The two possible modes of verification are recourse to experience and appeal to reason; or empirical proofs and rational proofs. In the former the hypothesis is compared with facts by means of further observation and experiment. M. Romanes’ experience with the bees is a fairillustration of this form. Possibly the student has already noted that Romanes’ mode of procedure conforms to the “joint method of agreement and difference.” In the case of rational proofs the hypothesis is subjected to deductive demonstration, either of the form of syllogistic argument or mathematical calculation. A fair sample of this kind of verification is Newton’s discovery of universal gravitation. When he decided that the moon and the apple might be controlled by the same universal force, he undertook to establish his hypothesis by mathematical calculation. At first his figures seemed to disprove his theory, but after a wait of ten years, new data relative to the diameter of the earth, removed the apparent discrepancy. In the case of the discovery of Neptune, the verification was both rational and empirical. Mathematical (rational) calculation led to the assumption that the new planet must be at such a point. With this knowledge the observer was enabled to turn his telescope to the spot indicated and there, true to the calculations, was Neptune (empirical).
To summarize: The method of the discoverer involves a knowledge of certain fundamental facts; the observation of crucial facts; a mental unrest; the constructing of an hypothesis through analogy; and finally verification by either appeal to experience, or mathematical demonstration.
6. THE REAL INDUCTIVE METHOD OR DISCOVERER’S METHOD NOT IN VOGUE IN CLASS ROOM WORK.
It has been remarked elsewhere that there are two general mind types, the liberal and the conservative. Alsothat the natural method of thought animating the former is inductive; while the natural method of thought of the latter is deductive. The “liberal” is the apostle of new truth; the “conservative” an apostle of safe truth. Both types are needed; the one to balance the other. In consequence both methods are of service in the class room; here each should be given its proportionate place. That this condition does not obtain may not be apparent, since much attention is being given to certain inductive forms, such as “proceeding from the concrete to the abstract,” “from the particular to the general,” “from the known to the related unknown,” etc. Likewise the courses of study and the various text books, claim to advocate the use of the inductive process. Seemingly these facts point toward a very general observance of the inductive tenets. This is true with one vital exception: Induction is the natural method of the discoverer. With it he acquires knowledge; but in the class room induction is used to impart knowledge. In life the discoverer takes the initiative, thinks his own thoughts first hand; but in the school room, above the kindergarten, the child is not allowed to take the initiative, not even in his play. All is planned for him, all doled out, not in the raw, but partially made over. The teacher must impart a certain amount of knowledge in a given time, and consequently she must “set the pace” in this race for second hand facts. To allow the child to lead; to give him the benefit of his own individuality; to permit him to use the God given spirit of discovery which clamors for recognition; would be suicidal according to our present standards. If theplan of the discoverer were followed, the course of study could not be covered; children would fail of promotion; and criticism would be forthcoming from both principal and parent.
In the average class room of the day the inductive FORM prevails but the SPIRIT is not in evidence. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing induction has entered the class room to devour that primal force in the child’s make-up, which has raised his race above his simian ancestors. Our class room methods, being inductive in form but deductive in spirit, may train the youngster to be a camp follower but never a leader in thought and action. The call of the day is for more initiative; for more originality; for more individuality; for more enthusiasm. There is too much form without the spirit; so much that bespeaks system and refinement without those native impulses and native abilities which mark one child from another. Like the books of a library our children are classified and labeled, and when more come in the others are dusted and placed on the next higher shelf. How many more centuries must we wait before the schools will adopt, in spirit as well as in form, the pedagogical principles of life? Will the time ever come when it may be said that all our leaders in thought and action are college graduates?
7. AS A METHOD OF INSTRUCTION DEDUCTION IS SUPERIOR TO INDUCTION.
The inductive method is pre-eminently the method of the discoverer only when it involves both the form, which he follows, and the spirit, which he evinces. The so-calledmethod of the school room is inductive in form, as the procedure is from particular facts to general truths; but deductive in spirit, as it is used to impart knowledge. If it were inductive in spirit, the child would be allowed to acquire knowledge entirely through his own initiative. Deduction is the method of instruction, whereas induction is the method of discovery. That the child of the school is instructed or better “deducted” and not generally allowed to discover, is a situation so apparent that we need not labor the point further.
Because the inductive process has been made a method of instruction, it has been robbed of its chief advantage over deduction. Indeed, as a method of instruction, deduction is really the superior method. It requires less time, demands greater concentration, often arouses more interest, and creates situations which are less involved.
8. CONQUEST NOT KNOWLEDGE THE DESIDERATUM.
In all great inventions, man has taken his cue from nature. In inventing the telescope, his model was the eye; in building his house, his inspiration was the cave. In reality man has accepted nature’s suggestions, and then attempted to improve upon them. In this he has met with success. From the crab apple tree, he has developed the northern spy; from the wild hen which laid 25 eggs a year, he has evolved the modern hen which produces 225 eggs a year. Moreover, man has attained his greatest successes by enlarging upon the thoughts of nature and not by unmixed substitutions. Burbank, through a long process of years, has changed the color ofa flower, but in accomplishing this did he not use some hidden tendency of nature? Burbank, with all his wisdom, cannot give a flower color unaided by “Dame Nature.”