We think of walking, talking,
playing the piano, the specialized skills characteristic of the
etcher, the surgeon, the bridge-builder, as if they were simply
ease, deftness, and accuracy on the part of the organism. They
are that, of course; but the measure of the value of these
qualities lies in the economical and effective control of the
environment which they secure. To be able to walk is to have
certain properties of nature at our disposal--and so with all
other habits.
Education is not infrequently defined as consisting in the
acquisition of those habits that effect an adjustment of an
individual and his environment. The definition expresses an
essential phase of growth. But it is essential that adjustment
be understood in its active sense of control of means for
achieving ends. If we think of a habit simply as a change
wrought in the organism, ignoring the fact that this change
consists in ability to effect subsequent changes in the
environment, we shall be led to think of "adjustment" as a
conformity to environment as wax conforms to the seal which
impresses it. The environment is thought of as something fixed,
providing in its fixity the end and standard of changes taking
place in the organism; adjustment is just fitting ourselves to
this fixity of external conditions. 2 Habit as habituation is
indeed something relatively passive; we get used to our
surroundings -- to our clothing, our shoes, and gloves; to the
atmosphere as long as it is fairly equable; to our daily
associates, etc.
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