Present Day Tendencies in Education

in the land has been influenced by the change in attitude toward these factors. The multiplication of courses in natural and social sciences and the relative number of graduate students that elect these courses reflect the influence of pragmatic interest and attitudes of mind.

The elective system also reflects pragmatism in two ways: (1) The system looks to the practical consequences of instruction by attempting to adapt it to individual needs. (2) The elective system concentrates attention on the relative merits of methods of handling subject matter to the end that even the most theoretical teacher of the most impractical subject is compelled to look to "practical consequences" or he will soon find his classroom deserted and his courses ignored. We find the teachers of philosophy, mathematics, and the classics justifying their courses on utilitarian grounds, and in their classrooms attention is directed to a philosophical basis for political theory, to the application of pure mathematics to applied subjects; and Greek and Latin are taught as contributing factors to a clear knowledge of our own tongue rather than as a means of better acquiring acquaintanceship with a foreign culture.

The obvious truth of this assertion is easy to verify by reference to the outline of graduate courses offered by the departments of abstract science in our college and university catalogs. The tendency in the literature of philosophy now is to discuss such topics as "A Recovery of Philosophy," "Reformation of Logic," "Intelligence and Mathematics," and "Value and Existence." We are told that "even mathematics, long the pattern of absolute knowledge, has not escaped the stigma of relativity. Euclidean geometry is reduced to a useful 1 See Dewey and Others, Creative Intelligence.

interpretation of the data of experience; it is not theoretically the only one. Its superior validity is dependent upon its use when applied to the physical world. Even mathematics, therefore, lend themselves to the philosophic inference drawn by Henri Bergson and others, that all conceptual systems of the human mind have a merely conditional truth, depending on the circumstances of their applications."1

That the reform of logic along with mathematics has been brought about by pragmatic philosphy is the best evidence of its profound influence on the subject matter taught in our schools and colleges. The publication in 1890 of James's Principles of Psychology marked a new era in the subject matter of that science. Since that date the new tendency in psychology has profoundly influenced all the aspects of educational endeavor. An adequate appreciation of the influence of pragmatism on education would require, therefore, a consideration of the modifications in educational practices resulting from the influence of modern philosophy. It is most natural first to think of vocational education as the most obvious product of the pragmatic influence in American education. The whole movement of industrial education-which is a broader term than vocational education-gained headway under the direction of pragmatic philosophers. The publication of John Dewey's The School and Society in 1900 was an event of importance in our educational development. He tells us in this volume that "we must conceive of work with wood and material, of weaving, sewing, and cooking as methods of living, not as distinct studies." This educational conception, although a radical utterance when expressed, becomes a commonplace 1D. L. Murray, Pragmatism, p. 5.

2 School and Society, p. 27.

and would hardly be disputed by any reputable educator. It was but a step from industrial education in general to vocational education in its more or less specific applications. It is an attempt completely to socialize education in the interest of both society and the individual. The justification for vocational education at public expense finds expression in pragmatic philosophy. When we are challenged to justify the increasing forces employed in education and the multiplication of courses necessary to meet the demands of vocational education, we apply the pragmatic test. What difference would it practically make to anyone if disciplinary education instead of vocational education should prevail? This is a pragmatic question and we apply to it the statement of James: "You must bring out of each word its practical value, set it at work within the stream of your experience." If this is an insufficient test, we apply finally the test of tracing the notion (vocational education) to its "practical consequences." In our civilization this not only has been a satisfactory answer to the educator, but it has been the means of opening the nation's treasury and making available enormous funds with which to carry on these processes.

The vocational guidance movement which has grown out of the vocational education movement developed out of the pragmatic consciousness. Vocational guidance is distinctly a movement "looking toward last things, fruits, consequences, facts." These are only illustrations of the influence of pragmatic philosophy upon tendencies in modern education. The student of educational problems can easily catalog many other educational movements that can with equal assurance be traced to the influence of this philosophy on American life. It is not so important to test all the elements of this situation as it is to recognize

the influence of pragmatism itself. The most valuable answer that can come from applying the pragmatic test to educational theory is in the double assurance that such a method of philosophy applies the functioning test to theory and gives a formula for evaluating proposed innovations in education. The progressive teacher is constantly confronted with the decision of accepting an educational fad for an educational fact. It is always dangerous to dogmatize, and this is especially true in respect to problems of education. Pragmatism offers a means by which we can test out relative values by tracing them to their consequences. It therefore becomes an important guide to safe action in evaluating the proposals of educational changes.

CONCLUSION

A precaution seems to be necessary, however, in the application of pragmatism to educational practice. Relative emphasis, as well as relative value, needs to receive consideration in the application of pragmatic philosophy to education. Professor William Caldwell of McGill University voices this precaution in the following words:

Pragmatism is inclined in some ways to make too much of people's rights and interests, and too little of their duties and privileges and of their real needs and their fundamental, human instincts. It is in the understanding alone of these latter things that true wisdom and true satisfaction are to be found. And, like the American demand for pleasure and for a good time generally, pragmatism is in many respects too much a mere philosophy of "postulations' and "demands," too much a mere formulation of the eager and impetuous demands of the emancipated man and woman of the times as forgetful as they of many of the deeper facts of life and of the economy of our human civilization. In demanding that the "consequences of all pursuits" (even those of study and philosophy) shall be "satisfying" and that philosophy shall satisfy our active

nature, it forgets the sense of disillusionment that comes to all rash and mistaken effort.1

This precaution seems to be particularly pertinent at the present time. Educational practice has gone too far in some directions in attempting to comply with superficial demands of the times. It has caused some to challenge the honesty of our educational convictions and the validity of our methods.

A few years ago we grew impatient and were inclined to answer hastily the child who asked us what good would come to him from the study of this or that subject. Gradually we have come to understand that this question must not only be answered for the child, but that we must answer it for ourselves if we are to teach the subject effectively. In the economy of social effort for all the future, educational organizations, educational questions, educational methods, as well as the content of courses of study in all the grades and classes of schools, must seek justification on the basis of the validity of the consequences that they produce. The time has come for us to recognize the influence of pragmatic philosophy on all the means, influences, and agencies in education.

TOPICS FOR REPORT AND INVESTIGATION

1. A revaluation of the subject matter of the high-school course of study in the light of pragmatic philosophy.

2. Pedagogical methods and the pragmatic method.

3. The psychological implications of pragmatism.

4. The meaning of "creative intelligence."

5. An outline of pragmatic elements in modern education.

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