n with what is presented. In such cases, it is obviously the part
of wisdom to establish consciousness of connection. In general what is
desirable is that a topic be presented in such a way that it either have
an immediate value, and require no justification, or else be perceived
to be a means of achieving something of intrinsic value. An instrumental
value then has the intrinsic value of being a means to an end. It may
be questioned whether some of the present pedagogical interest in the
matter of values of studies is not either excessive or else too narrow.
Sometimes it appears to be a labored effort to furnish an apologetic for
topics which no longer operate to any purpose, direct or indirect, in
the lives of pupils. At other times, the reaction against useless lumber
seems to have gone to the extent of supposing that no subject or topic
should be taught unless some quite definite future utility can be
pointed out by those making the course of study or by the pupil himself,
unmindful of the fact that life is its own excuse for being; and that
definite utilities which can be pointed out are themselves justified
only because they increase the experienced content of life itself. 3.
The Segregation and Organization of Values. It is of course possible to
classify in a general way the various valuable phases of life. In order
to get a survey of aims sufficiently wide (See ante, p. 110) to give
breadth and flexibility to the enterprise of education, there is some
advantage in such a classification. But it is a great mistake to regard
these values as ultimate ends to which the concrete satisfactions of
experience are subordinate. They are nothing but generalizations,
more or less adequate, of concrete goods. Health, wealth, efficiency,
sociability, utility, culture, happiness itself are only abstract
terms which sum up a multitude of particulars. To regard such things as
standards for the valuation of concrete topics and process of education
is to subordinate to an abstraction the concrete facts from which the
abstraction is derived. They are not in any true sense standards of
valuation; these are found, as we have previously seen, in the specific
realizations which form tastes and habits of preference. They are,
however, of significance as points of view elevated above the details of
life whence to survey the field and see how its constituent details are
distributed, and whether they are well proportioned. No classification
c