nt has grown up called "educational psychology,"
which constitutes at the present time the most important subdivision of
psychology. While in this book we treat briefly of the various
applications of psychology, we shall have in mind chiefly its
application to education.

=The Science of Education.= Owing to the importance which psychology has
in the science of education, it will be well for us to make some inquiry
into the nature of education. If the growth, development, and learning
of children are all controlled and determined by definite causal
factors, then a systematic statement of all these factors would
constitute the science of education. In order to see clearly whether
there is such a science, or whether there can be, let us inquire more
definitely as to the kind of problems a science of education would be
expected to solve.

There are four main questions which the science of education must solve:
(1) What is the aim of education? (2) What is the nature of education?
(3) What is the nature of the child? (4) What are the most economical
methods of changing the child from what it is into what it ought to be?

The first question is a sociological question, and it is not difficult
to find the answer. We have but to inquire what the people wish their
children to become. There is a pretty general agreement, at least in the
same community, that children should be trained in a way that will make
them socially efficient. Parents generally wish their children to become
honest, truthful, sympathetic, and industrious. It should be the aim of
education to accomplish this social ideal. It should be the aim of the
home and the school to subject children to such influences as will
enable them to make a living when grown and to do their proper share of
work for the community and state, working always for better things, and
having a sympathetic attitude toward neighbors. Education should also do
what it can to make people able to enjoy the world and life to the
fullest and highest extent. Some such aim of education as this is held
by all our people.

The second question is also answered. Psychological analysis reveals the
fact that education is a process of becoming adjusted to the world. It
is the process of acquiring the habits, knowledge, and ideals suited to
the life we are to live. The child in being educated learns what the
world is and how to act in it--how to act in all the various situations
of life.

The third q