The scientific tend ency is the of sense realism. CHAPTER XII THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC TENDENCY GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. It will be recalled that the sense-realists of the seventeenth century represented the continuation beginnings of modern science. There is no break in the development of this scientific thought; but conditions gave unprecedented importance to the scientific tendency in education from the opening of the nineteenth century. Among these conditions were the great development of the physical and biological sciences, the influence of the naturalistic tendency in exalting the value of contact with nature, and the inadequacy of the old humanistic education as a preparation for modern life. The influence of the psychological tendency, especially of Pestalozzianism as object teaching and training of the sense-perceptions, was also marked. The two essential features Prominence of the scientific movement in schools due to remark ment and The dominant characteristics of the modern scientific tendency in education were the same as those of the sense-realistic tendency. These were: first, the emphasis upon the importance of the content of studies and of the knowledge of the phenomena of nature; and, second, a recognition of the transcendent value of the inductive method of study. The immediate educational response in both of these respects was due chiefly to the development and better organization of the natural sciences. A survey of the development of the physical and biological able develop- sciences from the sixteenth century to the present time will be most helpful in throwing light upon the development of present ganization of educational thought and practices. Such a survey cannot be better or the natural sciences made in the brief space of this text, but the material can be gleaned from the various histories of science. It is not until a subject of human interest or aspect of human experience receives a definite logical formulation that it can demand a place in the instruction of the school. The perfection of organization of grammatical, linguistic and mathematical studies made it difficult to effect any change in the organization of the school curriculum. There resulted a prolonged struggle against the prevailing disciplinary or classical-mathematical education for the recognition of the sciences. This produced a most extensive literature, which can be noticed here only by the discussion of two or three of the most notable movements and the work of two of the most notable representatives. ary concep EDUCATIONAL DEMANDS OF MODERN LIFE. Among Conflict with Teutonic educators, the opposition to the dominant disciplinary the disciplineducation has been based upon psychological and philosophical tion of grounds. Consequently it has centered around the question of education method. Among the English-speaking peoples the opposition Demand for has been based largely upon practical and "common-sense" introduction grounds, and has centered more around the question of subject- based matter. The chief argument for the general introduction of the largely upon sciences into the curriculum and for a complete revolution in subjectthe character of education has been based upon the demands made by modern life. of sciences value of matter Demands made by Combe and The movement of the first half of the nineteenth century was modern life led by enthusiastic and well-designing reformers. They were not men of any broad scientific reputation or knowledge, such as George later appeared in Spencer and Huxley, or men who had any the secular such fundamental grasp of the educational problem as had school" Herbart or Froebel. Most prominent among the English re- movement in formers was George Combe (1788-1858), who represented a Britain considerable body of influential followers and headed a movement of practical reform of great influence. Two general lines of argument were followed by these earlier advocates of science. The first was based upon the distinction which they made between "instrumental" knowledge and positive knowledge. "Instrumental" subjects were those which Great 翼 distinction between subjects valuable as means and subjects of intrinsic I worth Based upon furnished the means to gain further knowledge. The latter alone had intrinsic worth for the individual. The former included all the linguistic and much of the mathematical knowledge. Thus languages, grammar, writing, much of arithmetic, algebra, and all of pure mathematics merely provided means for obtaining a knowledge of the physical, intellectual, moral, social, political and religious world around us. Such knowledge was essential to the individual in regulating his life and promoting his own and the social welfare. These reformers argued that the dominant disciplinary education of their day directed all attention to subjects that were merely instruments and never reached the subjects that really gave one the knowledge necessary to make life successful, useful and happy. "Disciplinary" value of the sciences What constitutes "culture" in the present In their second line of argument the early advocates of a reformed curriculum considered education from much the same point of view as did the disciplinarians. Education should not only give to the individual such knowledge as would enable him to perform intelligently the various duties of life, but it should give the best possible training to all of his mental faculties in order that this great end might be attained. The old faculty conception of the mind prevailed, as did also the idea that it was a function of education to train these faculties. The more recent form of the view that the knowledge of value in education is that demanded by modern life may be summarized as follows: The elements which now enter into culture are very different from those of a few hundred years ago. New literatures have developed to vie with those of the Greeks and Romans; the arts have been perfected beyond the dreams of the imagination of those ages; new sciences have been created; and there now exists a knowledge of nature and of her forces that in comparison with the interpretation of preceding centuries seems most exhaustive and positive. Consequently it is necessary to define anew the liberal education. Studies are no longer considered to be liberal in proportion to their remoteness from practical bearing, but, on the contrary, in proportion to definition of a liberal their direct relationship to life. A liberal education is one The new which fits a man so well for his profession, for his life as a citizen and for all of his activities in life, that he is very much education broader than that profession, seeing the import of his life in institutions. Civil, mechanical, chemical engineering, the practical application of any of the sciences, may become learned professions. If the individual is so equipped with a knowledge of the fundamental sciences that he is perfectly "free" through his mastery of his subject and "free" in the life that grows out from and is based upon that profession, the preparation for this may in itself offer a liberal education. Such an education must contain more than the mere rudiments or the technical instruction necessary for a practitioner in these arts; it must include a thorough mastery of them. For such a career the study of the French and German languages, contributing as Subjects these literatures may in the broadest manner to one's success necessary in by opening to him the experience of other peoples of advanced education in civilization, is far more liberal than the ordinary instruction in the present Greek or Latin would be. Similarly the social, political and economic sciences, contributing as they do a knowledge of the complex activities, interests and forces of modern social life, are liberal in the sense that the old disciplinary use of mathematics could not be. True, a man in such lines of scientific activity would need a most thorough course in mathematics. But the purpose of such study would be entirely different from the disciplinary aim, as would also the materials of study and the method. a liberal the new education A liberal education is one containing the best culture material The new of the life for which it is designed to prepare; and it is liberal culture and only to the extent that it includes these materials. The natural sciences most largely contributed to the culture of the nineteenth century. In a similar way the social sciences are now being developed, with much of inspiration, purpose and method borrowed from the natural sciences. Every aspect of life and thought of the present age has been modified and given its tone Necessity for elective studies The democratization of the liberal education Connection scientific and color by the development of the natural sciences. Therefore, an education that constitutes a liberal preparation for present life must include a large element of these studies. But since it is impossible that every youth to be educated should master even the rudiments of all these sciences in addition to much of the old material, the representatives of this view of education have usually contented themselves with demanding freedom of choice in the selection of studies and the recognition by educational authorities of the equivalence in value of the sciences in the course of study. With the prevalence of such a conception of a liberal education and such an organization of its subjects, it will be possible for the ordinary practitioner in any of the professions to combine a liberal with a professional or technical education. So long as these two types of education are kept so entirely distinct that the person who has the one cannot have the other, and so long as the liberal education is restricted to the mastery of a few subjects to which the majority of men who enter the intellectual callings in life cannot devote time, it must follow that the great majority, even of those who lead and who sustain the life of a community, will continue to be denied the privileges of a liberal education. In England the men who have contributed to the establishment of this view, chief among whom were Spencer and Huxley, have labored for the most part outside of the universities; in America the most prominent of such leaders, notably President Eliot of Harvard, have been in connection with educational institutions. With regard to the subject-matter of education, the scientific between the view first presented agrees with the sociological. With regard to the foundation of method and the interpretation of the education of interest, through the freedom of selection of subjects, it agrees with the psychological. education and the sociological and psychological THE THEORY OF EDUCATION FORMULATED BY THE NATURAL SCIENTISTS. It was not until the middle of the |