We thus reach a technical definition of education: It is that
reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the
meaning of experience, and which increases ability to direct the
course of subsequent experience. (1) The increment of meaning
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 know what 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 simple
example, a child who reaches for a bright light gets burned.
Henceforth he knows that a certain act of touching in connection
with a certain act of vision (and vice-versa) means heat and
pain; or, a certain light means a source of heat. The acts by
which a scientific man in his laboratory learns more about flame
differ no whit in principle. By doing certain things, he makes
perceptible certain connections of heat with other things, which
had been previously ignored. Thus his acts in relation to these
things get more meaning; he knows better what he is doing or "is
about" when he has to do with them; he can intend consequences
instead of just letting them happen -- all synonymous ways of
saying the same thing.
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