Outlines of Educational DoctrineHerbart, Johann Friedrich
Philosophy
Outlines of Educational Doctrine
Herbart, Johann Friedrich
Education -- Philosophy
65. Scattering no less than one-sidedness forms an antithesis to
many-sidedness. Many-sidedness is to be the basis of virtue; but
the latter is an attribute of personality, hence it is evident that
the unity of self-consciousness must not be impaired. The business
of instruction is to form the person on many sides, and accordingly
to avoid a distracting or dissipating effect. And instruction has
successfully avoided this in the case of one who with ease surveys his
well-arranged knowledge _in all of its unifying relations_ and holds it
together as _his very own_.
This section points to the correlation of studies, a subject to
be considered hereafter in detail. It also throws light upon the
modern system of elective courses or elective studies in secondary
and higher education. The teachable subjects have now become so
numerous that election is imperative unless what is to be taught is
determined arbitrarily without regard to the needs or inclinations of
students. Furthermore, election is made imperative by the fact that
the higher education is now open to all minds of all social classes,
and that differentiated industry calls for many kinds of education.
But the need for mental symmetry, no less imperative now than in the
past, is reinforced by the need for social symmetry. Education must
put the student into sympathetic touch with the whole of life, not
a mere segment of it. Since many-sidedness cannot be interpreted
to mean knowledge of all subjects, this being impossible, it must
be interpreted to mean knowledge of all departments of learning.
Election may be permitted to emphasize departments of study, but
not to ignore them entirely. There are four or more languages worth
teaching, many departments of history, numerous sciences, and various
branches of mathematics, not to speak of the economic, political,
and social sciences. Enough of each department being given to insure
intelligent sympathy with the aspect of civilization it presents,
the student may be allowed to place the emphasis upon such groups of
studies as best conserve his tastes, his ability, and his destination
in life.
CHAPTER III
=The Conditions of Many-sidedness=
66. It becomes obvious at once that a many-sided culture cannot be
brought about quickly. The requisite store of ideas is acquired only
by successive efforts; but unification, a view of the whole, and
assimilation are to be attained besides (65), whence an alternation, in
time, of absorption and reflection. The apprehension of the manifold is
of necessity a gradual process, and the same is true of the unification
of knowledge.
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