Scientific Methods of studying Schools
Each of the preceding chapters has aimed to set forth certain practical school problems and to suggest the sources of information on the basis of which these problems are to be solved. Some of the information to which reference has been made is confessedly incomplete; some of it is in a form which renders very difficult exact and final inferences as to its meaning. Taken in the aggregate, however, the body of information at hand regarding schools is so great that we are justified in speaking of a science of education. Furthermore, the use of the term “science” would be justified even if we were in possession of fewer solutions of school problems than we now have, for the essence of science is its method of investigation, not its ability to lay down a body of final rules of action.
A complete transformation of the method of approaching school problems has come about in recent years. The time was when opinion, especially if it was backed by even a little practical experience, was urged as sufficient reason for all kinds of school practices. To-day it is only the rashly ignorant who talk about education or aim to influence actual school operations without informing themselves through a study of known and recorded facts. A host of practical school officers and special students of school problems have carried out laborious investigations and have created a technical literature which promises to reach every phase of school work.