The Children: Some Educational Problems | Page 9

the one
activity ever present is that of reason seeking ever to connect part to
part in order that some end or interest may be attained. Moreover, we
may misuse the power of reason, and employ it in the attainment of
ends which are valueless in the sense that they further no real interest or
end in life. This is done whenever knowledge is crammed, whenever

the bond of connection between one part of knowledge and the other is
extrinsic, and whenever facts are connected and remembered by bonds
of a more or less accidental or factitious nature. And since such
knowledge can further no direct interest or end in life, its acquisition
must, as a rule, be motived by some strong indirect interest. As a
consequence, whenever the indirect interest, whatever its nature may
be,--the fear of punishment, or the passing of an examination,--ceases
to operate, then the desire for further acquisition also ceases. Hence it
follows that the establishment of any such system is of comparatively
little value. It may pave the way at a later period for the formation of a
system of intrinsically connected knowledge, but as a general rule such
systems, because they cannot be used, tend soon to drop out of mind,
and to be of no further consequence in the determination of conduct.
But further, this misuse of reason, this inciting of the mind to memorise
facts unrelated except by their mere accidental time or space relations,
will if persisted in tend to render the individual dull, stupid, and
unimaginative.
The systems of knowledge, then, of most value are those which
establish intrinsic connections between part and part; for it is only by
means of systems of this character that action can be determined and
knowledge extended. In this sense we may agree with Herbert
Spencer[5] that science or systematised knowledge is of chiefest value
both for the guidance of conduct and for the discipline of mind. At the
same time we must not fall into the Spencerian error of identifying
science "with the study of surrounding phenomena," and in making the
antithesis between science and linguistic studies one between dealing
with real things on the one hand, and mere words on the other.
Further, since the establishment of a system of means is always through
the self-finding and the self-forming of the system, this furnishes the
key to the only sound method of education--viz., that the child must be
trained in the self-discovering and the self-connecting of knowledge.
This does not mean that the method should be heuristic in Rousseau's
sense, that the child should be told nothing, but be left to rediscover all
knowledge for himself. But it does mean that in the imparting of the
garnered experience of the race the child must be trained in the

methods by which the race has slowly and gradually built up a
knowledge of the means necessary for the realisation of the many and
complex ends of civilised life.
Before passing on to consider the ends at which we should aim in the
education of the child, it may be well briefly to summarise the
conclusions reached.
1. Man is distinguished from the rest of creation by the possession of
reason: the animal life is mainly or wholly guided by instinct.
2. Man like the animals possesses instincts or instinctive tendencies,
but for their realisation he must seek out and establish systems of
means for their attainment. Bereft of these instinctive tendencies of his
nature, man would have no incentive to acquire experiences for the
more efficient guidance of his future conduct.
3. In the course of the development and extension of experience there
gradually becomes grafted upon these innate instincts, interests or ends
of an acquired nature, and one of the main functions of education is to
create, foster, and establish on a permanent and stable basis, interests of
ethical and social worth.
4. The power of reason is no occult power: it is simply the capacity for
finding and establishing systems of means for the attainment of ends;
or it may be defined as the power of acquiring experience and of
self-applying this experience in the future guidance of conduct.
5. The evolution of intelligence in man is the evolution of this
reason-activity to the attainment of new and more complex theoretical
and practical ends or interests. At an early stage the systems of
knowledge established are for the attainment of the relatively simple
needs of life, and are composed of perceptual and imagined elements.
At a later stage the systems formed may be of the most complex nature,
and are composed of conceptual elements.
6. Man is the only being capable of education in the strict usage of the
term. He alone must acquire the means for the realisation of the various

desired