66 EDUCATIONAL THEORY 



The extension of the methods of the natural sciences into several 

 sciences contiguous to education offers a hope of measured and 

 objective certainty in wide reaches of educational territory. For 

 educational purposes the representative natural science is psycho- 

 logy. That indeterminate science has spread over new fields, em- 

 ploying a variety of methods, and in many instances its problems are 

 such as are of vital concern to education. Here, again, it should be 

 remarked that no psychology can permanently serve the purposes 

 of educational theory which does not satisfy the severest standards 

 of psychological research. So long as " educational psychology " 

 is less than psychology, it is less than educational. Even among 

 stanch friends of educational research there is still a disposition to 

 accept as " pedagogical " some forms of psychological study which 

 are not sufficiently scientific to be called " psychological." It is 

 not to be forgotten, on the other hand, that the results of pure 

 psychological study are not ready-made and finished materials of 

 educational theory. There is undoubtedly much intermediate work 

 to be done in order that psychological methods may render their 

 full service to education; but such work should be intermediate in 

 its scientific position only, and not in the excellence of its quality. 

 It would be easy to find examples of good work in the psychology of 

 education, but difficult to pick out any few examples for special 

 mention. Numerous studies in the several aspects of fatigue have 

 provided matter for educational application which has not as yet 

 been fully utilized. Studies in memory, along lines made classic by 

 Ebbinghaus, are of considerable educational significance, chiefly as 

 showing the limitations of training in this field. The studies of 

 James and Baldwin in the subtle workings of the mind on the side of 

 its motor activities, overlap the field of education, and the treatment 

 by Dewey of problems immediately educational gives striking 

 illustration of the relation of psychological to educational method. 



So far, the contributions of historical and natural science. But 

 this is not all; and when we have surveyed what history and natural 

 history have to offer at the present time, we are left with the sense 

 that a vital centre of educational theory still has not been covered. 

 Education is an art which addresses itself to the attainment of social 

 ideals, subject to conditions discovered by natural science. It is 

 precisely in the formation of correct and comprehensive judgments 

 relative to this art that our educational theory finds its place and 

 use. 



How, then, are such judgments formed? As a matter of fact, in 

 this as in other arts, they commonly arise out of individual taste and 

 opinion; and that in turn is an outcome of individual experience 

 thrown on a background of traditional doctrine. The vexing ques- 

 tion is how to sift and correct that opinion, how to elevate that taste 



