Hence it is the business of education in a
democratic social group to struggle against this isolation in
order that the various interests may reinforce and play into one
another.
Chapter Nineteen: Labor and Leisure
1. The Origin of the Opposition.
The isolation of aims and values which we have been considering
leads to opposition between them. Probably the most deep-seated
antithesis which has shown itself in educational history is that
between education in preparation for useful labor and education
for a life of leisure. The bare terms "useful labor" and
"leisure" confirm the statement already made that the segregation
and conflict of values are not self-inclosed, but reflect a
division within social life. Were the two functions of gaining a
livelihood by work and enjoying in a cultivated way the
opportunities of leisure, distributed equally among the different
members of a community, it would not occur to any one that there
was any conflict of educational agencies and aims involved. It
would be self-evident that the question was how education could
contribute most effectively to both. And while it might be found
that some materials of instruction chiefly accomplished one
result and other subject matter the other, it would be evident
that care must be taken to secure as much overlapping as
conditions permit; that is, the education which had leisure more
directly in view should indirectly reinforce as much as possible
the efficiency and the enjoyment of work, while that aiming at
the latter should produce habits of emotion and intellect which
would procure a worthy cultivation of leisure.
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