To oscillate between drill
exercises that strive to attain efficiency in outward doing
without the use of intelligence, and an accumulation of knowledge
that is supposed to be an ultimate end in itself, means that
education accepts the present social conditions as final, and
thereby takes upon itself the responsibility for perpetuating
them. A reorganization of education so that learning takes place
in connection with the intelligent carrying forward of purposeful
activities is a slow work. It can only be accomplished
piecemeal, a step at a time. But this is not a reason for
nominally accepting one educational philosophy and accommodating
ourselves in practice to another. It is a challenge to undertake
the task of reorganization courageously and to keep at it
persistently.
Summary. Interest and discipline are correlative aspects of
activity having an aim. Interest means that one is identified
with the objects which define the activity and which furnish the
means and obstacles to its realization. Any activity with an aim
implies a distinction between an earlier incomplete phase and
later completing phase; it implies also intermediate steps. To
have an interest is to take things as entering into such a
continuously developing situation, instead of taking them in
isolation. The time difference between the given incomplete
state of affairs and the desired fulfillment exacts effort in
transformation, it demands continuity of attention and endurance.
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