DETERMINING EDUCATIONAL VALUES 291 



not be fully taken care of if they are confined to what is essential for the 

 group as a whole. This implies that in any plastic society the number 

 of groups which must be provided for in the school will be constantly 

 enlarging as society grows more complex and new forms of social 

 service are required. 



So one who attempts to estimate educational values in America 

 to-day must appreciate that his work can not endure for all time, ex- 

 cept in respect to certain fundamental needs, which must be reasonably 

 permanent for all people under all conditions. But it is manifestly 

 impossible to say in detail what will be essential in the schools fifty 

 years from now. As society becomes differentiated, new needs will arise 

 which will require the establishment of institutions for the training of 

 new groups. If the school is thoroughly plastic, it will from decade to 

 decade revise its curriculum and its methods in respect to the details of 

 its procedure. What is going on in America to-day in the modification 

 of curricula and methods is inevitable in a civilization like our own ; and 

 it is bound to continue. Topics of study of importance a hundred 

 years ago may be of relatively little importance to-day. On the other 

 hand, on account of changing social conditions, many topics and sub- 

 jects may be of worth to-day which would have been of little account a 

 hundred years ago. If the school fulfills its mission, there must be 

 constant evolution, in respect alike to the materials taught and the 

 methods of teaching and of discipline. Nations in which this is not 

 true must sooner or later become decadent. 



