balance this fact
against that fact, and this probability against that probability, in an
effort to arrive at a solution of his problem.

Before we can engage in deliberative thinking we must be confronted by
some problem, some such "_split-road_" situation in our mental
stream--we must have something to think about. It is this fact that
makes one writer say that the great purpose of one's education is not to
solve all his problems for him. It is rather to help him (1) to
_discover_ problems, or "_split-road_" situations, (2) to assist him in
gathering the facts necessary for their solution, and (3) to train him
in the weighing of his facts or evidence, that is, in deliberative
thinking. Only as we learn to recognize the true problems that confront
us in our own lives and in society about us can we become thinkers in
the best sense. Our own plans and projects, the questions of right and
wrong that are constantly arising, the social, political and religious
problems awaiting solution, all afford the opportunity and the necessity
for deliberative thinking. And unhappy is the pupil whose school work
does not set the problems and employ the methods which will insure
training in this as well as in the assimilative type of thinking. Every
school subject, besides supplying certain information to be "learned,"
should present its problems requiring true deliberative thinking within
the range of development and ability of the pupil, and no
subject--literature, history, science, language--is without many such
problems.

2. THE FUNCTION OF THINKING

All true thinking is for the purpose of discovering relations between
the things we think about. Imagine a world in which nothing is related
to anything else; in which every object perceived, remembered, or
imagined, stands absolutely by itself, independent and self-sufficient!
What a chaos it would be! We might perceive, remember, and imagine all
the various objects we please, but without the power to think them
together, they would all be totally unrelated, and hence have no
meaning.

MEANING DEPENDS ON RELATIONS.--To have a rational meaning for us, things
must always be defined in terms of other things, or in terms of their
uses. _Fuel_ is that which feeds _fire_. _Food_ is what is eaten for
_nourishment_. A _locomotive_ is a machine for _drawing a train_.
_Books_ are to _read_, _pianos_ to _play_, _balls_ to _throw_, _schools_
to _instruct_, _friends_ to _enjoy_, and so on th