o use this effective economic appeal
in stimulating a glimpse of the broader vision. I do not object to the
subject that appeals to the pupil's curiosity because it informs him of
the wonderful deeds that men have done in the past. I do object to that
mode of teaching this subject which simply arouses interest in a
spectacular deed, and then fails to use this interest in the
interpretation of present problems. I do not contend that in either case
there must be an explicit pointing of morals and drawing of lessons. But
I do contend that the teacher who is in charge of the process should
always have this purpose in the forefront of his consciousness, and--now
by direct comparison, now by indirection and suggestion--guide his
pupils to the goal desired.

I hope that through careful tests, we shall some day be able to
demonstrate that there is much that is good and valuable on both sides
of every controverted educational question. After all, in this complex
and intricate task of teaching to which you and I are devoting our
lives, there is too much at stake to permit us for a moment to be
dogmatic,--to permit us for a moment to hold ourselves in any other
attitude save one of openness and reception to the truth when the truth
shall have been demonstrated. Neither your ideas nor mine, nor those of
any man or group of men, living or dead, are important enough to stand
in the way of the best possible accomplishment of that great task to
which we have set our hands.

IV

But I did not propose this morning to talk to you about science as a
part of our educational curriculum, but rather about the scientific
spirit and the scientific method as effective instruments for the
solution of our own peculiar educational problems. I have tried to give
you reasons for believing that an adoption of this policy does not
necessarily commit us to materialism or to a narrowly economic point of
view. I have attempted to show that the scientific method may be applied
to the solution of our problems while we still retain our faith in
ideals; and that, unless we do retain that faith, our investigations
will be without point or meaning.

This problem of vocational education to which I have just referred is
one that is likely to remain unsolved until we have made a searching
investigation of its factors in the light of scientific method. Some
people profess not to be worried by the difficulty of finding time in
our elementary and secondary scho