THE AIM OF MODERN EDUCATION. 487 



prehension if they are only clearly stated. It is, I think, this 

 effort after clearness of statement that gives to mathematics its 

 high disciplinary value. The apparent difficulty that surrounds 

 mathematics and has made it a dreaded name to so many genera- 

 tions of schoolboys comes, I believe, from the way we approach 

 the science, and is chargeable to the cloudiness of our own mental 

 atmosphere. 



Now it seems to me that we stand toward education in very 

 much the same attitude. It is apparently the most difficult prob- 

 lem that presents itself in modern life. It is certainly the gravest. 

 But here, too, the difficulty lies not so much in the problem itself 

 as in our statement of it. If we could clearly state what we are 

 after in education and stick very close to that, I have large faith 

 that we should be able to get it. 



We do not begin de novo. Others have been pegging away at 

 the same problem. We find an educational process already in 

 operation, and bearing unmistakable signs of its evolution. It is 

 a process which has grown up in answer to the demands of a 

 varied, and for the most part of a past, life. What we do in the 

 name of education, we do because at some time the circumstances 

 of life made it seem wise. I do not for a moment venture upon 

 the statement that it was wise. Much that we do was never wise 

 under any circumstances. But we may readily believe that each 

 element brought into education came in response to some out- 

 ward condition. Yesterday, as well as to-day, had its demands 

 upon the school. A progressive education would be one in which 

 the educational process was being constantly readjusted to meet 

 these changing conditions. In a rough and somewhat rebellious 

 way this is what does happen. But the readjustment is not easy, 

 continuous, voluntary. It comes by irregular jumps. The old 

 customs have considerable inertia. The mechanical workers, the 

 men and women in whose hands the process of education mainly 

 rests, follow the line of least resistance. And the line of least re- 

 sistance is to go on in the way one has been accustomed to going 

 on. So it comes about, quite easily and naturally, that the schools 

 get much behind the informed spirit of the time. The process 

 they follow is no longer in harmony with the demands of the life 

 which it is meant to serve, is indeed very much out of harmony 

 with those demands. The children become restless. The teachers 

 find their work difficult. The outside world grows impatient. 

 And now at this juncture some reform is inaugurated. It is 

 hailed, and very sincerely, as an entirely new departure. The re- 

 former is believed to be a radical in either motive or method. 

 But, in point of fact, the reformer and the departure which he 

 proposes are much less radical than they are believed to be. It is 

 difficult to be original, and as rare as it is difficult. All the forces 



