all the relevant past experiences, views them in their proper perspective, and judicially evaluates them in terms of the question to be answered. Conclusions so reached are valuable in proportion to the analysis of the problem and the power of evaluation which comes through a certain native ability and long experience. We speak of the results of critical and judicial thinking as wisdom.

The seventh type is perhaps the most uncommon of them all. That is to say that in actual life the creative thought of the individual is least developed. The careful observer of things and processes may see an omission of an element which if present would be of great importance. Or he may see a new combination, or recombination, of the factors already existent. For example, some one with imagination saw men cutting grass with a scythe. The task was an arduous one and time-consuming. He conceived the notion of a grass-cutting device which would conserve man's energy and utilize other motive power just as effectively. In some such rough way was born the idea of a mower. All modern devices in the mechanical world are the result of creative thinking. Creative genius accounts for what we have in music, in art, in literature, in government, and so on through the categories of man's activities. But all this has been made possible by the few. The many reap the benefits of the results. What can the schools do to stimulate creative thinking? In the Lincoln School of Teachers College there exists one example. Many more can doubtless be located. In this particular school, even the primary children sing words of their own composition to melodies of their own creation. They are encouraged to create, and in the upper grades to the creation of words and music is added the construction of the musical instruments used in the reproduction of their own and other music. Thus, in one instance, are the possibilities of the development of creative thinking being utilized in a practical way.

The first four forms of thinking are generally prevalent in greater or less degree. The last three are far less prevalent. The first four need direction, the last three need stimulation, encouragement, development, and direction. Teachers need to observe all these types of thinking since thinking determines a considerable proportion of human behavior.

The characteristics of reasoning have already been implied in these types of thinking. When one is faced by a problem and is called upon to find a solution then the stage is set for reasoning. He may fumble about, trying this or that method, doing

things totally unrelated to each other to say nothing of their remote relation to the problem at hand. That is not reasoning. The gifted reasoner makes a careful analysis of the total situation, recalls past experiences which seem to bear directly on the problem, and selects the means which seem most likely to produce reasoning ability. To think critically, judicially, and creatively calls upon one's reserve strength, physically as well as mentally, and probably explains the statement that reflective thinking is the most difficult of human activities when carried on actively to a successful completion. If so, all the more reason why teachers need to understand the processes of reasoning in order that habitual intelligent thinking may become an increasingly important outcome of classroom activities.

9. Analysis and Synthesis Are Correlative

[HALL-QUEST, A. L., Supervised Study, p. 261. Copyright, 1917, by the Macmillan Co.] (Adapted.)

Analysis involves (1) the acquisition of the proper concept of new and technical terms around which concept future mental experience can be crystallized. (2) Discrimination as to the importance of events and their interrelations. (3) Resolution of a general concept into the elements which compose it. (Example, the term "Federalism" may be resolved into the social, political, and economic elements which characterize it as an institution.)

Synthesis is the reverse of analysis, involving on lower levels: (1) Telling a story so as to tell all the important elements in order. (2) The grouping of sentences to develop a topical sentence (3) The grouping of sub-topics to develop a general topic on somewhat higher levels. (4) The grouping of characteristics into special tendencies. (5) The orderly arrangement of data, gathered from the text, collateral reading, or source material into these.

10. Abstraction

[DEWEY, John, "Abstraction," in Paul Monroe's Cyclopedia of Educa tion. Copyright, 1912, by the Macmillan Co. Reprinted by permission.]

Abstraction is a term of logic meaning the separation, for intellectual purposes only, of a quality from the thing to which

it belongs, or a relation from the pair of things between which it subsists. Its possibility rests upon capacity for selective attention, in virtue of which some train not sensuously conspicuous or intense is dwelt upon because of its importance in relation to some conceived end. . . . Since reasoning depends upon the capacity to treat an extracted quality or relation as a sample or typical instance, rational thought is dependent on abstraction or selective attention. The consideration of some quality or relation irrespective of the particular context in which it is found is obviously an indispensable prerequisite for all generalization (q.v.), so much so that it may be put down as a general principle that abstraction exists for the sake of a resulting generalization.

11. Generalization

[DEWEY, John, "Generalization," in Paul Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education. Copyright, 1912, by the Macmillan Co. Reprinted by permission.]

Generalization is the process by which a principle or law is reached. . . . The term expresses the use or function of induction, which endeavors, beginning with a number of scattered details, to arrive at a general statement. Generalization . . . works a measure of economy and efficiency from the standpoints alike of observation, memory, and thought. The number of particulars that can be obtained is limited. When, however, different cases are brought together-and this bringing together is expressed in a general principle,-a great variety of cases are practically reduced to one case, and further observation is freed to attack new particular things and qualities not yet systematized. Exactly the same holds good for memory. There are a few prodigies who can carry in mind an indefinite number of unrelated details; but most persons need the help of generalizations in order to retain specific facts and to recall them when needed. Logically, a principle not only sums up and registers the net intellectual outcome of a great many different experiences which have been undergone at diverse times and places, but is an illuminating and clarifying means of interpreting new cases that without it could not be understood. . .

Generalization is a continuous, gradual movement away from mere isolated particulars toward a connecting principle. A necessary part of the work of instruction is, therefore, to make the conditions such that the mind will move in the direction of a fruitful generalization as soon as it begins to deal with and

to collect particulars. The resulting generalization will, of course, be crude, vague, and inadequate, but, if formed under proper conditions, it will serve at once to direct and vitalize further observations and recollections, and will be built out and tested in the application to new particulars. This suggests the final educational principle: A generalization is such not in virtue of its structure or bare content, but because of its use or function. We do not first have a principle and then apply it; an idea becomes general (or a principle) in process of fruitful application to the interpretation, comprehension, and prevision of the particular facts of experience.

12. Generalizing a Constant Process, not a Final Step [DEWEY, John, How We Think, pp. 211-212. Chicago, D. C. Heath & Co., 1910.]

...

Generalization is not a separate and single act; it is rather a constant tendency and function of the entire discussion or recitation. Every step forward toward an idea that comprehends, that explains, that unites what was isolated and therefore puzzling, generalizes. . . . The factor of formulation, of conscious stating, involved in generalization, should also be a constant function, not a single formal act. Definition means essentially the growth of a meaning out of vagueness into definiteness. Such final verbal definition as takes place should be only the culmination of a steady growth in distinctness. In the reaction against ready-made verbal definitions and rules, the pendulum should never swing to the opposite extreme, that of neglecting to summarize the net meaning that emerges from dealing with particular facts. Only as general summaries are made from time to time does the mind reach a conclusion or a resting place; and only as conclusions are reached is there an intellectual deposit available in future understanding.

13. Efficient Thought Life

[BORAAS, Julius, "Education for Efficient Thought Life," Journal of the National Education Association, April, 1923, Vol. 12, pp. 128-129, Washington, D. C.]

Life continues to be a very real, very earnest, and apparently a never-ending struggle. Democracy is discovered to be, not a means of rest and safety, but rather a serious and difficult task. The development of civilization consists, not in an escape from troubles and difficulties, but in the gradual attainment of higher and more effective means and methods for attacking the prob

lems and perplexities that are ahead. As the relations of man to man grow in number and increase in complexity through the development of better means of communication and the elaboration of human organizations, new duties and new problems spring up to match the new rights and privileges that are attained.

Natural science has lengthened the average span of human life by many years. Inventions and discoveries have greatly enriched our lives, both in the number and in the variety of the experiences that come to us. In truth we may say that we have life more abundantly than did our forbears. Can it also be said that we live a more excellent life than they? Do we so teach and train our children that they will attain a more excellent life than we? On the attainment of such a life depends the future of our democracy and our civilization.

What is the more excellent life? Does it consist in greater ability to have intense emotions or to go into ecstasies and tantrums? Is it to be attained by living a free and undisciplined life of physical, mental, and spiritual jazz? Surely, that kind of life does have the appearance of abundance. No, the more excellent life demands quality in our living rather than quantity.

How shall we develop a higher quality of life? Let us consider this matter for a moment. Life for most of us is and will continue to be a program of work, leisure activities, and sleep. The problem of attaining a higher quality of life becomes, then, a question of raising our daily work to a higher level, of discovering better forms of leisure, and of securing that kind of sleep and rest which will provide strength for our higher endeavors.

How are these things to be achieved? Not by running to and fro. Not by multiplying our efforts in nervous anxiety and worry. How then? By thinking more correctly and effectively and by developing higher forms of skill with which to execute our thoughts.

What are the chief aspects of every-day thinking that we need to develop?

1. To perceive differences more clearly and to judge rightly about things, persons, activities, institutions, ideas, and principles with respect to their reliability, their fitness, and their utility:

2. To exercise intelligent care in the selection of our friends, the books and papers we read, the things we say and hear, the investments of time and money that are urged upon us, the vocations and avocations that present themselves for adoption.