Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of EducationOntario. Department of Education
Science
Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education
Ontario. Department of Education
Education; Educational psychology
=A Caution.=--While emphasizing the social, or moral, character of the
aim of education, it is to be borne in mind by the educator that this
implies more than a passive possession by the individual of a certain
moral sentiment. Man is truly moral only when his moral character is
functioning in goodness, or in _right action_. This is equivalent to
declaring that the moral man must be individually efficient in action,
and must likewise control his action from a regard for the rights of
others. There is always a danger, however, of assuming that the
development of moral character consists in giving the child some
passive mark, or quality, without any necessity of having it continually
functioning in conduct. But this reduces morality to a mere sentiment.
In such a case, the moral aim would differ little from the cultural aim
mentioned above.
CHAPTER VII
DIVISIONS OF EDUCATIONAL STUDY
CONTROL OF EXPERIENCE
=Significance of Control.=--From our previous inquiry into the nature of
education, we may notice that at least two important problems present
themselves for investigation in connection with the educative process.
Our study of the subject-matter of education, or the school curriculum,
has shown that its function as an educational instrumentality is to
furnish for the child experiences of greater value, this enhanced value
consisting in the greater social significance of the race experiences,
or knowledge, embodied within the curriculum, when compared with the
more individual experiences of the average child. It has been noted
further, however, that the office of education is not merely to have the
child translate this race experience into his own mind, but rather to
have him add to his social efficiency by gaining an adequate power of
control over these experiences. It is not, for instance, merely to know
the number combinations, but to be able to meet his practical needs,
that the child must master the multiplication tables. Control of
experience, however, as we have seen from our analysis of the learning
process, implies an ability to hold an aim, or problem, in view, and a
further ability to select and arrange the means of gaining the desired
end. In relation to the multiplication table, therefore, control of
experience implies that a person is able to apprehend the present number
situation as one that needs solution, and also that he can bring, or
apply, his knowledge of the table to its solution.
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