Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Possibility of a Science of Education
Can there be a science of education as there is a science of mathematics, of physics, of medicine, or of ethics; are there educational facts or principles capable of discovery and systematization which are so fundamental, universal and important as to differentiate educational science from every other; and, further, is a study of such educational science of service to the educator by furnishing him with instruments of insight which will be valuable in the determination of the true purpose of education and of ways and means to its attainment? This, in brief, is the problem submitted for investigation.
No argument is necessary to demonstrate the important practical bearing of the problem proposed. Its solution affects in a most profound and vital way every phase of educational procedure. More especially is this true in regard to the prep aration of teachers. If the foregoing questions are answered in the negative, the so-called professional training of teachers is a delusion and a snare, and had better be dispensed with. On the other hand, if an affirmative answer should be given to these questions every teacher, from the kindergarten to the university, would be rendered more efficient by a cer tain quantum of a suitable kind of preliminary professional training.
The problem is an old and familiar one and has in some form or other received the attention of scholars and practical men from the earliest times.
With the modern scientific movement the subject has naturally come prominently into the foreground of public consciousness, and has received extended and scholarly treat ment at the hands of many eminent philosophers and scientists.
The view advocated by many of these writers - especially by university men - is, in brief, that science being abstract and universal, and the child concrete and individual, there can be no science of education properly so called and, further, that as knowledge, natural aptitude and successful experience are the prime requisites of the successful teacher, pedagogical training is unnecessary and may do more harm than good.
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