The Audubon Societies 365 



Not only is this forward look alluring in its promise of results, but it also 

 reflects the radical changes which must come about in our somewhat conserva- 

 tive ideas concerning the meaning and aim of education. A keen observer 

 recently wrote: 'Tew teachers realize the instrumental character of ideas, or 

 that the activity of knowing arises either to satisfy a need or to meet a new 

 situation and that the failure of education is due largely to the neglect of these 

 considerations. . . . The one reform needed at present is to form a clear 

 idea of what education really is, to understand that it takes place only when 

 our pupils are being trained to think out solutions to real problems, or to 

 devise means to meet real situations. 



"Generally, we must ever keep in mind that education is taking place only 

 when the pupil is thinking; that thinking arises only when there is some problem 

 to solve, some new situation to meet or some obstacle to remove, and that 

 when these conditions are absent, all instruction becomes and must become, 

 mere unintelligent memorizing which develops neither the intellectual powers 

 nor the ability to meet the after demands of life." 



Should this dictum appear to minimize the purely cultural side of educa- 

 tion and to savor too strongly of utilitarian ends, recall the instructions that 

 Pasteur gave to his students: "Your business, your especial business, must be 

 to have nothing in cornmon with those narrow minds which despise everything 

 in science which has no immediate application." Somewhere between the 

 extremes of the mind narrowed strictly to practical, visible ends and that of a 

 creative imagination with which one in ten thousand possibly, like a Pasteur, 

 may be endowed, must our ideal system of education for the masses be moored, 

 and let us never overlook the fact that while the narrow mind can never solve 

 the problems of the larger world, the creative vision of a Pasteur encompasses 

 not only large but small problems, even those of humblest needs. It was such 

 a master-mind as his that opened up vistas of research leading to modern 

 surgery, and, at the same time, "taught the vinegar-makers of Orleans how to 

 increase their output, instructed France how to prevent the souring of her 

 wines, and helped the brewers of London" by showing them the importance of 

 pure yeast, all practical problems in his day. 



A great deal of discussion is going on just now about what shall be taught 

 and what shall be omitted in a thorough education. This is especially true of 

 science. We are confronted with great needs in scientific training and attain- 

 ment, but there is altogether too much uncertainty as to how best to accomplish 

 the tasks before us, and, in consequence, our schools fall below the standard of 

 efficiency demanded of them. Without proposing to settle the disagreement as 

 to whether general science, elementary science, or a single science is the best 

 means to the end, or whether nature-study shall be confined to the so-called 

 "natural 'history" method or be based more thoroughly upon a foundation in 

 touch with science, for the moment let the need of training be emphasized. 

 At this instant, in a single one of the allied nations, 50,000 specialists await 



