One  item  more  in  this  connection.  Democracy  can  have
no  hope  of  ever  escaping  from  the  stress  of  problems.  Or
perhaps  we  should  say  that  if  democracy  ever  does  so  es-
cape and  lose  the  sense  of  facing  problems,  then  intelli-
gence will  disappear,  science  will  decay,  and  democracy
will  die.  The  very  possibility  of  democracy  turns  upon
the  permanency  of  the  problematic  element  in  human  liv-
ing. Intelligence  functions  only  in  the  presence  of  some
problematic  situation.  Now  we  have  seen  in  the  course  of
this  story  how  we  have  been  swept  far  out  from  the  certain-
ties of  the  old  folkways,  with  their  unconsciousness  of  the
forces,  interests,  and  energies  of  life,  into  the  uncertainties
of  the  present,  with  its  endless  problems,  its  science,  and  its
profound  hopes  of  democracy.  The  problems  of  the  past
were  in  keeping  the  world  secure,  and  of  rendering  it  free
from  pain  and  problems.  The  great  problem  of  the  present
is  in  keeping  alive  the  realization  of  the  fact  that  we  live
in  a  world  of  unstable  equilibrium,  in  a  world  of  problems,
and  that  the  way  to  meet  problems  is  to  recognize  their
existence,  not  to  ignore  them  in  the  interest  of  a  fancied
security.  Problems  make  democracy  possible,  since  out  of
the  existence  of  problems  comes  the  larger  intelligence
which  is  able  to  deal  with  life  in  a  democratic  way.  It  is
not  fewer  but  more  problems  that  we  must  have.  The
social  and  educational  ideal  of  the  past  stated  itself  in


406  DEMOCRACY  IN  EDUCATION

terms  of  a  final  adjustment  to  a  peaceful  environment.
