10	THE  CONTENT  OF EDUCATION
the curriculum do take place they are too often at the
superficial level of those who complain that neither office
boys nor science graduates, nor even the employers who
complain about the office boys, can write English,
Alternatively such discussion degenerates into a dispute
between rival claimants for space in the timetable, or into
a series of ex cathedra pronouncements by those whose
criticisms are based on their own experiences in the schools
of forty years ago. Thus, for one who believes that the
traditional curriculum contains much of the highest value
the greatest danger lies less in the prospect of there being
too little change than in the probability that considerable
changes may be brought about on grounds of prejudiced
and superficial thought and by those out of touch with
the schools.
The tendency to be concerned with the learning process
rather than with what is taught is to some extent justified
as a healthy reaction against a view of education as the
mechanical inculcation of information. It must also be
welcomed as evidence of a greater concern for the methods
of approach necessary when educating a whole population,
and not merely an intelligent minority. But it must be
constantly reiterated that teaching and learning must be
of something, and it is clearly necessary that more careful
and precise thought should be devoted to the exact nature
of what is to be taught in schools and universities.
The need is, of course, particularly urgent at the present
time. It is a truism that we are passing through a revolu-
tionary phase in the history of mankind, in which new
questions are demanding answers in every aspect of life,
social, economic, and spiritual. It is ultimately only
through the schools that the right answers can be found.