The Children: Some Educational Problems | Page 8

to observe accurately what is presented to us through the senses, or in
endeavouring to realise imaginatively something not directly presented

to the senses, or in performing an abstract process of thought, the
activity of reason in its formal aspect is ever one and the same. Hence
in education we have not to do with the development of many powers
or faculties but with the development or the evolution of the one power
or faculty of reason, and the process of development in its general
nature is always the same in kind--viz., the process of systematically
building up knowledge which shall function in the future determination
of conduct. What varies in each case, at each stage of development, is
the nature of the material which goes to form this or that system, and
the character of the identity or link of connection which binds part to
part within any given system. A system of knowledge may be built up
of perceptual elements, of ideas derived directly through the medium of
the senses. Of such a character are the systems of knowledge possessed
by the artist and the musician. Again, a system of knowledge may be
composed wholly or mainly of images--of remembered ideas, so altered
and so modified as to form and fit into a new whole. Lastly, the
elements which go to form the component parts of the system may be
of a conceptual character. Thus we may select the number aspect of
things for consideration and treatment, and so build up and establish
within the mind of the child a number system. But in each and every
case the power at work is the activity of reason, and the end ever in
view in the selection and in the formation of the system is the
satisfaction of some end or interest desired either for its own sake or as
a means to some further and remoter end.
Further, a system of knowledge may differ not only in the nature of the
materials of which it is composed, but also in the mode of its formation;
i.e., the nature of the identity which binds part to part within the system
may vary in character. Now it is upon the nature of the systems which
we ultimately form in the mind of the child and upon the method which
we pursue in our process of system or knowledge making that the
resultant character of our education depends.
A system of knowledge may be related as regards its parts by some
qualitative or quantitative bond of identity. All sciences of mere
classification are formed in this way, and the formation of such systems
is in some cases a necessary preliminary to the evolution of the higher

forms of system. But the important point to note is that all such systems
are valuable only as a means to the further recognition, the further
classification, of similar instances. An individual whose mind was
wholly formed in this way might be compared to a well-arranged
museum, where everything is classified and arranged on the basis of
qualitative identity. But manifestly this mere arranging and classifying
of knowledge has only a limited value. Such systems can never be used
as means for the realisation of any practical need of life, can never by
themselves lead us to intrinsically connected knowledge.
A second and higher form of system is established whenever the bond
of connection between part and part is an identity of function or of law.
All language systems are of this nature, and the more highly synthetic
the language the more intrinsic the connection there is between the
parts of the system. Further, it should be noted that systems of this
character can be used for the attainment of other ends than those of
mere recognition and classification. They, of course, can be used as
instruments of intercourse, of culture, and of commerce. But they may
further be utilised in education in the training of the pupil to self-apply
a system of knowledge to the solution of relatively new problems, and
it is for this reason mainly that the ancient languages possess their
value as educational instruments.
Lastly, systems of knowledge may be formed in which the
inter-relation of part to part within the system is that of identity of
cause and effect. In the establishment of scientific knowledge the aim is
to show the causal inter-relation of part to part within a systematic
whole or unity. Hence also, as in the case of language systems, systems
of this nature are capable of being used to train the pupil to self-apply
knowledge in the solution of practical and theoretical problems, and in
the realising of the practical ends of life. Once again it must be noted
that in the establishment of the various systems of knowledge