Outlines of Educational DoctrineHerbart, Johann Friedrich
Philosophy
Outlines of Educational Doctrine
Herbart, Johann Friedrich
Education -- Philosophy
Such favorable results are, however, apt to be outweighed by the harm
done when mere knowledge becomes the chief aim of ambition.
36. In order that instruction may act on the pupil’s ideas and
disposition, every avenue of approach should be thrown open. The mere
fact that we can never know with certainty, beforehand, what will
influence the pupil most, warns us against one-sidedness of instruction.
Ideas spring from two main sources,--experience and social intercourse.
Knowledge of nature--incomplete and crude--is derived from the former;
the later furnishes the sentiments entertained toward our fellow-men,
which, far from being praiseworthy, are on the contrary often very
reprehensible. To improve these is the more urgent task; but neither
ought we to neglect the knowledge of nature. If we do, we may expect
error, fantastical notions, and eccentricities of every description.
37. Hence, we have two main branches of instruction,--the historical
and the scientific. The former embraces not only history proper, but
language study as well; the latter includes, besides natural science,
mathematics.
“Historical” must be interpreted to include all human sciences,
such as history, literature, languages, æsthetics, and political,
economic, and social science. “Scientific” may include applied
as well as pure science, and then we add all forms of industrial
training to the curriculum. Other divisions of the subject-matter
of instruction are often helpful. Thus one may speak of the human
sciences, the natural sciences, and the economic sciences. The
economic sciences include those activities where man and nature
interact. Dr. Wm. T. Harris speaks of five coördinate groups of
subjects, corresponding to what he calls the “five windows of the
soul.”
38. Other reasons aside, the need alone of counteracting selfishness
renders it necessary for every school that undertakes the education of
the whole man to place human conditions and relations in the foreground
of instruction. This humanistic aim should underlie the studies of the
historical subjects, and only with reference to this aim may they be
allowed to preponderate.
An interesting attempt to realize the aim here demanded is found in
Professor John Dewey’s “School and Society,”[1] which is in effect a
description of what he is working out in his practice or experimental
school in connection with his department in the University of Chicago.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account