school
of the present is of two types. One is the relic of an earlier time,
with few changes in equipment, organization, or function; it has not
shared in the process of evolution enjoyed by certain other
institutions of society. The other type is progressive. It has been
continually finding adjustment to its environment, fitting itself to
meet local needs, and is therefore abreast of the times in educational
science. The demand of the age is that the progressive school keep
advancing, and as fast as possible the backward school work up to the
standard of efficiency.

It is a sociological principle that every social institution
approximates to the standards of the community as a whole. If
community life is static, school and church stay in the ruts; if it is
retrograding, they are losing ground; if it is progressive, they
gradually show improvement. On the other hand, the community
frequently feels external stimulus, first through one of its
institutions, so that the institution becomes a means of betterment.
Recent years furnish examples of a new impulse generated in the
neighborhood by a teacher or a minister who enters the locality with
new ideas and unquenchable zeal.

127. =Three Fundamental Principles of Education.=--There are three
fundamental principles that ought to have recognition in every
school. The first of these is the principle that education is to be
social. The pupil has to learn how to live in the community. In the
home he becomes socialized so far as to learn how to get along with
his own relatives and intimates, but the school teaches him how to
deal with all sorts of people. He gets acquainted with his
environment, both social and physical. What kind of people are living
in the homes of the neighborhood? What are their characteristics,
their ideals, their failings? What are their occupations, their race
or nationality, their measure of comfort, poverty, or wealth? How are
they hindered or helped by their natural surroundings, and have they
easy means of communication and transit with the outside world? What
are the principles that govern social intercourse, and how can the
pupil learn to put them into practice? How is he to reconcile his own
individual rights with his social obligations? These are fundamental
questions that deserve careful answer, and that must be made a part of
the school curriculum if the community is to enjoy social health. It
matters little how such subjects are named in an