The failure to realize that the functional development of a
situation alone constitutes a "whole" for the purpose of mind is
the cause of the false notions which have prevailed in
instruction concerning the simple and the complex. For the
person approaching a subject, the simple thing is his
purpose--the use he desires to make of material, tool, or
technical process, no matter how complicated the process of
execution may be. The unity of the purpose, with the
concentration upon details which it entails, confers simplicity
upon the elements which have to be reckoned with in the course of
action. It furnishes each with a single meaning according to its
service in carrying on the whole enterprise. After one has gone
through the process, the constituent qualities and relations are
elements, each possessed with a definite meaning of its own. The
false notion referred to takes the standpoint of the expert, the
one for whom elements exist; isolates them from purposeful
action, and presents them to beginners as the "simple" things.
But it is time for a positive statement. Aside from the fact
that active occupations represent things to do, not studies,
their educational significance consists in the fact that they may
typify social situations. Men's fundamental common concerns
center about food, shelter, clothing, household furnishings, and
the appliances connected with production, exchange, and
consumption.
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