CHAPTER XI ANALYSIS OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS The educational process, which is found in all institutions, unites the individual and the social processes by selecting social patterns and by adapting them to the nature of the individual so that he acquires purposes and means of control necessary for social efficiency. The function of the school is to supplement the educative work of the other institutions. Various traditional statements of the aim of education, made with regard to the school, are reconciled in the wider aim of social efficiency, which is emphasized in recent times by the growing complexity of social life and by the scientific study of education. The educative work of all institutions should be rationalized with reference to this aim, which provides for gradual social growth and for free personal development. In rationalizing the work of the school, the most important problems, which must ever be solved anew because of changing social conditions, are those of selecting and organizing the curriculum and of finding the methods of teaching. These two problems are closely related, the one emphasizing the content of subject matter and the other emphasizing the form in which subject matter is presented. I The educational process unites the social and the individual processes by selecting social patterns and by adapting them to the nature of the individual so that he acquires the purposes and the means of control necessary to make him socially efficient. At birth, the child has only the crude basis for the purposes and the means of control which are necessary to guide his action effectively. He is incomplete; not yet himself. In order to realize the possibilities of his nature, he must be able to work for a living, but he knows no trade; he must share the responsibility of continuing the race, but he knows nothing of the duties of parenthood; he must help to promote justice and peace among men, but he knows nothing of human rights and duties; he must feel the inspiring thrill of a world purpose which sanctions the highest forms of human development, but he is ignorant of religion. Verily, he must be born again. Just as he passed through a process of development before he was born into the physical world, so he must pass through a superior process of development before he is born into the spiritual world. This superior process of development, in which the individual is equipped with the appreciations of value and the knowledge of control necessary for full participation in social life, is education. Our problem now is to find the general nature of this process. Education, we have learned, unites the individual and the social processes, which have been described in previous chapters. On the basis of natural endowment, the individual builds new purposes and new means of control in accordance with definite laws. Society furnishes "patterns" that guide the individual to acquire, in accordance with these laws, valuable purposes and effective means of control, which have been the result of ages of social progress and which he could not attain without such guidance. In uniting these two factors of experience, the educational process (1) selects social patterns and (2) guides individual development in accordance with them. It must select patterns with regard to their social values and also with regard to their adaptability to immature individuals in various stages of development. On the social side, selection must be made because patterns exist for evil as well as for good conduct. The professional thief, just as truly as the honest business man, is guided in his conduct by purposes and means of control acquired under social direction. Furthermore, division of labor in pursuits which promote human welfare requires that various individuals be prepared for different kinds of activities, each with its peculiar purposes and means of control. Even in the case of primitive peoples, where social patterns are comparatively meager, labor is divided. Men fight the enemies and hunt game, whereas women take care of the children and do the menial work in the camp. As society advances, soldiers, priests, and artisans perform different functions in the social group. Even within these classes there are subdivisions for each of which a special sort of preparation is required. In modern social life, the complex division of labor necessitating different kinds of training is everywhere manifest. Some ideals and methods are, moreover, preferable to others for the same general kind of activity, whether it be in the home, factory, state, or other institution. On the individual side, selection must be made with reference to the development already attained by those who are to be educated; because, as we have found, an individual can acquire new purposes and means of control only on the basis of those already realized in his experience. Social patterns that do not fit his experience cannot function in his development. After social patterns have been selected, the individual must be put under conditions that lead him to profit by their guidance. Purposes, or motives, to use these patterns must be aroused in his experience; and, where the patterns do not fit well into the purposes and means of |