s!T?<S,^>



LIPPlNCOft'l
EDUCJf/ONAL SERl>

FDITED BT

THE

EDUCATIONAI
PROCESS




ARTHCR TARY Pf FSHMA-



\f




Class _^LI&.IA1.^
Book F.IL5_

CopyiightN"



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIK



LIPPINCOTT'S
EDUCATIONAL SERIES

EDITED BY

MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH, A.M., Ph.D., LL.D.

SUPERINTENDENT OK SCHOOLS, PHILADELPHIA

Â¥
VOLUME VI



Lippincott's Educational Series

Editj:d }$y dr. m. g. brumhaugh

SujK-riiiteiuleiit of Schools Philadelphia

VOl.lTMK I

Thinking and Learning to Think

By Nathan C. Schakkkkk, Ph.D., LL.D.
Superiiiieiuleiit of Public Instruction for
tlie State of Pennsylvania. 351 pages.
Cloth, |i.25.

VOLUMK II

Two Centuries of Pennsylvania HiAory

By Isaac Suarpi.kss, President of Hav-
erford College. 385 pages. Illustrated.
Cloth, $1.25.

VOLUMK III

Hiftory of Education

By E. L. ICkmi*, A.M., Principal of State
Normal School, East Stroudsburg, Penn-
sylvania. 385 pages. Cloth, I1.25.

VOIAIMK IV

Kant's Elducational Theory

By EnwARD Franklin Bucknkr, Ph.D.,
Prolessor of Philosophy and Palucation
in the I'niversity of Alabama. 309 pages.
Cloth, I1.25.

VOLUMK V

The Recitation

By Samuhl Hamilton, Ph.D., Superin-
tendent of Public Schools, Allegheny
County, Pennsylvania. 369 pages. Cloth,
I1.25.



LippiNcoTTs Educational Series

THE EDUCATIONAL
PROCESS



BY

ARTHUR GARY FLESHMAN, A.M.

PEDAGOGY AND TRAINING, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, SLII'l'EkY KOCK, PA.



' ' The TnUh shall make you Free '




PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY

1908



L,



Copyright, 1908
By J. B. LippiNcoTT Company



Published July, 1908



U6RARY of CONGRESS
twoCupies Heceiv<»(t

JUL 3 1SJU8

%fl eye

COPY a.



Electrotyped a>id printed by
J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U. S, A.



IN MEMORY

OF

MY FATHER and MY xMOTHER



AUTHOR^S PREFACE



'^It is not the search after nor discovery of new
ideas that makes an original man, so much as his
ability to reclothe the old with some newness of
appearance or meaning out of his own individuality."

This book attempts to organize a new doctrine
of education out of an old theory of thought. The
peculiar method of treatment is original but the
fundamental principle creating and organizing the
educational process is the central truth of all phi-
losophy. The trichotomy running through this text
is largely a necessary form of thought but it is at
the same time a convenient mode of discussion.
Each threefold division is organically related to
every other in such a manner as to form a systematic
whole. The sub-topics throughout the volume are
suggestive rather than exhaustive.

In this pedagogy the problems of education are
taken out of the domain of the mechanical, experi-
mental, physiological, physical and psycho-physical
and explained as a spiritual process. Education is
a spiritual activity rather than a brain activity.
The school is ''an organic spiritual unity" and not
a material, objective, fixed thing. Teaching is not
a mechanical process but a spiritual activity beneath
the form. Life itself is not wholly physical and phys-
iological but in the last analysis a spiritual process.

7



8 AUTIIOirS PRKFACE

Each of these procu'sses is grounded in ;in(I arises
out of ;i iinivers.'il process. The hc^ari-heal of Uie
worhl is th(^ ihrohhin^ lif(^ of th(^ scJiool, the forma-
iiv(^ (Mi(M'f]^y ill lea('liiii«z;, and the <»;erniinal ehuruuit
of hfe. The total educational pr()(',(%ss is based upon
a world ener«2;y transinutin<i; the real into the ideal
atuJ the ()l)je(^tive into the siihjeetive. This en^ativc
(^ncu'j^y fills th(> pupil with a forcu^ which enables
him to work out a(d,ually what lu^ is p()t,(*ntially — ■
th(^ doctrine of self-realization and sj)iril>ual freedom.

A j)hilosoj)liy in education Ix'comes valuabh^ to
tlu^ tea,(dier in proportion as it reveals the huuw law
of the Hcliool, as it vitaliz(\s t(^achin^, and as it
furnishes the key which unlocks the mysteries of
luiman lifc^ Accordin*; to this fundamental process
in (Mlucation, tlu* en(M<i;y whi(di holds the world
together is the force whi(di unifies t(^ach(M* and ])upil,
()r^anizi\s mind and sul)je(^t-matter in t{^a(diin«z; and
creat(\s th(^ tcMision of human lif{\ Tlu^ probh^m
whi(di this book att(Mnpts to solve is to trace this
(Miergy down through the world, through the school,
through the teaching proc^ess, through mind and life
and to give this formative principles an intense
practical application in school managcMuent, in
teaching the common l)ra,nches and in l\u) interpre-
tation of mind and life.

The model lessons are analyzed and })lann(Hl in
harmony with the universal process and are thereby
given a de(»p significance. Theses tyi)e studies illus-
trate th(» fact that practice is in and through theory
and that theory is in and through practice. The



AUTHOR'S VRKVACK 9

|)urj)oso of tli(\so hissons is to fisHist tho l(;ach(^r in
applyirif]; tli(;K(^ fundiuiKUiial truths to the; i)ractical
prohlcins of tli(; daily nHiitation.

V(Hhv^()<i,y is not a (^on^loiru^ratc; s(;i(;nc(; of Psy-
choloj^y, Pliilosoi)hy, Sociology, Ethics, ylOsthcstics,
Logic, History, Literatun;, Sci(;rico and R(}ligion.
This pedagogical doctrine; has a gerniinant truth
which organizers th(;sc d(;[)artrn(;nts of knowh^dgc;
into a n(;w and syst(!inatic whoh;. l^uhigogy has
its own creative; and constructive thought-force
which builds up an original sci(;nce out of the; above -
named niate'rial. 'J'he;se; subjects are not use;el in a
liaf)hazarel inaniie;r but only to e;laborate; the ge;r-
minant ieiea anel to illustrate and pe;rfe;ct the ce^ntral
the)ught.

In e;e)nstructing this de)ctrine of eulucation, J do
ne)t claim e)riginality in the philosophy e;mbe)elieMl in
the te;xt. 1 have foUoweel close;ly the; gre;at thinke;rs
of the; worlel, ane;ie;nt anel moele;rn anel their inte;r-
prete;rs anel have; incor[)e)rate;el into this te;xt the)se;
iele;as anel systems of thinking bearing dire'ctly upe)n
the; ceintral the)ught of this the;ory and i)ractice; (A'
pe;elagogy. My eliscussion of si)iritual fre;e;ele)ni is
base;el wholly upon one of the great books of the;
we)rld. I have trcspasseel upon many syste;ms e)f
thought but have attempte;el te) re;e',le)the; the;se; ide;as
with a ne;wne;ss of me;aning elrawn from actual
experience; in the; se;he)e)l-re)e)ni. The;re; is a i)uri)e)sive;
repe;titie)n e)f the)ught thre)ughe)ut the; te;xt te> ke;ep
constantly be;fe)re the minel the jundamenial 'process
in education.



10 AUTHOR'S PREFACE

I am indebted to Prof. W. W. Black of the Chicago
Normal School for reading the manuscript and mak-
ing many valuable suggestions and criticisms.

Arthur C. Fleshman.

State Normal School, Slippery Rock, Pa.
June 1, 1908.



EDITOR^S PREFACE



Philosophy, in a purely speculative way, observes
the operations of the soul, and endeavors to explain
these operations in terms of law or method. When
any considerable group of mental acts is found to
possess common attributes, that group is set aside
as a science. As organized data it is accepted for
human guidance. Thus science is all the while
growing at the expense of philosophy. But the
unorganized and unrelated data lying everywhere
in the philosopher's workshop still affords abundant
exercise for speculation. There is no likelihood that
the philosopher will lack for data. Then, too, if
all phenomena were fully catalogued, there would
yet remain to the speculative thinker many funda-
mental problems upon which for all time he may
profitably exercise his reflective insight.

Thus philosophy is a constant norm in the world
of thought. By it all tentative schemes of thought
are tested. To it all systems of thought are referred
for final orientation and validation.

Education, like a score of kindred studies, is a
derivative of philosophy, and the value and sig-
nificance of referring one's educational doctrine to
its philosophic basis is apparent. This treatise is
one of a group of kindred studies. The value of any
attempt to formulate a pedagogical theory lies in

11



12 EDITOR'S PREFACE

the following directions: (a) It compels its readers
to go over, once more, the subtle and suggestive
relations between pure and applied thought, (b) It
should aim to make more lucid than do former
treatises this relation, (c) Its^vfelti^^to the educator
is conditioned upon the system of speculative
thought upon which it rests foV its validity.

It is apparent that one does, in applied fields
of knowledge, his best work when he comprehends
most fully the rational basis and the essential
relations of his procedures. We do best what we
understand most completely. Otherwise the em-
piricist and the ''quack" would lead the world's
progress. Teachers need to see clearly and funda-
mentally the movements of thought which in the
instructional act they aim to develop. This gives
rise to vision, the teleologic spirit, without which
all teaching is aimless and futile.

Teachers deal so constantly with concrete matter,
are so environed with unorganized thought-stuff,
are so continually living in the realm of devices and
special methods that it is easy for them to overlook
the more subtle but none the less significant guidance
that philosophy affords. It is well to pause betimes
and ask ''why" and "whither." The answer must
come from philosophy. Speculative thought alone
can give adequate account of the reason for our
educational processes, and indicate in some fairly
definite way the goal of all intellectual endeavor.

The justification of this new statement of the
basis of educational procedure is conditioned largely



EDITOR'S PREFACE 13

by its clearness of statement and its simplicity of
treatment. Students of education should be able
readily to comprehend the author's meaning. The
need is not so much for another statement as for a
more lucid statement of the fundamental doctrines
that condition and make meaningful the processes
of the school.

Many systems of speculative thought have been
formulated. These necessarily vary greatly both in
scope and in method of treatment. From the days
of Plato until now philosophic systems of one sort
or another have challenged attention and influenced
the student of pedagogy. These systems of philoso-
phy have run the circle of materialism and ideaUsm.
They are as unlike and as confusing as are the
teaching processes of untrained teachers.

Germany, better perhaps than any other modern
state, has produced philosophic minds. Naturally,
the student of pedagogy seeks in modern German
thought a basis for his attempt to formulate rational
guidance for teachers. Among these German phi-
losophers it is customary to select Hegel as guide
and master. This is due to his radical departure
from Fichte and Schelling in denying reality to
both the subject and the object and in proclaiming
that ideas are the only concrete realities. It follows
that the first matter of moment is pure thought,
the infinite idea. This idea later objectifies itself
in nature, and then the idea regresses, turns upon
itself, is perceived by the mind to be after all a
product or process of its own activity. Thus, as



14 EDITOR'S PREFACE

pure thought, the idea goes forth, like the dove from
the ark, only to return to complete unity and
identity with itself. This circle being complete it is
a relatively simple matter to trace the idea in its
circle and to predicate spiritual unity, identity, to
the idea in all its wanderings from itself to itself
again.

Pedagogy seizes eagerly upon this round of the
idea and, balancing its status in its objective form
with its status in its radically ideal or subjective
form, erects a system of applied thought which has
peculiar charm. Since this Hegelian idealism is so
remote from sense realism it is comparatively easy
to frame up a system of applied thought in a fairly
definite and, at times, almost dogmatic way. There
are no actual experiences near enough the circle
to disturb the harmony of the thought movement.

The danger lies in its very perfection. It is
difficult for the ordinary teacher to see the applica-
tion of all this brilliant balancing of thought-school
and real-school, just as it is likely to be difficult
for those who do see the beauty of the theme to
actualize it, make it real with flesh-and-blood chil-
dren in an ordinary public school.

But the effort to reduce one's ideas to a system
is well worth while. Each lives an experience that
is unique. Philosophy is the test of this experience.
Only in the realm of reflective thought do we find
the basis for common understanding and that unity
of meaning that makes for system and progress in
teaching. We lose the best things in our experience



EDITOR'S PREFACE 15

when we fail to make lucid and meaningful that
experience in terms of law, in formulae for guidance.
Teachers need a clear grasp of a system of pedagogic
principles before entering upon the actual work of
instruction. This grasp of a theoretic system enables
the young teacher to grow by reflecting upon the
concrete experiences of his daily duties.

The tension between one's real and one's ideal,
the awareness of failure to achieve in practice what
one visions in thought, is on the side of the will
called conscience; on the side of the intellect it
may be called interest. Intellectual advance is
thus seen to depend upon a vivid realization of the
gap between one's theory and one's practice.

One's practice cannot rise above one's theory.
To have no theory is to invite failure at the outset.
To erect a high ideal, to establish an advanced
theory is to make possible skillful teaching. It is
the constant approach in practice to one's standards
in thought that gives inspiration to teaching, that
makes for large issues in the realm of the school.
One's theory must not rise too high above one's
experience lest the tension, the awareness of the
gap, lead to discouragement and despair. For that
reason it is always wise to couple with one's training
in the theory of pedagogics actual practice in teach-
ing. This practice gives one a personal experience
to be tested and formulated after the fashion of
one's theory, and it also gives one the only possible
data, that of experience, by which to test the valid-
ity, the workableness of one's theory. The more



16 EDITOR'S PREFACE

varied and real, and the less artificial and make-
believe this experience is, the more valuable it
becomes when organized into theoretic guidance.
The person who evolves a theory of education,
no matter how coherent, gives little sympathy and
affords less guidance to growing teachers unless
that theory is found to organize and make mean-
ingful the vast sum of concrete data given by actual
experience in teaching an ordinary school. This
volume is an attempt to explain this data of experi-
ence in terms of law and of philosophic guidance.
The author has had an extended discipline both in
the theory and in the practice of educational things,
and presents in this volume his best thought as
guidance for those who possess the hunger to know
the meaning of every act of the teacher in terms
of purpose and in formula of law.

M. G. B.

January 20, 1908.



CONTENTS



THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

PAGE

A. THE SCHOOL PROCESS 19

(a) The Creative Process 19

1. The Spiritual 19

2. The Teacher 29

,3. The Pupil 39

(6) The Instructive Process 49

1 . The Organization 49

2. The Recitation 59

3. The Curriculum 74

(c) The Humanistic Process 86

1 . The Social 86

2. The ^sthetical 98

3. The Ethical 113

B. THE TEACHING PROCESS 130

(a) The Growth Process 130

1. The Movement 130

2. The Method 156

3. The Purpose 180

(h) The Thinking Process 190

1. The Law 190

2. The Development 210

3. The Doctrine 237

(c) The Life Process 256

1 . The Problem 256

2. The Tension 265

3. The Interpretation 273

C. THE UNIVERSAL PROCESS 283

(a) The Logical Process: Idea 283

(6) The Cosmic Process: Nature 293

(c) The Spiritual Process: Mind 301

BIBLIOGRAPHY 326

INDEX 331

17



The Educational Process



THE SCHOOL PROCESS

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

I.
THE SPIRITUAL

The School is created by a spiritual force which
unifies teacher and pupil. The spiritual (nous,
mind, thought, reason, ego) is the generative princi-
ple of the world, and the essence and truth of nature.
It is in its vital nature, creative and constructive,
and is the active element of all thought and all
things. The laws of thought are, therefore, the
laws of things. '^The secret of the mind is the
secret of the universe."

The Nature of Spirit. — It is the nature of spirit
and spiritual organizations to thirst after ideal
attainments. There is an energy in spirit known
as ''potential infinitude" which perpetually strug-
gles for the highest good. The spiritual unifying
principle of the school is a subtle force which not
only knits teacher and pupil together, but has the
power of transforming the natural pupil into a
thinking being. There is an activity in and through
the pupil which transmutes him into the realm of

19



20 THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

law, order, and reason which is his other, ideal and
true self. The school exhibits spirit as a process of
working out through the teacher and subject-matter
all the potentiality found in the undeveloped child.
To understand any thing, it is necessary to probe
into its creative energy and to analyze its creative
process. To grasp the inner nature of the school

and to understand its creative process, we
Creative are ushcrcd into a study of spirit itself.

One of the knotty problems of the world
is to gain a clear conception of the creative power
of spirit. However, we are taught that its chief
function is to separate itself from itself and to
make itself its own '^ polar opposite." The school
created by an organic unity of teacher and pupil is
the polar opposite of mind. It is also the nature of
spirit not only to create its otherness (the school)
but to gain its freedom by a return from this creation
to itself again. J. F. K. Rosenkranz says:

" Mind has reality only in so far as it produces it for itself."

Spirit stamps its own nature upon the school in
the creative act and produces in the spiritual organ-
ism an activity akin to itself.

The living spirit not only creates the
Formative school, but is the formatlvc principle of

all things. Whatever is, is mind, thought,
idea, before it becomes objective reality. The mind
pencil exists before the material pencil. The ideal
creates the real, but the real returns upon the ideal
and performs that function for which it was created.



THE SPIRITUAL 21

The house exists as idea before it springs into objec-
tivity. Thought molds brick and mortar into a house.
If it were possible to jerk out deftly the thought in
the house, it would return to brick and mortar.
Ships and railroad trains, bridges and cities are
thoughts externalized. The world itself is a thought
of God made objective, and all science, a process of
unfolding, developing, and learning this thought.
In the last analysis the school and the world are
at heart one. An explanation of the school and,
therefore, of all educative processes rests upon the
solid rock foundation of cosmic philosophy. universal
So far as we know, the universe is a crea- Tension
tive energy constantly struggling between poten-
tiality and actuality. This universal tension found
in the physical world is transmitted into all organic
existence. Within the plant there is a pent-up force
which causes it to struggle for higher forms of life.
The animal has an added increment of life, but still
possesses the same tendencies to grow, to develop
and to increase in size and strength. In addition to
this same world energy found in the plant and the
animal, man has the ability to set up his own ideals,
and by force of mind to transmute himself into
these higher possibilities. He has the ability to
create an educational institution which he uses as a
means of self-reahzation. The school is analyzed
into the spirit of the teacher, and the spirit of the
pupil unified and organized by the spirit of the
world, the creating, originating, pulse-beating, har-
monizing and world-producing energy.



22 THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

The School Organism. — The inner nature of the
school is found to be the ultimate principle of the
world. The laws of nature and the inner law of
the school are spiritual and can be grasped by
thought only. Natural laws are great spiritual
threads running through the universe which make
it thinkable. If nature were without law or reason,
it would be unknown to the human mind. Since
knowledge is possible, mind finds itself in all reality,
physical, institutional and educational.

Both the school and nature are governed by law

or reason. A natural law and the law of the school

may each be defined as an observed order of facts.

In nature the flower blooms and the tree

Natural Law /•i«i xi iii

puts forth its leaves. In the school there
is an organic spiritual unity of teacher and pupil.
The human mind is not satisfied with uniformity in
nature and in the school, but seeks a cause which
explains this constant order of things.

The keen intellect of Newton demonstrated in
mathematical and physical terms ('' directly as the
mass and inversely as the square of the distance")
the action of force which is the root-idea
of law. Force is a form of thought and a
form of things and is the inherent nature of the
school organism. The educator is struggling to
ascertain the nature and action of this spiritual force
which is the creating, controlling and organizing
factor of the school.

To understand the final cause or doctrine of the
school and nature, it is necessary to examine that



THE SPIRITUAL 23

phase of law which has for its object, the
accomplishment of a function or pur-
pose. The flower blooms that its species may be
perpetuated. The spiritual creates the school that
it may realize its essence, — freedom. Spirit not
only produces itself in the school, but attains its
freedom in its otherness.

The thought of unfolding the spiritual nature of
the child creates the school. The objective school
returns upon the thought school and accomplishes
the purpose of its creation. The external objective
school is a means between a thought and school

its realization. Thought or reason is the essence of
the school and the material, objective, fixed school
is merely an auxiliary factor in the process. The
mind school exists before the matter school.

Some educational thinkers are materialists and
believe that the objective school is the real thing
itself. Materialism teaches that matter seeks a
central point, and if it realizes its ideal, it perishes.
Idealism teaches that the essence of spirit is freedom,
and that its realization is life and activity. The
materialist thinks the school as dead; the idealist,
as living, growing and developing. According to
the doctrine of identity the material school is in
and through the spiritual, and the ideal school is
in and through the material.

Perhaps the deepest truth found in the study of
the school is the fact, that the principle which
creates the school is the subject-matter of all studies
in the school. The thought or reason in science.



24 THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

history, literature, and other subjects is at the same
time the creative energy which produces the school.
That force lurking in the school organism which
causes it to come into existence and to grow, is
the same energy (in nature) which creates the
plant, the animal, society, the state, and the church,
and causes them to grow and to develop into higher
forms of existence. In each there is a struggle
The Inner bctwecn the real and the ideal, the poten-
struggie ^j^j ^j^^ ^l^g actual, and between what is
and what ought to be. The unity between the ideal
and the actual, the individual and the universal is
never attained, but it is still the goal (gold) of all
human endeavor. H. S. Nash says:

" The may-be and the ought-to-be gather in force on the frontiers
of the is to daunt and disturb it."

This tension is the heart of the world and the
life of the school. Through this struggle the real
school is striving constantly to become the ideal
school, and the real pupil, the ideal scholar.

The school is a spiritual process of working out
actually through the teacher what the pupil is
potentially. The school, society and the state are
conditions in which freedom is realized. The spirit-