Date of Award

6-1926

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Education

First Advisor

James M. O'Gorman

Second Advisor

William J. Grace

Abstract

Our social inheritance from the past coupled with our visionary hopes for the future, tend to alter, in each few generations, the objectives of education. As Americans, we were early exponents of the present world ideal of political democracy. The devotion of democracy to education is evident. A democratic society must have a type of education which gives individuals a personal interest in social relationships and control, and the habits of mind which secure social changes without producing disorder. "It therefore becomes necessary for each generation to take stock of its ideals and of the activities of its people, to the end that the young may live the life which will prepare them best for participation in the work and play of the world." The abilities that are generally needed by men and women, without regard to their specialized occupations, are the objectives of general education. There is no ultimate objective which stands out as the measuring stick of all the others. They are all interwoven. In general, recent educational writers agree in realizing the need for a statement of com¬ mon aims in terms of the democratic ideals. The reason that so little attention has been paid to the major objectives is that they are so difficult to determine, and so relatively indefinite in content, that the time of attack must necessarily be delayed until an adequate body of data as to method has been obtained under less difficult conditions in the study of similar problems in the field. Charters writes,.... "in order to determine the content of the curriculum the aim of education must be stated in terms both of ideals and activity. When the aim is stated in terms of ideals only, there is always a gap between the aim as stated and the curriculum as ostensibly derived from such a statement. Conversely, when the activities are stated without the ideals which dominate them, there is no means of selecting the proper method of performing the activities."

Comments

A Thesis Submitted To Fulfill The Requirements For The Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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