The Principle Goal Of Education In The

If Logic Itself Is Created Rather Than Being Inborn, It Follows That The First Task Of Education Is To Form Reasoning.

At One Time, Many Philosophers Held That Faultless "laws Of Thought" Were Somehow Inherent, A Priori, In The Very Nature Of Mind. This Belief Was Twice Shaken In The Past Century; First When Russell And His Successors Showed How The Logic Men Employ Can Be Defective, And Later When Freud And Piaget Started To Reveal The Tortuous Ways In Which Our Minds Actually Develop.

It Is With Children That We Have The Best Chance Of Studying The Development Of Logical Knowledge, Mathematical Knowledge, Physical Knowledge, And So Forth.

It Is As His Own Mind Comes Into Contact With Others That Truth Will Begin To Acquire Value In The Child's Eyes And Will Consequently Become A Moral Demand That Can Be Made Upon Him. As Long As The Child Remains Egocentric, Truth As Such Will Fail To Interest Him And He Will See No Harm In Transposing Facts In Accordance With His Desires.

Every Time We Teach A Child Something, We Keep Him From Inventing It Himself. On The Other Hand, That Which We Allow Him To Discover For Himself Will Remain With Him Visible For The Rest Of His Life.