Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/85

 SOME DEMANDS OF EDUCATION UPON ANTHROPOLOGY.

The current emphasis upon the genetic method of stuoy has focused attention upon many subjects that would otherwise have but a limited interest. As an end in itself, anthropology is of interest to the few ; as a means of interpreting other sciences an acquaintance with its leading facts and principles is indispensable to the many. But even from the standpoint of means the circle of interest is widening. Heretofore the genesis of industries or institutions has been studied mainly for the purpose of gaining an insight into the product of development ; with the progress of analytical thought the emphasis of interest is placed upon the process, as a means of gaining principles of interpretation. As a result, anthropology has come to have a significance for lines of thought upon which it was formerly thought to have but little bearing.

Until recently, education has run in the grooves of tradition, but the past twenty-five years have seen the breaking up of old ideals and methods, and an attempt to reconstruct both anew, not only on the basis of psychology and ethics, but on that of the social sciences as well. The emphasis on the social aspects of education is a marked feature of the present time. But the consideration of education from this broader standpoint demands a broader basis of tributary sciences, both for the building up of scientific pedagogy, and for the practical administration of edu- cational affairs. As a social institution, the school cannot be efficiently directed without a knowledge of social agencies in general, nor can education as a social process be effectively furthered without an insight into the nature of the general processes of development. Hence sociology has become a necessary factor in the teacher's equipment.

But if education thus looks to sociology for insight, it recog- izes that sociology itself finds that insight in no small degree in

69