It is difficult to connect general principles with such thoroughly concrete things as children.

If there is one conclusion to which human experience unmistakably points it is that democratic ends demand democratic methods for their realization.

As formal teaching and training grow in extent, there is the danger of creating an undesirable split between the experience gained in more direct associations and what is acquired in school. This danger was never greater than at the present time, on account of the rapid growth in the last few centuries of knowledge and technical modes of skill.

I believe that the only true education comes through the stimulation of the child's powers by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself.

Without initiation into the scientific spirit one is not in possession of the best tools which humanity has so far devised for effectively directed reflection. One in that case not merely conducts inquiry and learning without the use of the best instruments, but fails to understand the full meaning of knowledge.

If the eye is constantly greeted by harmonious objects, having elegance of form and color, a standard of taste naturally grows up.

A society with too few independent thinkers is vulnerable to control by disturbed and opportunistic leaders. A society which wants to create and maintain a free and democratic social system must create responsible independence of thought among its young.