Sociology and Modern Social ProblemsEllwood, Charles A. (Charles Abram)
General
Sociology and Modern Social Problems
Ellwood, Charles A. (Charles Abram)
Social problems; Sociology
Very slowly our educators are becoming conscious of the fact that this
type of education is a social menace, and that our educational system
needs reformation from bottom to top in order to become again equal to
the social task imposed upon it by the more complex social conditions of
the twentieth century. Hence the demand for a socialized education,
which is proceeding, not only from sociologists and social workers, but
from the progressive leaders of education itself. What this socialized
education of the future shall be is not the province of this book to
discuss, but a few of its essential characteristics may be noted. As
has already been said, such education will aim, first of all, at
producing the citizen before it aims at producing the lawyer, the
engineer, the physician, or any other professional or occupational type.
No doubt, this means, for one thing, that all individuals shall be
taught to be good fathers and mothers, good neighbors and members of
communities, even more than they are taught the accomplishments of life.
No doubt, also, the socialized education of the future will emphasize
the adjustment of the individual to the industrial order of society,
because it is necessary that individuals shall be producers if they are
to be efficient citizens. The necessity and value of industrial
training in our system of education has already been emphasized in
discussing other social problems. Such training has its place and that
place, as we have already seen, is a very important and fundamental one;
but it must not be forgotten that the relations of men to one another
are more important than the relations of men to nature. In industrial
training, the element which is apt to be emphasized is the relations of
the individual to the physical facts and forces of nature; but this is
only a beginning of the training for citizenship, because good
citizenship consists essentially in harmonious and efficient functioning
in the social group. Therefore, the study of the relationships of men to
one another must be the final and crowning element in a system of social
education. Such studies as history, government, economics, ethics, and
sociology must occupy a larger and larger place in the education of the
future if we are to secure a humanity adjusted to the requirements of
its existence. Historical and sociological instruction should lead up,
moreover, to direct ethical instruction. If the industrial element in
the social life is important, the moral element is even more so, since
it is, as we have already said, the ideal aspect of the social. In some
way or another, our public schools, from the kindergarten up, must make
a place for social and ethical instruction of a direct and explicit
character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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