Its scope is as comprehensive as the work of education
itself. The formation of habits is a purely mechanical thing
unless habits are also tastes -- habitual modes of preference and
esteem, an effective sense of excellence. There are adequate
grounds for asserting that the premium so often put in schools
upon external "discipline," and upon marks and rewards, upon
promotion and keeping back, are the obverse of the lack of
attention given to life situations in which the meaning of facts,
ideas, principles, and problems is vitally brought home.
2. Appreciative realizations are to be distinguished from
symbolic or representative experiences. They are not to be
distinguished from the work of the intellect or understanding.
Only a personal response involving imagination can possibly
procure realization even of pure "facts." The imagination is the
medium of appreciation in every field. The engagement of the
imagination is the only thing that makes any activity more than
mechanical. Unfortunately, it is too customary to identify the
imaginative with the imaginary, rather than with a warm and
intimate taking in of the full scope of a situation. This leads
to an exaggerated estimate of fairy tales, myths, fanciful
symbols, verse, and something labeled "Fine Art," as agencies for
developing imagination and appreciation; and, by neglecting
imaginative vision in other matters, leads to methods which
reduce much instruction to an unimaginative acquiring of
specialized skill and amassing of a load of information.
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