Elementary Science in the Secondary Schools of Ontario (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from Elementary Science in the Secondary Schools of Ontario

A man's life is centred about his vocation. Everyone should be in a position wisely to choose his calling. To do this he must have tried out in a general way at least. His ability along certain directions. He should find out whether he is a square peg before he tries the round hole. If he excels in English but is deficient in mathematics. The platform. Bar, pupil or pen. According to the particular line of his talent. Affords a more certain aventtc to success than civil engineering. The incidental. Rather than the funda mental features of a vocation so often determine a boy's choice. I remember a former student who wished to be a Civil engineer because he liked wild life. Though he had never camped beyond his father's lawn. And made at least one blunder in every mathema tical problem he attempted to solve. A failure in algebra and geometry at the matriculation examination caused him to take a more serious view of things; while a summer up north. Fire-ranging. Cooled his ardour for wild life. The majority of men in Canada are engaged in vocations of a more of less scientific character. Hence it is essential that every one should be sufficiently familiar with the general aspects of science study to enable him to know himself and his possibilities in relation to these fields of activity.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Elementary Science in the Secondary Schools of Ontario

State schools prepare for citizenship. Citizenship is concerned with future social activity. State education in correspondence with social activity is partly general, partly special. Elementary science is an essential feature of general education; it is in accord with the native interests of the child; it provides a training for the activities of ordinary life; it gives the pupil a knowledge of his physical environment; it enables him wisely to choose a vocation.

"Education is not a mere development, it is training, and training implies an end clearly conceived by the trainer."

In every formal system of education some tendencies in the child's nature are carefully fostered, others are either greatly modified or entirely arrested. While the school cultivates the child's disposition to perform his various tasks neatly and to work at each industriously, it also checks his inclinations to do some things in a slovenly manner or to neglect his work along certain lines. Not only are evil tendencies arrested, but many good ones must be restrained. A man becomes a surgeon chiefly because at the same time he does not become a lawyer, merchant, farmer or mechanic. If development were the end of education, distinction among tendencies could not be made. The good and bad would be alike cultivated, and specialisation would be impossible. But in formal education this distinction is made, development is controlled. Development, then, can only be a means to an end, not the end itself. The real, ultimate end of formal education must be that which determines what tendencies in the child's nature are to be developed, and to what extent their development shall proceed.

This determinant of development is not constant, but varies with the nature of the school. The schools with which this thesis deals are maintained and controlled by the state; their function and product must thus be social in character. Since secondary schools cannot engage in research work, the only line of social activity open to them is the production of good citizens.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.