in- terest and on the problem of the degree to which facility gained in thinking in one field transfers, in individuals of various levels of intelligence, to other fields of activity. These problems are the concern of the formal educational agencies, but the question of encouraging and stimulating REFLECTION AND EDUCATION 121 thought has much larger implications. Our whole society must be so ordered and integrated that in the process of living each of its members will be called upon to exercise, to the limit of his capacity, those critical and creative powers upon which human betterment depends. 10. 11. 12. 13. ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION . Why does the process of reflection necessarily involve delayed action? How does this delayed action bring a speedier solution? . Show how, in the case of reflection, the trial-and-error process per- sists, but in the ideational rather than in the realm of action? How are the life processes of the organism guarded thereby? . . Are facility in the discovery of problems, fertility of thought, critical acumen, and effective action necessarily associated in the same individual? In a codperative enterprise may these functions be specialized in different individuals? . Show how past experience works in the twofold direction of reduc- ing the necessity for thought, and of furnishing the material for thought? . Why is reflection so fatiguing and annoying to individuals and so- ciety? . What justification is there for the statement that the so-called “practical man”’ is the man who meets situations as his grandfather did? Contrast the reflective type with the practical type? Why in the novel and complicated situation does the “practical man”’ fail? . What are the dangers to which the reflective type of mind is subject? . Why have earthquakes, floods, droughts, wars, and plagues played such an important part in the growth of thought and the advance of civilization? . Why is society so ready to allow the application of the scientific method to the study of the natural world, and so cautious in apply- ing it to the world of men? What limits are set to the free play of thought in the fields of health, family, industry, citizenship, recreation, religion? Illustrate your answers. What factors in the ordinary large school system discourage, in the teaching force, the free play of thought on professional problems? Why is it so easy for the school to concern itself with the imparting of information rather than with the encouragement of thought? How can this danger be avoided? Why is the small group favorable to reflection? List the physical and psychological conditions favorable to effective discussion. What bearing do these conditions have on classroom procedure? 122 14. 15. 16. 1, 18. 19. PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION In what way could textbooks be improved in order that they might — more effectively stimulate the problem-solving attitude of mind? Arrange the following subjects in the order in which, as ordinarily taught, they make exacting demands on the thinking process: manual training, physical exercise, Latin, algebra, geometry, sociology, phys- ics, history, geology, logic, chemistry, English composition, music, German, French, domestic science. How does the skillful teacher give exercise to his class in each aspect of the complete thought process? At what stage in the process of reasoning is rationalization defective? How do students rationalize the following: low academic standing, the use of ponies or keys, absence and tardiness, success of others, the defeat of school teams, the popularity of others? Why is there resort to rationalization? How does the teacher rationalize the following: failure of the student, dislike of the supervisor, friction with parents and pupils, popularity of other teachers, failure to secure increase of salary, resistance to change in the curriculum or procedure of the school? How can the pathetic credulity of the ordinary citizen be reduced? What specific methods would you use to attain this end in the (a) elementary school; (b) secondary school; (c) college? PROBLEM 9 HOW DOES PERSONALITY EMERGE THROUGH EDUCATION? What is personality? — What is the origin of the social self? — Is the growth of the self explicable in terms of habit formation? — What ma- terial and social forces modify behavior? — What are the limitations of these methods of control? — How may the school control the nature of the ideal gallery? — How do abstract principles derive force to modify behavior? — To what extent is conduct rational? — Why is personality so complex? — What is abnormal behavior? — What is Freud’s central hypothesis? — What is the complex? — How does conflict arise? — How is it resolved? — How does projection operate? — What is the place of phantasy in mental life? — How does the inferiority-complex operate? — What is the educa- tional responsibility? What is personality? ‘The ‘personality of a man is re- vealed by the sum total of his specific responses to particular situations. When out of the sum total of these responses, those which have relation to the accepted conventions and codes of morals are specially considered, the term character rather than personality is commonly used. On account of our concern in education with those aspects of personality which are related to character, the two terms will be used interchangeably. A man’s effective personality at any time is shown by the manner in which he thinks, feels, and acts in the manifold situations of life; his potential personality could only be revealed by the manner in which he thought, felt, and acted in a host of situations sufficiently wide to embrace all phases of the social and material environment. Interpreting reactions broadly we may say, with Watson, that the term personality covers “an individual’s total as- sets on the reaction side.”” ‘The problem under discussion may therefore be stated as follows: What is the general 124 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION nature of that interaction between the environment and original nature from which personality emerges? What is the origin of the social self? ‘The answer to this problem is simplified by our previous analysis of habit for- mation and reflection. Through habits of action, feeling, and thought is character formed and expressed: in the last analysis the mechanisms which determine character are habit mechanisms. To those forces which control habit formation we must turn, if we are to gain any clear under- standing of the manner in which personality develops. We need not concern ourselves with the process whereby the child comes to recognize the objects of the external world as being distinct from himself. ‘Through the sensa- tion produced in his own body when he strikes or pinches any part of it, a sensation which is lacking when he encoun- ters an external object, he comes to distinguish his own body from other objects. In a similar way, because of their movements and peculiar reactions to his stimulation, per- sons and animals in the external world become differen-~ tiated from the inanimate objects. This stage is usually marked by a crude type of animism in which the child ascribes human properties to some of the more important inanimate objects. ‘The child who, laughingly, rubs the corner of a chair which he has accidentally struck is giving expression to an old animistic notion. With the passage of time, to the behavior of other individuals like himself, the attention of the child is mainly directed. While he still finds it necessary in steering his course in the physical world to have regard for the inanimate objects of the environment, their very fixity and limited power to stimulate prevent their occupying the place which is accorded to living things, and more particularly to the members of his group. These individuals, especially the adults, are fraught with such potentialities for good and evil, with such powers of satisfy- PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 125 ing and annoying, that the child finds them of absorbing interest. As we shall see later, the whole development of personality reflects the manner in which the rewards and punishments, the approvals and disapprovals, of society modify behavior. Due to his instinctive and acquired sensitiveness to the censure and commendation of others, a sensitiveness which leaps all rational bounds, man is contin- ual:y moulded by the herd. “‘ Nature has made man man’s constant study. His thought from infancy to the drawing up of his last will and testament is busy about his neighbor.” The desire to be not only in the herd, but of it, is to most individuals overmastering. As Whiting Williams, after studying closely the motivation of the working man, has said: “ It is unnecessary, in organized society, to say that the ‘wheels’ of each of us are turned, for better or for worse, by our mainspring desire to enjoy the feeling of our worth as.a person among other persons, that individual feeling requiring always for its fullest satisfaction the surest possi- ble substantiation at the hands of some particular group whose approval happens, at the moment, to appear espe- cially pertinent and desirable.” So important is this proc- ess of change that the idea of the bodily self becomes dwarfed into insignificance by the side of that social self which is created by the interaction of the individual with his fellows. Is the growth of the seif explicable in terms of habit | formation? The reader has already studied the manner in which, at the beginning of life, all behavior follows instinc- tive lines; how gradually this instinctive behavior becomes | x modified by habit formation; how, as the habits become ine creasingly complex and symbolic, especially with the en- trance of language mechanisms, the behavior tends to lose the marks of its instinctive origin; how, as a result of mem- ory and reflection, the individual comes to react less and 126 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION less to the immediate situation and more and more to a situation which is temporally, spatially, and socially en- larged. Eventually, as a result of these processes, the original instinctive behavior becomes so “ sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought ” that only the closest analysis can detect the continuity which exists between the simple origi- nal behavior of the young child and the complex acquired behavior of the highly intellectualized and socialized adult. So great is the gulf that separates the final behavior of the cultivated man from its origins that many have felt im- pelled to introduce some new principle to explain the trans- formation. Not considering the process of habit formation and reflection as adequate to the task, they have postulated a special “ moral faculty,”’ “conscience,” or “ moral in- stinct ’; through the efficacy of this new force, so it is argued, the modification can only be explained. By taking an extreme illustration we may easily see how sweeping are those changes in original nature which force some moralists to reject the somewhat prosaic explanation of a slow change of disposition through habit formation and compel them to resort to the more drastic, if more mystical, position that some new force, some higher moral faculty, is directing behavior. Imagine an individual, schooled to reflective conduct, wandering by an unfrequented stream on a bitterly cold night. Ahead of him he sees his life-long enemy lose his footing, at a dangerous turn of the path, and fall into the dark and icy stream below. He watches him struggle for a moment, thinks how his death will simplify his own life, realizes that nobody will be aware of his pres- ence at the scene of the tragedy, etc., ete. Yet, in spite of these reflections, in spite of the strong tendencies to avoid the cold, in spite of the horrcr of gambling with death, some- thing drives him into the icy waters, and, at great peril and intense pain to himself, after an exhausting struggle, he | PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 127 rescues the man from drowning and thus saves his enemy’s life. Is it any wonder that the moralist, when facing an heroic deed of this kind, so far removed from the instinctive level of behavior, feels impelled to introduce some higher principle of explanation? Unless the psychologist can bring such an extreme illustration into accord with the theory of modifica- tion of instinctive behavior by habit and reflection he also must assume the operation of other forces. No theory of character formation or of growth of personality is acceptable if it proves inadequate at the very point where character and personality manifest themselves in their most refined and elevated form. Profound must have been the trans- formation in the original equipment of an individual who is capable of performing such an act of self-sacrifice. Can alterations which convert animal reactions into conduct of this heroic mould be explained in terms of habit and reflec- tive mechanisms? The psychologist is compelled to assume this possibility. What material and social forces modify behavior? In order to justify this statement, we shall have to trace the changes wrought in the individual through his contact with the material and social environment. Whether the habit changes produced by the interaction of the individual with his surroundings are sufficient to explain these altruistic modes of behavior which each man identifies with “his better self ” is the problem now to be considered. | To this problem all students of ethics have offered solu- tions, but McDougall has presented in especially clear-cut form the various levels of conduct which must be reached before the highest form of moral conduct is possible. We cannot do better than give his own description of each level: } 1 McDougall, William: Social Psychology, p. 181. 128 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION 1. The stage of instinctive behavior is modified only by the influence of the pains and pleasures that are incidentally experi- enced in the course of instinctive activity. 2. The stage in which the operation of the instinctive impulses is modified by the influence of rewards and punishments, admin- istered more or less systematically by the social environment. 3. The stage in which conduct is controlled, in the main, by the anticipation of social praise and blame.! 4. The highest stage, in which conduct is regulated by an ideal of conduct that enables a man to act in the way that seems to him right, regardless of the praise or blame of his immediate social environment. How do the experienced consequences operate? An il- lustration of modifications produced at each one of these levels will make the process of education clear. The child who overeats and is sick, or the boy who climbs to a height and falls, modifies his subsequent behavior in the light of the consequences. The punishments and rewards of nature, which Spencer lauds in his essay on Moral Education are here operative. In the second stage the actual rewards and punishments of nature are replaced by those of his fellow- men. As we have seen, man reacts to the approval and disapproval of his fellows; he alters his behavior when he experiences their individual and more particularly their collective censure. The child, when he ceases to manifest temper because of the actual disapproval that followed its appearance, is at this level of conduct. | How does the anticipation of the approval of the actual society operate? ‘The important point to notice is that in the first two stages behavior is only changed because of the rebuff or encouragement experienced; there is no modifica- tion through anticipation of the consequences. ~ But the third stage, for which the two earlier stages pave the way, ‘This must, of course, include the anticipation of the rewards and pun« ishiments of nature, PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 129 marks a higher development; no longer is the individual constrained to change his behavior because he experiences actual approval or blame at the hands of his fellows; at this stage he anticipates the effects of natural forces and the rendering of the social judgment. Long before engaging in the overt action he sees the consequences implicit in his conduct; he discerns the handwriting on the wall. When the normal social force of approval and disapproval is augmented by great material and social rewards, on the one hand, and by formal ostracism and legal punishment on the other, the controlling effects of the anticipation of these rewards and punishments are vastly increased. The cashier who refrains from an act of forgery in the belief that sooner or later his act will come to light; the manufacturer who sacrifices present advantages in order that later he may amass wealth; the scientist who narrows his interests and concentrates his research that he may gain the Nobel Prize — all are actuated by motives at this level of development. In an advanced social environment, conduct at this plane may be of a very high order, but if these are the highest con- siderations which motivate behavior, conduct of any gran- deur or sublimity will never be achieved. A narrow inter- pretation of the word “ best ” in the proverb, “ Honesty is the best policy ” always marks behavior at this plane. How does the anticipation of the approval of an ideal so- ciety operate? In the highest stage, conduct is no longer modified in the light of actual consequences — in the inter- ests of securing the approval or avoiding the disapproval of members of the immediate group. At this stage the drama is performed not before the limited spectators which crowd the house, but before an imaginary gallery peopled by the prophets, priests, and seers in whose ideal presence the in- dividual has chosen to live. Not by arbitrary etiquette, by convention, and herd morality of “ his set,” but rather by 130 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION those great precepts, admonitions and ideals — the dis- tillate of the wisdom and heroism of the ages —is his con- duct shaped. Browning, in Bishop Blougram’s Apology, gives us some idea of the manner in which this gallery be- comes more refined. Like Verdi when, at his worst opera’s end While the mad houseful’s plaudits near outbang His orchestra of salt box, tongs and bones He looks through all the roaring and the wreaths Where sits Rossini silent in his stall... One wise man’s verdict outweighs all the fools’. From Rossini in his stall to Rossini absent or dead is but a step, and the translation is but slight to the, imaginary gallery to which reference has been made. ‘That such an interpretation of the control of conduct is not exceptional is — illustrated by an incident which came within the experience of the authors. A scholar of international reputation, when engaged upon some abstruse investigation in an old Irish text, remarked that there was only one person whose opin- ion he really valued and, alas, this critic was dead. At ° certain stages of the work, he consciously strove to guide his researches by the imagined reaction of his former master. In his Life of Queen Victoria, Strachey, quoting from her diary, shows the Queen constantly framing her policies, not so much in accordance with her own judgments, as in the light of the imagined approval and disapproval of the dead Consort Prince. Such may be the influence of a single figure in the ideal gallery. On a larger scale, literature and his- tory mould the thought and conduct of men. As Jean Paul says, “ men elevated above all states, are now the educators of state — dead men, for instance, like Plato.” How is the anticipation of approval a present satisfaction? In so far as the approval or disapproval of the actual or ideal society is immediately felt there is little difficulty in this PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION “v18 theory of conduct, but when the approval or disapproval is delayed the problem is more intricate. ‘The idea must not be gained that the anticipation of approval and disapproval means that man is always sacrificing present activity to some future advantage or freedom from inconvenience; this would make life one long and bitter renunciation. The future ap- proval and disapproval only exert an influence on my present state because an anticipation of such consequences, or the realization of the outcome in imagination, is an essential part of the present mental attitude. The individual does not give up some present good for a future good; the future good is only effective in so far as, through thinking and imag- ination, it assumes the réle of a present good. One may, in spite of distraction, continue in an enterprise because it will lead to a reputation in ten years; but only as its imaginative realization is sweet, and only as it becomes an effective part of the self at the time, will it effectively guide conduct. The contemplation of future approval is more pleasing in the present state of the self than is satisfaction of the passing moment. What are the limitations of these methods of control? An examination of the limitations which mark the control of conduct at each of these levels will be instructive. At the first stage, conduct can be modified only as a result of actually incurring natural penalties or receiving natural rewards. If, due to a lack of economy in nature, reward or punishment does not accompany or follow behavior, modifi- cation fails to take place. ‘This calls attention to a further injustice of nature; she is neither systematic and diligent as a school mistress, nor is there any attempt to make the punishment fit the crime. Nature punishes years of undue physical indulgence, such as overeating, but. slightly, whereas from a child allowed through a momentary inad- vertence to play with a sharp razor, the death penalty is 132 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION exacted. This failure to make the punishment fit the crime is the great weakness inherent in Herbert Spencer’s theory of natural punishment. Such punishment may have the advantage of bemg impersonal, but it lacks the touch of personality, namely, intelligence. At the second stage of control the same weaknesses are manifest; the dividual is still only affected by the immedi- ate experience of approval or disapproval. Anticipation of consequences does not occur. Moreover, as in the case of nature, society, lacking both diligence and insight, fails to proportion the social sanctions and social prohibitions in strict accordance with the worth of-a service or the gravity of an offense. At the third stage, the actual adjustment in the natural and social world with its accompanying danger is replaced by an ideational or symbolic adjustment which anticipates the more remote results of conduct. This marks a distinct advance, and introduces great economies into behavior. But conduct which is controlled wholly by such motives can never induce those courageous acts which, though essen- tially unselfish mn their nature, require the defiance of group judgment. Conduct of this order can never rise to any great heights; its motivation is fundamentally egoistic, and absolutely dependent upon the moral standards which hap- pen to be in vogue at the time in the group. The vast differ- ences that exist in the nature of social sanctions, from na- tion to nation and from group to group, prevent any stable and universal mode of conduct from being conditioned by such arbitrary forces. Under such control man’s actions take on the color of his surroundings, and when he moves “east of Suez, where there ain’t no ten commandments,” he becomes a veritable moral chameleon. Furthermore, there is always the added difficulty that many deeds are hidden; in spite of the proverb to the contrary, crime will PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 133 not always out. Consequently, if the individual is merely reacting to the anticipation of the approval and disapproval of his circle, no restraining force of wider authority enters, and the motivation for those good deeds, which march far in advance of the group or age, is totally lacking. How has the belief in supernatural sanctions motivated behavior? ‘This invites the consideration of one of the most interesting problems in the control of conduct. Where the individual is, for one reason or another, insensitive to the praise and blame of society, either because his deeds are hidden or because his position is so superior that social censure fails to touch him, the door is opened to unbridled license. “This difficulty has faced all those who have relied on a strictly profit-or-loss theory of action. What possible force, what punishment, can restrain a man who escapes the influence of these ordinary forces for social control? The method of negotiating this ¢mpasse is ingenious. The punishments are no longer regarded as necessarily im- mediate and man-inflicted, but as delayed and sent by the all-powerful and all-knowing gods. The tyrant may wade through blood to achieve his ambition and shut the gates of ‘ mercy on mankind; the villain may plot in secret and the secret may never be revealed; through their power and guile scoundrels may escape the punishment of men, but the gods, from whom no secrets are hid, will in due season mete out the punishment. True, the punishment is delayed in many cases until after death, but to compensate for this delay the punishments are made correspondingly severe. In similar manner noble actions which receive not the approval of men are recorded in the books of the gods, and, in the fullness of time, receive their reward. _How may the school control the nature of the ideal gal- lery? The nature of the ideal gallery, which is the peculiar _ characteristic of the fourth stage and the quality of the 134 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION ideals which flow therefrom, is largely determined by educa- tion. Within certain limits, youth will people this gallery with those idealized figures, real or imaginary, living or dead, which command the respect and glory of their group and time. If im schools the great financial magnates are set up for emulation, personal success in pecuniary accumula- tion as the ideal, this conception of worthy conduct, except iv a small number of the spiritually minded, will translate itself into the action and motives of tue pupils. For this reason the school must do all in its power to elevate its own sense of values; it must not merely reflect the practice of a falsely guided community. Whether many who are held up for popular admiration by our newspapers and our magazines should be permitted to crowd the ideal galleries of youth is a most disconcerting question. Schools in which pupils are encouraged to glorify great teachers, such as Horace Mann of Massachusetts, Henry Barnard of Connecticut, Thomas Arnold of Rugby, and Mark Hopkins of Williams, are difficult to imagine in industrial America; and yet we feign surprise when the more gifted young men and women never dream of entering the teaching profession. In this respect the school is reaping to-day what it has sown. Commercial enterprise draws more than its quota of talented men because success in business colors, not only the life outside the school, but even the ideal of the school itself. How hateful is the idea of a pamphlet entitled “ The Money Value of a College Education”! If our schools and universities bow down to false gods, then the children of the nation will bend the knee before the same idols. More hero-worship is not the need of our society; among the people of our nation this type of compensatory self- adulation is all toocommon. Our need is for the worship of different heroes, heroes who are rich in the things of the spirit. The heroes of politics, the heroes of finance, must PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 135 give way to the less spectacular heroes of the creative life, whose deeds, in our present society, receive neither the plaudits of the multitude nor the more tangible awards of an aristocratic order. Fortunately, these superior men can be indifferent to the opinions of their contemporaries, because they have the highest reward life can afford — a love for their own work. How do abstract principles derive force to modify be- havior? This statement that conduct is guided by the imaginary approval and disapproval of an ideal spectator or a moral connoisseur is, of course, little more than an expres- sion of the fact in picturesque language. The dictates of such a gallery, consciously and unconsciously, become re- solved into ideals of coriduct which lose all contact with the particular individuals or the particular writings with which they were at one time associated. In the process of charac- ter formation such ideals as those of good sportsmanship, the Golden Rule, and the principle of self-sacrifice, all de- rive their original warmth from direct connection with some actual or imaginary hero. With the passage of time, how- ever, these ideals or precepts, being given expression through hosts of particular acts, eventually become guiding princi- ples which have lost their original personal connections. From the standpoint of moral education this process of motivation, generalization, and application is most signiti- cant. The rules and principles of high ethical teaching will not sway action unless they are imparted in the beginning, around the acts of individuals who catch the imagination and move the feelings. The mere statement, “ he that shall lose his life shall save it,’’ unless it is linked with the action of some concrete person who for the learner assumes the réle of hero, leaves the hearer as cold as do most of the sayings of Marcus Aurelius. Abstract principles do not make men valiant for truth. Herein lies one of the great problems of 136 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION all moral education. Carlyle is unquestionably right in claiming that our highest ideals can in the first instance be kindled only through a refined form of hero-worship. The heart must be touched as with a live coal from the altar. The philosopher may reduce the golden deeds of the saviors of mankind to a few great principles of action, but these principles will remain frozen abstractions and will fail to fire saints and martyrs unless they have first been exemplified in the deeds of those that have gone before. The mythology of a race which lacks historical heroes may serve the useful function of quickening and giving life only to a body of abstract principles. Is the higher self a product of habit formation? To see whether the process of modification that we have described is sufficient to explain an extreme act of self-sacrifice, we are now im a position to return to our test case of the man who rescued his enemy from drowning. ‘This illustration will also be examined from the standpoint of the light it throws on the energy of will required for such an act. Careful scrutiny of these processes of modification has shown that the same psychological principle operates throughout; this principle exhibits itself m changes in habits of action, thought, and feeling through the effect of actual and antici- pated rewards and punishments, approval and disapproval. These forces, as time advances, become more and more re- fined, until, in the last stage, the sanctions and prohibitions become those of an ideal gallery, a higher tribunal, or of an ideal self which has been built up through contact with the great of all time. This desire to realize the highest self, which is essentially the same in mechanism as the desire to realize any of the lower selves, accounts for the case in question. The man risked his own life to save that of his enemy be- cause of certain habits and sentiments which had become PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 137 grouped around the ideal self. If these associations had not been embedded in the nervous system, nothing would have availed to prompt the action. Neglecting style, we may say that he did what he did because he was what he was; he was what he was because a long-continued and laborious discipline had wrought profound changes in his original nature. Consequently, he no longer pursued primitive lines of behavior, but rather exhibited modes of conduct which received their inspiration from a long procession of heroes and martyrs. Each larger act of self-sacrifice had left its impression, and in the moment of supreme trial his habits and dispositions decided the issue. This explanation of an heroic deed seems to be so adequate that resort to any magical or supernatural force, or any special moral faculty, is unnecessary. ‘Those dispositions which were the product of a disciplined life exerted their influence, and in the mo- ment of crisis the individual ran true to form — the form to which he had been trained and educated. How is “ will power ’’ a product of habit formation? As no postulation of the existence of a special moral faculty has been made at any stage of this modification process, there is no necessity for assuming some reservoir of energy called will power upon which, in times of stress, the individual can call for assistance. ‘The more refined impulses do not tri- umph over the more primitive because they are reinforced by some influx of will-energy drawn from a reserve, con- cerning which we know nothing. The refined impulses triumph because through education they have become the stronger; to follow the nobler course, has become the path of least resistance; paradoxical as it may seem, the harder has become the easier deed. Just as the expert golfer habitually drives a long and straight ball, so the expert in the art of living, the true humanitarian, through a more subtle process of habit and reflection, follows the straight and narrow path. 138 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION He draws on no reservoir of will energy for the simple reason that no such reservoir exists; the habits of self-sacri- fice, through the instincts from which they develop, carry their own drive. | To what extent is conduct rational? Such a statement of the various levels of behavior is apt to give the impression that all conduct follows a careful rational weighing of profit and loss, satisfaction and dissatisfaction. No view could be more erroneous. As a later part of this discussion will emphasize, man conducts but a small fraction of his life on a rational profit-and-loss theory. He is more apt to consult his feelings than he 1s to obey the dictates of reason. It is therefore necessary, when interpreting such a classification as has been presented, to bear in mind that the dispositions which are created by past experiences are to a large degree emotional dispositions, and not directed mainly by the more rational habits which we have termed reflection. Most peo- ple are saints or sinners, not because they count the cost but because they have acquired, through inheritance and education, an emotional predisposition to one or other of the two behavior-sets. We cannot too often remind ourselves that, in spite of our best efforts, the checks and encourage- ments which reason can afford are but transitory and super- ficial. They often do little more than play upon the sur- face of an organism which is essentially primitive in its emotional stirrings. Even the few who attempt to steer by intellect allow their emotions to make generous alterations in the reckoning. Any system of morality, any system of justice, any system of education that overlooks this obvious fact is guilty of the intellectualistic fallacy. By so doing it neglects the sentiments and emotions that he back of action, and treats man as a rational being who weighs disinterest- edly his conduct from the standpoint of ultimate satisfac- tion. PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION _ 139 - This limited dependence on the process of reflection does not mean that educators should throw up their hands in a spirit of helplessness. Rather it implies that they should study the process of motivation from its emotional, as well as its intellectual side. This they must do, if they would attach to the higher form of social conduct those powerful sentiments, emotions, and compulsions which under present conditions become so easily linked with anti-social or nar- rowly social reactions. Because of their intellectual tradi- tions educators as a group tend to disparage the emotional side of man’s nature, and to value only rational controls. Such a rationalistic bias leads to profound and lamentable error. Logic can never raise the moral temperature of the world. For one individual whois stirred to right action by a Marcus Aurelius, millions follow the Christ. What is the function of conscience? ‘The reader will probably feel that no account of the development of per- sonality is adequate unless the part which conscience plays in the determination of conduct is given explicit attention. In the terms in which we are speaking, what is conscience? Can we assume that conscience is some guiding entity which presides over our thoughts, feelings, and acts? This question may be more readily answered if the occasions when “conscience”’ is most imperious are examined. Every instance of this kind is marked by a conflict between a lower and a higher impulse. Conscience is usually re- garded as “the active principle ” which drives a man to choose what he believes to be the right way. On the physiological side it is a name given to a group of facili- tating and restraining mechanisms, while its psycholog- ical counterpart actively predisposes the individual to right action. Conscience, picturesquely regarded as an internal monitor which controls behavior, has psychologically been a pow- 140 |, PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION erful agent in reconciling man to the stern environmental and social conditions under which he has been compelled to lead his life. To more robust minds, especially, does ex- ternally imposed authority tend to be irksome. It is just at this point that “conscience” eases the rub, and removes some of the friction. As long as the individual bows to an external authority the yoke chafes, but when this external authority is reinforced and to a large extent replaced by inner sanction and direction, the individual, feeling that he is no longer a mere subject but rather a directive agent, ac- cepts, without murmur, the restraining influences. The check of a conscience which has been built up from habits imposed by the approval and disapproval of our fellows, is often willingly accepted when the direct restrictions of so- ciety seem arbitrary and unjust. In this sense the internal monitor serves a most valuable function in reconciling the individual to the rules imposed by the community. Only as these mechanisms subsumed under conscience are acquired can moral character be developed. » Why is personality so complex? These processes whereby socialized behavior is achieved are exceedingly complex. The individual does not mould his conduct in accordance with the group as a whole; rather he builds up a number of personalities, each of which is adapted to the different réles he plays. This is the point which James makes when he claims that a man has as many social selves as there are in- dividuals and groups with which he sustains relations. Of course, there is a great deal of overlapping of the various selves, but the differences of these groups, and therefore the differences in the corresponding selves, are so great that at times a discordant splitting of the total personality results. This rivalry and conflict of the different selves is playfully represented by this author when he writes: 1 1 James, William: Psychology, vol. 1, p. 309. PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 141 T am often confronted by the necessity of standing by one of my empirical selves and relinquishing the rest. Not that I would not, if I could, be both handsome and fat and well-dressed, and a great athlete, and make a million a year, be a wit, a bon vivant, and a lady-killer, as well as a philosopher; a philanthropist, a statesman, a warrior, an African explorer, as well as a “tone-poet”’ and saint. But the thing is simply impossible. The millionaire’s work would run counter to the saint’s; the bon vivant and the philanthropist | would trip each other up; the philosopher and the lady-killer could not well keep house in the same tenement of clay. What is meant by a personality? From the standpoint of these various selves the development of orderly personality only proceeds in so far as each is assigned its proper sphere. The main task is that of bringing harmony into a household which contains such diverse and often incompatible mem- bers. The opposing attitudes, habits and impulses must gradually be brought into accord and manifest an internal consistency. Variety of reaction is only good in so far as a unity can still embrace the variety. This process of in- tegration of the minor personalities into a single harmonious self constitutes the essence of character formation and the emergence of personality. Of all the various selves the potential or ideal social self is the most interesting and, from the standpoint of moral education, the most important. This is the self with which the individual identifies himself in his highest and most enlightened moments. In order that this harmonization of the various selves may be achieved, each act performed in the interests of one of the lesser selves must pass the “censorship ” of the higher so- cial self. In a perfectly integrated and completely har- monized personality the habits of thought, action, and feel- ing called forth by a particular grouping of situations would be in perfect accord with the larger habits of thought, feel- ing, and action with which the individual identifies himself when he is, as we say, most himself. ‘These reactions within 142 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION different spheres must produce no lasting conflicts and set up no disturbing emotional and intellectual tensions. What is abnormal behavior? Because of its extreme com- plexity such a long-continued and thorough-going modifica- tion of original nature as results from the varied and chequered experiences of life is often attended by grave dis- turbances. A process of integration which is so subtle can hardly be expected to run smoothly and, in its final state, to reveal no exaggerations. While that abnormal behavior which accompanies lesions and faulty anatomical structure presents the most striking cases of dissociation, this type of disturbance can hardly be considered in an educational treatise. Omitting all reference to such cases, then, we shall confine ourselves to certain eccentric forms of behavior pro- duced not by any gross deterioration of the brain, but rather by a peculiar and unfortunate attitude which the in- dividual has assumed towards certain aspects of his experi- ence. To present the most elementary facts from this field, cer- tain terms, which have come into literature through the study of insanity, must be introduced. To the reader such an excursion out of the beaten track may seem not only un- necessary but hazardous. Its justification, however, will be found in the additional insight that a study of abnormal behavior throws on everyday conduct. ‘That abnormality is a matter of degree, cannot be too often stressed. Ab- normal conduct is conduct which has deviated from the norm to such an extent that it attracts attention. The most economical manner in which to study the slight devia- tions found in the conduct of each of us is to study them as they appear in greatly magnified form in other persons. This method of approach will show that “ all the world is a little queer ”’; and the logical reader will be driven to forego the comforting exclusion of ‘‘ thee and me.” PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 143 | What is Freud’s central hypothesis? An adequate in- troduction to this field would involve a description of the main tenets of the psycho-analytic school. Here it must suffice to note that Freud has rendered a unique service in calling attention to certain tendencies of human behavior which exist at a low level and rarely, if ever, enter conscious- ness. These submerged tendencies, these ego-centric im- pulses, color both normal and abnormal behavior. He supposes that the powerful primitive urges of “ the uncon- scious”! are continually in conflict with the desires of men in civilized society. As a result of the wholesale and artificial restraints of modern life, vast tracts of this primitive self are repressed and never reach the level of consciousness except in distorted form. ‘The degree of distortion must be suffi- cient to pass the “ censorship,” which Freud conceives as a force guarding the confines of consciousness. That such phenomena as Freud describes manifest themselves in the life of each individual, that sex restraint is a fruitful cause of conduct distortion, no one doubts, but that Freud has been unfortunate in his terminology and mystical in his concepts is equally obvious. Unfortunately, an adequate consideration of the position of Freud is impossible here. What is the complex? Abandoning, because of the lim- itation of space, any attempt to present in exhaustive form the phenomena of abnormal behavior, we may introduce our partial account by considering the concept of the com- plex. According to Hart’s definition, a complex “‘is a sys- tem of connected ideas ? with a strong emotional tone, and a tendency to produce actions of a certain definite character.” 1 The precise meaning of this term has never been made clear. 2 The term “‘idea’’ and its corresponding adjective “ideational’’ is used as a convenience to signify the acquired dispositions which condi- tion reflection. The reader is warned against the danger of regarding “ideas’”’ as isolated and unchanging entities, or as “atoms” from the combination of which thinking arises. 144 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION As used in this way, it includes any group of associated ideas and actions, provided the consolidation is produced by a strong emotional tone. This emotional accompaniment functions whenever the complex is aroused. On account of its powerful affective quality, and the large number of elements that it may contain, a complex is extremely liable to be stimulated. When this happens, the accompanying behavior is characteristic. The point which differentiates a complex from any other group of habits, or group of con- nected ideas, is that its cementing principle is the strong feeling tone. It causes the individual to be peculiarly at- tentive to certain types of stimulation, to be extremely sen- sitive when so stimulated, and as a result of the strong emotional excitement to behave in a way which is more or less irrational. A man who has an overmastering hobby finds this complex so strong that very remote objects and ideas will arouse it. Moreover, his behavior, when once the complex is stimulated, will reveal a characteristic lack of balance. For example, a man with a golf complex will be unable to see a green sward without dreaming of golf, he will justify to himself the spending of long afternoons on the course, and he will bore his friends for hours after the game with a recital of his successes and failures on the various holes. A more extreme manifestation of such a grouping or inte- gration of behavior responses is shown in the lover’s complex. To the individual suffering from this well-nigh universal malady, almost every element and act of his life will call to mind the adored one. Her most trivial remark will be weighed as though of profound importance; ecstasy and de- jection will alternate in rapid succession; and the behavior 1 From the choice of illustrations in this portion of the text, the astute reader will already have noticed that the writers are suffering from a golf complex of a most violent nature! PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 145 within the complex may be so irrational that sonnets are written to the eyebrows of the beloved! The whole world may scoff, the uninspired may rack his brains to discover the imponderable and sterling virtues crystallized in the chosen individual, but to no avail! We may smile at the folly of others, but, if we are sincere with ourselves, we shall be compelled to recognize that our own behavior is only explicable in terms of the many com- plexes resident within us. Complexes involving our health, our home, our children, our friends, our business, our coun- try, our sports, our religion, and a host of our other interests, are responsible for many of the peculiarities of our actions. We may justify our eccentric conduct in each one of these realms by resorting to the most ingenious and laborious process of rationalization, but the fact still remains that there is an irreducible minimum which defies reasonable ex- planation. ‘This residue can only be accounted for by the presence of the peculiar emotional dispositions that happen to have been built up around these interests. How universal are these complexes? An ideally in- tegrated personality would not manifest such strange be- havior; against our will the evidence forces us to the view that, in but few matters, are we wholly or largely swayed by the dictates of reason — quaniula sapientia mundus regitur. Only in the dreams of mental philosophers is the human mind a smoothly running, cold, logical engine. The feel- ings and actions of even the most disciplined disprove this conception at every turn. As Trotter says, “‘ When there- fore, we find ourselves entertaining an opinion about the basis of which there is a quality of feeling which telis us that to inquire into it would be absurd, obviously unnecessary, unprofitable, undesirable, bad form, or wicked, we may know that the opinion is a non-rational one.” Only when the presence of these disturbing complexes is 146 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION taken into consideration are the prediction, control, and interpretation of behavior possible. The old intellectualistic explanation of conduct has only had its long reign because the scientific study of behavior has been confined to a few thinkers who have themselves been schooled, at great pains, in rational methods. ‘Those who have viewed life, not from the cloister but from the market place, have never been duped by this simple fallacy. Only as the educational proc- ess takes full account of these irrational tendencies of men, and studiously strives to prevent anti-social and other serious complexes from dominating thought and action, can it hope to build up an harmonious personality. How does conflict arise? How is it resolved? These complexes vary in their scope from those covering insignifi- cant fragments of behavior to the large complexes which embrace very wide aspects of life. ‘The various social selves, described by James, are representative of the wider com- plexes. After a considerable number of such complexes has been formed, a single situation serves to arouse several of the comprehensive groupings of mechanisms. Under these conditions the stage is set for what 1s called a “ conflict.” The mother who is fired by a rabid puritanical complex which impels her to a scathing denunciation of drinking and cards, may discover that her own son, at college, has been attending late poker parties. The puritanical complex leading to denunciation here conflicts with the child or par- ent complex which causes the mother always to shield and excuse her offspring. How is she to reconcile this conflict without the displacement of one of the complexes? ‘There are four possibilities: (1) She may keep her puritanism and her parent reactions in logic-tight and emotion-tight compartments, and by this method of segregation prevent conflict; (2) She may rationalize the situation by persuading her- PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 147 self that her son, being led into wicked paths by evil companions, was innocent of guilt; (3) She may, repressing the knowledge that her son has fallen into what she regards as disgrace, refuse to recognize the unwelcome fact; (4) She may be willing to face the facts, stand by her notions of right and wrong, recognize that her son has greatly disappointed her, and in the light of both events proceed to direct her conduct. The fourth method of settling the conflict involves no compact with delusion; such facing of reality is the mark of a superior mind. Where segregation takes place there is an incompatibility in the behavior, a lack of harmony in the personality, which is accompanied by grave dangers. The integrity of the mind is lost; single-mindedness disappears. The dangers of rationalization have already received atten- tion; reason is prostituted in this service. Repression of deep-seated and wide complexes with their correspondingly powerful feelings, if it reaches a certain point, may bring about a breakdown of the self. When this occurs usually the explanation may be found in the utter incompatibility of two or more conflicting foci of behavior. This incom- patibility may eventually become so great that any har- monization is rendered impossible. In this event the at- tempt may be made to repress, to banish from the mind the offending complex. ‘This process is fraught with serious consequences. The repressed elements, if they ever come to dominate behavior, since they are divorced from the main stream of life, may give rise to the phenomena of multiple or double personality. When this acute stage is reached, all appearance of harmony in the self disappears. Each self is unaware of the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the other. Cases of this kind are, of course, so extreme as to be pathological, but mental hygiene is revealing to-day 148 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION that many rervous disturbances may be traced to the re- pression, especially in early youth, of certain behavior trends. A wiser system of education would force these tendencies into the open, and attempt to harmonize them with the rest of the mental life. How does projection operate? In considering the réle played by rationalization, another interesting mental proc- ess must be considered. Passing reference has already been made to certain behavior-processes so radically op- posed to the main trend of the individual that he finds it extremely difficult to reconcile himself to their presence. While repression may ensue, another path of escape is possi- ble. Instead of refusing attention, as in repression, the in- dividual ascribes the evil thoughts and actions to some out- side agency. In its most exaggerated form, this is seen in the insane, who explain away all their derelictions by attributing them to external influence. In a neighboring asylum is an inmate who from time to time attacks his fellows. After each as- sault the explanation is the same: “ I am controlled by some wireless, which a Yale professor who has stolen my patent, is operating to keep me locked up here! ”’ Since this process involves the projecting outside the self of certain painful mental contents, it goes by the name of “ projection ”; it is an attempt to find an excuse for a departure from nor- mal behavior. ‘This phenomenon is exhibited in a wider form in the crude conception of the devil, which works mis- chief in human hearts and lives. Instead of boldly and openly confessing our sins and assuming the blame for them, by ascribing them to an external agency the feeling of re- sponsibility, if not removed, is much diminished. ‘To-day “environment and heredity’ are apparently taking the place of the former ubiquitous “ devil.” This same principle operates at the other extreme of con- PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 149 duct. When some ecstatic state is experienced, when some sublime and heroic deed of sacrifice 1s performed, an exter- nal beneficent force is postulated. “It is not I that do it, but the spirit that worketh in me.”” While both these forms of rationalization are magical in their origin, the first is, of course, much more dangerous than the second. Any mental process which takes away from the individual the feeling of personal responsibility, and thereby causes him to condone his own acts of indiscretion, is dangerous both individually and socially. Education must not allow reality to be dis- torted by mirages of this kind. The individual must recog- nize his own responsibility, and take gracefully the blows which cannot be inflicted upon an imaginary and external * whipping boy.” What is the place of phantasy in mental life? Closely allied to the phenomenon of projection, with its imaginary accompaniments, is the mental process known as “ phan- tasy.” A complex finds its normal outcome in action. When, however, through obstacles in the environment or through the impotence of the individual, the activity of the complex is blocked, there yet remains one channel through which it may find partial expression. Let us suppose that an individual is very desirous of amassing a fortune, and that defects in his personality or the limitations of his sur- roundings prevent the consummation of this desire. Re alizing that his craving can never be satisfied in the world of reality, he may fly to the land of dreams where obstacles melt away, and his own pusillanimous and submissive will becomes inflexible and sovereign. In this realm of phantasy he may build up business organizations of which Rockefeller never dreamed, and amass fortunes for which Croesus never sighed. All of us, especially in adolescence, indulge in day- dreams of this kind. We rescue fair damsels from burning buildings amid the plaudits of the crowd; we perform 150 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION Herculean labors with easy grace; amidst countless retainers we dwell in marble halls; we attain social and intellectual prominence within a day; we scatter plenty on a smiling land, and read our glory in a nation’s eyes. This playful mental activity, affording in the realm of fancy a compensation for the sternness of reality, cannot, in its entirety, be condemned. The discouraged prisoner rallies his spirit and gathers strength to burst his bonds and slay hiscaptors. Used in this way, phantasy has great possi- bilities as a motivating force. Such is the legitimate use of this mechanism; it may function illegitimately, however, by becoming the perpetual resort of a vacillating and timid mind. Instead of refreshing the warrior for new conflict, it may sap the energy which should be used in destroying his antagonist. If such day-dreaming is allowed unbridled license, the individual becomes, at length, divorced from reality, and incapable of undergoing those sterner dis- ciplines demanded by the problems and exigencies of life. Education, by encouraging the individual to undertake suitable tasks which, through continuous effort, yield a prod- uct in the world of reality, must prevent him from falling a prey to the dangerous habit of substituting “ castles in Spain ” for substantial achievement. ‘Too much thwarting, the natural outcome of impossible goals, is liable to induce this compensating tendency to live in the domain of phan- tasy. How does the inferiority-complex operate? Perhaps, in closing, it is well to call attention to another concept much used in the study of human behavior. This is the “ inferior- ity-complex.”’ Adler noted that, under certain conditions, when the body exhibited some marked defect, the attempt on the part of the bodily mechanism at physical compensa- tion was followed by an over-compensation. This is the in- feriority-complex of physical origin, but the same term may PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 151 also be applied to the complex of psychical origin. Com- plexes of this type are apt, likewise, to manifest themselves in over-compensation. The shy and nervous individual may often mask his inner feeling under a brazen exterior, and the pessimist may often present an overjoyous counte- nance. Particularly are phantasy and day-dreaming the channels through which the individual suffering from an inferiority-complex attempts to establish a behavior equilib- rium. While certain students of human behavior have overworked this concept as an explanation of conduct, there is no question that it is of service in classifying some mani- festations of human conduct. Whenever there is extreme sensitiveness in certain, social situations, combined with great eagerness for social recognition and an aggressive type of reaction, the possibility of the behavior being explicable in terms of a persistent effort to overcome the sense of in- feriority should be considered. Under these conditions we find the possessor of such a complex not merely trying to overcome his deficiency by continued striving to attain the ends which are direct, but in many cases he chooses other ends which may serve as a compensation for failure to attain the direct objectives. Towards these other compensatory activities he directs his attention and the attention of his associates. The boy of weak body may turn from sport and make heroic efforts to excel in his studies. At the same time he is careful to make clear, to himself and to others, the superiority of intellectual attainment, and, in extreme cases, he may manifest a com- plete contempt for physical prowess. Pruett elaborates this point in the following words: ! The woman without brains uses every device to be beautiful and charming, the woman who cannot be beautiful goes to college and takes an interest in “‘higher”’ things, the menial compensates 1 Psychoanalytic Rev., Jan., 1922, p. 29. 152 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION by insolence to superiors. ‘The Southerner clings to his belief in his aristocratic descent and the tradition of noblesse oblige, seeking to forget the relative inferiority of his section in economic and intellectual development. The New-Englander makes a virtue of necessity and cherishes the faults as well as the excellences of the middle class. ‘The Westerner boasts the material greatness of his country because he has not yet taken time to acquire cultural greatness. Compensation for inferiority may be found in many ways, perhaps chiefly through attracting attention away from the very defect. How fruitful are these concepts in studying behavior? Before leaving the subject it is necessary to warn the reader that such concepts as we have described, the unconscious, the complex, the inferiority-complex, phantasy, compen- sation, projection, etc., etc., may easily be abused. As methods of explanation or, more accurately, of classifica- tion, it is easy to bandy these words around and, in the face of the complex problems of human behavior, to. feel a false security. In the hands of popular writers, and, at times, in the hands of those who claim to be psychologists, these terms have been employed as explanations to such a degree that the standards of proof in psychology seem to be even lower than those found in theology. These con- cepts have a proper place; they may aid clear thinking, but, unless used with great discrimination, they may “ lay the intellect to rest on a pillow of obscure ideas.” What is the educational responsibility? In the short space at our disposal we have been able to do little more than sketch the larger psychological and sociological impli- cations of that vast and intricate process of habit-formation and reflection out of which character emerges. In the brief- est possible manner, certain modes of behavior which are detrimental to the development of an ordered and unified personality have been discussed. The total process of char- acter formation is too interwoven with the whole fabric of PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION 153 life to make feasible a systematic formulation of definite regulations for its guidance. Education is only successful in so far as it furnishes a purified and simplified environ- ment which is calculated to favor the growth of sound habits of action, thought, and feeling. For this reason the school must reproduce in miniature a socialized community; its rules and regulations, its conventions and its ideals, must be planned not only for the attainment of intellectual growth, but still more for the attainment of moral stature. Within this ideal community each member, by subordinating his lower self, by realizing his better self, should unconsciously and consciously form those mental dispositions from which moral conduct flows. An individual does not become a personality all at once; he becomes so only gradually, and even then he cannot be regarded as existing for himself alone, but only as a member of an organism. To accomplish this end, the questions of freedom, constraint, competition, socialized and group ac- tivity, individual responsibility, formulation of aims, differ- ences in personality, must all be given the closest study. Only individuals who have once enjoyed such a community in the school can confidently be expected to work for the socialization of the greater society — a society in which it will be recognized that one of the important functions of every department of life is that of making more humane the individual coming within its sphere of influence. ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION 1. To what factors would you trace man’s irrational desire for approval and recognition of others? 2. From the standpoint of the individual, what are the advantages and disadvantages which accompany extreme sensitiveness to the ap- proval and disapproval of the immediate group? What are the cor- responding advantages and disadvantages to the group itself? 3. How do problems of discipline arise out of the fact that pupils fre- 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. ' PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION quently prefer the approval of their classmates to the approval of the teacher? . What are the merits and demerits of the impersonal form of natural punishment, advocated by Spencer in his essay on Moral Education ? . When is day-dreaming, as a compensatory mechanism, detrimental to the growth of personality? How can the school minimize the danger? . Why is the complex such a dangerous factor in conduct? Analyze the complexes which the ordinary individual builds up about: him- self, his college, his country, his political party, his religious sect, his occupation, his family. . List the characteristics which your social self exhibits in each of the following réles: teacher, pupil, son or daughter, brother or sister, parent, lover, member of fraternity, patriot, worshipper, employer, employee. What conflicts between these various selves do you ex- perience? How are these conflicts resolved? . What types of personality are set up for approval by each of the following: the sport column of the newspaper, the moving picture, the pulpit, the stage, the market place, the dance hall, the college campus, the public school, the university. . How does the membership of the ideal gallery change at the various age levels? What systematic attempt does the school make to modify and refine the membership of this ideal gallery? Why are moral precepts in themselves such ineffective instruments for the motivation of conduct? How may these precepts be given vitality? Show, in terms of habit mechanisms, how “will power,’’ as popularly known, is built up. What is the effect on the growth of personality in children of the practically compiete dominance of women in the teaching profession? Illustrate, from your own experience as an adult, the modification of conduct at each of the four levels, according to the analysis of McDougall. What danger does the teacher run, in the development of personality, through constant association with immature minds? How can these dangers in some measure be avoided? . [llustrate from your own experience, the phenomena of the complex, projection, phantasy, inferiority complex, the force of the primitive urges of the unconscious. PROBLEM 10 HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY PROLONGED GUARDIANSHIP? Why is plasticity marked by initial helplessness? — What is the signifi- cance of infancy? — Why has prolonged infancy a survival value? — Why is the period of social infancy being extended? — What aspects of growth have been studied? — When does intellectual growth cease? — Why is it so difficult to measure the growth of social and moral traits? — What determines the value of an activity in infancy? — What qualities should characterize the school environment? — Does the school explore and rec- ognize the capacities of the individual? — How may society exploit the docility of the young? — How may the school lose touch with life? — How may the school unduly sacrifice the present to the future? Why is plasticity marked by initial helplessness? Nothing in the study of human behavior is more striking than the complete helplessness of the infant at birth. As compared with the lower animals its equipment with those adaptive mechanisms which are essential to the immediate demands of life is most inadequate. Were not the human infant care- fully tended it would die within a very few hours of its birth; and this, in spite of close proximity to food, shelter, and clothing, and other necessities of life. We have already contrasted the independence of the recently hatched chick, capable of seeking its food, with the helplessness of the new- born infant, incapable of even crawling to its mother’s breast. So striking is this utter helplessness that a hypothetical observer, unacquainted with the developmental history of the infant and the chick, would certainly predict a fuller life for the latter than the former. In the light of subsequent events, he who judged future possibilities from present ef- fectiveness would be completely deceived. Incapacity to meet present conditions can never of itself be advantageous to an organism. Unless the infantile help- 156 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION lessness is the necessary concomitant of a structural forma- tion that has great potentialities for growth, it is wholly negative and disadvantageous. When we pass from the patent fact of the physical incapacity to its physiological basis, our attitude towards this helplessness is changed. A certain incompleteness at birth is the necessary condition of growth. Only as the final forms of response are absent can the organism form those habits through which future ad- justment is secured. The lower one goes in the animal king- dom, the more one finds this fact to be true. Independence of the care of the parent is characteristic of the lower forms of animal life; the chick is better equipped to meet the con- ditions of its life than the kitten, and the kitten than the young elephant or the monkey. The chick possesses at birth, in a relatively fixed form, most of the responses which are necessary for life. These responses, being sufficiently adapted to the extremely simple environment to which the chick reacts, may be employed in approximately their orig- inal form. ‘These hereditary preferential connections are so clearly and finally canalized in the physiological structure that, in the event of a considerable environmental change, the organism perishes. Initial adaptation of this final order is purchased at the price of modifiability. The young of the primates inherit many more modes of response than do the offspring of any other animal species. Furthermore, these modes of re- sponse are less fixed and, under environmental stimulus, are more easily modified; or, to state the case more accurately, the inherited behavior-patterns are so numerous and con- flicting that they facilitate and inhibit each other. In this manner the behavior of the organism suffers gradual though radical modification. To this possibility of compounding new forms of behavior, from the facilitation and interference of simpler modes of response, the term plasticity is given; and GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 157 to the period during which this modification takes place in a marked degree, the term infancy has been technically applied. What is plasticity? On its physiological side, the helpless- ness of the human offspring and the prolonged period of infancy must be traced to an absence at birth of many of the mechanisms which only develop with age and environ- mental stimulus. It is probably a mistake of emphasis to assume that the simple inherited modes of response which develop as the organism matures, and out of which com- plex behavior is built, are less fixed in man than in the lower animals. The point to stress is not that the simple reactions are indefinite and vague, but rather that they are capable of being integrated or compounded together to form new types of behavior. As a complex machine derives its versatility, not from a lack of rigidity in its various parts, but from the manner in which these various rigid parts work together to produce a complex series of movements; so, in man, plasti- city and adaptability are due not to the absence of definite and fixed simple modes of reaction, but rather to the manner in which simple responses are coérdinated and integrated. This coérdination results in modes of behavior which have no appearance of fixity, but exhibit a degree of versatility found only in the human mechanism. What is the significance of infancy? Using the term in- fancy to cover that period during which the offspring is markedly dependent upon the care of others, we may now observe that prolonged infancy seems to accompany capa- city for future development. The lower animals which are virtually independent of the parent at the time of birth are incapable of modifying their behavior to any considerable degree, while man, who has a prolonged period of infancy, shows a great capacity for growth. This connection be- tween the period of infancy and capacity for change is not a mere coincidence, but rather a causal relationship. 158 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION To view this fact in its most significant form, the student must go back of the time of birth and follow the gradual development of the organism in the pre-natal period. From the physiological standpoint there is continuity between pre-natal and post-natal existence. The separation of the offspring from the parental body, however dramatic in its nature and its social significance, marks no sudden break in the process of development. We may suppose, therefore, that in the lower animals the major part of that final in- tegration, which sets definite bounds to the process of learn- ing, takes place before birth, while, in the case of man, birth occurs before this process of final integration is con- summated. Owing to the lack of differentiation at birth, the process of integration, which has been discussed under habit formation, can occupy a long period of time, and can proceed under the influences of those forces which condition the social life of the child. Expressed in picturesque language, it may be said that the lower animals are adapted by heredity, whereas man is given by heredity merely the raw materials of adaptation. In the case of the lower animals, nature completes her task before the birth of the organism, while, in the case of man, she seems to lack the necessary time during the pre-natal period to fashion a finished product. The child is consequently born with an adaptable mechan- ism which can be made effective only by the educating in- fluence of the environment. What nature does for man in shaping the more primitive mechanisms governing the ac- tion of the heart, kidney, stomach, liver, and other vital organs, she does for the animal throughout almost the whole of its reaction system. Why has prolonged infancy a survival value? Were all the reactions of the child as isolated from the higher mental control, and therefore as unmodifiable, as are the simple GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 159 physiological processes, education would be powerless to produce change. Any adaptation to a complex and chang- ing environment would be impossible. Man, of course, is not endowed with this plasticity, which is the mark of a prolonged period of infancy, in order that he may adapt himself to the complexities of his material and social en- vironment; instead these complexities have only arisen be- cause of the learning capacity which is characteristic of the human infant. But from the standpoint of the individual, infancy, with all it implies, may be legitimately regarded as the period during which the process of habit formation is peculiarly active, and therefore as the period during which are formed the major nymber of adjustments to the world. So essential is this plasticity to the formation of habits that we may assume the steady operation of certain selec- tive influences throughout the course of evolution. These influences have favored those organisms that, through lack of differentiation at birth, are capable of adjusting them- selves to the changing aspects of the environment. In the beginning of the struggle variations in gross size, in strength of muscle, in physical endurance, and in resistance to cold, ‘hunger, and thirst, may well have been the determining in- fluences in survival; but, as competition became more acute and as the environment was refined, the selective forces became increasingly operative upon variations in the plasticity of the nervous system. Consequently, with the passage of successive generations of men, a gradual increase in the degree of helplessness and in the duration of the period of dependence might be expected. Why is the period of social infancy being extended? Under the conditions of our own complex civilization, even an approximate estimate of the period of time during which parental care is essential to the survival of the offspring can- not be conjectured. ‘The specialization of occupation in our 160 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION present society makes all of us dependent throughout our lives upon the labor of others; and the present “ paternalis- tic’ trend of government, with the social assumption of responsibility for the individual, makes dependence cotermi- nous with life. However, that the period of dependence is over when the individual is capable of earning his own living may reasonably be assumed. According to the common judgment of society, as expressed in legislation and educa- tional procedure, the child should not carry the responsi- bilities of earning a livelihood before sixteen, and the full membership in society is not granted until eighteen or twenty-one years. Furthermore, among the more favored classes, the period of dependence is extended even beyond the age at which legal status is conferred. In modern life, entrance to the higher professions, such as medicine, law, and university teaching, is hardly possible, if the individual is to be adequately equipped, before the age of twenty-five to twenty-eight. The increase in theoretical training de- manded by many of the professions involves a financial de- pendence upon the parents or society for approximately one third of the life span. | The advance of civilization, too, encourages the extension of the period of dependence upon the parents or upon society for as long a time as benefit can be derived from deferred entrance to the profession or occupation. Where the finan- cial resources of the family render the practice unnecessary, many parents and children make the mistake of assuming that, on the completion of the college course, the indi- vidual should be independent and, therefore, responsible for self-maintenance during the years of postgraduate study. This constitutes an unwarranted sacrifice of educational values to immediate productive efficiency. The same argu- ment applies even more forcibly to those foolish parents who, in spite of financial competence, distract their children GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 161 during the secondary school or college period by requiring them to engage in remunerative employment during hours which .might well be devoted to the prosecution of their studies or recreations. An understanding of the signifi- cance of infancy would correct this short-sighted practice. In view of the extensive and prolonged training necessary for those who later will be called upon to meet the more im- portant crises of our social life, society must recognize that these chosen individuals must be relieved from the necessity of entering a gainful occupation before the early thirties. What aspects of growth have been studied? Having shown the general significance of infancy and prolonged guardianship, we now turn to a phase of our problem which is of great interest to the educator. . This problem is con- cerned with the developmental history from birth to ma- turity. By students of anthropometry, medicine, and edu- cation, the physical growth of the child has been carefully studied. By using groups of children of both sexes at the various age levels, growth in stature, weight, and other physical traits has been measured. At the present time several ambitious investigations are in progress in which the same children are measured periodically in the various physical traits. The onset and manifestations of adoles- cence have also received considerable attention. Paralleling this interest in physical and anatomical traits the question of growth of intelligence has in more recent years occupied the attention of psychologists. ‘The move- ment for the measurement of mental capacity is greatly handicapped not only by the lack of objective units, but also by the causal relationship that exists between growth in in- tellectual capacity and environmental stimulation. Thus, while an inch is always perfectly objective, an increase of a certain number of units in performance in an intelligence test has always to be interpreted in the light of the elements 162 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION comprising the particular test. In the Binet examination, since the tests are standardized on an age-level basis, the extent of the growth from year to year in absolute units can never be known. Again, all the tests which have so far been devised to measure mental growth are exceedingly depend- ent upon educational factors. Consequently, in the at- tempt to measure mental growth, any results obtained from such tests have always to be interpreted with reference to an environmental factor which changes from individual to individual. When does intellectual growth cease? In spite of these difficulties it is probably safe to assume that somewhere be- tween fourteen and a half and sixteen vears the majority of individuals reach the limits set by nature to mental growth. From this time on they cease to show increased capacity to meet those novel situations which, for their solution, make demands on native ability rather than on mere experience. To suppose that the majority of individuals do not grow in intellectual effectiveness after sixteen is, of course, absurd; the experience of mankind is to the contrary. But there is considerable evidence to show that this effectiveness is to be ascribed to wider experience and more information, rather than to an increase in general mental capacity. In view of the inadequacy of our instruments, and the un- measured influence of the environmental factor, dogmatism is out of place, but it is interesting to note that cumulative evidence from the employment of a wide selection of the present so-called intelligence tests reveals the fact that the decline of mental growth coincides roughly with slackening of physiological development. The one disconcerting fact, however, is that the intelligence tests indicate a cessation in mental growth at the very age when the majority of children leave school. This at least gives rise to the suspicion that our intelligence tests are measuring a mental dexterity GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 163 which is very dependent upon school environment. Were universal education extended to twenty years of age, we venture to predict that the present measures of intelligence would reveal the approach of mental maturity at a some- what later age than fourteen years. ‘The precise effect which this extension of education would have on the ratings by our current tests, can, in our present state of knowledge, only be surmised. Why is it so difficult to measure the growth of social and moral traits? While intellectual growth has occupied the center of the stage, during the past twenty years, serious attempts have also been made, at the various age levels, to measure such allied phases of growth as range of interest, choice of heroes, development of moral judgment, growth of moral behavior, etc. But these measurements of social and moral traits are so dependent upon the social milieu in which the child is placed that they, much less than the gauges of intellectual growth, can be interpreted as reflecting an inner development of the child. Is growth continuous? In a general treatise of this char- acter, even a brief summary of the vast amount of evidence that has been collected with reference to physical, mental, social, and moral growth is out of place. The point espe- cially worthy of emphasis is that growth in the individual, whether physical or mental, is on the whole uniform and continuous until maturity. While in extreme cases indi- viduals show periods of quiescence, followed by periods of extremely rapid development, and while in the vast major- ity of cases slight manifestations of the same phenomenon are found, yet, in the large, the old dictum — Natura non saltum facit—is unquestionably substantiated. If data were to be presented to combat this sweeping generaliza- tion, we should turn to the early years of adolescence. The little existing evidence which supports the theory of 164 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION well-marked periods of negative and positive acceleration in growth is drawn from this source. Has measurement supported the theory of recapitula- tion? ‘The collection of experimental evidence on rate of growth has undermined the influence of those theories of education which have been based on the attractive notion that all individuals more or less uniformly pass through temporally well-defined stages of development. ‘The theory of recapitulation, which assumed that in the development of the individual, the instincts followed the order in which they | were evolved by the race, and assumed that their time of appearance in the maturing of the child might be readily catalogued, is moribund. Upon this attractive theory the culture epoch system of education was based; but such easy solutions to the problems of educational procedure are not available. Any guidance which educators may obtain from the studies of growth will come from patient investigations similar to those which are now being made on groups of children in experimental schools and classes. Here the be- havior of children from the earliest years, and under various types of environmental stimulation and psychological ex- perimentation, may be subjected to continuous and close scrutiny. Already these investigations have progressed so far that one conclusion is almost certain: any sudden changes which take place in the behavior-growth of the child, must be explained in terms of social forces playing upon the child, rather than in terms of abrupt physiological or psycholog- ical changes within the organism. How has infancy fostered the growth of the family? Sociologists have repeatedly pointed out that the prolonga- tion of infancy has led to the stabilization of the family. In the process of organic evolution, selection must have worked in favor of those families in which the inborn social and other tendencies of both parent and offspring were conducive to GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 165 prolonged infancy. From these parental and filial tenden- cies, original or readily acquired, the altruistic inclinations of mankind are usually assumed to have developed. To attempt to trace the rise of morality and religion without constant reference to the family relation, and its consequent effects upon group life, is futile. What determines the value of an activity in infancy? Here, however, our concern is not with the evolutionary sig- nificance of prolonged infancy, but rather with the advan- tages which accrue to the individual from the protracted period of dependence characteristic of present civilization. Freedom from economic pressure and relief from the neces- sity of seeking food, shelter, and clothing enables the child to devote the major part of his time to the acquisition of those skills and knowledges, and to the formation of those moral and emotional dispositions which, in the judgment of his elders, are essential to successful participation in group life. Not that the child who is forced to surrender to economic pressure does not receive a valuable education through gaining a livelihood; but under these stern condi- tions the educative process is, perforce, sacrificed to eco- nomic production. In the case of the protected child, on the other hand, modifications of behavior constitute the aim of the activity and receive, on this account, the whole em- phasis. The touchstone of the process is not a product in the external world, but a change in the conduct of the indi- vidual participating in the activity. What qualities should characterize the school environ- ment? ‘This freedom from external aim gives opportunity to the educator to select from the total environment those aspects which are more calculated, than is a chance environ- ment, to produce the desired changes. In place of a world that is too severe, too puzzling, too difficult for the child, an economical, ordered, simplified, tolerant, and balanced en- 166 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION vironment may be provided. When the word school is written on the portals of our educational institutions there is, alas, no mystical force which calls into existence this type of environment; the creation and ordering of such a special environment remains, and will always remain, an outstand- ing problem of society. Its solution should challenge the best minds of each generation. In an enlightened society the personnel, the curriculum, the organization, the methods, and the physical equipment of the schools must be subject to continuous critical re- vision. The principles which control this peculiar environ- ment must not be so doctrinaire as to cause the school to lose touch with the community. To make this agency foster a cloistered existence, and thereby to separate it from the prevailing conditions of life, is pernicious educa- tional policy. The school should be, the leavening force; only as its purified environment is closely articulated with the general life of the community can those who come within its range of influence be expected to give effective expression to the aims and ideals which are to purify our present social, industrial, and political order. There is reason for possessing a deep faith in education; through no other force can society be purged; but in the light of the present condition of our educational agencies this is little more than a pathetic faith. Can we expect a system of traditional education, which is unanalyzed and unsocialized, which is administered by a relatively inferior personnel, and which is guided by a limited vision, to equip our people for the creation of a democratic society? Is the school environment healthful? Attention must also be directed to the admirable opportunities for an ex- tensive program of health cultivation and instruction which prolonged guardianship affords. Freedom from economic pressure should enable, and indeed compel, the individual GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 167 to give attention to this important phase of life. Up to the present the ascetic and scholastic traditions of education have fostered a criminal neglect of the physical life of the child; in fact many would say that the mfluence of the school has, on the whole, been detrimental to health. In view of the enforced artificiality of the indoor school life, it is particularly incumbent on education to work for the promotion of physical well-being. For the vast majority of pupils, a shghtly superior scholastic achievement gained at the expense of the cultivation of sound health and recrea- tional habits and dispositions, carries no adequate com- pensation. No longer can we assume that the home auto- matically provides the health and recreational facilities formerly found in an open-air life; on this account, the school must take upon itself the task which its own procedures and the crowded conditions of our city life have created. Does the school explore and recognize the capacities of the individual? The extension of the period of social infancy and of economic dependence also furnishes a pe- riod of exploration and experimentation, during which, with a view to present educational and eventual vocational guidance, the development of the pupil’s mechanical, social, and intellectual capacities can be closely studied by the educator, Decisions made in the experimental environ- ment of the school can be regarded as tentative; they are not irrevocable, as are many similar decisions in the outside world. Within the school itself care must be taken lest avenues of study and work be closed to the pupil before his interests and capacities have fully revealed themselves. But, at the same time, the desire to avoid this evil must not lead to the even greater evil of submitting all pupils to the same curriculum. In the light of the great individual differences in those traits which a broadened school should cultivate, early 168 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION differentiation is absolutely essential; in many cases im- portant decisions will have to be made early in the school history of the child. A few serious mistakes of classifica- tion must be expected; to sacrifice the improvement of edu- cational practice which will follow from greater differentia- tion is not only short-sighted but cowardly. The evils flowing from such action will be negligible in comparison with the evils resulting from the patent blunders caused by our present policy of inaction. The two warnings that must be issued are: firstly, that the school, through objective tests, exploratory courses, and teachers’ reports, must study more diligently than heretofore the capabilities of the child; and, secondly, that classifications must be as tenta- tive as the general policy of differentiation will permit. In spite of the advantages which have been discussed, protracted guardianship is attended by many dangers which are the necessary concomitants of the very advan- tages mentioned. ‘To the extent that society fails to create the advantageous environment which has been described, the period of dependence fails to yield its maximum benefit. Some of these disadvantages, for which the prolonged period of dependence of the individual is partly responsible, may now be profitably reviewed. -How does prolonged guardianship foster social parasit- ism? Before considering the more direct educational im- plications, we must direct attention to two large social evils which may flow from prolonged guardianship. In the first place, the lengthy period during which the individual may rightly expect support from parent or community may breed the notion that society has the same obligation, even when the adult stage is reached. From this delusion the social parasite, whether exemplified by the idle rich at one extreme, or by the irresponsible hobo at the other, never emancipates himself. Reared in a system which satisfies GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 169 their wants, without requiring service in return, the two extreme groups never free themselves from the habits formed during this period. Just as society provides them shelter, clothing, and food for the first fourteen to thirty years of life, so it must continue to support them for the rest of their days — such is their erroneous belief. How does prolonged guardianship affect the birth rate? The second evil which is commanding the attention of sociologists is the increased postponement or even renuncia- tion of marriage in those occupations which require not only a long course of professional training, but also a con- siderable further period of relatively unremunerative em- ployment. Lest the racial stock be impaired, in these classes should be found the maximum birth rate; but, under present conditions, their relative contribution to the in- crease of population is disproportionately low. This re- duction in the birth rate of the favored class is the product not only of deferred marriage, but also the long dependence which the more intelligent parents desire and know to be essential to the welfare of their offsprmg. To redress both these evils, the state may have to intervene with more stringent laws in the case of the idle and a subsidization of advanced study for individuals of superior gifts. How may society exploit the docility of the young? We may now return to consider certain of the more direct edu- cational evils which are apt to be the accompaniments of the prolonged period of guardianship. These, in spite of the fact that they have received general attention in Problem 4, are so Important as to merit consideration in the setting of our present discussion of guardianship. In the first place, the docility of the child and his desire for the approval of his elders permits and even encourages an undue domination of the rising generation by the older members of society; this domination becomes increasingly 170 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION galling when, in spite of the obvious fact that it is the mani- festation of a selfish conservatism on the part of the older generation, it 1s rationalized as the expression of a wise and benign parental solicitude. Few teachers can forego. the opportunity to patronize rather than educate the young. Many individuals, who could never exact respect from their adult fellows, find a compensation for a feeling of inferiority in the slavish and sycophantic obedience of their pupils. We cannot too often remind ourselves that eventually the pupil is to pass out of the hands of the educator; if, during the period of schooling, he does not become increasingly in- dependent of external regulation, no sudden moral or in- tellectual conversion can be expected to follow the release from the restraints of the school. In order that the pupils may increase, the teacher must decrease. Morley, quoting Plutarch, “ warns young men that it is well to go for a light to another man’s fire, but by no means to tarry by it, in- stead of kindling a torch of their own.” In its more refined form this domination is expressed in a method of teaching which presents every subject of instruction, however de- batable and uncertain, as a body of finished and established truth. ‘The minds of the pupils are closed, their views are formed. ‘This prestige-suggestion of the teacher working in the intellectual realm is especially dangerous, for 1t seeks to mould thought into a fixed and final form. Before the individual has had the opportunity of making those con- tacts with life which would equip him with the materials for criticism, his mind is closed, his judgment is syste- matically and purposively warped. How may the school lose touch with life? In the second place, the purification and simplification of the environment which constitute the essence of sound education are neces- sarily accompanied by an artificiality of atmosphere and procedures. Within this environment there is an absence GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 171 of those powerful drives which accompany activities en- gaged in to satisfy the primitive wants of hunger, shelter, and clothing. Furthermore, by parental or community authority, the child is compelled to enter the school environ- ment; he cannot, as on the playground, disengage himself when the activities become meaningless, exacting, or irk- some. Were this compulsion removed, educators would show more industry and ingenuity than at present in the construction of curricula and in the adaptation of instruc- tional methods. Instead of trusting so entirely to the efficacy of the birch, the scourge of public opinion, or the stronger rod of the law, they would court the interest of their pupils, and would devise more effective means of secur- ing pupil effort. Monopoly always creates abuse. Evi- dences of such abuse are not lacking in our own system of compulsory education. This point is well illustrated by the following comment, often heard in our colleges: ‘‘ Why alter our entrance requirements or modernize our course of study, when the prestige of the college is already more than filling our halls”? The vanes of our educational institu- tions are directed by the winds of tradition; our courses of study are too often divorced from the main interests and concerns of life. Those who shape the policies of the school are too occupied by the narrow activities of passing, failing, and graduating to articulate its activities with the changing conditions of the world. School procedure, sanc- tioned by centuries of practice, has come to have a value in and for itself. The true function of the school, and indeed its raison d’étre, is forgotten. The pupil enters the school, and soon uncritically accepts its archaic procedures and its medieval standards. Only in his extra-curricular life, and in the knowledge that his schooling must sooner or later come to an end, does he find an outlet and a safety valve which prevents him from being emotionally deranged by the artificiality of the environment. 172 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION How may the school unduly sacrifice the present to the future? Closely allied to this danger is that of regarding the school solely as a place of preparation for an after school life. Under this conception of the educational function, the object of instruction is not that of making the present social life of the pupils more meaningful, but rather that of turning out, at the end of a prolonged school period, an educated product. As we shall see later, the nature of adult activities must exert a powerful influence on school procedures: to overlook this fact is disastrous. But the present life and social con- tacts of the pupil must be capitalized. This complete sacrifice of the present to the future is often referred to as the vestibule idea of education. Instruction under this conception lacks the drive and purpose which accompany activity possessing present significance. The necessary sacrifice of interest to future effectiveness which accom- panies the beginnings of writing, reading, and arithmetic has much to answer for in creating this attitude toward all education. ‘This is a devastating idea, not only because of its failure to give any immediate incentive to the pupil, but because the remoteness of the goal makes any critical evalu- ation of school procedure almost impossible. Just as the church has derived benefit by stressing the importance of present life as opposed to the life after death, so the school can derive a similar benefit by turning its attention to im- mediate rather than to remote values. We cannot be too critical of any school procedure which lacks present signifi- cance and is justified solely on the grounds of remote future utility. Life during the period of guardianship is not sus- pended or postponed. It has its own problems and its own values; problems and values which a wise system of educa- tion can never neglect. 14. 15. GUARDIANSHIP AND EDUCATION 173 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION . How does the length of the period of dependence differ among differ- ent races, and among different classes of the same race? . What experimental evidence is there to indicate that children can memorize more economically than adults? In what respects has the program of the elementary school been influenced by the notion that childhood is the age of rapid and easy memorization? . When do children begin to reason? Show the continuity that exists between the reasoning of a young child and the reasoning of an adult? . What intimate bearing does the theory of gradual growth have on educational practices — method, school organization, and curric- ulum? . Upon what evidence is the popular theory based that in his develop- ment the child passes through the stages through which the race passed in the course of its evolution? Answer this question both from the biological and cultural standpoint. . What beneficial effects would follow from making attendance at the elementary school optional? . How is it that the school, presumably dedicated to the revolution- ary process of thinking, is so frequently decidedly reactionary in its influence? | . Give illustrations from the schools of the past and the present of the passing on to children of prejudices, half-truths, and falsehoods about the world. . Is the prolongation of the period of guardianship for the benefit of the individual or of society? How has the answer to this question changed during the history of education? . What responsibilities as regards physical and moral, as well as intel- lectual growth, does the school necessarily assume under the length- ened school day and school year? . What factors in a society tend to prolong the period of dependence? . What provision should be made to insure to the individual a pro- longed period of dependence, regardless of the economic and social status of the parent? Is society working in the direction of assuming the whole economic burden of child support and education? . What would be the immediate and the deferred economic effects of the universal extension of education to eighteen years of age? What precautions should be taken lest the prolongation of the period of dependence should be accompanied by disinclination to bear social responsibilities? In view of the significance of a prolonged period of dependence, should bright children be promoted more rapidly than their fellows, if formal education is to cease at the end of the college period? PROBLEM 11 HOW IS EDUCATION CONDITIONED BY INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES? How universal are individual differences? — How are differences distrib- uted? — What are the causes of individual differences? — How do the sexes differ? — How do the races differ? — What is the relative importance of heredity and environment? — How do individuals differ in a single trait? — Why is each individual unique? — How do individuals differ in combinations of traits? — How does the distribution of traits nullify the theory of types? — How must the school recognize the fact of individual differences? — Why must universal education have a great diversity of aim? — To what extent must selective education have regard to individual differences? How universal are individual differences? Every organism has characteristics which differentiate it from every other member of the same species. In the human race, the most complex product of the evolutionary process, these differ- ences are especially pronounced. Whether the grosser phys- ical characteristics of height, weight, and volume of body, or the more minute formations of skin-texture and thumb- prints be examined, the wide range of variation is apparent. Likewise in function, as in structure, the same phenomena are observed; in rate of heart-beat, speed of digestion, or physical endurance, individuality is expressed. To these departures of the individual from the norm of the group biologists apply the name “ variation.”” While in the study of biological traits this nomenclature is em- ployed, those variations in which the educator and the psychologist are more particularly interested, are usually referred to as “ individual differences.”” Thus the educator interests himself in the differences which exist, from indi- vidual to individual, in industry, courage, honesty, interest INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 175 in his fellows, intelligence, executive ability, arithmetical facility, historical information, musical capacity, etc. All of these traits, and thousands like them, constitute a proper study for the educational psychologist. What is the extent of these differences? What are their causes? What is their significance? If the process of education is to be in- telligently conducted, these questions must be investigated. How are differences distributed? The discussion of these and other applied questions will be facilitated if at- tention is directed for a moment to the variation in a physi- cal characteristic, such as height. In this case objective —> FREQUENCY HEIGHT DistRIBUTION OF Hricnut In A Lance Unsevtectup Grour or MEN or Any Racr measurement in terms of inches or centimeters is possible. If the problem is restricted to a consideration of differences found in a large unselected group of men of any race, refer- ence to the accompanying diagram, in which the abscissa is the measure of height and the ordinate the frequency of the particular height, will reveal the nature of the distribution. There is a marked clustering around the average or median height of the group. The middle fifty per cent fall within 176 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION relatively narrow limits, and the remainder distribute them- selves equally on either side, with diminishing frequency. The greater the deviation from the mean, the fewer are the individuals, until, at the extremes, only the dwarfs and giants are found. If, for the same or other homogeneous groups, the distribution of weight, length of index finger, or chest measurement is investigated, a frequency curve of the same general form is discovered. Within certain limits, so generally do such distributions follow a typical and well- known mathematical curve, called the normal probability curve, that the distribution of such traits may be thought of in terms of an approximation, more or less close, to its rigid mathematical form. Such a distribution can be expected only when the conditions that produce the trait are many in number and independent in their operation. According as more or less of these independent factors happen to operate in a particular case, more or less of the trait under examina~ tion is present. What are the characteristics of the normal distribution? Except for the fact that psychological traits tend to show the same type of distribution, such a curve would have only a theoretic interest to the educator. Provided an inborn trait is under consideration, it is safe to assume that quanti- tative investigation will reveal an approximation to the normal curve. Such indeed might be expected in view of the relation of psychological function to physiological pro- cess. In acquired traits, such as achievement in school subjects, any unselected group whose members have been submitted to somewhat similar training influences, will exhibit a distribution of like nature. Whenever problems of individual differences are under consideration, continuous 1 Tf, on account of a lack of statistical theory, the reader has difficulty in understanding this statement, he must content himself with an examinae tion of the curve. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 177 reference to this typical form of “ bell-shaped ” distribution is necessary. Its study brings out the following three im- portant facts, which aid clear thinking in this field; first, the variations or differences found in any single trait are usually continuous; second, these variations cluster around a single type; third, any classifications into types are essen- tially arbitrary in their nature and find their only justifica- tion in practical convenience. Each one of these points may be illustrated by reference to a trait of basic significance to education, namely, the un- analyzed grouping of abilities commonly known as “ general intelligence.” For purpose of illustration, we shall assume that “ general intelligence ” is measured by a single scale, such as the Binet-Simon test or by some other examination which makes no attempt to analyze the relatively inde- pendent components of this complex trait. Under these conditions, from the lowest type of idiot to a level of intelli- gence possessed by a Socrates or a Newton, there is con- tinuous progression; in spite of the wide differences, the extremes are connected by imperceptible gradations of ca- pacity. In this trait there is but a single type from which all individuals may be regarded as deviating — the hypotheti- cal average man. Furthermore, any classification of men into idiot, imbecile, moron, dull, average, superior, very superior, genius, and super-genius is essentially a matter of definition. Since such lines of cleavage are not found in nature, these divisions are the arbitrary creation of man. What are the causes of individual differences? Any wide sampling, such as the population of a large cosmopoli- tan city, provides the material for the study of the various causes which account for the differences in human traits. These variations can all be classified under the following five divisions: 1. race differences; 2. family differences; 3. sex differences; 4. age differences; 5. environmental and 178 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION educational differences. Each individual of the group pos- sesses a unique quantitative combination of properties because of membership in a certain race, because of an hereditary endowment through his immediate ancestry, because of sex, because of degree of maturity, and because of certain special environmental and educational conditions. How do the sexes differ? With reference to sex and race differences, a passing mention must be made of the experi- mental evidence which has been collected. While there are great differences between the sexes in physiological struc- ture, and in emotional and mechanical traits some diver- gence, the distinction in intellectual traits seems slight. In emotional traits the scales are very insecure, but we may be sure from the fragmentary evidence that in social tact, companionship, and so-called intuition there is no out- standing superiority of one sex over the other. In intel- lectual traits, such as those measured by an abstract intelli- gence test, the evidence is still clearer, and here the two sexes manifest about equal capacity. Such differences as strike the observer must be traced rather to differences in environmental force playing on one sex, rather than to any fundamental difference in mechanical, social, or intellectual capacity. Recent researches, published by the Vaertings, into the physical and psychological traits exhibited by the two sexes in a civilization where women rather than men are dominant, suggest, and in fact almost prove, that those traits which we customarily regard as masculine are really the traits of the dominant sex. These are manifested by the women in those groups in which the female sex plays the dominant réle. Similarly, under such conditions, men as- sume many of the characteristics of the women of western civilization. Both observational and exact results are in striking contrast with the popular notion that men and women, in their inborn social and intellectual capacities, INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 179 are, as classes, poles asunder. Even allowing for the fact that the experimental evidence has been obtained in some- what artificial situations, we can certainly say that, under the test conditions of the school and the laboratory, the differences in social, mechanical, and intellectual reactions within either of the sexes is so great, compared with the differences between the average achievements of the two sexes, that there is an almost complete overlapping of the two groups. Certainly differences are not sufficient on the intellectual side to justify the segregation of the boys and girls in instruction. How do the races differ? In the matter of race differ- ences the results are somewhat similar to those found in the case of sex. If we restrict our attention to unselected groups of all but the obviously backward races, there is but little evidence of great superiority of one race over another. The question is of course complicated by the different climatic, cultural, and occupational forces which play upon different races in different parts of the globe. Until these environmental forces can be made more nearly equal, or their effects more exactly measured, it is prema- ture to assume very marked differences in social and intel- lectual traits. The variation found within any one race is so great as compared with the difference in achievements of the various races as to make any sweeping assertions with refer- ence to racial superiority very precarious. Contrasting the colored population of the United States with the white population, after allowing for the difference in the opportunity, motivation, and tradition of the two groups, we may legitimately assume that the white popu- lation is, on the usual intelligence scale, a year or a year and a half superior to the pure stock of the colored race, but the overlapping in intellectual status of the two races is so great as to nullify the popular conception of the extreme 180 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION differences of the two groups. A further common idea that the colored population develops mentally at just about the same rate as the white population, and suffers from arrested development in the early years of adolescence, also fails to receive any significant experimental support. Summarizing, we may say that sex differences and race differences exist, but that they are much less than is com- monly supposed. With reference to the former it is safe to say that, with the introduction of more refined methods for measuring the social and emotional reactions, greater differ- ences than those which have been found in intellectual traits will be revealed, but, until such instruments are available, the degree of the difference must remain unknown. What is the relative importance of heredity and environ- ment? To assign weight to each of the five factors pro- ducing individual differences would carry us into the realm of profitless controversy. However, the ever-recurring problem regarding the relative potency of hereditary as opposed to environmental forces may well be considered. Since the days of Galton’s pioneer work, much evidence bearing on this question, so fundamental for education, has been gathered. A review of the large amount of careful experimentation in this field leads to the conclusion that the earlier hypothesis of the almost complete efficacy of the environment must give way to a less comforting theory. The educational process, both on the social and the intel- lectual side, is much limited by the native differences in men. Without a range of vision denied to mortals no one is able to state dogmatically that the evidence shows native equipment to be more potent than environment in shaping human behavior. So closely interdependent are the two factors that such a bald statement is meaningless. But that the native endowment has not, up to the present, been given due weight in educational theory may be said with INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 181 confidence. Any system of education or any system of social control which assumes the almost complete omnipo- tence of environmental forces is doomed to failure. As the civil engineer takes into account the inherent properties of the materials with which he works, so the human engineer must control his activities in the light of those inborn properties of men which environment is powerless to create or to destroy. How do individuals differ in a single trait? Individual differences in a single trait should always be regarded as quantitative, rather than qualitative. ‘The complete ab- sence of a particular trait, such as lack of knowledge of Sanscrit, which is ordinarily regarded as a qualitative differ- ence, is only the limiting case of zero ability on a scale for measuring acquaintance with this ancient language. Among individuals who have studied Sanscrit for a definite period of time, a distribution approximating the normal type would be found. While objective scales for the measurement of many of the more important social and moral traits are still lacking, this should not prevent thought regarding these traits from being guided by quantitative concepts. At the present moment, we see emerging more or less satisfactory instruments for the measurement of a certain narrow type of intelligence, particularly that form upon which a bookish and intellectualized type of school is dependent. The in- creasing popularity of these instruments, and particularly their wide use in practical affairs, have hastened and en- couraged quantitative thinking with reference to this most important group of human capacities. For measuring per- sistence, emotional stability, moral integrity, codperative ability, and a host of other fundamental human traits, no reliable scales are as yet available; nevertheless, the dis- tribution of these traits presumably follows the normal probability curve. A few are highly endowed, many are 182 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION moderately gifted, and a small number have but little capacity. Why is each individual unique? The development of personality through the modification of original nature by a slow process of habit-formation is conditioned by the unique combination of traits with which the individual is endowed at birth. If we consider, firstly, those loose groupings of behavior-reactions known as instincts, it is patent that every individual is endowed, to a certain degree, with each tendency. But if the repertoire of instincts permitted suffi- ciently clear definition, and then permitted correspondingly precise measurement, we should discover that each indi- vidual had varying amounts of each of the tendencies. The complexity of this compounding of elements precludes the possibility of identical original natures. The number of combinations which can be formed from a few tendencies, showing wide quantitative differences, is infinite. When we consider how numerous are the original tendencies, it is little wonder that nature never repeats her- self. As an essential property of the action system, though not separate from the instincts themselves, the plasticity upon which habit formation is dependent must also be men- tioned. Men differ as much in their plasticity as they doin any other respect. In the ability to make those more re- fined integrations which accompany reflection, still greater differences exist. If dissimilar environments are allowed to act upon these differences in original structure, extremely wide variations in personality and character may be antici- pated. How do individuals differ in combinations of traits? This introduces us to one of the most important problems raised by the phenomena of individual differences. Not only is the manner in which a single trait distributes itself among the population a subject of concern to us, but, of INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 183 even greater interest, is the way in which various traits are combined and related in the same individual. Extensive quantitative studies of the distribution of important mental traits, in large groups of children, have shown that high en- dowment in one desirable tendency is apt to be accompanied by more than the average endowment in others. While no definite law can be stated, the correlation between desirable intellectual and social traits is certainly positive. When the elements are mixed to form a man, nature tends, on the whole to be uniformly generous, uniformly moderate, or uniformly niggardly. The old comforting theory of com- pensation, which assumes that meager gifts in one direction are compensated for by superior endowment in some other equally valuable quality, is not in accord with facts.. Not- withstanding some superficial evidence to the contrary, intellectual ability, mechanical skill, emotional stability, persistence, and other desirable qualities seem to be posi- tively associated. This does not mean that the same individual may not be much more highly endowed in one direction than in another; statistical investigations have merely proved that one form of superior native talent is, as a rule, the accompaniment of other forms of original excellence. Of course, specialized training may develop one capacity at the expense of an- other, and thus tend to give the impression that a princi- ple of compensation operates. or example, a man of in- tellectual pursuits, brought up in an atmosphere of leisure, may never have the opportunity nor the occasion to culti- vate his mechanical aptitudes. Under these conditions his mental agility may be in marked contrast with his manual disability. Such a case, of course, proves nothing. To es- tablish the theory of compensation it would be necessary to prove that he, or men of his class, had their circumstances necessitated the gaining of manual dexterity, would have 184 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION shown themselves incompetent in this field. The available experimental evidence indicates, that persons of superior _ mental endowment, if given adequate training, would also be superior, as a rule, in mechanical achievement. The old assumption of the existence of clearly defined mental and motor types, in one of which every individual must fall, finds no experimental support. How does the distribution of traits nullify the theory of types? On account of the positive correlation in the various desirable traits, any attempt to divide individuals into a few recognized types is futile. False theories of educational guidance, based on the erroneous doctrine that all individ- uals tend to conform more or less closely to one of the several clearly marked types, have long been championed. The claim has been made that around each one of these hypothetical types a large number of individuals cluster. According to this doctrine, the particular type to which an individual conforms may be quickly determined by examin- ing a few basic traits. If the main characteristics of each of these types are discovered educational procedure may, with advantage, be adjusted to each of these relatively few natural groupings. A doctrine of this kind, with its conse- quent simplification of many of the problems of instruction, is so attractive that, even though the experimental evidence proves it in error, educators have been loath to abandon it. In one form or another this theory crops out again and again in all thinking on social and educational theory; it is rampant in popular writing, on classification of pupils, and vocational guidance. In the days of Plato, it was the philos- opher, the warrior, and the artisan which formed the natural classifications and determined political theory and education. Yesterday it was the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic types which must be segregated and given separate instruction. To-day 2 recrudescence of the same idea is exhibited by those INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 185 who insist that children can be separated into two groups, those who “ work with their heads ” and those who “ work with their hands.” Recent studies in which the mechanical aptitude and the intelligence of children are measured show that, in certain cases, high ability of the former order may be the concomitant of relatively low intelligence. But, how- ever true the observation may be that in particular individ- uals marked intellectual ability is combined with an equally marked manual disability, or the reverse, such cases can never establish the type theory. In combinations of traits, as in single traits, men vary around one and only one type, the human type. The only type which can be postulated is the hypothetical average, commonplace, mediocre human from which every individual! diverges to a greater or less degree. Why must education treat each individual as unique? Abandoning the theory of types, we are driven to study each individual by himself to discover the measure in which he is endowed with various human traits. Particularly must those which he possesses in relatively larger degree than his other traits be singled out for special attention. Each individual must be treated as a separate problem; no resort can be made to any false simplification. An uncriti- cal acceptance of the fact of positive correlation between desirable traits should not lead to a pessimistic and de- terministic attitude with regard to the possibilities of educa- tion. Having explored the capabilities of a particular child in a few directions, only to find him deficient in each, one is always tempted to follow the generalization and come to the hasty conclusion that he is correspondingly poorly endowed in every trait. We find him poor in certain traits, which the present school values highly, and we assume that he is poor in all other respects. The cure for this fatalistic manner of thinking is found in two directions, strangely opposed in their emphasis: firstly 186 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION an eternal optimism regarding the possibilities of human nature; secondly, a more adequate understanding of the statistical significance of correlation. Optimism is neces- sary to motivate the search for those traits in which the child is relatively strong; a more adequate understanding of the significance of correlation shows that, however uniform may be the general tendency to positive correlation between desirable traits, within this general trend individual cases will diverge markedly from the rule. The -very statistical studies to which appeal is made when discarding the theory of compensation prove with equal conclusiveness that in every individual some traits stand out favorably from his general level of capacity. Even though, with reference to the general population, an individual may be relatively low in all traits, certain of his powers raise themselves above the rest. Through these the individual should find a mode of expression and gain a recognition which his average level of attainment could never earn. ‘The financial failure may have a gift for friendship, and, in a specific direction, the village dullard may show a reliability and a faithfulness which genius might envy. The large problem raised by the special abilities and disabilities which are found to exist within the same individual demands the careful considera- tion and minute study of the educator. How must the school recognize the fact of individual differences? ‘The school must have a diversity in its ob- jectives and methods which is comparable with the diver- sity in human nature. The recognition of individual differ- ences calls for a differentiation and a flexibility of curricu- lum and procedure which are limited only by the social and individual needs to be served and by the teaching resources of the school. As long as the school was a purposefully se- lective agent and opened its doors only to those who were later to form a learned class, there was some reason for the INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 187 glorification of an intellectual ideal. To-day, under totally different conditions, there is no justification for such a nar- row conception of aim. We are in the greatest peril of measuring every individual and every process by a single standard. “ Either learn or depart, there is no third way here,” may be a sound motto to inscribe on the gates of the common school; but the connotation of the word “ learn” must be carefully and critically examined. If to learn includes growth in mechani- cal skills, in the formation of health habits, in social habi- tudes, in the power to codperate, in the recognition of the obligations of group life, in the enjoyment of companion- ship, in the love of music, in the appreciation of art, in an attitude of willing service, then the motto is an excellent one; but, if to “ learn ” signifies merely the gaining of facil- ity in certain intellectual studies, such a motto is vicious. A school system with the single intellectual objective has much to answer for in the discouragement, thwarting, badg- ering, and heckling to which it submits a portion of its popu- lation — that portion which does not happen to possess the powers demanded by its relatively narrow disciplines. Many a child leaves school with an “ inferiority-complex ” which, if it does not color his whole life, only vanishes as a result of several years of successful experience in the more catholic and tolerant contacts of the everyday world. Unless the common school is willing to set up other ob- jectives than those of high academic attainment, the ques- tion may well be asked whether compulsory attendance to the age of sixteen is good for all. If, for a considerable num- ber of the pupils, such attendance means continuous coer- cion in externally imposed activities under conditions of anti-social competition, perchance the moral disintegration brought about by such a process may more than counter- balance the small amount of book knowledge gained. 188 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION Whether the experiences incident to the gaining of a liveli- hood, even under our present industrial conditions, would not be for many more educative than those of the typical academic school is a debatable question. As a people we have an abounding confidence in the good that is derived by every child from mere bodily presence in the precincts of the school. Whatever the quality of the teacher, whatever the content of the curriculum, whatever the nature of the motivation, whatever the social organiza- tion of the school group, we believe that only good can eventuate from attendance. A more critical examination of the results of the educational process, especially in the later years of adolescence, might well make us restless in this comforting belief. The obvious benefit derived by some of the more intellectually gifted pupils should not blind us to the equally obvious futility of imposing this type of education on all. While it may be going too far to state that, in the upper levels of the system, the total influence of the school on a portion of its population is negative, we are on firm ground in asserting that, in comparison with the possibilities, the school is failing lamentably. Why must universal education have a great diversity of aim? If universal compulsory education is to justify itself, educators, recognizing the intellectual limitations imposed by nature, must embark on fearless experimentation in the attempt to make the activities of the school more meaning- ful and more serviceable to its diverse clientele. Different aims, different curricula, different social organizations must be tried. Particularly joint activities must be sought through which children of modest intellectual capacity may acquire those mechanical skills, those elements of informa- tion, and those social attitudes which form the entrance re- quirements to the simpler walks of life. Particularly also must be stressed actual participation in those concrete ac- INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 189 tivities whereby a socially enlightened community will induct the individual into a fuller physical, family, economic, civic, recreational, and religious life. Intellectual snobbery and the educational spirit go ill to- gether. Each separate curriculum which is derived from the careful study of the needs of any group in the school population should carry a dignity and receive the support and recognition which must always attach to any activity having as its objective the betterment of mankind. Let no one be so bold as to assign final relative values to these vari- ous types of educational activity; there is no room for in- tellectual pharisaism so long as each activity has an abso- Jute and intrinsic worth to the individual who pursues it. Superiority, except with reference to certain objectives, is without meaning; industry regards as superior the man who plays its game; the school, the man who has intellectual talent; the family, the man who has the gift for affection; the church, the man who is capable of self-sacrifice; society, the man who is willing to give social service. The world of which the school forms a part calls for such varied abilities, for such a wide range of talents, for such a host of services, that it ill befits the school to laud one somewhat narrow type of superiority at the expense of the rest. A tolerant catho- licity must permeate all our thinking about the functions of the common school. To what extent must selective education have regard to individual differences? What has just been said applies more particularly to the period of compulsory education. Beyond this stage, in so far as the population of the school is unselected, mutatis mutandis, the same principles apply. When, however, special institutions are created with specific aims which plan only to cater to particular groups, the whole situation is changed. A study of individual differences in these cases would merely be helpful in devising effective in- 190 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION struments for selecting those who might reasonably be expected to benefit from the special instruction and to suc- ceed in the particular calling. Education is much too ex- pensive, both in money, and, more especially, in the more important direction of human effort, to allow ill-sorted indi- viduals to clog and retard the working of such specialized agencies. Even within these institutions a certain amount of choice should be offered in the form of electives, for, how- ever strict may be the process of selection, the individual differences that may be expected in such a group are, of necessity, great. ‘These should be allowed that limited ex- pression which is consonant with the main objectives of the institution. What is the social significance of individual differences? This discussion of individual differences may be closed and summarized by stressing the following six points: (1) The need for accurate knowledge of the extent of in- dividual differences. (2) The necessity for wider aims in the school and in so- ciety. (3) The need for adapting the methods of education to these differences. (4) The importance of cultivating in each person those traits in which, compared with the general level of his equipment, he is more richly endowed, provided these traits are socially useful and capable of yielding satisfaction to the individual. (5) The importance of attaching a dignity and worth to many and different types of activity and occupation. (6) The importance of instilling into each individual the conviction that there are some special services which, on account of inborn difference or peculiar environ- mental circumstances, he, and he alone, can render. if. 12. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 191 ADDITIONAL PROBLEMS FOR DISCUSSION . What definite administrative practices, in recent education in this country, can be traced directly or indirectly to a recognition of the importance of individual differences? . How can the fact of individual differences be reconciled with a demo- cratic conception of education and social life? . What is the distinction between a qualitative and quantitative differ- ence in human traits? Criticize the statement that differences in human personality are qualitative as well as quantitative? . Suppose the absurd attempt were made to equalize the term achieve- ment of all members of a class in algebra, what devices would have to be employed? . How has the idea of the normal distribution of traits shattered many of the old theories based on clearly differentiated types? . What justification is there for the statement that the concept of the distribution of traits according to the normal probability curve is perhaps the most fertile concept in the field of the social sciences? Show its significance in the field of education? . What arguments would you adduce in favor of the theory that moral differences are much more the product of environmental forces than are intellectual differences? . What are the advantages and disadvantages of giving to children information as to their relative standings in intelligence and educa- tional tests? . What arguments can be adduced to justify the expenditure of public funds for the extension of unusual and-costly educational privileges to: (a) the mental defective; (b) the intellectual superior? . What are the factors in the ordinary school situation which make extremely difficult the adequate recognition of individual differences? To what extent, in the existing economic order, do individual differ- ences actually determine vocational choice? What bearing have the known facts of individual differences on the proposed extension of universal compulsory education to the age of eighteen? ordi eas nM tas a oe ua’ Vigre at Mat eS oF tly were ba py ae ae Vf | 5) We eis ian ne + Aa ie . bet hie iy’ rere’ Higcax ten Gal Laden Ler a? aceon, oh tn. Bhatt oust i Netyal PART THREE WHAT ARE THE SOCIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION? Turovucn education the child acquires control over the instrumentalities of civilization, and learns to participate in the life of his time. Therefore the only guide to a sound educational program is to be found in a critical analysis of this life. Such an analysis shows that there are six great inter- ests about which human life revolves, and through which human nature is given expression. Men must always care for their bodies, rear their chil- dren, secure the economic necessities, organize for civic action, engage in recreation, and satisfy their religious cravings. Since the modes in which these needs find expression are the product of the cumulative experience of successive generations, the advance, and even the conservation of cul- ture, depends on their successful transmission. Hence, from the begin- ning of human history, skills, knowledges, and ideals — the slow product of action, thought, and feeling — have by a process of tuition been passed from parent to child. Thus the social heritage has been conserved and youth has been inducted into the life of the group. Inthe past the major portion of this educational burden has been borne by the informal agencies; the school has touched life only at those points which to minds of scholastic temper seemed of the greatest moment. To-day, in almost every field of human interest, owing to the growth of knowledge, the expansion of human society, and the formulation of social purposes, grievous malad- justment abounds and achievement lags far behind possibility. The task of moderating this maladjustment and of bringing practice abreast of knowledge, having become too heavy for the incidental educational agencies, must be performed in increasing measure by the school. Because of the differentiation in modern society, the discovery and conservation of knowledge may leave the lives of the masses unaffected; through special- ists this possession may remain from age to age an esoteric and relatively inert body of experience. The school, at all levels, must abandon its narrow literary and scholastic tradition and steadfastly associate and intimately identify itself with the activities of a people searching for a democratic mode of living. It must seek to further the physical and mental health of the population, to promote wholesome family relations, to order and humanize industry, to advance and purify the civic interest, to enrich and make significant the recreational activities, and to foster an ethical and enlightened religious life. Such an education would, to the limit of his capacity, fit each man “to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the offices both private and public” of a world citizen. An understanding of the sociological foundations of education requires the discussion of the following problems: PROBLEM 12. How may Epucation Furtaer HEearu? ProsBLem 13. How may Epucation Promote THE Famivy Lire? ProsLem 14, How may Epucation Orper anp HumanizE THE Economic Lire? ProsiemM 15. How may Epucation ADVANCE THE Crvic Lire? Propiem 16. How may Epucation Enricu THE RECREATIONAL LIFE? Prosiem 17. How may Epucation Foster tHe Rexiicious Lire? PROBLEM 12 HOW MAY EDUCATION FURTHER HEALTH? Why should health be the first concern of education? — How has man sought to control disease? — What degree of health do the American people enjoy? — How does civilization modify the conditions of healthful living? — Is a more healthful world possible? — Why does health practice lag behind health knowledge? — Why must the school bear larger respon- sibilities in the promotion of health? — How may the school provide for the formation of health habits? — How may the school impart health information? — How may the school develop a health conscience? — How must the school modify its program? Why should health be the first concern of education? Health, the basis of both individual and social welfare, is the essence of life. Only a virile people is able to develop and maintain a high type of civilization, and only a robust individual can in fullest measure make actual his potential gifts. Since health is the condition of balanced and normal functioning of the life processes, in so far as it is impaired, life itself is compromised. The close dependence of mental on physiological processes and changes makes health almost essential to happiness and large intellectual achievement. While there are many isolated instances that suggest the contrary, the very attention they attract indicates their ex- ceptional nature and goes far to prove the soundness of the principle of dependence. Recent investigations of school children have exploded the popular notion that extraordinary mental development is usually accompanied by physical weakness, and have confirmed the opposing hypothesis of a positive correlation between these two phases of growth. Health holds the dis- tinction of being a good in itself and a means to all else. 196 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION This suggests the oft-quoted statement of Spencer that **'To be a good animal is the first requisite to success in life, and to be a nation of good animals is the first condition to national prosperity.” And it must have been in the mind of Hippocrates when he said, “‘ Wherever there is love of man- kind, there is love of the medical art.”’ How have men regarded health? By all peoples that. have not been influenced by some unnatural philosophy which exalts the mortification of the body and seeks to promote the spirit at the sacrifice of the flesh, the funda- mental réle of health in human affairs has been recognized. Throughout the ages men have yearned for health and life, and have dreaded disease and death; they have gone on innumerable quests for the fountain of perpetual youth, whose waters would break the hold of years; they have sought the elixir of life, with which to prolong their days on the earth; they have created Fausts, who in their old age sell their souls for the return of youthful vigor; they have imagined Utopias, where there is neither sickness nor want; they have even denied death, and dreamed of worlds be- yond the skies in which they hope to live the life of eternal youth. Any new cult, however fantastic it may be, that promises relief from suffering and disease is almost certain of a large following; any nostrum, regardless of the nature of its ingredients, that is widely advertised for the curing of a common malady is sure to interest thousands. The ubiquitous drug store in our cities is a striking witness to our great concern about disease. Two hundred years ago “a pox upon you ” was one of the common curses; to-day the ordinary salutation is merely a formalized query concerning health, and the farewell usually carries a wish for the con- tinuance or the improvement of bodily vigor. Men have long recognized that with health are interwoven all the for- tunes of life. HEALTH AND EDUCATION 197 How has man sought to control disease? During his long career on the earth man has learned much about disease. From the beginning of his upward struggle through sav- agery and barbarism to civilization sickness has attracted his earnest attention. ‘Time and again plagues and scourges have visited him, carrying off with little warning great num- bers of the population; while in less spectacular fashion the minor ailments have quietly exacted their toll of human life. In his efforts to gain control over these destroying forces man has evolved a vast array of hypotheses concern- ing the nature and causation of disease. For centuries at a time, in blind faith, he has followed some seemingly promis- ing lead only to erect superstitions to bar the way to genuine progress. He has thought to see relations that do not exist, and endeavored to promote health through a study of the courses of the stars; he has assumed the working of forces that are but the creatures of his imagination, and made propitiatory sacrifices to evil and unfriendly spirits. Until quite recent times it was customary to regard disease as either a diabolical visitation or a divine punishment. In the Middle Ages amber was worn upon the person with the assurance that it was a certain protection against fevers, and to-day among certain elements of the population there is a naive faith in the efficacy of drugs. Not all the premises, however, on which man has worked have proved false. Some have been found true; and from these, sifted out from the false through the slow process of trial and error, in which error frequently meant death, there has gradually evolved the science of medicine... With the coming of the modern world men began to study the human organism with greater and greater care, and thus developed the sciences on which medicine is based and through which the medical art is being improved. As a consequence, within the last three or four centuries man has 198 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION practically banished certain diseases, such as bubonic plague and smallpox, from the civilized regions of the earth; he has greatly reduced the prevalence of others, such as typhoid fever and diphtheria; and he has increased the average length of life from twenty to more than forty years. This achievement has been possible through the formal education of a few specialists and the incidental education of the masses of the population —a marvelous achievement in view of the fact that no great collective effort has been made to utilize, for the benefit of the race, all available knowl- edge. What degree of health do the American people enjoy? The entire harvest of these past sowings, therefore, has by no means been gathered. We obviously stand to-day only at the beginning. Much remains to be done. Our knowl- edge greatly outstrips our practice. Consider for a moment the present situation as regards physical defect, illness, acci- dent, lowered vitality, and premature death. As a people we come from a vigorous racial stock and we live in a rela- tively healthful climate, yet physical defect is all but unt- versal and preventable disease passes no one by. ‘The late World War disclosed an unexpectedly large amount of physi- cal impairment in that portion of the population which is supposed to be most robust. Approximately thirty per cent of our young men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one years, who were called in the draft, were disquali- fied for active military service because of physical defects. In some of the great industrial centers this percentage rose toa much higher figure, while in certain other sections of the country it.was cut in half, That defects of this order are not confined to our adult population is shown by the examination of school children. According to competent investigators, about three fourths of the children enrolled in our schools are in need of attention HEALTH AND EDUCATION 199 for physical defects which are partially or wholly remediable. During the next ten years six millions of people in the United States will probably die from preventable disease. The an- nual cost in dollars and cents of such ailments exceeds the entire expenditure for the support of our schools, and the cost in human happiness is incalculable. While the preva- lence of the communicable diseases is declining, there are other diseases, notably cancer and the chronic organic dis- eases affecting the heart, blood vessels, and kidneys, which are on the increase. Because of ignorance, poverty, or indif- ference there are many people in the nation who, even in cases of serious illness, have no medical care whatsoever. The percentage of such persons is, of course, difficult to de- termine with any great degree of accuracy, but the findings of various medical surveys, conducted in different parts of the country, indicate that it is far from negligible. To the burden cf illness and physical defect must be added that of accident. Annually in the United States.there are about 2,000,000 accidents of sufficient severity to keep the indi- vidual from work for a period of at least four weeks. Of these, 75,000 are fatal. But, altogether apart from the spectacular misfortunes of defect, disease, and accident, hu- man life may be greatly deepened and invigorated. Because of the operation of a wide variety of forces, to be considered shortly, the great majority of people to-day suffer from low- ered vitality. Through the application of knowledge al- ready available the general physical efficiency of the ordi- nary individual could be greatly increased. Finally, as a consequence of physical defect, disease, accident, and low- ered vitality, there is much premature death. Although the average length of life is greater than in times past, it is still from six to eight years less in the United States than in cer- tain other countries, such as Denmark, Norway, and Sweden; and medical authorities tell us that it could be 200 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION increased at least ten years by adopting hygienic reforms already proven entirely practicable. How does civilization modify the conditions of healthful living? The tendencies toward physical impairment in its various aspects are greatly aggravated by the changed con- ditions under which man lives. If any organism suffers a striking alteration in its environment or mode of life, it is a well-known fact that there follows a period during which it is especially subject to disease. An illustration of this process is furnished when a primitive race comes into con- tact with a highly developed civilization, and succumbs rapidly to strange diseases for which it has no special im- munity. The organism requires time to work out a biological adaptation to the new conditions, and it may perish in the process. Civilized man to-day is in a position not wholly different from that of the primitive race to which reference has just been made. He is living in a new environment to which adaptation cannot be effected through the alteration of the biological inheritance, because this environment is constantly changing. Man finds himself at present in an artificial environment which is in large part his own crea- tion — an environment which is very different from that in which the human organism was evolved. As we have al- ready noted, through control over disease and the food supply the conditions of life have been eased somewhat and the length of life has been increased, but there are many factors in modern life that tend to offset these gains. We are apparently leaving forever the old world whose dominant elements were earth, sky, trees, streams, moun- tains, prairies, sunshine, storms, snow, rain, winter, summer, wild animals, raw food, footpaths, abundance, scarcity, floods, droughts, starvation, early marriage, violence, re- laxation, hunting, and fishing; and we are moving into a world of clothing, houses, chairs, artificial heat, electricity, HEALTH AND EDUCATION 201 cooked foods, spices, locomotives, trolleys, automobiles, aeroplanes, telephones, books, newspapers, microscopes, machines, late marriage, prostitution, hospitals, sanitariums, poorhouses, schools, libraries, drugs, doctors, dentists, opti- cians, obstetricians, birth control, suicide, cities, sewage systems, slums, wealth, theaters, churches, continuous em- ployment, uninteresting occupations, factories, sedentary life, and specialization. This new world creates its own mental and physical diseases and defects. While for many the approach of death may be postponed by removing the dangers to life and making it easier to live, there is no guarantee that this is not purchased at the price of a weakened race and a reduced zest in living. A race of men is needed that can live in this man-made world, and, since we cannot wait for the slow processes of organic evolu- tion to produce such a race, there remains only the method of education. But if this method is used, the educational program should be of sufficient scope to attack the problem in its twofold aspect. On the one hand, we should give to the individual those habits, knowledges, interests, and ideals which fit him to live a healthy life under the conditions of civilization; and, on the other, we should strive so to modify these conditions that they will tend to conserve rather than destroy human life. Is a more healthful world possible? ‘There is no good reason for believing that the task which education is here asked to undertake is an impossible one, provided that very intelligence can be brought to bear upon it which has brought civilization into being. The progress of the past in controlling disease, in spite of no general and conscious effort on the part of society, suggests that this important portion of the problem is easily soluble. Something over a generation ago Pasteur said that “ It is within the power of man to rid himself of every parasitic disease.” In the case 202 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION of certain diseases the truth of this statement has already been demonstrated, and in speaking of tuberculosis, one of the most stubborn of this class of human ailments, Earl Mayo has declared: If the members of the medical profession were given a free hand to deal with this disease, backed by adequate provision for the care of existing cases, tuberculosis could be practically stamped out within a single generation. The work of Gorgas in the Panama Zone shows what is possible. In the course of ten years one of the most disease~ ridden spots of the earth was made healthful; yellow fever, the scourge of the tropics, was completely rooted, out; and the general death rate was reduced about ninety per cent. Equally striking have been the achievements of the naval medical service in certain islands of the Pacific, where the authorities have been unhampered in their efforts to grapple with the health problems of the population. The National Safety Council has proved that three fourths of industrial accidents are preventable; the work of the army has shown that many physical defects are amenable to treatment; and in innumerable instances the efficacy of the rules of per- sonal hygiene has been established. The President of the American Medical Association has recently said: } If doctors could apply all they know to all the people, not only would life be prolonged and human happiness increased, but the whole aspect and order of life would be altered. Why does health practice lag behind health knowledge? Here is a great body of knowledge which man has been slowly accumulating through the centuries and which can usher in a much more healthful world than the one in which we live. Why is it not being utilized? Various answers to 1 Wilbur, R. L.: Convention of Tri-State Medical Association, Des Moines, Iowa, November, 1923. HEALTH AND EDUCATION 203 this question suggest themselves. The development of science has been so recent that as yet society has made no genuine and systematic effort to find a place for it in the general social economy. It is not strange that scientific method, assailed so bitterly for generations by all the forces of the established order, and hardly tolerated to-day in many quarters, receives no adequate appreciation. In other words our customs do not adequately recognize the importance of this body of knowledge or the method by which it has been derived. As habits tend to persist in the life of the individual, customs resist change in the life of the group. We have but lately emerged from savagery, and our entire system of thought and belief shows only too plainly its origin. Vestiges of the superstitions of forgotten ages cling to us as the accent of his native tongue clings to the outlander long after he has lost touch with the homelanc. Moreover, the origin of our schools antedates the develop- ment of any carefully sifted knowledge about the nature and causation of health and disease. or the main part our formal educational agencies were established either to transmit orthodox interpretations of sacred Scripture to coming generations, or te insure the mastery of the tools of knowledge — reading, writing, and arithmetic. As a conse- quence the school has been identified from the first with a tradition of naive faith in the perfection and finality of a Scripture which, as interpreted, fostered a pathological un- concern about health, promoted a morbid interest in other- worldliness, and in extreme cases even exalted the mortifica- tion of the flesh. We have therefore had no great popular institution whose clearly recognized function has been that of keeping social practice abreast of our knowledge about health and disease. This condition has been exaggerated somewhat, perhaps, because of the persistence in the popular mind of a certain 204 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION fatalism with respect to disease and physical misfortune — a fatalism that disappears only on the higher levels of sophis- tication. Man is inclined to regard the visits of these un- welcome guests as occurring quite independently of his own bidding; there seems to be a psychological principle operat- ing which on the recovery of health banishes the memories of suffering: ““ Vows made in pain, ease will recant.”’ In the matter of health man is notoriously improvident. While most people recognize in their more thoughtful moments the fundamental importance of physical well-being, they are so absorbed in their immediate interests that they give little attention to the conservation of health until the processes of physical impairment are well advanced. Each is confi- dent that the adversity which has overtaken his neighbor is not stalking him. Members of the human species, though self-styled sapiens, are only a degree more subtle than the fur seal of the Pribilof Islands that watches with perfect composure the killing and skinning of his mates, even though all the facts in the case suggest that in another moment his own blood will be mingled with theirs. It is perhaps one of the ironies of fate that man appreciates health, the basic and greatest gift that life has to offer, only when he comes to sense its loss. Why must the school bear larger responsibilities in the promotion of health? Nevertheless there are many signs that indicate an awakening interest in the application of our available knowledge to the promotion of health and the pre- vention of disease. Our medical schools have received in- creased and even enthusiastic support during recent years; and much is being done through boards and departments of public heaith, great private foundations, life extension in- stitutes, insurance companies, industrial plants, libraries, newspapers, magazines, and a host of other agencies. Vari- ous organizations have waged aggressive warfare on tuber- HEALTH AND EDUCATION 205 culosis, syphilis, typhoid, malaria, hookworm, cancer, and other diseases. Guarding the health of the people, our cities have their building laws and sanitary regulations, their play- grounds and public parks, their water and sewage systems, their quarantine rules and hospital facilities; and govern- ments have seen fit to control the sale of alcohol and nar- cotics and to regulate the manufacture and sale of foods. All of this work must continue, but it is the school, which touches the lives of the masses, that must bear an increas- ingly large share of the burden. No other agency reaches all classes without distinction. And since in a political democracy the efficiency of the public control of health and disease is a function of the entire population, no class can be ignored. The autocratic methods adopted and carried through by Gorgas in Panama cannot be repeated in our own Commonwealth. Unless the masses of the people are vitally interested in promoting health and combating disease, little can be done. Furthermore, if conditions are to be improved, this know]l- edge must not only be passed on to the people, but it must also be made a part of themselves through the formation of habits and the inculcation of ideals. In order to accomplish this result it is clear that the process of health education must begin during those early years of life which are char- acterized by a high degree of plasticity and suggestibility. The school alone is in a position to produce the desired re- sults. If the coming of a more healthful world is forced to depend on some other institution, it will be infinitely de- layed. This should not blind us, however, to the fact that even for the school this will be a difficult task. The inertia of old customs lies heavy, and the school can have the child for only a fraction of his life. The school, together with other educational agencies, must carry the home and the community along at least a portion of the read that it 206 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION would take the younger generation. In time this institu- tion will come to be regarded as the agency through which society works into the lives of its members those truths about health and disease which its specialists discover. How may the school provide for the formation of health habits? If the school is to make any genuine and adequate contribution to the furtherance of health, it must set up three objectives which, while closely related and often over- lapping, merit separate attention. It must provide for the formation of health habits, the imparting of health informa- tion, and the development of a health conscience. The first of these is fundamental to the other two, for habits are the foundation on which the superstructure of life is erected. Habits determine disposition, they fix the objects of interest and attention, and they set the boundaries to a philosophy of life. From the moment the child enters the school, therefore, effort must be centered on his forming desirable habits in the fields of both personal and social hygiene. He must form correct habits of posture, diet, elimination, sex, exer- cise, rest, play, work, sleep, clothing, cleanliness, breathing, ventilation, and of guarding the health of others. Parallel- ing and supporting these habits, in which the physical aspect is prominent, must go habits of mind which tend to conserve rather than dissipate energy. Early in life the child should form the habits of avoiding worry, of banishing groundless fears, of frankly recognizing the limitations of his own powers, of refusing to seek in fantasy refuge from the demands of living, of taking the necessary time to do the work of the day, of facing the realities of life unafraid; he should form habits of patience and decision, of whole- hearted and courageous action, of serenity and happiness. In the school this process of habit formation will be greatly facilitated by providing environmental conditions that call HEALTH AND EDUCATION 207 forth the desired reactions. All who come in contact with the child should possess these habits; the building should be clean and properly ventilated; work and play should take place under careful supervision; the equipment should not only make possible, but should also strongly encourage clean- liness and sanitary behavior; school lunches should serve to establish habits of diet; and school nurses, dentists, and _ physicians, 1n order to fix in the child the habit of consulting the specialist, should see to the regular correction of physical defects. The decisive character of the environmental factor deserves special emphasis, because the school in the past has been so highly artificial as to hinder the formation of the habits necessary to the promotion of health. We have often imparted knowledge of hygiene, and at the same time forced the formation of unhygienic habits. We must clearly recog- nize the indubitable fact that only as we train children in the ways of health will they actually prefer these ways to others. How may the school impart health information? Habits, however, as the term is usually understood, are not enough. They do not provide that elasticity in behavior which is es- sential to the continuous adaptation of the individual to a shifting environment. ‘These habits must be raised to the level of consciousness and made meaningful. The facts which lie back of them must be grasped, the basic principles must be understood. In a word, the individual must be in- formed, he must be made intelligent. Through definite in- struction those superstitions regarding health and disease which have come down to us from a pre-scientific age, and which grow luxuriantly in almost every stratum of the pop- ulation, must be eradicated. In the past we have fostered a disease consciousness, we have waged a defensive warfare, we have assumed that nothing is to be done until the disease appears, we have 208 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION emphasized cure rather than prevention; in the future we must develop a health consciousness, we must wage an offensive warfare, we must consciously develop virile and resistant bodies, we must emphasize prevention rather than cure. ‘The men and women of the next generation must know that both health and disease have their causes, that these causes can be discovered and understood, and that through the application of knowledge the one can be pro- moted and the other prevented. Ready to rely upon them- selves wherever expedient, but prepared to call in the specialist when necessary, they must recognize both their powers and their limitations and avail themselves intelli- gently of the medical resources of the community. In days of health, through hygienic living and regular medical ex- amination, the approach of disease and physical impair- ment must be forestalled. The great desideratum is a new orientation with regard to this entire matter. The realiza- tion of this part of our program will entail the introduction into the formal curriculum of carefully selected and graded materials, designed to give to our children a sufficiently thorough understanding of the laws of health to serve as a guide to conduct. How may the school develop a health conscience? But habits and information, however valuable they may be, are not sufficient to the task. The school must imbue its pupils with a profound concern for the promotion of their own health and that of the community, and must inculcate an earnest desire to eliminate disease and defect and privation from the life of men. The individual must be given a health conscience, he must be made to display a will to health, he must be encouraged to develop a moving senti- ment for health. The very idea of health should arouse in the ordinary individual that emotional warmth which at- taches to every cherished interest of life. HEALTH AND EDUCATION 209 The development of such a positive attitude towards health is possible only under the guidance of teachers who themselves possess it in full measure, who appreciate the significance of their work, and who grasp the meaning of the struggle of the race for a more abundant physical life. Under such instruction our children must enter imagina- tively into this age-long struggle of mankind, and thereby come to appreciate for themselves the worth of this portion of the human heritage. As in the past they have lived with the heroes of war and politics and finance, so in the future they must be made to live with those heroes who, in spite of discouragement and the most bitter opposition, have fought for the race the battles of medicine. Thus an increasing number of each generation may be induced to recognize and feel the obligation to carry forward the work of the past, and to enter enthusiastically into those great collective undertakings through which alone complete advantage can be taken of the discoveries of medical science. How must the school modify its program? The program here outlined, involving the threefold task of forming habits, imparting information, and developing a sense of obligation, calls for a radical departure from the program of the con- ventional school. In three respects in particular does the ordinary school fall short. In the first place, for reasons already given, it has shown but little concern about health. Only in recent years have there been any thoroughgoing efforts to relate the work of the school to human need at this central point. In the second place, in those few instances where the school has embarked on an ambitious health program, there has been a tendency to place the great em- phasis on the acquisition of information and to disregard the other and equally important elements of the program. The school has been led to assume a naive faith in the com- plete efficacy of knowledge to regenerate the individual and 210 PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION society. While this view contains much truth, if considered with reference to great stretches of time, it is a relatively sterile educational doctrine. In the third place, the occa- sional school that has recognized these different aspects of the educative process has tended to make the mistake of erecting artificial barriers between them and of setting the school off from the rest of life. To be truly effective the instruction of the special institution must be made to influ- ence the behavior of boys and girls as they mature and take their places in the ranks of the Great Society. If formal education is to function, it must be made an integral part of the process of living; for habits, information, and interests are given vitality and unity only as the forces of life flow through them.