Part 2 (1/2)

The two factors of truth in the conception led from association with the false context which perverts theical side we have simply the fact that any infant starts with precisely the assortment of i blind, andwith one another, casual, sporadic, and unadapted to their immediate environment The other point is that it is a part of wisdom to utilize the products of past history so far as they are of help for the future Since they represent the results of prior experience, their value for future experience reat Literatures produced in the past are, so far as men are now in possession and use of them, a part of the present environment of individuals; but there is an enor ourselves of the them as standards and patterns in their retrospective character

(1) The distortion of the first point usually coh misuse of the idea of heredity It is assumed that heredity means that past life has somehow predetermined the main traits of an individual, and that they are so fixed that little serious change can be introduced into them Thus taken, the influence of heredity is opposed to that of the environment, and the efficacy of the latter belittled But for educational purposes heredity inal endow as he is; that a particular individual has just such and such an equipment of native activities is a basic fact That they were produced in such and such a way, or that they are derived from one's ancestry, is not especially iist, as compared with the fact that they now exist Suppose one had to advise or direct a person regarding his inheritance of property The fallacy of assu that the fact it is an inheritance, predetermines its future use, is obvious The advisor is concerned withit at work under the most favorable conditions Obviously he cannot utilize what is not there; neither can the educator In this sense, heredity is a linition of this fact prevents the waste of energy and the irritation that ensue fro toout of an individual which he is not naturally fitted to become But the doctrine does not determine what use shall be made of the capacities which exist And, except in the case of the iinal capacities are much more varied and potential, even in the case of the more stupid, than we as yet know properly how to utilize Consequently, while a careful study of the native aptitudes and deficiencies of an individual is always a preliminary necessity, the subsequent and important step is to furnish an environment which will adequately function whatever activities are present The relation of heredity and environ had no vocal organs from which issue articulate sounds, if he had no auditory or other sense-receptors and no connections between the two sets of apparatus, it would be a sheer waste of time to try to teach him to converse He is born short in that respect, and education must accept the limitation But if he has this native equipuarantees that he will ever talk any language or what language he will talk The environment in which his activities occur and by which they are carried into execution settles these things If he lived in a dumb unsocial environment where men refused to talk to one another and used only that , vocal language would be as unachieved by hians If the sounds which he uage, the activities which make like sounds will be selected and coordinated This illustration e of the educability of any individual It places the heritage froht connection with the demands and opportunities of the present

(2) The theory that the proper subject matter of instruction is found in the culture-products of past ages (either in general, or more specifically in the particular literatures which were produced in the culture epoch which is supposed to correspond with the stage of developht) affords another instance of that divorce between the process and product of grohich has been criticized To keep the process alive, to keep it alive in hich make it easier to keep it alive in the future, is the function of educational subject matter But an individual can live only in the present The present is not just so produced by it It is what life is in leaving the past behind it The study of past products will not help us understand the present, because the present is not due to the products, but to the life of which they were the products A knowledge of the past and its heritage is of great significance when it enters into the present, but not otherwise And thethe records and remains of the past the main material of education is that it cuts the vital connection of present and past, and tends to make the past a rival of the present and the present a more or less futile imitation of the past Under such circue and an asylum Men escape froined refineency for ripening these crudities The present, in short, generates the probleestion, and which suppliesto e find e search The past is the past precisely because it does not include what is characteristic in the present Thepresent includes the past on condition that it uses the past to direct its own ination; it adds a new dimension to life, but OD condition that it be seen as the past of the present, and not as another and disconnected world The principle which rowing, the only thing always present, naturally looks to the past because the future goal which it sets up is re turned its back upon the present, it has no way of returning to it laden with the spoils of the past A mind that is adequately sensitive to the needs and occasions of the present actuality will have the liveliest of round of the present, and will never have to hunt for a way back because it will never have lost connection

3 Education as Reconstruction In its contrast with the ideas both of unfolding of latent powers from within, and of the formation from without, whether by physical nature or by the cultural products of the past, the ideal of growth results in the conception that education is a constant reorganizing or reconstructing of experience It has all the time an immediate end, and so far as activity is educative, it reaches that end-the direct transformation of the quality of experience Infancy, youth, adult life,-all stand on the same educative level in the sense that what is really learned at any and every stage of experience constitutes the value of that experience, and in the sense that it is the chief business of life at every point tothus contribute to an enrich

We thus reach a technical definition of education: It is that reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to theof experience, and which increases ability to direct the course of subsequent experience (1) The incre corresponds to the increased perception of the connections and continuities of the activities in which we are engaged The activity begins in an impulsive form; that is, it is blind It does not knohat it is about; that is to say, what are its interactions with other activities An activity which brings education or instruction with it makes one aware of some of the connections which had been imperceptible To recur to our siets burned Henceforth he knows that a certain act of touching in connection with a certain act of vision (and vice-versa) ht means a source of heat The acts by which a scientific man in his laboratory learnscertain things, he s, which had been previously ignored Thus his acts in relation to these things getor ”is about” when he has to do with the the At the sa; all that is known about coht and temperature, may become an intrinsic part of its intellectual content

(2) The other side of an educative experience is an added power of subsequent direction or control To say that one knohat he is about, or can intend certain consequences, is to say, of course, that he can better anticipate what is going to happen; that he can, therefore, get ready or prepare in advance so as to secure beneficial consequences and avert undesirable ones A genuinely educative experience, then, one in which instruction is conveyed and ability increased, is contradistinguished from a routine activity on one hand, and a capricious activity on the other (a) In the latter one ”does not care what happens”; one just lets hi the consequences of one's act (the evidences of its connections with other things) with the act It is custo it as willful mischief or carelessness or lawlessness But there is a tendency to seek the cause of such aimless activities in the youth's own disposition, isolated fro else But in fact such activity is explosive, and due to s Individuals act capriciously whenever they act under external dictation, or fro a purpose of their own or perceiving the bearing of the deed upon other acts Onewhich he does not understand; even in the ent action, we do est portion of the connections of the act we consciously intend are not perceived or anticipated But we learn only because after the act is performed we note results which we had not noted before Butup rules by which pupils are to act of such a sort that even after pupils have acted, they are not led to see the connection between the result-say the answer-and theis a trick and a kind of miracle Such action is essentially capricious, and leads to capricious habits (b) Routine action, action which is auto In so far, it ht be said to have an educative effect But it does not lead to new perceptions of bearings and connections; it li-horizon And since the environ has to be modified in order successfully to keep a balanced connection with things, an isolated unifor becomes disastrous at soross ineptitude

The essential contrast of the idea of education as continuous reconstruction with the other one-sided conceptions which have been criticized in this and the previous chapter is that it identifies the end (the result) and the process This is verbally self-contradictory, but only verbally It means that experience as an active process occupies time and that its later period coht connections involved, but hitherto unperceived The later outco of the earlier, while the experience as a whole establishes a bent or disposition toward the things possessing thisEvery such continuous experience or activity is educative, and all education resides in having such experiences

It remains only to point out (ill receive more ample attention later) that the reconstruction of experience may be social as well as personal For purposes of simplification we have spoken in the earlier chapters somewhat as if the education of the iroup to which they belong, were a sort of catching up of the child with the aptitudes and resources of the adult group In static societies, societies which make the maintenance of established custom their measure of value, this conception applies in the ressive co so that instead of reproducing current habits, better habits shall be formed, and thus the future adult society be an i had some intimation of the extent to which education may be consciously used to eli on paths which shall not produce these ills, and some idea of the extent in which educationthe better hopes ofthe potential efficacy of education as a constructive agency of i that it represents not only a development of children and youth but also of the future society of which they will be the constituents

Summary Education may be conceived either retrospectively or

prospectively That is to say, itthe future to the past, or as an utilization of the past for a resource in a developing future The forone before Thefros presented In this case, the earlier presentations constitute the material to which the later are to be assimilated Emphasis upon the value of the early experiences of is is ard them as of little account But these experiences do not consist of externally presented material, but of interaction of native activities with the environressively modifies both the activities and the environh presentations consists in slighting this constant interaction and change The same principle of criticism applies to theories which find the primary subject matter of study in the cultural products-especially the literary products-of man's history Isolated from their connection with the present environment in which individuals have to act, they beco environ of the things hich we have actively to do at the present time The idea of education advanced in these chapters is formally summed up in the idea of continuous reconstruction of experience, an idea which is marked off fro, as external formation, and as recapitulation of the past

Chapter Seven: The Democratic Conception in Education

For the most part, save incidentally, we have hitherto been concerned with education as it roup We have now to make explicit the differences in the spirit, material, and method of education as it operates in different types of community life To say that education is a social function, securing direction and developh their participation in the life of the group to which they belong, is to say in effect that education will vary with the quality of life which prevails in a group Particularly is it true that a society which not only changes but-which has the ideal of such change as will improve it, will have different standards and methods of education from one which aims sieneral ideas set forth applicable to our own educational practice, it is, therefore, necessary to come to closer quarters with the nature of present social life

1 The Implications of Hus Men associate together in all kinds of ways and for all kinds of purposes One roups, in which his associatesin common except that they are anization there are nuroups: not only political subdivisions, but industrial, scientific, religious, associations There are political parties with differing ais, corporations, partnershi+ps, groups bound closely together by ties of blood, and so on in endless variety In reat diversity of populations, of varying languages, religions, moral codes, and traditions From this standpoint, e cities, for exaeries of loosely associated societies, rather than an inclusive and perht (See ante, p 20) The teruous They have both a eulogistic or nor de jure and ade facto In social philosophy, the former connotation is almost always uppermost Society is conceived as one by its very nature The qualities which accompany this unity, praiseworthy community of purpose and welfare, loyalty to public ends, mutuality of sympathy, are emphasized But e look at the facts which the ter our attention to its intrinsic connotation, we find not unity, but a plurality of societies, good and bad Men banded together in a criations that prey upon the public while serving it, political ether by the interest of plunder, are included If it is said that such organizations are not societies because they do not meet the ideal requirements of the notion of society, the answer, in part, is that the conception of society is thenno reference to facts; and in part, that each of these organizations, no roups, has so of the praiseworthy qualities of ”Society” which hold it together There is honor a thieves, and a band of robbers has a cos are , and narrow cliques by intense loyalty to their own codes Family life may be marked by exclusiveness, suspicion, and jealousy as to those without, and yet be a iven by a group tends to socialize its members, but the quality and value of the socialization depends upon the habits and airoup Hence, once iventhis measure, we have to avoid two extreard as an ideal society We must base our conception upon societies which actually exist, in order to have any assurance that our ideal is a practicable one But, as we have just seen, the ideal cannot simply repeat the traits which are actually found The problem is to extract the desirable traits of forms of community life which actually exist, and eest i of thieves, we find some interest held in common, and we find a certain aroups From these two traits we derive our standard How numerous and varied are the interests which are consciously shared? How full and free is the interplay with other forms of association? If we apply these considerations to, say, a criminal band, we find that the ties which consciously hold the ether are few in number, reducible almost to a common interest in plunder; and that they are of such a nature as to isolate the group froive and take of the values of life Hence, the education such a society gives is partial and distorted If we take, on the other hand, the kind of family life which illustrates the standard, we find that there are material, intellectual, aesthetic interests in which all participate and that the progress of one member has worth for the experience of other members-it is readily communicable-and that the family is not an isolated whole, but enters intiroups, with schools, with all the agencies of culture, as well as with other siroups, and that it plays a due part in the political organization and in return receives support from it In short, there are many interests consciously communicated and shared; and there are varied and free points of contact with other modes of association

I Let us apply the first eleoverned state It is not true there is no coovernors The authorities in command must make some appeal to the native activities of the subjects, must call soovern with bayonets except sit on thenition that the bond of union is not merely one of coercive force It may be said, however, that the activities appealed to are theovern activity simply capacity for fear In a way, this statement is true But it overlooks the fact that fear need not be an undesirable factor in experience Caution, circumspection, prudence, desire to foresee future events so as to avert what is har the impulse of fear into play as is cowardice and abject submission The real difficulty is that the appeal to fear is isolated In evoking dread and hope of specific tangible reward-say comfort and ease-many other capacities are left untouched Or rather, they are affected, but in such a way as to pervert the on their own account they are reduced topain

This is equivalent to saying that there is no extensive number of co the roup Stily one-sided In order to have a large nuroup must have an equable opportunity to receive and to take fros and experiences Otherwise, the influences which educate some into masters, educate others into slaves And the experience of each party loses inmodes of life-experience is arrested A separation into a privileged and a subject-class prevents social endos the superior class are less material and less perceptible, but equally real Their culture tends to be sterile, to be turned back to feed on itself; their art becomes a showy display and artificial; their wealth luxurious; their knowledge overspecialized; their manners fastidious rather than humane

Lack of the free and equitable intercourse which springs from a variety of shared interests makes intellectual stimulation unbalanced Diversity of stiht The more activity is restricted to a few definite lines-as it is when there are rigid class lines preventing adequate interplay of experiences-the more action tends to becoe, and capricious, ai the materially fortunate position Plato defined a slave as one who accepts from another the purposes which control his conduct This condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense It is found wherever ed in activity which is socially serviceable, but whose service they do not understand and have no personal interest in Much is said about scientific ement of work It is a narrohich restricts the science which secures efficiency of operation to movements of the muscles The chief opportunity for science is the discovery of the relations of ahis relations to others who take part-which will enlist his intelligent interest in what he is doing Efficiency in production often demands division of labor But it is reduced to a mechanical routine unless workers see the technical, intellectual, and social relationshi+ps involved in what they do, and engage in their work because of the motivation furnished by such perceptions The tendency to reduce such things as efficiency of activity and scientific ement to purely technical externals is evidence of the one-sided stiiven to those in control of industry-those who supply its aims Because of their lack of all-round and well-balanced social interest, there is not sufficient stimulus for attention to the huence is narrowed to the factors concerned with technical production and oods No doubt, a very acute and intense intelligence in these narrow lines can be developed, but the failure to take into account the significant social factorsdistortion of emotional life II This illustration (whose point is to be extended to all associations lacking reciprocity of interest) brings us to our second point The isolation and exclusiveness of a gang or clique brings its antisocial spirit into relief But this saroup has interests ”of its ohich shut it out fro purpose is the protection of what it has got, instead of reorganization and progress through wider relationshi+ps It marks nations in their isolation from one another; families which seclude their doer life; schools when separated from the interest of home and community; the divisions of rich and poor; learned and unlearned The essential point is that isolationof life, for static and selfish ideals within the group That savage tribes regard aliens and enes froid adherence to their past custoical to fear intercourse with others, for such contact ht dissolve custom It would certainly occasion reconstruction It is a co e of contact with the physical environnificantly to the field where we are apt to ignore it-the sphere of social contacts Every expansive era in the history of mankind has coincided with the operation of factors which have tended to eliminate distance between peoples and classes previously heed benefits of war, so far asfrom the fact that conflict of peoples at least enforces intercourse between them and thus accidentally enables them to learn from one another, and thereby to expand their horizons Travel, econoone far to break down external barriers; to bring peoples and classes into closer and more perceptible connection with one another It remains for the nificance of this physical annihilation of space

2 The Democratic Ideal The two elenifies not only more nureater reliance upon the recognition of mutual interests as a factor in social control The second roups (once isolated so far as intention could keep up a separation) but change in social habit-its continuous readjust the new situations produced by varied intercourse And these two traits are precisely what characterize the democratically constituted society