THE PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION BY JESSE H COURSAULT, PH.D. PROFESSOR OF THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION want 8-22-25 1214-5 Scops. aded EDITOR'S PREFACE DURING the later decades of the nineteenth century philosophy and psychology dominated the theory of education. From the principles of these two fields methods were deduced for which the claim was made that they produced the best results in instructional practice. During the twentieth century, however, experimental science has been the dominant method. Without regard for the philosophical point of view, specific methods of teaching, of supervision, and of administration have been studied in localized situations to discover the better practice. During these two latter decades a very considerable body of technique has been collected and to this constant accretions are being made. The force of the scientific impulse is, fortunately, not yet expended and it is confidently expected to continue indefinitely with increasing value. But since the tendency of science is to produce a body of technique, particle by particle, as investigators study small individual and relatively isolated problems, central attitudes and principles are temporarily ignored. The result of this is that the orientation of the whole mass of technique is lost sight of and those who practice do so without clear ultimate purposes in mind. With some subjects, such as the physical sciences, this tendency takes care of itself but in those sciences which treat of mind and men, so many uncontrolled factors enter into the direction and execution of practice that some guiding objectives are necessary in the present incomplete condition of knowledge and, in all prob ability, will always be necessary no matter how far the scientific development of the field may be carried. Moreover, the scientific attitude toward education which has substituted facts for opinions so satisfactorily in many cases, produces in the mind of the scientist and his followers a disesteem for philosophy. A fact is a fact, but a philosophical principle is an opinion and as such is treated as being neither trustworthy nor necessary. Consequently there is a distinct tendency among the less thoughtful educators at the present time to ignore principles of education. If, however, we look upon philosophy as an activity of the human mind which seeks to take stock of what has been accomplished and to determine its meaning, to disentangle the important from the unimportant, and to set all the items in some perspective, it is evident that it has a very definite place in education. Into such a conflict between a mental science with uncontrolled factors and scientific laboratory investigation wherein scant patience is frequently shown toward those who pause to get a perspective in the presence of a great body of unorganized facts, the appearance of this book, which deals with the principles of education, is timely. The author has accepted a point of view which he believes, and which to the editor appears to be, a useful interpretation of the tendencies of educational thought and effort in this generation, and has endeavored to organize the isolated facts and practices into an organic unit. It will not only help the college student to orient himself in the midst of the complexities of such an unorganized field but will also provide the investigator and college teacher with, at least, a point of departure in his thinking. |