The considerations involved in a discussion of educational values have
already been brought out in the discussion of aims and interests. The
specific values usually discussed in educational theories coincide with
aims which are usually urged. They are such things as utility, culture,
information, preparation for social efficiency, mental discipline or
power, and so on. The aspect of these aims in virtue of which they are
valuable has been treated in our analysis of the nature of interest, and
there is no difference between speaking of art as an interest or concern
and referring to it as a value. It happens, however, that discussion of
values has usually been centered about a consideration of the various
ends subserved by specific subjects of the curriculum. It has been a
part of the attempt to justify those subjects by pointing out the
significant contributions to life accruing from their study. An
explicit discussion of educational values thus affords an opportunity
for reviewing the prior discussion of aims and interests on one hand and
of the curriculum on the other, by bringing them into connection with
one another.
