Building a Philosophy of Education by Harry S. Broudy (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 419 thinking of the faithful will have to be weighed and the apostolate made more direct and personal in its scope. Secularism should be recognized as the principal obstacle to the success of the ministry and the help of the laity should be sought for the intensification of apostolic work. Finally, there must be a recognition of the various levels of social stratification so that the apostolate may be diversified according to the social milieu in which the priest must work. In a recent address to the pastors and preachers of his own diocese of Rome, Pope Pius XII warned them against superficiality in estimating the condition of the parish and urged them to employ more exact methods in their pastoral care of souls. Calling for " a statistical effort made with seriousness, exacting realism and quiet impartiality ," the Holy Pontiff suggested that such research would be an effective antidote to clerical complacency and an accurate method of gearing the apostolate to the needs of the faithful. With Social Relations, Father Fichter has produced a representative sociological study which should benefit the ministry, provide enlightenment to the laity and be a guide to those working along similar lines. Although marred by a few typographical errors (pp. 46, 134, 147, 185, !l45, !l46), this work avoids the occasional triviality, repetition and unnecessary detail which were found in his first study. This reviewer looks forward to the publication of more studies of this nature, because he feels that those who work, like Father Fichter, in this field of parish sociology can contribute much to the mission of the Church. Providence College, Providence, R. l. JOSEPH L. LENNON, o. P. Building a Philosophy of Education. By HARRY S. BROUDY. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1954. Pp. 495 with index. $5.00. It has been alleged tha.t most books on education read as if they had been badly translated from the German. Mr. Broudy's Building a Philosophy of Education does not. It is a very readable book written in an unpretentious and sometimes witty manner. He manages to be informal and simple without over-simplifying or talking down to his readers. Students of philosophy and of education will note the freedom from the stock phrases and the circumlocutions so often used by writers in both these fields. Mr. Broudy tries to avoid the use of expressions that everyone thinks he understands as well as a technical vocabulary that gives a professional air to a book but prevents its being read outside its field. He has written a book that can be understood by a college student regardless of the amount or kind of course he has had in philosophy or education. 420 BOOK REVIEWS For Mr. Broudy "education is the process or product of a deliberate attempt to fashion experience by the direction and control of learning." (p. 9) The philosophy of education could mean either the application of philosophy to education or a philosophical analysis of educational problems. The author here regards the philosophy of education as " the systematic discussion of educational problems on a philosophical level, i. e., the probing into an educational question until it is reduced to an issue in metaphysics , epistemology, ethics, logic, or aesthetics, or to a combination of these." (p. ~O) His method, consistently followed in the book, is to examine the needs revealed in an educational problem, analyze various answers, and propose a solution. His solutions to the various problems ultimately make a coherent whole that responds well to the ends and principles from which the author works. Briefly, the order of the book is such that Mr. Broudy begins with a discussion of the aim of education, the good life. Then in several chapters he takes up the means either given by the nature of things or to be chosen by man in order to realize the aim: the structure of human personality, the roles of government, family, and churches in education, the habits and skills to be acquired in school, the content of the curriculum, method, and the organization of an educational system. Part Two of the work treats the way that education is concerned with values: economic, hygienic, recreational , associational, aesthetic...