Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education

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=Systematizes Race Experience.=--The school curriculum further presents
each type of experience, or each subject, in such a systematic order
that the various experiences may develop out of one another in a natural
way. If the child were compelled to meet his number facts altogether in
actual life, the impressions would be received without system or order,
now a discount experience, next a problem in fractions, at another time
one in interest or mensuration. In the school curriculum, on the other
hand, the child is in each subject first presented with the simple,
near, and familiar, these in turn forming basic experiences for learning
the complex, the remote, and the unknown. Thus he is able in geography,
for example, on the basis of his simple and known local experiences, to
proceed to a realization of the whole world as the background for human
life.

=Clarifies Race Experience.=--Finally, when a child is given problems by
means of the school curriculum, the experiences come to him in a pure
form. That is, the trivial, accidental, and distracting elements which
are necessarily bound up with these experiences when they are met in the
ordinary walks of life are eliminated, and the single type is presented.
For instance, the child may every day meet accidentally examples of
reflection and refraction of light. But these not being separated from
the mass of accompanying impressions, his mind may never seize as
distinct problems the important relations in these experiences, and may
thus fail to acquire the essential principles involved. In the school
curriculum, on the other hand, under the head of physics, he has the
essential aspects presented to him in such an unmixed, or pure, form
that he finds relatively little difficulty in grasping their
significance. Thus the school curriculum renders possible an effective
control of the experiencing of the child by presenting in a
comprehensive form a classified, systematized, and pure representation
of the more valuable features of the race experience. In other words, it
provides suitable problems which may lead the child to participate more
fully in the life about him. Through the subjects of the school
curriculum, therefore, the child may acquire much useful knowledge which
would not otherwise be met, and much which, if met in ordinary life,
could not be apprehended to an equal degree.

DANGERS IN USE OF CURRICULUM

While recognizing the educational value of the school curriculum, it
should be noticed that certain dangers attach to its use as a means of
providing problems for developing the experiences of the child. It is
frequently argued against the school that the experiences gained therein
too often prove of little value to the child in the affairs of practical
life. The world of knowledge within the school, it is claimed, is so
different from the world of action outside the school, that the pupil
can find no connection between them. If, however, as claimed above, the
value of experience consists in its use as a means of efficient control
of conduct, it is evident that the experiences acquired through the
school should find direct application in the affairs of life, or in
other words, the school should influence the conduct, or behaviour, of
the child both within and without the school.

=A. Child may not see Connection with Life.=--Now the school curriculum,
as has been seen, in representing the actual social life, so classifies
and simplifies this life that only one type of experience--number,
language, chemistry, geography, etc., is presented to the child at one
time. It is evident, however, that when the child faces the problems of
actual life, they will not appear in the simple form in which he meets
them as represented in the school curriculum. Thus, when he leaves the
school and enters society, he frequently sees no connection between the
complex social life outside the school and the simplified and
systematized representation of that life, as previously met in the
school studies. For example, when the boy, after leaving school, is set
to fill an order in a wholesale drug store, he will in the one
experience be compelled to use various phases of his chemical,
arithmetical, writing, and bookkeeping knowledge, and that perhaps in
the midst of a mass of other accidental impressions. In like manner, the
girl in her home cooking might meet in a single experience a situation
requiring mathematical, chemical, and physical knowledge for its
successful adjustment, as in the substitution of soda and cream of
tartar for baking-powder. This complex character of the problems of
actual life may prove so bewildering that the person is unable to see
any connection between the outside problem and his school experiences.
Thus school knowledge frequently fails to function to an adequate degree
in the practical affairs of life.

=How to Avoid This Danger.=--To meet this difficulty, school work must
be related as closely as possible to the practical experiences of the
child. This would cause the teacher, for example, to draw his problems
in arithmetic, his subjects in composition, or his materials for nature
study from the actual life about the child, while his lessons in hygiene
would bear directly on the care of the school-room and the home, and the
health of the pupils. Moreover, that the work of the school may
represent more fully the conditions of actual life, pupils should
acquire facility in correlating different types of experience upon the
same problem. In this way the child may use in conjunction his knowledge
of arithmetic, language, geography, drawing, nature study, etc., in
school gardening; and his arithmetic, language, drawing, art, etc., in
conjunction with constructive occupations.

=Value of Typical Forms of Expression.=--A chief cause in the past for
the lack of connection between school knowledge and practical life was
the comparative absence from the curriculum of any types of human
activity. In other words, though the ideas controlling human activity
were experienced by the child within the school, the materials and tools
involved in the physical expression of such ideas were almost entirely
absent. The result was that the physical habits connected with the
practical use of knowledge were wanting. Thus, in addition to the lack
of any proper co-ordinating of different types of knowledge in suitable
forms of activity, the knowledge itself became theoretic and abstract.
This danger will, however, be discussed more fully at a later stage.

=B. Curriculum May Become Fossilized.=--A second danger in the use of
the school curriculum consists in the fact that, as a representation of
social life, it may not keep pace with the social changes taking place
outside the school. This may result in the school giving its pupils
forms of knowledge which at the time have little functional value, or
little relation to present life about the child. An example of this was
seen some years ago in the habit of having pupils spend considerable
time and energy in working intricate problems in connection with British
currency. This currency having no practical place in life outside the
school, the child could see no connection between that part of his
school work and any actual need. Another marked example of this tendency
will be met in the History of Education in connection with the
educational practice of the last two centuries in continuing the
emphasis placed on the study of the ancient languages, although the
functional relation of these languages to everyday life was on the
decline, and scientific knowledge was beginning to play a much more
important part therein. While the school curriculum may justly represent
the life of past periods of civilization so far as these reflect on, and
aid in the interpreting of, the present, it is evident that in so far as
the child experiences the past without any reference to present needs,
the connection which should exist between the school and life outside
the school must tend to be destroyed.

=C. May be Non-progressive.=--As a corollary to the above, is the fact
that the school, when not watchful of the changes going on without the
school, may fail to represent in its curriculum new and important phases
of the community life. At the present time, for example, it is a
debatable question whether the school curriculum is, in the matter of
our industrial life, keeping pace with the changes taking place in the
community. It is in this connection that one of the chief dangers of the
school text-book is to be found. The text is too often looked upon as a
final authority upon the particular subject-matter, rather than being
treated as a mode of representing what is held valuable and true in
relation to present-day interests and activities. The position of
authority which the text-book thus secures, may serve as a check against
even necessary changes in the attitude of the school toward any
particular subject.

=D. May Present Experience in too Technical Form.=--Lastly, the school
curriculum, even when representing present life, may introduce it in a
too highly technical form. So far at least as elementary education is
concerned, each type of knowledge, or each subject, should find a place
on the curriculum from a consideration of its influence upon the conduct
and, therefore, upon the present life of the child. There is always a
danger, however, that the teacher, who may be a specialist in the
subject, will wish to stress its more intellectual and abstract phases,
and thus force upon the child forms of knowledge which he is not able to
refer to his life needs in any practical way. This tendency is
illustrated in the desire of some teachers to substitute with young
children a technical study of botany and zoology, in place of more
concrete work in nature study. Now when the child approaches these
phases of his surroundings in the form of nature study, he is able to
see their influence upon his own community life. When, on the other
hand, these are introduced to him in too technical a form, he is not
able, in his present stage of learning, to discover this connection, and
the so-called knowledge remains in his experience, if it remains at all,
as uninteresting, non-significant, and non-digested information. In the
elementary school at least, therefore, knowledge should not be presented
to the child in such a technical and abstract way that it will seem to
have no contact with daily life.

CHAPTER V

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

THE SCHOOL

As man, in the progress of civilization, became more fully conscious of
the worth of human life and of the possibilities of its development
through educational effort, the providing of special instruction for the
young naturally began to be recognized as a duty. As this duty became
more and more apparent, it gave rise, on the principle of the division
of labour, to corporate, or institutional, effort in this direction. By
this means there has been finally developed the modern school as a fully
organized corporate institution devoted to educational work, and
supported as an integral part of our civil or public obligations.

=Origin of the School.=--To trace the origin of the school, it will be
necessary to look briefly at certain marked stages of the development of
civilization. The earliest and simplest forms of primitive life suggest
a time when the family constituted the only type of social organization.
In such a mode of life, the principle of the division of labour would be
absent, the father or patriarch being the family carpenter, butcher,
doctor, judge, priest, and teacher. In the two latter capacities, he
would give whatever theoretic or practical instruction was received by
the child. As soon, however, as a tribal form of life is met, we find
the tribe or race collecting a body of experience which can be retained
only by entrusting it to a selected body. This experience, or knowledge,
is at first mainly of a religious character, and is possessed and
handed on by a body of men forming a priesthood. Such priestly bodies,
or colleges, may be considered the earliest special organizations
devoted to the office of teaching. As civilization gradually advanced, a
mass of valuable practical knowledge relative to man's environment was
secured and added to the more theoretic forms. As this practical
knowledge became more complex, there was felt a greater need that the
child should be made acquainted with it in some systematic manner during
his early years. Thus developed the conception of the school as an
instrument by which such educative work might be carried on more
effectively. On account of the constant increase of practical knowledge
and its added importance in directing the political and economic life of
the people, the civil authorities began in time to assume control of
secular education. Thus the government of the school as an institution
gradually passed to the state, the teacher taking the place of the
priest as the controlling agent in the education of the young.

OTHER EDUCATIVE AGENTS

=The Church.=--But notwithstanding the organization of the present
school as a civic institution, it is to be noticed that the church still
continues to act as an educative agent. In many communities, in fact,
the church is still found to retain a large control of education even of
a secular type. Even in communities where the church no longer exercises
control over the school, she still does much, though in a more indirect
way, to mould the thought and character of the community life; and is
still the chief educational agent concerned in the direct attempt to
enrich the religious experiences of the race.

=The Home.=--While much of the knowledge obtained by the child within
his own home necessarily comes through self, or informal, education, yet
in most homes the parent still performs in many ways the function of a
teacher, both by giving special instruction to the child and by
directing the formation of his habits. In certain forms of experience
indeed, it is claimed by the school that the instruction should be given
by the parent rather than by the teacher. In questions of morals and
manners, the natural tie which unites child and parent will undoubtedly
enable much of the necessary instruction to be given more effectively in
the home. It is often claimed, in fact, that parents now leave too much
to the school and the teacher in relation to the education of the child.

=The Vocation.=--Another agent which may directly control the
experiences of the young is found in the various vocations to which they
devote themselves. This phase of education was very important in the
days of apprenticeship. One essential condition in the form of agreement
was that the master should instruct the apprentice in the art, or craft,
to which he was apprenticed. Owing to the introduction of machinery and
the consequent more complex division of labour, this type of formal
education has been largely eliminated. It may be noted in passing that
it is through these changed conditions that night classes for mechanics,
which are now being provided by our technical schools, have become an
important factor in our educational system.

=Other Educational Institutions.=--Finally, many clubs, institutes, and
societies attempt, in a more accidental way, to convey definite
instruction, and therefore serve in a sense as educational institutions.
Prominent among such institutions is the modern Public Library, which
affords opportunity for independent study in practically every
department of knowledge. Our Farmers' Institutes also attempt to convey
definite instruction in connection with such subjects as dairying,
horticulture, agriculture, etc. Many Women's Clubs seek to provide
instruction for young women, both of a practical and also of a moral and
religious character. Various societies of a scientific character have
also done much to spread a knowledge of nature and her laws and are
likewise to be classed as educational institutions. Such movements as
these, while taking place without the limits of the school, may not
unreasonably claim a certain recognition as educational factors in the
community and should receive the sympathetic co-operation of the
teacher.

CHAPTER VI

THE PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL

CIVIC VIEWS

Since the school of to-day is organized and supported by the state as a
special corporate body designed to carry on the work of education, it
becomes of public interest to know the particular purpose served through
the maintenance of such a state institution. We have already seen that
the school seeks to interpret the civilized life of the community, to
abstract out of it certain elements, and to arrange them in systematic
or scientific order as a curriculum of study, and finally to give the
child control of this experience, or knowledge. We have attempted to
show further that by this means education so increases the effectiveness
of the conscious reactions of the child and so modifies his instincts
and his habits as to add to his social efficiency. As, however, many
divergent and incomplete views are held by educators and others as to
the real purpose of public instruction, it will be well at this stage to
consider briefly some of the most important types of these theories.

=Aristocratic View.=--It may be noted that the experience, or knowledge,
represented in the curriculum cannot exist outside of the knowing mind.
In other words, arithmetic, grammar, history, geography, etc., are not
something existing apart from mind, but only as states of consciousness.
Text-books, for instance, do not contain knowledge but merely symbols of
knowledge, which would have no significance and give no light without a
mind to interpret them. Some, therefore, hold that the school, in
seeking to translate this social experience into the consciousness of
the young, should have as its aim merely to conserve for the future the
intellectual and moral achievements of the present and the past. This
they say demands of the school only that it produce an intellectual
priesthood, or a body of scholars, who may conserve wisdom for the light
and guidance of the whole community. Thus arises the aristocratic view
of the purpose of education, which sees no justification in the state
attempting to provide educational opportunities for all of its members,
but holds rather that education is necessary only for the leaders of
society.

=Democratic View.=--Against the above view, it is claimed by others
that, while public education should undoubtedly be conducted for the
benefit of the state as a whole; yet, since a chain cannot be stronger
than its weakest link, the efficiency of the state must be measured by
that of its individual units. The state, therefore, must aim, by means
of education, to add to its own efficiency by adding to that of each and
all of its members. This demands, however, that every individual should
be able to meet in an intelligent way such situations as he is likely to
encounter in his community life. Although carried on, therefore, for the
good of the state, yet education should be democratic, or universal, and
should fit every individual to become a useful member of society.

=These Views Purely Civic.=--It is to be noted that though the latter
view provides for the education of all as a duty of the state, yet both
of the above views are purely civic in their significance, and hold that
education exists for the welfare of the state as a whole and not for the
individual. If, therefore, the state could be benefited by having the
education of any class of citizens either limited or extended in an
arbitrary way, nothing in the above conception of the purpose of state
education would forbid such a course.

INDIVIDUALISTIC VIEWS

Opposed to the civic view of education, many hold, on the other hand,
that education exists for the child and not for the state, and
therefore, aims primarily to promote the welfare of the individual. By
these educators it is argued that, since each child is created with a
separate and distinct personality, it follows that he possesses a divine
right to have that personality developed independently of the claims of
the community to which he belongs. According to this view, therefore,
the aim of education should be in each case solely to effect some good
for the individual child. These educators, however, are again found to
differ concerning what constitutes this individual good.

=The Culture Aim.=--According to the practice of many educators,
education is justified on the ground that it furnishes the individual a
degree of personal culture. According to this view, the worth of
education is found in the fact that it puts the learner in possession of
a certain amount of conventional knowledge which is held to give a
polish to the individual; this polish providing a distinguishing mark by
which the learned class is separated from the ignorant. It is
undoubtedly true that the so-called culture of the educated man should
add to the grace and refinement of social life. In this sense, culture
is not foreign to the conception of individual and social efficiency. A
narrow cultural view, however, overlooks the fact that man's experience
is significant only when it enables him to meet the needs and problems
of the present, and that, as a member of a social community, he must
apply himself to the actual problems to be met within his environment.
To acquire knowledge, therefore, either as a mere possession or as a
mark of personal superiority, is to give to experience an unnatural
value.

=The Utilitarian Aim.=--Others express quite an opposite view to the
above, declaring that the aim of education is to enable the individual
to get on in the world. By this is meant that education should enable us
to be more successful in our business, and thus live more comfortable
lives. Now, so far as this practical success of the individual can be
achieved in harmony with the interests of society as a whole, we may
grant that education should make for individual betterment. Indeed it
may justly be claimed that an advancement in the comfort of the
individual under such conditions really implies an increase in the
comfort of society as a whole; for the man who is not able to provide
for his own welfare must prove, if not a menace, at least a burden to
society. If, however, it is implied that the educated man is to be
placed in a position to advance his own interests irrespective of, or in
direct opposition to, the rights and comforts of others, then the
utilitarian view of the end of education must appear one-sided. To
emphasize the good of the individual irrespective of the rights of
others, and to educate all of its members with such an end in view,
society would tend to destroy the unity of its own corporate life.

=The Psychological Aim.=--According to others, although education aims
to benefit the child, this benefit does not come from the acquisition of
any particular type of knowledge, but is due rather to a development
which takes place within the individual himself as a result of
experiencing. In other words, the child as an intelligent being is born
with certain attributes which, though at first only potential, may be
developed into actual capacities or powers. Thus it is held that the
real aim of education is to develop to the full such capacities as are
found already within the child. Moreover, it is because the child has
such possibilities of development within him, and because he starts at
the very outset of his existence with a divine yearning to develop these
inner powers, that he reaches out to experience his surroundings. For
this reason, they argue that every individual should have his own
particular capacities and powers fully and harmoniously developed. Thus
the true aim of education is said to be to unfold the potential life of
each individual and allow it to realize itself; the purpose of the
school being primarily not to make of the child a useful member of
society, but rather to study the nature of the child and develop
whatever potentialities are found within him as an individual. Because
this theory places such large emphasis on the natural tendencies and
capacities of the child, it is spoken of as the psychological aim of
education.

=Limitations of the Aim.=--This view evidently differs from others in
that it finds the justification for education, not primarily in the
needs or rights of a larger society of which the child is a member, but
rather in those of the single individual. Here, however, a difficulty
presents itself. If the developing of the child's capacities and
tendencies constitute the real purpose of public education, may not
education at times conflict with the good of the state itself? Now it is
evident that if a child has a tendency to lie, or steal, or inflict pain
on others, the development of such tendencies must result in harm to the
community at large. On the other hand, it is clear that in the case of
other proclivities which the child may possess, such as industry,
truthfulness, self-sacrifice, etc., the development of these cannot be
separated from the idea of the good of others. To apply a purely
individual aim to education, therefore, seems impossible; since we can
have no standard to distinguish between good and bad tendencies, unless
these are measured from a social standpoint or from a consideration of
the good of others, and not from the mere tendencies and capacities of
the individual. Moreover, to attempt the harmonious development of all
the child's tendencies and powers is not justifiable, even in the case
of those tendencies which might not conflict with the good of others. As
already noted, division of labour has now gone so far that the
individual may profitably be relieved from many forms of social
activity. This implies as a corollary, however, that the individual will
place greater stress upon other forms of activity.

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