But we
are doubtless far from realizing the potential efficacy of
education as a constructive agency of improving society, from
realizing 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, it may be treated as process of
accommodating the future to the past, or as an utilization of the
past for a resource in a developing future. The former finds its
standards and patterns in what has gone before. The mind may be
regarded as a group of contents resulting from having certain
things 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 immature
beings is most important, especially because of the tendency to
regard them as of little account. But these experiences do not
consist of externally presented material, but of interaction of
native activities with the environment which progressively
modifies both the activities and the environment. The defect of
the Herbartian theory of formation through 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.
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