2 9 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



to determine these values in any effective way, we must take account 

 not only of particular subjects and methods of instruction, but we must 

 keep in view especially how the individual reacts upon these materials 

 when they are presented to him according to different methods and what 

 effect they have on his activities. 



Manifestly, in the present light of our knowledge on the subject, 

 one can not speak with certainty regarding much of the material of 

 education. The factors determining efficiency in adjustment are too 

 complex and involved to permit of detailed analysis, and the function 

 of each definitely estimated. While the pupil is in school he is also in 

 the home and on the street. He is having much experience for which the 

 school is not in any way responsible; though it has been the common 

 practise in discussing values to ignore all experience except that gained 

 within the school. One frequently sees persons who naively infer that 

 whatever ability they possess in using arithmetic, say, in daily life, was 

 gained in the school; but it is easily possible that most if not all of it 

 was developed through the necessity of dealing with real situations out- 

 side of the school. In the same way, they maintain that their skill and 

 efficiency in the use of the English language was developed through the 

 study of grammar in the school, whereas it is probable that their lin- 

 guistic ability is due mainly to the give-and-take of life in the home, 

 and in the other real situations of life. 



But while one can not assume a dogmatic attitude in the discussion 

 of these problems to-day, nevertheless one may proceed in confidence 

 upon the proposition that the individual will be benefited in school 

 education only to the extent that the sort of experience he has in the 

 school is the same kind as that which he" will have outside in adjusting 

 himself to the conditions of daily life. This means that in respect to 

 the material of education, and also to some extent to the method of 

 teaching, there must be diversity depending upon sex, upon existing 

 social conditions, and particularly upon the sphere of life in which indi- 

 viduals will be placed. For a child being trained in Italy, say, any 

 given subject would be likely to have a somewhat different value from 

 what it would have for a child being trained in America. It is impos- 

 sible then to say what the value of any special subject or method is until 

 one knows what the needs of the pupils are. Of course, in any given 

 country at any particular time individuals can be grouped into classes, 

 all the members of which will have substantially the same needs; and 

 the needs of any one member will be ministered to effectively if he has 

 the experiences which will work out well for the group to which he be- 

 longs. His individual needs may not be provided for in every detail ; 

 but there will not be much waste in his case provided that the general 

 needs of the group are adequately met. In a dynamic, developing 

 social organism, there will be constant differentiation among indi- 

 viduals, so that for some members new needs will be arising which will 



