Part 4 (1/2)

In one sense, it is a ical means the subject matter for reflection is provided Me, co data The relative proportion to be obtained from each is a matter of the specific features of the particular problem in hand It is foolish to insist upon observation of objects presented to the senses if the student is so familiar with the objects that he could just as well recall the facts independently It is possible to induce undue and crippling dependence upon sense-presentations No one can carry around with his whose properties will assist the conduct of thought A well-trained mind is one that has a maximum of resources behind it, so to speak, and that is accustoo over its past experiences to see what they yield On the other hand, a quality or relation of even a familiar object may previously have been passed over, and be just the fact that is helpful in dealing with the question In this case direct observation is called for The same principle applies to the use to be ” on the other Direct observation is naturally more vivid and vital But it has its limitations; and in any case it is a necessary part of education that one should acquire the ability to supplement the narrowness of his i the experiences of others Excessive reliance upon others for data (whether got fro) is to be depreciated Most objectionable of all is the probability that others, the book or the teacher, will supply solutions ready- material that the student has to adapt and apply to the question in hand for hi that in schools there is usually both too much and too little information supplied by others The accumulation and acquisition of information for purposes of reproduction in recitation and exae,” in the sense of infor capital, the indispensable resources, of further inquiry; of finding out, or learning, s Frequently it is treated as an end itself, and then the goal becomes to heap it up and display it when called for This static, cold-storage ideal of knowledge is inimical to educative developo unused, but it swaround cluttered with miscellaneous junk Pupils who have stored their ”minds” with all kinds of material which they have never put to intellectual uses are sure to be hampered when they try to think They have no practice in selecting what is appropriate, and no criterion to go by; everything is on the same dead static level On the other hand, it is quite open to question whether, if inforh use in application to the student's own purposes, there would not be need of more varied resources in books, pictures, and talks than are usually at co of facts, data, knowledge already acquired, is suggestions, inferences, conjectured s, suppositions, tentative explanations:-ideas, in short Careful observation and recollection deteriven, what is already there, and hence assured They cannot furnish what is lacking They define, clarify, and locate the question; they cannot supply its answer Projection, invention, ingenuity, devising coestions, and only by reference to the specific data can we pass upon the appropriateness of the suggestions But the suggestions run beyond what is, as yet, actually given in experience They forecast possible results, things to do, not facts (things already done) Inference is always an invasion of the unknown, a leap fro suggests but is not as it is presented) is creative,-an incursion into the novel It involves soested must, indeed, be fa, clings to the new light in which it is seen, the different use to which it is put When Newton thought of his theory of gravitation, the creative aspect of his thought was not found in its materials They were faht, distance, inal ideas; they were established facts His originality lay in the use to which these familiar acquaintances were put by introduction into an unfa scientific discovery, every great invention, every admirable artistic production Only silly folk identify creative originality with the extraordinary and fanciful; others recognize that its s to uses which had not occurred to others The operation is novel, not the materials out of which it is constructed

The educational conclusion which follows is that all thinking is original in a projection of considerations which have not been previously apprehended The child of three who discovers what can be done with blocks, or of six who finds out what he can ether, is really a discoverer, even though everybody else in the world knows it There is a genuine increment of experience; not another item mechanically added on, but enrichment by a new quality The charm which the spontaneity of little children has for sympathetic observers is due to perception of this intellectual originality The joy which children themselves experience is the joy of intellectual constructiveness-of creativeness, if the wordThe educational moral I am chiefly concerned to draw is not, however, that teachers would find their oork less of a grind and strain if school conditions favored learning in the sense of discovery and not in that of storing ahat others pour into theive even children and youth the delights of personal intellectual productiveness-true and iht, no idea, can possibly be conveyed as an idea from one person to another When it is told, it is, to the one to whoiven fact, not an idea The communication may stimulate the other person to realize the question for himself and to think out a like idea, or iteffort at thought But what he directly gets cannot be an idea Only by wrestling with the conditions of the proble his oay out, does he think When the parent or teacher has provided the conditions which sti and has taken a sympathetic attitude toward the activities of the learner by entering into a common or conjoint experience, all has been done which a second party can do to instigate learning The rest lies with the one directly concerned If he cannot devise his own solution (not of course in isolation, but in correspondence with the teacher and other pupils) and find his oay out he will not learn, not even if he can recite some correct ansith one hundred per cent accuracy We can and do supply ready-made ”ideas” by the thousand; we do not usually take nificant situations where his own activities generate, support, and clinch ideas-that is, perceived s or connections This does not mean that the teacher is to stand off and look on; the alternative to furnishi+ng ready- to the accuracy hich it is reproduced is not quiescence, but participation, sharing, in an activity In such shared activity, the teacher is a learner, and the learner is, without knowing it, a teacher-and upon the whole, the less consciousness there is, on either side, of either giving or receiving instruction, the better IV Ideas, as we have seen, whether they be hunified theories, are anticipations of possible solutions They are anticipations of some continuity or connection of an activity and a consequence which has not as yet shown itself They are therefore tested by the operation of acting upon theanize further observations, recollections, and experi, not final All educational reforiven to attacking the passivity of traditional education They have opposed pouring in froe; they have attacked drilling inrock But it is not easy to secure conditions which willan experience which widens and makes more precise our contact with the environht of as so expression only through the vocal organs

While the need of application of ideas gained in study is acknowledged by all the more successful methods of instruction, the exercises in application are so what has already been learned and for getting greater practical skill in its enuine and not to be despised But practice in applying what has been gained in study ought primarily to have an intellectual quality As we have already seen, thoughts just as thoughts are incoestions, indications They are standpoints andwith situations of experience Till they are applied in these situations they lack full point and reality Only application tests the and a sense of their reality Short of use ate into a peculiar world of their own It may be seriously questioned whether the philosophies (to which reference has been made in section 2 of chapter X) which isolate in in the fact that the reflective or theoretical class of e stock of ideas which social conditions did not allow them to act upon and test Consequently hts as ends in themselves

However this may be, there can be no doubt that a peculiar artificiality attaches to much of what is learned in schools It can hardly be said that many students consciously think of the subject matter as unreal; but it assuredly does not possess for them the kind of reality which the subject matter of their vital experiences possesses They learn not to expect that sort of reality of it; they beco reality for the purposes of recitations, lessons, and examinations That it should remain inert for the experiences of daily life is more or less a matter of course The bad effects are twofold Ordinary experience does not receive the enrich And the attitudes which spring froested ht

If we have dwelt especially on the negative side, it is for the sake of suggesting positive ht Where schools are equipped with laboratories, shops, and gardens, where draa situations of life, and for acquiring and applying inforressive experiences Ideas are not segregated, they do not form an isolated island They animate and enrich the ordinary course of life Information is vitalized by its function; by the place it occupies in direction of action The phrase ”opportunities exist” is used purposely They e of; it is possible to employ manual and constructive activities in a physical way, asjust bodily skill; or they may be used almost exclusively for ”utilitarian,” ie, pecuniary, ends But the disposition on the part of upholders of ”cultural” education to assume that such activities are merely physical or professional in quality, is itself a product of the philosophies which isolate mind from direction of the course of experience and hence froarded as a self-contained separate realm, a counterpart fate befalls bodily activity and arded as at the best mere external annexes to mind They may be necessary for the satisfaction of bodily needs and the attainment of external decency and comfort, but they do not occupy a necessary place in mind nor enact an indispensable role in the coht Hence they have no place in a liberal education-ie, one which is concerned with the interests of intelligence If they come in at all, it is as a concession to the material needs of the masses That they should be allowed to invade the education of the elite is unspeakable This conclusion follows irresistibly froic it disappears e perceive what mind really is-namely, the purposive and directive factor in the development of experience While it is desirable that all educational institutions should be equipped so as to give students an opportunity for acquiring and testing ideas and infor i time before all of them are thus furnished But this state of affairs does not afford instructors an excuse for folding their hands and persisting in e Every recitation in every subject gives an opportunity for establishi+ng cross connections between the subject matter of the lesson and the wider and more direct experiences of everyday life Classroom instruction falls into three kinds The least desirable treats each lesson as an independent whole It does not put upon the student the responsibility of finding points of contact between it and other lessons in the same subject, or other subjects of study Wiser teachers see to it that the student is systematically led to utilize his earlier lessons to help understand the present one, and also to use the present to throw additional light upon what has already been acquired Results are better, but school subject matter is still isolated Save by accident, out-of-school experience is left in its crude and comparatively irreflective state It is not subject to the refining and expanding influences of the more accurate and comprehensive material of direct instruction The latter is notinterled with the realities of everyday life The best type of teaching bears inthis interconnection It puts the student in the habitual attitude of finding points of contact and s

Suree in which

they center in the production of good habits of thinking While we ht, the i is the method of an educative experience The essentials of method are therefore identical with the essentials of reflection They are first that the pupil have a genuine situation of experience-that there be a continuous activity in which he is interested for its own sake; secondly, that a genuine probleht; third, that he possess the information and gested solutions occur to hi in an orderly way; fifth, that he have opportunity and occasion to test his ideas by application, toclear and to discover for himself their validity

Chapter Thirteen: The Nature of Method

1 The Unity of Subject Matter and Method

The trinity of school topics is subject overnment We have been concerned with the two forle them from the context in which they have been referred to, and discuss explicitly their nature We shall begin with the topic of method, since that lies closest to the considerations of the last chapter Before taking it up, it may be well, however, to call express attention to one implication of our theory; the connection of subject matter and method with each other The idea that s and persons are two separate and independent realms-a theory which philosophically is known as dualism-carries with it the conclusion that method and subject matter of instruction are separate affairs Subject matter then becomes a ready-made systematized classification of the facts and principles of the world of nature and man Method then has for its province a consideration of the ways in which this antecedent subject matter may be best presented to and impressed upon the mind; or, a consideration of the ways in which the ht to bear upon the matter so as to facilitate its acquisition and possession In theory, at least, oneby itself a coe of the subjects to which the methods are to be applied Since many who are actually most proficient in various branches of subject matter are wholly innocent of these ives opportunity for the retort that pedagogy, as an alleged science of , is futile;-athe necessity a teacher is under of profound and accurate acquaintance with the subject in hand

But since thinking is a directedissue, and since mind is the deliberate and intentional phase of the process, the notion of any such split is radically false The fact that the anized is evidence that it has already been subjected to intelligence; it has been y as a systee represents crude, scattered facts of our ordinary acquaintance with animals after they have been subjected to careful exae out connections which assist observation,a starting point for learning, they ement of subject matter whichoutside of the material

How aboutwith subjectexternal It is si such treatment as utilizes the material (puts it to a purpose) with a uish a way of acting, and discuss it by itself; but the way exists only as way-of-dealing-with-material Method is not antithetical to subject matter; it is the effective direction of subject matter to desired results It is antithetical to rando ill-adapted

The statement that method means directed movement of subject ive it content Every artisthis work Piano playing is not hitting the keys at rando the which exists ready-made in thewith the piano Order is found in the disposition of acts which use the piano and the hands and brain so as to achieve the result intended It is the action of the piano directed to accomplish the purpose of the piano as a ical” method The only difference is that the piano is a le end; while the material of study is capable of indefinite uses But even in this regard the illustration may apply if we consider the infinite variety of kinds of music which a piano may produce, and the variations in technique required in the different musical results secured Method in any case is but an effective way of e some eneralized by going back to the conception of experience Experience as the perception of the connection between soone in consequence is a process Apart from effort to control the course which the process takes, there is no distinction of subject matter and method There is simply an activity which includes both what an individual does and what the environment does A piano player who had perfect uish between his contribution and that of the piano In well-for, hearinga landscape,-there is no consciousness of separation of the method of the person and of the subject matter In whole-hearted play and work there is the same phenomenon

When we reflect upon an experience instead of just having it, we inevitably distinguish between our own attitude and the objects tohich we sustain the attitude When afood He does not divide his act into eating and food But if he ation of the act, such a discri he would effect He would examine on the one hand the properties of the nutritive anis Such reflection upon experience gives rise to a distinction of e experience (the experienced) and the experiencing-the how When we give names to this distinction we have subjectseen, heard, loved, hated, i, hating, i, etc

This distinction is so natural and so iard it as a separation in existence and not as a distinction in thought Then we make a division between a self and the environment or world This separation is the root of the dualism of , feeling, willing, etc, are things which belong to the self or ht to bear upon an independent subjectin isolation to the self or mind have their os of operation irrespective of the y of the object These laws are supposed to furnish method It would be no less absurd to suppose that , or that the structure and estive activities of stomach, etc, are not what they are because of the ans of the organism are a continuous part of the very world in which food , i are intrinsically connected with the subject matter of the world They are more truly ways in which the environment enters into experience and functions there than they are independent acts brought to bear upon things Experience, in short, is not a combination of mind and world, subject and object, le continuous interaction of a great diversity (literally countless in nu the course or direction which theunity of experience takes we draw a mental distinction between the how and the what While there is no way of walking or of eating or of learning over and above the actual walking, eating, and studying, there are certain eleive the key to its more effective control Special attention to these ele other factors recede for the ti an idea of how the experience proceeds indicates to us what factors o on more successfully This is only a so that if a rowth of several plants, some of which do well and so, he may be able to detect the special conditions upon which the prosperous development of a plant depends These conditions, stated in an orderly sequence, would constitute the rowth There is no difference between the growth of a plant and the prosperous development of an experience It is not easy, in either case, to seize upon just the factors which make for its best movement But study of cases of success and failure and minute and extensive coed these causes in order, we have a method of procedure or a technique

A consideration of some evils in education that flow from the isolation of method from subject matter will make the point more definite

(I) In the first place, there is the neglect (of which we have spoken) of concrete situations of experience There can be no discovery of a method without cases to be studied The method is derived fro that it happen better next time But in instruction and discipline, there is rarely sufficient opportunity for children and youth to have the direct norht derive an idea of method or order of best development Experiences are had under conditions of such constraint that they throw little or no light upon the normal course of an experience to its fruition ”Methods” have then to be authoritatively reco an expression of their own intelligent observations Under such circumstances, they have a mechanical uniformity, assumed to be alike for all minds Where flexible personal experiences are pro an environment which calls out directed occupations in work and play, the methods ascertained will vary with individuals-for it is certain that each individual has sos

(ii) In the second place, the notion of methods isolated from subject matter is responsible for the false conceptions of discipline and interest already noted When the effective way ofready-made apart from material, there are just three possible ways in which to establish a relationshi+p lacking by assumption One is to utilize excite the palate Another is topainful; we may use the menace of harm to motivate concern with the alien subject matter Or a direct appeal may be made to the person to put forth effort without any reason We may rely upon immediate strain of ”will” In practice, however, the latter ated by fear of unpleasant results (iii) In the third place, the act of learning is made a direct and conscious end in itself Under nor is a product and reward of occupation with subjector talking One sets out to give his impulses for communication and for fuller intercourse with others a show He learns in consequence of his direct activities The bettera child, say, to read, follow the same road They do not fix his attention upon the fact that he has to learn so and so e his activities, and in the process of engagement he learns: the sa with number or whatever But when the subjectforward inificant results, it is just so to be learned The pupil's attitude to it is just that of having to learn it Conditions more unfavorable to an alert and concentrated response would be hard to devise Frontal attacks are eventhan in war This does not mean, however, that students are to be seduced unaware into preoccupation with lessons It means that they shall be occupied with the to be learned This is accomplished whenever the pupil perceives the place occupied by the subjectof some experience

(iv) In the fourth place, under the influence of the conception of the separation of mind and material, method tends to be reduced to a cut and dried routine, to following mechanically prescribed steps No one can tell in how raed sanction ofencouraged to attack their topics directly, experi to discriminate by the consequences that accrue, it is assumed that there is one fixed method to be followed It is also naively assumed that if the pupils make their statements and explanations in a certain form of ”analysis,” their ogical theory into greater disrepute than the belief that it is identified with handing out to teachers recipes andFlexibility and initiative in dealing with problems are characteristic of any conception to whichid woodenness is an inevitable corollary of any theory which separates mind from activity motivated by a purpose

2 Method as General and as Individual In brief, the ently directed by ends But the practice of a fine art is far fro a matter of extemporized inspirations Study of the operations and results of those in the past who have greatly succeeded is essential There is always a tradition, or schools of art, definite enough to iinners, and often to take them captive Methods of artists in every branch depend upon thorough acquaintance with ments, brushes, and the technique of manipulation of all his appliances Attaine requires persistent and concentrated attention to objective ress of his own attempts to see what succeeds and what fails The assu ready-ifts, the inspiration of the moment and undirected ”hard work,” is contradicted by the procedures of every art

Such e of the past, of current technique, of materials, of the ways in which one's own best results are assured, supply the eneral method There exists a cu results, a body authorized by past experience and by intellectual analysis, which an individual ignores at his peril As was pointed out in the discussion of habit-forer that these ent instead of being powers at command for his own ends But it is also true that the innovator who achieves anything enduring, whose work issensation, utilizes classic methods more than may appear to himself or to his critics He devotes them to new uses, and in so far transforeneral methods And if the application of this remark is more obvious in the case of the teacher than of the pupil, it is equally real in the case of the latter Part of his learning, a very i master of the methods which the experience of others has shown to be eneral methods are in no way opposed to individual initiative and originality-to personal ways of doing things On the contrary they are reinforcements of theeneral uide to action; the forhtenment it supplies as to ends and ence, and not through conformity to orders externally imposed Ability to use even in a ives no warranty of artistic work, for the latter also depends upon an anie of methods used by others does not directly tell us what to do, or furnish ready- a method intellectual? Take the case of a physician No e of established nosis and treatment than does his But after all, cases are like, not identical To be used intelligently, existing practices, however authorized they encies of particular cases Accordingly, recognized procedures indicate to the physician what inquiries to set on foot for himself, what measures to try They are standpoints froations; they econoesting the things to be especially looked into The physician's own personal attitudes, his oays (individualwith the situation in which he is concerned, are not subordinated to the general principles of procedure, but are facilitated and directed by the latter The instance e of the psychological methods and the eet in the way of his own common sense, when they come between him and the situation in which he has to act, they are worse than useless But if he has acquired the up the needs, resources, and difficulties of the unique experiences in which he engages, they are of constructive value In the last resort, just because everything depends upon his own methods of response,his own response, the knowledge which has accrued in the experience of others As already intimated, every word of this account is directly applicable also to theTo suppose that students, whether in the primary school or in the university, can be supplied witha subject is to fall into a self-deception that has lamentable consequences (See ante, p 169) One must make his own reaction in any case Indications of the standardized or general methods used in like cases by others-particularly by those who are already experts-are of worth or of harent or as they induce a person to dispense with exercise of his own judginality of thought see e human nature permit, the difficulty is that we lie under the incubus of a superstition We have set up the notion of e, of intellectual ard individuals as differing in the quantity of ed Ordinary persons are then expected to be ordinary Only the exceptional are allowed to have originality The enius is a inality in the foreneral is a fiction How one person's abilities compare in quantity with those of another is none of the teacher's business It is irrelevant to his work What is required is that every individual shall have opportunities to e Mind, individual nify the quality of purposive or directed action If we act upon this conviction, we shall secure inality even by the conventional standard than now develops Ieneral method upon everybody breeds inality by deviation from the mass breeds eccentricity in them Thus we stifle the distinctive quality of the many, and save in rare instances (like, say, that of Darwin) infect the rare geniuses with an unwholesome quality

3 The Traits of Individual Method The iven in our chapter on thinking They are the features of the reflective situation: Problem, collection and analysis of data, projection and elaboration of suggestions or ideas, experi conclusion or judgment The specific elements of an individual's method or way of attack upon a problem are found ultimately in his native tendencies and his acquired habits and interests The method of one will vary froinal instinctive capacities vary, as his past experiences and his preferences vary Those who have already studied these matters are in possession of infor the responses different pupils reater efficiency Child-study, psychology, and a knowledge of social environained by the teacher But methods remain the personal concern, approach, and attack of an individual, and no catalogue can ever exhaust their diversity of form and tint