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النشر الإلكتروني

THE CULTURE NEED

An introspection of the motives that have stimulated educative effort down through the ages reveals a marked emphasis upon what is generally termed culture. Society has always felt a need for the cultural value in education, though it has not always been consistent in attaining it. Since cultivated men have generally been familiar with the classics the inference has been that the classics are the main source of "culture." This erroneous inference has been handed down from generation to generation with sufficient vitality to control largely the content of the curriculum. Doubtless the classics were the only organized source of contact which cultivated men had immediately following the awakening of the Renaissance, and were therefore the only source of culture. By no other means could one sit at the feet of Plato, Aristotle, and Dante, or converse with Cicero and Virgil.

The intellectual awakening of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, resulting in scientific research, and in a broad application of the sciences and arts, transformed social and economic conditions, and thus gave to culture a healthy tone and a vigorous content. It was no longer necessary to go back to Aristotle for natural philosophy, or to Solon for guiding principles in government. Truth unfolded on every hand. Man reacted intelligently to natural law, and became conscious of his intricate social obligations. He ceased to imitate traditional practices, and began to construct his own philosophy of life in terms of the generally accepted principles of his day.

Culture began to be interpreted differently in the light of new conditions. As Professor Hanus has pointed out,

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"culture now means, primarily, the capacity to understand, appreciate, and react on the resources and problems of modern civilization. These resources and problems are found in the preservation and improvement of the health, physical vigor, and physical well-being of the race; in modern government; in modern industry and commerce; in modern literature and languages. . . in history . . . and in the art treasures of all time."1 While the classics are still believed to afford contact with cultivated persons and to this extent supply opportunities for "culture," it is not generally believed to-day that they constitute the only means of culture. With the decline in the need for the information offered by the classics, they were justified on other grounds. It was argued that they were especially rich in the stimuli that develop mental power. Hence "culture" began to mean power or capacity, and "cultural," objectively applied, meant quality to stimulate mental growth. . Though no one is willing to deny that the classics stimulate growth, few indeed are willing to grant that they are richer in such stimuli than are the applied sciences and the mechanical arts.

It is as great a mark of culture in these days of scientific knowledge to maintain good health and physical vigor as to be familiar with Greek and Latin; to understand and apply natural law as to be conversant with the laws of the Medes and the Persians; to eat, dress, sleep, and spend one's leisure intelligently and gracefully as to know the distinct types of Greek art.

Culture as now interpreted means more than ability to "understand” and “appreciate," it means the skill and disposition to do, as well, - the power to react intelligently 1 Educational Aims and Educational Values, Hanus.

in response to stimuli. Our secondary curricula are gradually being adjusted to this end. The old "cultural subjects" are being supplemented and occasionally displaced by subjects which more adequately prepare one to solve the practical problems of daily life. This change is in response to the saner notion of what constitutes "culture," and it is well that it is so. "When a child has entered into its inheritance, physical, scientific, literary, æsthetic, institutional, and religious-then we must use the word 'culture' to signify the state of being that has been attained." To the extent that the children of the public schools reach this goal, to that extent can it be said that the school is meeting the "cultural need" of society.

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Summary. The aim of education in its broadest sense involves both a personal and an impersonal, or social, aspect. This twofold character of the aim of education is the source of the disagreement as to what this aim is. Since society as such is the only agency sustaining organized educational effort there is no need for considering the personal, or individual, aspect in a scheme of public education. Thus interpreted, "social efficiency" seems to include what society has in mind when it taxes its members for the support of public education.

The aim of education should be adjusted to social needs and should change its content with the change in these needs. Therefore a clear understanding of "social efficiency" depends upon an understanding of the needs of society. Society needs:

1. That its individual members interpret their environment adequately.

2. That each member be skilled in one or more of the applied sciences - be skilled in some contributing vocation.

3. That each member have some contacts with the great basic occupations in order to have the proper sympathy with those so engaged.

4. That each member have ideals and prejudices sufficient to safeguard the fundamental virtues upon which the social structure stands.

5. That each member enter sufficiently into his physical, scientific, literary, æsthetic, institutional, and religious inheritance to live completely in the fullest sense.

CHAPTER III

THE GROWTH OF SUBJECT-MATTER

The Acid Test of Subject-Matter. - One proceeds but a little way in an endeavor to provide suitable materials for a course of study before he is confronted with the fundamental questions: Is this subject-matter worth while? Will it make

a strong appeal to those for whom it is intended?

The Twofold Aspect of Worth-Whileness. The function of subject-matter may be considered both subjectively and objectively. When such controls as knowledge, habits, ideals, prejudices, tastes, and attitudes are uppermost in the mind of the teacher, the subjective aspect of subjectmatter is emphasized. When social needs are under consideration the objective aspect of subject-matter is stressed.

The worth-whileness of subject-matter in the last analysis must be determined on the basis of social needs.

There is a surplus of subject-matter which will appeal strongly to the pupil, and which will establish the desired controls. The problem involved is one of selecting from this surplus of materials those of marked social significance, and of organizing them into a system which will make a progressive appeal to the pupil and which will arouse in him a desire for further investigation.

Dynamic Character of Subject-Matter Objectively Considered. The problem of evaluating subject-matter is

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