To know less than this is to be only half alive, and unable to fulfill
properly the duties of citizenship. Widespread ignorance of the larger
social, moral, political, religious problems of the day, is ominous
to the Republic; and it is impossible to understand aright without
a background of history and theory. The aim of the schools should be
to give not only some detailed information but a structural sense of
life as a whole, a sane perspective; and to inspire an enthusiasm for
intellectual things which shall outlast the early years of schooling.
The few facts imparted should suggest the vast fields beyond, and stir
youth to that passion for truth which shall lead to ever-new vistas
and farther horizons.
(2) But the most encyclopedic acquaintance with facts, or even with
principles, is not enough; TRAINING TO THINK ACCURATELY, to reason
logically, so as to arrive at valid conclusions and be able to
discriminate sound from unsound arguments in others, is vitally
necessary. With new and intricate problems continually confronting
us, we need the temper that observes with exactness, and without
prejudice or passion, that judges truly, that thinks clearly, and forms
independent convictions. There has been in our educational system an
overemphasis on the acquirement of facts, a natural result of our
modern dependence upon books; too much is accepted on authority, too
little thought out at first hand.
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