EDUCATION 239 



or a philosophy or a rehgion appears or crj^-stalhses out of the 

 void. Surel}^ the final flower of personaUty is a product of long 

 and often painful experience in the world of real events. Bio- 

 logically the development of individuality — and finally, by the 

 emergence of self-consciousness, of personality — is a matter of 

 hard struggle and of successive adaptations. The hard work 

 that goes to the creation of craftsmanship in teaching may, 

 indeed, lead only to technical skill ; but it is, nevertheless, a 

 pre-condition of any valuable " teaching personality." The 

 craft of teaching (and the rational thought about that craft 

 which alone lifts it above routine skill) is not, on this view, a 

 mere mechanical adjunct to personality. It is the very stuff 

 out of which, if it develops at all, a suitable teaching person- 

 ality emerges. If technical craftsmanship is not crowned with 

 this, it is barren ; but personality in a vacuum, without its 

 concrete basis, is unthinkable. 



The whole issue is well worth serious thought, because it 

 not only raises questions of fundamental importance in educa- 

 tional theory, but also determines our practical attitude towards 

 such matters as the training of teachers. Belief in the value 

 of training rests on the assumption that teachers should them- 

 selves be students of their craft ; that theory, arising out of 

 " practice conscious of itself," can illuminate such practice ; 

 and that craftsmanship may, in turn, quicken theory. It is 

 fatal to overlook this interaction between art and science in any 

 field. We must, on the one hand, admit that every art is a 

 science, unless we are willing (as Plato puts it) to agree with the 

 multitude that art is " a mere guessing and aiming well." On 

 the other hand, the sciences have their origin in the world's 

 work ; and it is essential that we should remember this, even 

 when science " seems to float in the clouds, serenely isolated 

 from the hum and bustle and occupations of the busy world, and 

 developing in some mysterious manner of its own " (Benchara 

 Branford, Janus and Vesta, p. 185). It is true, Mr. Branford 

 adds, that the thinker must occasionally seek a cloistral retire- 

 ment for elaboration and systematisation ; but only to return 

 for refreshment and readjustment to the concrete labours in 

 which his science has its roots. " Science," he says " is born 

 anew in that wonderful world within each man, when with 

 deliberate will he succeeds in thinking about the principles of 

 his work in the great world without in a clear, logical, and 

 systematic way, and courageously puts his conclusions to the 

 test of experiment." The claim that, in this sense, education is 

 itself a science — " an autonomous study, with its own special 

 difficulties and subject-matter, and not a mere dumping ground 

 for other sciences " (Science Progress, July 1920, p. 46)— niust 

 not, however, be taken to mean that it is only a science. Wider 



