we are surrounded, but the sturdy virtues which made these
comforts possible.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 15: An address delivered March 18, 1910, before the Central
Illinois Teachers' Association.]

~X~

SCIENCE AS RELATED TO THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE[16]

The scientific method is the method of unprejudiced observation and
induction. Its function in the scheme of life is to furnish man with
facts and principles,--statements which mirror with accuracy and
precision the conditions that may exist in any situation of any sort
which man may have to face. In other words, the facts of science are
important and worthy because they help us to solve the problems of life
more satisfactorily. They are instrumental in their function. They are
means to an end. And whenever we have a problem to solve, whenever we
face a situation that demands some form of adjustment, the more accurate
the information that we possess concerning this situation, the better we
shall be able to solve it.

Now when I propose that we try to find out some facts about the teaching
of English, and that we apply the scientific method in the discovery of
these facts, I am immediately confronted with an objection. My opponent
will maintain that the subject of English in our school curriculum is
not one of the sciences. Taking English to mean particularly English
literature rather than rhetoric or composition or grammar, it is clear
that we do not teach literature as we teach the sciences. Its function
differs from that of science in the curriculum. If there is a science of
literature, that is not what we are teaching in the secondary schools,
and that is not what most of us believe should be taught in the
secondary schools. We think that the study of literature should transmit
to each generation the great ideals that are crystallized in literary
masterpieces. And we think that, in seeing to it that our pupils are
inspired with these ideals, we should also teach literature in such a
way that our pupils will be left with a desire to read good literature
as a source of recreation and inspiration after they have finished the
courses that we offer. When I speak of "inspiration," "appreciation,"
the development of "taste," and the like, I am using terms that have
little direct relation to the scientific method; for, as I have said,
science deals with facts, and the harder and more stubborn and more
unyielding the facts become, the better they represent true