486 HUMAN BIOLOGY 



necessary to point to the rise of democracy that has brought 

 the masses into possession of political power; the disturbance 

 of old habits and institutions produced by new technological 

 developments in industry and commerce; the elimination 

 of distance and the barriers that formely kept peoples 

 apart which has produced an interminghng and contact of 

 peoples and races not prepared to understand one another, 

 and so on. The effect has been both an immense expansion of 

 educational facihties, and, as greater responsibihties were 

 thrown upon the schools, a growing scepticism regarding 

 what it is possible for education to accomplish. 



In this connection the remarks made earher about the 

 newness of universal education find their pertinency. We are 

 at only the beginning, not the maturity, much less the chmax, 

 of the experiment of affecting social fife and giving it guidance 

 through intentional education. And, as been summarily 

 indicated, the experiment is still in large measure affected by 

 customs and traditions that hang over from an earlier 

 period. In consequence the problem of educational recon- 

 struction by which these hang-overs will be ehminated 

 and materials and methods introduced which will develop 

 the type of mind and character adapted to contemporary 

 movements is far more than a scholastic problem. It is the 

 fundamental problem of society itself. 



It is no part of this chapter to try to tell in detail the 

 nature of the reconstruction that is demanded. Three condi- 

 tions of its achievement may, however, be properly indicated. 

 The new knowledge of psychology indicates the need of much 

 more attention to emotional factors than they have received. 

 Upon the whole, education has so far been concerned with 

 forming practical skills and giving information, with inci- 

 dental training of intellectual habits. The emotional 

 factors that determine the set and channels of operation of 

 practical abilities and of knowledge have been largely 

 neglected. Such questions as more and better esthetic 

 education, instruction in sexual matters, the place of religion, 

 the formation of minds emancipated from racial and inter- 

 national prejudice, moral teaching that is vital and not 

 merely formal, all find their proper place in this connection. 



