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174  Science  of  Education

of  the  one  is  the  product  of  the  common-sense  of  man-
kind. Many  of  the  conclusions  of  the  untrained  ob-
server went  astray,  and  still  go  astray;  but  many  of
them,  also,  came  to  honor  and  general  confidence.  The
knowledge,  the  sure,  often  predictive  knowledge,  which
the  farmer,  or  the  ranchman,  or  the  sailor  has  of  the
weather;  or  the  merchant,  of  times  and  seasons  and
popular  whims;  or  the  housewife,  of  the  quality  of
stuffs  and  their  values;  or  the  forester,  of  lumber  prod-
ucts in  the  tree;  or  the  miner,  of  hidden  ores;  is  just
the  knowledge  that  has  made  possible  the  sciences  of
meteorology,  trade  economics,  wood  mechanics  and  min-
ing. Similar  relations  may  be  affirmed  of  lay  and  pro-
fessional insights  into  law,  and  medical  treatment,  and
government,  and  public  policies,  and  ethical  conduct,
and  the  fine  arts.  The  judgments  of  the  artisan  and
the  citizen  are  often  fairly  reliable.  The  same  obser-
vation would  apply  equally  to  the  lay  estimate  concern-
ing schools  and  schooling  and  the  educational  product.
The  scientific  dictum  in  each  case  is  the  more  reliable,
chiefly  because  it  rests  upon  observations  that  are  more
accurate  and  more  comprehensive;  in  part,  more  accu-
rate because  more  comprehensive.
