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Problems of Humanity - Chapter II - The Problem of the Children of the World
The new education will consider a child with due reference to his heredity, his social position, his national conditioning, his environment and his individual mental and emotional equipment and will seek to throw the entire world of effort open to him, pointing out that apparent barriers to progress are only spurs to renewed endeavor. They will thus seek to "lead him out" (the true meaning of the word "education") from any limiting condition and train him to think in terms of constructive world citizenship. Growth and still more growth will be emphasized. The educator of the future will approach the problem of youth from the angle of the children's instinctual reaction, their intellectual capacity and their intuitional potentiality. In infancy and in the earlier school grades, [55] the development of right instinctual reactions will be watched and cultivated; in the later grades, in what is equivalent to the high schools or the secondary schools, the intellectual unfoldment and control of the mental processes will be emphasized; whilst in the colleges and universities the unfoldment of the intuition, the importance of ideas and ideals and the development of abstract thinking and perception will be fostered; this latter phase will be soundly based upon the previous sound intellectual foundation. These three factors - instinct, intellect and intuition - provide the keynotes for the three scholastic institutions through which every young person will pass and through which, today, many thousands do pass. In the modern schools (grammar or primary schools, high or secondary schools, colleges or universities) there can be seen an imperfect but symbolic picture of the triple objectives of the coming education: Civilization, Culture and world Citizenship or unity. The primary schools might be regarded as the custodians of civilization; they should begin to train the child in the nature of the world in which he should play his part, teaching him his place in the group and preparing him for intelligent living and right social relations. Reading, writing and arithmetic, elementary history (with the emphasis upon world history), geography and poetry will be taught and certain basic and important facts of living imparted, plus the inculcation of self-control. The secondary schools will regard themselves as the custodians of culture; they should emphasize the larger values of history and literature and give some understanding of art. They should begin to train the boy or girl for that future profession or mode of life which it is obvious will condition them. Citizenship will then be taught in larger terms and the world of true values be [56] pointed out and idealism consciously and definitely cultivated. The practical application of ideals will be emphasized.
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