We are prone to take our judgments ready-made and have been relying upon
the copy-books of the fathers rather than our own reasoning powers. If we
had only learned in childhood the distinction between knowledge and
wisdom; if we had learned that knowledge is not power but merely
potential; and if we had learned that knowledge is but the means to an end
and not the end itself, we should have been spared many a delusion and our
educational sky would not now be so overcast with clouds. We have been
proceeding upon the agreeable assumption that arithmetic, geography, and
history are the goals of every school endeavor, the Ultima Thule of every
educational quest. The child studies arithmetic, is subjected to an
examination that may represent the bent or caprice of the teacher, manages
to struggle through seventy per cent of the answers, is promoted to the
next higher grade, and, thereupon, starts on his journey around another
circle. And we call this education. These processes constitute the
mechanics of education, but, in and of themselves, they are not education.
One of the big problems of the school today is to emancipate both teachers
and pupils from the erroneous notion that they are.
The child does not go to school to learn arithmetic and spelling and
grammar. The goal to be attained is far higher and better than either of
these or all combined. The study of arithmetic may prove a highly
profitable means, never the end to be gained.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35