CHAPTER XXVI THE SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT AND THE CURRICULUM OUTLINE During the past two centuries a great growth has taken place in the natural sciences. For a long time this development affected practical life very little, but during the nineteenth century the application of science to industrial problems has resulted in a host of inventions. Because of the importance of the sciences to life, Spencer and others have urged the inclusion of them in the curricula of schools and colleges. While the content of the sciences has furnished the chief argument for this, many scientists have urged their value as formal discipline. Instruction in the sciences has gradually been included in the higher, secondary, and elementary institutions of Germany, France, England, and the United States. This marked scientific movement is allied with the psychological tendency in its improvement of method, and with the sociological in its emphasis upon human welfare. The Development of the Natural Sciences in Modern Times. We have already (chapter XV) witnessed the growth of the natural sciences and the beginning of their introduction into the curriculum toward the close of the seventeenth century. This tendency was also greatly stimulated by Rousseau, who, we have seen (pp. 218– 222), may be held to advocate the scientific, as well as achievements during past the sociological and psychological movements. And dur- two centuries. Remarkable Hutton, ing the past two centuries this development has become most rapid and extensive. The desire for scientific investigation steadily grew throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries until its ideals, methods, and results became patent in every department of human knowledge. The strongholds of ignorance, superstition, and prejudice were rapidly stormed and taken through new discoveries or new marshallings of facts already discovered. But evident as this movement has been, it is scarcely possible here even to mention the more important scientific achievements, or to outline the broad sweep of progress in astronomy, geology, biology, physiology, chemistry, physics, and other sciences within a century. The Newtonian theory has been confirmed by the investigations of Lagrange and Laplace and by the discovery of Neptune by mathematical reasoning from the effects of its gravitation. Hutton's 'Plutonic' theory of continents and Agassiz's hypothesis of a universal ice-age have been formulated; the doctrine of evolution of Darwin (Fig. 51) and Mendel's law of inheritance have been established; Liebig and others have thrown light upon the process of digestion and the functioning of the lungs and liver; atoms, molecules, and ions have been defined; Joule and Mayer have demonstrated the conservation of energy; and the periodic law of chemical elements has been discovered by Newlands. The Growth of Inventions and Discoveries in the Nineteenth Century.-It should be noted, however, that the majority of these investigations were for a long time carried on outside the universities, and, owing to the almost proverbial conservatism of educational institutions, the natural sciences scarcely entered the course teenth century of study anywhere. In fact, these great discoveries at first seem not to have affected practical life in any direction. Huxley tells us that in the eighteenth century "weaving and spinning were carried on with the old appliances; nobody could travel faster by sea or by land than at any previous time in the world's history, and King George could send a message from London to York no faster than King John might have done." But a little later, as he adds, "that growth of knowledge beyond imaginable utilitarian ends, which is the condition precedent of its practical utility, began to produce During ninesome effect upon practical life." The nineteenth century science applied will, on this account, always be known for its development of inventions and the arts, as well as of pure science. During this period science rapidly grew and took the labor, transform of applications to the problems of labor, production, communicatransportation, communication, hygiene, and sanitation. tion, comfort, The reaper, the sewing machine, the printing press, and the typewriter greatly reduced the cost of labor; the steamboat, locomotive, electric railway, telegraph, and telephone linked all parts of the world together; anthracite, friction matches, petroleum, and electric lighting and heating greatly enlarged the comforts of life; and stethoscopes, anæsthetics, antiseptics, and antitoxines added wonderfully to the span of human life. Herbert Spencer and What Knowledge is of Most Worth.-Because of these practical results, the vital importance of a knowledge of natural phenomena to human welfare and social progress was more and more felt throughout the century. It gradually became evident that the natural sciences were demanded by modern life and constituted elements of the greatest value in to problems of portation, and hygiene. be Contest he modern culture and education. Many English and American writers began to maintain that an exclusive study of the classics did not provide a suitable preparacates of classics tion for life, and that the sciences should be included in the curriculum. This step was bitterly opposed by conservative institutions and educators. During a greater part of the century a contest was waged between the advocates of the classical monopoly and the progressives, who urged that the sciences should be introduced. and sciences. Preparation for complete purpose of education. A representative argument for sciences in the course of study is that made by Herbert Spencer (Fig. 52) in his essay on What Knowledge Is of Most Worth. He ventured to raise the whole question of the purpose of education. He held that "to prepare us for complete living as the living is the function which education has to discharge; and the only rational mode of judging of any educational course is, to judge in what degree it discharges such function. Our first step must obviously be to classify, in the order of their importance, the leading kinds of activity which constitute human life. They may be arranged into: 1. Those activities which directly minister to self-preservation; 2. Those activities which, by securing the necessaries of life, indirectly minister to selfpreservation; 3. Those activities which have for their end the rearing and discipline of offspring; 4. Those activities which are involved in the maintenance of proper social and political relations; 5. Those miscellaneous activities which make up the leisure part of life, devoted to the gratification of the tastes and feelings. The ideal of education is complete preparation in all these divisions. But failing this ideal, the aim should be to maintain a due proportion between the degrees Leading kinds of activity; of preparation in each, greatest where the value is greatest, less where the value is less, least where the value is least." these, sciences useful; Applying this test, Spencer finds that a knowledge of for all of the sciences is always most useful in life, and therefore are most of most worth. He considers each one of the five groups of activities and demonstrates the need of the knowledge of some science or sciences to guide it rightly. An acquaintance with physiology is necessary to the maintenance of health, and so for self-preservation. Any form of industry or other means of indirect self-preservation will require some understanding of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and sociology. To care for the physical, intellectual, and moral training of their children, parents should know the general principles of physiology, psychology, and ethics. A man is best fitted for citizenship through a knowledge of the science of history in its political, economic, and social aspects. And even the æsthetic or leisure side of life depends upon physiology, mechanics, and psychology as a basis for art, music, of educational and poetry. Hence Spencer advocates a complete change content is from the type of training that had dominated education since the Renaissance and calls for a release from the traditional bondage to the classics. Instead of Greek and Latin for 'culture' and 'discipline,' and an order of society where the few are educated for a life of elegant leisure, he recommends the sciences and a new scheme of life where every one shall enjoy all advantages in the order of their relative value. But Spencer uses the term 'science' rather loosely, and seeks to denote the social, political, and moral sciences, as well as the physical and biological, as being 'of most worth.' Hence and a change advocated. |