This pedagogical problem of discipline would never have arisen if
immature reflection had not distinguished two empirically different
aspects of human personality, the practical and the theoretical, whereby
it would appear that man, when he does things, should not be considered
in the same light as when he thinks and understands, knows and learns.
From this point of view, discipline of deportment is to be referred to
the pupil as practical spiritual activity, while teaching aims at his
theoretic activity. The former should guide the pupil, regulate his
conduct as a member of that special community which we call the school,
and facilitate the fulfilment of the obligations which he has toward the
institution, toward his fellow-pupils, and toward himself. The latter,
on the other hand, assuming the completion of this practical
edification, proceeds to the mental formation of the personality,
considered as progressive acquirement of culture. Discipline in this
system appears to be the morals of the school. I use the word morals in
a very broad sense--just as morality might be considered as the
discipline of society and of life in general. For everybody, it is
argued, distinguishes between the character of man and his intelligence,
between his conduct and his knowledge. The two terms may indeed be drawn
together, but they also exist quite apart. So that a man devoid of
character, or possessed with an indomitable will for evil, may
nevertheless be extremely learned and shrewd, or as subtle as the
serpent; whereas a moral man, through lack of understanding, may become
the sport of rogues, and remain illiterate, devoid of all, even of the
slightest accomplishments. For will is one thing, they say, and the
intellect is another.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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