94 The Concept of Method 



cation, therefore, becomes a continuous process of realising the 

 possibilities of the materials which nature provides and of seeing 

 the ideal and ultimate significance of those activities with which 

 we are endowed and which form the motive force of all educa- 

 tional progress. 



Yet human activity rarely attains such perfection of technique 

 or realises the ideal of method. Consequently it seldom truly 

 bodies forth the ideal, the divine idea, the logical concept, the defi- 

 nition, the method, in anything but a partial, one-sided, incom- 

 plete manifestation. This is true both of the fine and of the 

 constructive arts, and of that finest and most constructive of all 

 arts, the art of human life itself. 



From the point of view of the material, there are two sides that 

 have to be kept in mind in any consideration of the function of 

 method. The first of these concerns itself with the possibilities 

 which any material involves. These have to be recognised and 

 liberated before they can become functional realities, before the 

 potential energy involved can become dynamic in any sense sig- 

 nificant for education. In the wood lie possibilities which when 

 liberated become functional elements in human life as chair, table, 

 oar, or pencil ; in the boy lie possibilities which may realise them- 

 selves as butcher, baker, or candlestick-maker. The purpose in 

 education, in this respect, is a twofold one : it has to recognize 

 the further possibilities of both the conventional materials of 

 education, and it has to become more deeply conscious of the 

 human possibilities and the social significance of the child. It is 

 only when the possibilities are recognised and then freed from 

 limitations through the liberating process of education, that the 

 ultimate significance of materials can be realised or their func- 

 tion apprehended in the general process of experience. 



The second aspect that has to be kept in mind in any considera- 

 tion of the materials of education is complementary to the one 

 already examined. If the recognition of the possibilities of the 

 materials is the positive side of the process, there is also the 

 negative aspect which involves the clear realisation of the limita- 

 tions of materials in their attempt to body forth something that 

 is not material. There is a certain incompatibility between the 

 material and the idea or ideal to be embodied, an inherent impos- 

 sibility of the complete and permanent realisation of an idea in a 

 material, unless these terminal aspects be disregarded, and the 



