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APPLIED  PSYCHOLOGY. 

AN    INTRODUCTION 

TO   THE 

PRINCIPLES  AND  PRACTICE 
OF  EDUCATION, 


BY 


J.  A.  McLellan,  M.A.  LL.D. 

Director  of  Normal  Schools  for  Ontario. —Author  of  "Mental  Arithmetic.' 
"  £  lements  of  Algebra."  —Etc. 


Prof.  John  DEWEtxjjsrTvp^^ri;   ^ 

Of  Michigan  University.         \  ^^^LTY  J 


Learn  to  Do  by  Knowmg  and  to  Know  by  Doing. 


BOSTON.— NEW  YORK  .-CHIC  AGO  . 
EDUCATIONAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


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VA 


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PEEFACB 


This  volume  has  been  prepared  at  the  request  of  many 
teachers  and  Inspectors  that  I  should  publish  some  of  my  lec- 
tures on  the  Psychology,  Principles  and  Practice  of  Education, 
which  have  been  given  from  time  to  time  before  Teachers*  Asso- 
ciations. It  was  urged  that  though  there  are  many  excellent 
books  on  general  Psychology,  there  is  still  room  for  one  which 
more  directly  meets  the  needs  of  the  teacher.  Some  of  these 
works  are  too  abstract  and  deal  with  philosophical  questions  that 
very  remotely  concern  the  science  of  education ;  others  are 
too  superficial,  i.e.y  in  their  attempts  to  make  psychology  easy, 
they  have  made  it  worthless  for  the  educator  as  well  as  for  the 
student  of  philosophy.  Most  writers  on  psychology  declare  that 
a  knowledge  of  that  subject  is  indispensable  in  the  training  of 
the  teacher ;  but  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  ordinary  teacher, 
even  after  reading  psycholosies  that  claim  to  be  specially  pre- 
pared for  teachers,  tans  to  see  tne  aurect  bearing  of  the  sub- 
ject on  the  work  of  instruction. 

What  is  wanted,  say  the  teachers  who  have  the  worth  ot 
psychology  so  often  dinned  in  their  ears,  is  a  more  practical 
work,  that  is,  one  that  will  show  explicitly  the  relation  of  psy- 
djology^to  education,  and  give  the  teacher  a,  clearer  and  more 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  principles  which  underlie  true 
methods  of  instruction.     It  would  be  too  much  to  expect  that 


VI  PREFACE. 

this  volume  will  fully  meet  these  requirements  ;  but  it  is  hoped 
that  teachers  will  find  in  it  some  justification  of  the  opinion  now 
generally  held  by  educationists,  and  tersely  expressed  by  Herbert 
Spencer,  that  "  with  complete  knowledge  of  the  subject  which 
a  teacher  has  to  teach,  a  co-essential  thing  is  a  knowledge  of 
psychology  ;  and  especially  of  that  part  of  psychology  which 
deals  with  the  evolution  of  the  faculties." 

Attention  may  be  called  to  certain  features  of  the  book : 

1.  The  general  mode  of  treatment  in  the  part  on  mental 
science  is  that  of  Professor  Dewey,  whose  work  on  Psychology 
has  been  so  well  received  by  students  of  philosophy.  In  pre- 
paring an  analysis  of  lectures  on  Educational  Psychology,  I 
consulted  the  lamented  Professor  Young,  who,  while  favouring 
me  with  his  own  ideas  on  the  subject,  specially  recommended 
Dewey's  **  Psychology."  On  the  basis  of  that  work,  accordingly, 
lectures  were  prepared  and  delivered  before  Teachers'  Associa- 
tions ;  perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  deep  interest 
these  lectures  have  awakened  among  teachers  is  a  fair  test  of 
the  practical  worth  of  the  method. 

2.  The  book  is  not  a  series  of  baby-talks  on  mind.  The 
psychology  which  requires  no  thinking  is  worthless  for  both 
teacher  and  student.  If  *'  education  is  the  hardest  and  most 
difficult  problem  ever  proposed  to  man,"  its  science  cannot  be 
mastered  without  thought.  But  while  the  book  has  not  ignored 
scientific  method — and  so  may  not  be  useless  as  an  introduction 
to  more  advanced  work — the  subject,  it  is  hoped,  has  been  so 
plainly  illustrated  that  it  will  prove  interesting  and  intelligible 
to  the  general  reader  and  certainly  to  any  student  of  common 
industry  and  abilitv 


PRSFACB.  Vll 

3.  As  intimated,  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  make  the  book 
of  practical  value  to  teachers.  Besides  the  deduction  of  educa- 
tional principles  from  each  important  topic  as  discussed,  there 
is  a  summary  chapter  which  gives  a  clear  and  concise  view  of  the 
Basis,  Aims  and  Methods  of  Instruction,  as  grounded  on  psy- 
chology. 

4.  It  is  believed  that  the  chapters  on  the  Method  of  Interro- 
gation will  show  still  more  clearly  the  relation  of  psychology  to 
educational  method,  and  prove  helpful  to  the  teacher  who 
wishes  to  acquire  skill  in  the  art  of  questioning,  the  ars  artium 
of  his  calling. 

5.  The  chapter  on  Kindergarten  Work  and  Self-Instruction 
in  Public  Schools,  abounds,  it  is  thought,  in  hints  and  sugges- 
tions which  will  be  found  of  real  value  in  the  practical  work  of 
the  school-room.  The  plans  and  work  recommended  have  stood 
the  test  of  experience ;  if  faithfully  carried  out  they  will  lighten 
the  labour  of  both  teachers  and  pupils,  and  greatly  increase 
the  efficiency  of  the  public  schools. 

6.  The  outline  methods  on  some  important  branches — 
based  on  explicit  psychological  principles — will,  perhaps,  prove 
more  serviceable  to  the  teacher  than  a  whole  volume  of  empir- 
ical "  ways  and  devices." 

7.  The  full  analytical  table  of  contents  will  help  the  student 
to  such  a  mastery  of  educational  principles  as  established  in 
this  volume  that  he  will  be  fairly  able  to  test  independently  any 
of  the  innumerable  methods  which  are  urged  upon  his  attention 
by  distinguished  inventors. 

To  Professor  Dewey,  whose  bpok  on  Psychology, — already 
mentioned — should  be  read  by  every  student  of  the  subject, 


vm  PREFACE. 

I  must  express  my  obligations  for  most  valuable  assistance  in 
the  preparation  of  this  work. 

For  the  practical  part  of  the  chapter  on  Kindergarten  work 
and  on  geography,  my  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  J.  Suddaby, 
who  is  regarded  as  one  of  our  most  progressive  teachers,  and 
whose  work — which  I  have  often  inspected — ^has  placed  the 
Berlin  Model  School  in  the  front  rank  of  training  schools. 

For  nearly  forty  years  the  Professional  training  of  teachers 
has  been — perhaps  from  the  force  of  circumstances — largely  em- 
pirical and  imitative ;  the  essence  pf  this  method  of  training 
may  be  expressed  by  the  single  formula,  "  Observe  and  Imitate." 
This  has  made  teaching  a  mere  "  trade,"  and,  as  Mr.  Fitch  says, 
"  teaching  is  the  sorriest  of  all  trades  though  the  noblest  of  all 
professions."  But  it  has  been,  and  is,  plainly  the  policy  of  our 
leading  educators  to  change  all  this,  to  insist  on  a  knowledge 
of  the  laws,  principles  and  results  of  mental  evolution  as  a 
necessary  part  of  a  teacher's  preparation,  to  make  professional 
training  something  worthy  of  the  name  by  placing  it  on '  a 
rational,  />.,  a  psychological  basis,  and,  in  a  word,  to  substitute 
for  a  "  sorry  trade  "  the  noblest  of  professions.  I  sincerely 
hope  that  this  book  will  help,  in  some  degree,  to  give  e£fect  to 
that  wise  and  far-seeing  oolicy. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Psychology  and  its  Relations  to  the  Teacher 
L  — The  Educational  Importance  of  Psychology. 

i.  It  is  the  Science  of  Mind  to  be  Educated I 

(Fonnal  Definition  and  Discussion  of  Methods) ....         2 

2.  It  Reveals  the  Processes  upon  which  Educational  Methods 

must  be  Based • j 

a.  Definition  of  Method. 

h.  Source  of  Value  of  Methods. 

c.  True  and  False  Methods. 

n.— The  Educational  Limitations  of  Psychology. 

I.  As  a  Science  it  is  Generic,  while  Teaching  Deals  with  Indi- 
viduals         4 

a.  It  is  Theoretic,  while  Teaching  is  Practical 5 

m.— The  Treatment  of  Psychology  Adopted .•••.»      5 

A.  Discussion  of  Raw  Material  or  Basis. 

B.  Of  Processes. 
C  Of  Products. 


CHAPTER  II. 
The  Bases  of  Psychical  Life  (A), 

These  Bases  are  Three — Sensation,  Interest  and  Impulse •      6 

r.— Sensation. 

I.  Definition — Contains  Three  Factors. • 6 

8.  As  an  element  in  Knowledge  it  is  t 

a.  Immediate ••••..« •••••••••••       7 

5.  Presentative 7 


CONTENTS. 

.  Characteristics  ; 

Quality,  Intensity,  Tone,  Extensity.     Definitions  of  each. . .       8 

4.  Conditions: 

m.  Physical  Condition — Motion 9 

{i.)  Dependence  of  Intensity  upon  Amplitude  of  Motion 

Illustrated 9 

(».)  Dependence  of  Quality  upon  Velocity  Illustrated  by 

Sound  and  Color 9 

(w.)  Dependence  of  Quality  upon  Kinds  of  Vibration, 

Illustrated  by  Timbre  of  Sound  and  Shades  of  Coloi     10 
k  Physiological  Condition  Involves  Nerve  Organ,  Conduct* 

ing  Nerve  and  Brain , lo 

(i)  The  kind  of  Nerve  Organ  Receiving  Stimulus  ii 
Basis  of  Division  of  Sensations  into  General  and 
Specific II 

{it.)  General  Sensations  have  Tone  predominating ;  are 
vague  ;  report  condition  of  cr^anism  ;  are  first  to 
appear. 

(«i.)  Specific  Sensations  ha  e  Quality  predominating) 
are  definite  ;  report  objects  outside  organism  ;  ap- 
pear later  in  life ( i 

c  Psychical  Condition  is  Consciousness. 

(/)  Consciousness  Cannot  be  Derived  from  Motion....     1 2 

(m)  Motion  may  be  Stimulus  to  Consciousness 12 

5.  The  Senses  of  Greatest  Educational  Importance  : 

m.  Touch I^ 

(1.)  Other  Senses  Differentiated  from  it 

(«.)  Used  to  Test  Reports  of  other  Senses. 

(«V.)  Most  Closely  Connected  with  Muscular  Activity, 
t.  Hearing,  and  Sight  the  Senses  of  Highest  Development  13-14 

(».)  They  Make  the  Finest  Discriminations. 

(«.)  Sight  is  the  Space  Sense. 

{Hi.)  Hearing  is  the  Time  Sense. 
c.  Different  Sensory  Types,  Motor,  Visual,  and  Auditory. .     14 

6.  Educational  Principles  :     15 

a.  Neces^y  of  Basing  Knowledge  of  External  Objects  in 

Sensation. 
k.  Since  Sensation  is  only  a  Basis,  Psychical  Processes  most 

Act  upon  it 
c.  Instruction  Should  be  Adapted  to  Sensory  Conditions. 


CONTSMTS.  id 

IL— Interest. 

X.  Meaning  of  Interest   ••.•••••     i6 

8.  Distinctions  of  Interest  from  Information 17 

a.  It  is  EmotionaL 
i.  Subjective. 

c.  Individual. 

3.  Importance  of  Interest • 17 

4.  Educational  Principle , 18 

Education  must  be  Based  on  Interest 

O. -Impulse. 

1.  Definition  of  Impulse 19 

3.  Importance  of  Impulse 19 

3.  Impulse  and  Instinct 20 

4.  Impulses  Classified 

a.  Impulses  of  Sensation   20 

b.  Impulses  of  Perception 21 

<,  Imitative  Impulses 21 

d.  Impulses  to  Expression 21 

Gesture  Language — Speech 

5.  Educational  Principles. 

a.  Training  the  Senses  means  Training  Impulses 22 

k.  Instruction  should  Seize  Instincts  at  the  Height  of  their 

Development 22 

^.  Instruction  should  make  use  of  the  various  Classes  of  Im- 
pulses   23—24 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Psychical  Processes  (B). 
Introduction. 
I.— Olassification  of  Oontents  of  our  Minds •    14 

Simultaneous  Groups. 
Successive  Uncontrolled  Trains. 
Successive  Controlled  Trains. 


idi  CONTENTS. 

Il.—Classification  of  Processes  Corresponding  to  these 
Contents aj^ 

Non- Voluntary  Attention, 
Association. 
Voluntary  Attention. 

The  Processes.    <>,.,;     '  X^J'^iiTA  s^U^ 

lL,asr on- Voluntary  Attention.  ^^  [T'^'^CJl/^Sr 

•s^V-i-^-^     I.  Definition .  . . . .'  i  i'.VA  .'.V. ; ^fTTT, •.•^•d 

'^^'^  a.  Conditions  of  Non- Voluntary  Attention  I   U>-^*^'^ 

a.  Natural  Interest 36 

(1.)  Quantity 37 

(».)  Tone 37 

i.  Acquired  Interest 37 

(/.)  Familiarity 37 

{it.)  Novelty 38 

(m.)  Familiarity  and  Novelty  in  Connection 38 

3,  Effects  of  Non- Voluntary  Attention  : 

a.  Negative  Effect — Exclusion  from  Consciousness. ,  39 

6,  Positive  Effects : 

(/. )  Bringing  Differences  to  Consciousness 30 

{it.)  Uniting  Elements  in  One  Presentation. 30 

(1)  May  Unite  any  Number  of  Elements 30 

(2)  May  Unite  Elements  Unconnected  in  themselves  31 

4.  Educational  Principles: 

a.  Must  be  some  Activity  of  Attention 33 

i.  Teacher  must  not  only  Present  Material,  but  must  Induce 

this  Activity 33 

c.^lt  must  be  Induced  Indirectly  by  Arousing  Interest ...,,.  34 

d.  Interest  Accompanies  all  Mental  Activity 34 

e.  Also  the  Exercise  of  Play-Impulse 35 

/.  Also  Dependent  upon  Relations  of  Novelty  and  Familiarity  35 

g.  Suggestions  as  to  Cultivating  Non- Voluntary  Attention..  36 

IL  Association.  - 

I.  Definition '*''^*^37 

3.  Conditions — Original  Union  ;  Int^ration  and  Redintegration.     38 
3.  Varieties  of  Association  : 

a.  Contiguity — External  38 

(»'.)  Spatial. 
{ii.)  Temporal. 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

k  Similarity— Internal 39  (^^u. 

Includes  Contrast 40       jj 

4.  Results  : —  ^  ,,      ^ 

a.  Mental  Order. 40 

k.  Mental  Freedom 41 

Similarity  Superior  in  these  respects  to  Contiguity , .  41 

c.  Formation  of  Habits :         1  i  /^  ^-^^^uLAy^"^     ' 

(».)  Definition  of  Habit.  M^rn^^.^?^^^ 

(«.)  Actire  and  Passive  Habits U. 42 

[}ii.)  Functions  of  Habit :  ^^^~<l^ 

(i)  Give  Self-Control  in  some  Directions 43     "),,-*' 

(2)  Frees  Intelligence  and  Will  from  Supervision  of  '^^-i^^f 

^et^ils • ^^^-6^ 

$.  Educational  Principles 44  "^^ 

Based  on  stages  of  Intellectual  Growth,  of  which  there  are  Three 
a.  Is  *'  Mechanical "  Stage  : 

(/.)  Association  of  Activities  rather  than  of  Ideas 44 

(«.)  Based  on  Repetition  .    45 

(mi.)  Has  Discipline  (which  is  not  Mechanical  for  its 

object) 45 

Meaning  of  Discipline 46 

(w.)  Relation  of    Knowing  to  Doing,  in  Mechanical 

Stage ; . .  46 

h.  Is  Stage  of  Forming  Connections 

(*,)  May  be  between  Sense  Impressions 47 

(«,)  Or  between  Ideas    47 

{Hi.)  Sensuous  Associations  Should  be  Subordinate....  48 
(w.)  Hence,  Principle  of  Teaching  only  what  has  Mean- 
ing   49 

(v.)  Importance  of  Habit  in  Education 49 

r.  Is  Stage  of  Culture 49 

Based  especially  on  Association  by  Similarity 50 

TTT.  Voluntary  Attention, 

Introduction ....  50— 52 

1.  Relation  to  Non- Voluntary  Attention 50 

2.  Relation  to  Association 51 

3.  Early  Forms   52 

4.  Later  and  More  Complex  Forms 52 

Activities  Involved  in  Attention 53 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

I.  Adjusting  Activity  : 

(•,)  Mind  more  Interested  in  one  Direction  than  ia 

Others 53 

iU.)  Hence,    Stretches    out  to    what    will   Satisfy  this 

Interest 54 

(Hi. )  And  fixes  Certain  Groups  of  Ideas  upon  Presenta- 
tion      54 

(iv.)  This  is  Dependent  upon  Past  Experience. 55 

t.  Selecting  Activity : 

(».)  Selects  what  Meets  its  Interests  55 

(n)  Basis  of  Selection  is  According  to  Kind  of  Interest  ..  56 

{Hi.)  Variable  and  Permanent  Interests 56 

(iv.)  Law  of  Permanent  Interest 56 

3,  Relating  Activity : 

(i.)  Mind  Seizes  Relations  not  Presented 57 

{ii.)  Especially  Relations  of  Unity  and  DifFerence 58 

(»M.)  This  is  Act  of  Comparison 58 

(»t>.)  Meaning  of  Unification 58 

(v.)  Meaning  of  Discrimination 59 

{zfi.)  Goal  of  Attention 59 

m.— Educational  Principles. 

1.  Need  of  Activity  to  Prevent  Mind  Wandering 60 

2.  Need  of  Permanence  or  Continuity  of  Interest 60 

3.  Need  of  Store  of  Ideas  in  Mind  akin  to  Object  of  Attention. . .  61 

4.  Need  of  Arousing  this  Store  of  Ideas  .    61 

5.  Failures  in  real  Attention  when  these  Conditions  are  not  met . .  62 

6.  Need  that  the  Mind  move  along  Related  Points   63 

When  the  Mind  Notices  or  discovers  Relations,  it  is  paying 

Attention 63 

7.  Suggestions  as  to  Ways  of  gaining  Attention    64 

IV.— Apperception  and  Retention. 

The  Psychical  Processes  affect  Mind  and  affect  Material  Known ....  65 

Illustration  of  Apperception. 66 

Illustration  of  Retention 66 

Mutual  Relations 67 

I.  Retention: 

a.  Nature 67 

k  Forms  Mental  Power 68 

c.  Forms  Dynamical  Associations  or  Tendtrndes 68 


GONTENT&  Wt 

Apperception  t 

a.  Nature ••••••• ••••••••••••     Of 

b.  Basis  of  Growth  of  Knowledge ••••     69 

Educational  Principles  : 

a.  End  of  Education  is  Mental  Development — Retention ....     70 

h.  But  this  occurs  through  Development  of  Knowledge — Ap- 
perception     7® 

t.  Learning  Depends  upon  Proper  Presentation  of  Material 

and  upon  Proper  Preparation  of  Mind  71 

i.  Apperception  and  Retention  fonn  Mental  Function,  Habit 

and  Character • ft 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Forms  of  Intellectual  Development, 

(First  Division  of  C  or  Mental  Products.) 

{  1,— Principles  of  Intelleotual  Development. 

L— Development  of  Intelligence  is  from  the  Presentative  to 

the  Representative 74 

n.— And  from  the  Sensuous  to  the  Ideal 74 

I.  Idealizing  Activity • 75 

a.  Educational  Principles : 

a.  Necessity  of  Interpretation .••  76 

b.  Necessity  of  Assimilation 76 

in.— And  from  the  Vague  and  Particular  to  the  Definite 

and  Universal ..  77 

1.  Meaning  of  Particular  and  General 78 

2.  The  Definite  and  Universal  Constituted  by  Relations 79 

3.  Educational  Principles : 

«.  Necessity  of  Defining  Knowledge 80 

(i)  Distinction  of  Definite  Object  and  Definite  Know- 
ledge      80 

{1^.)  Definite  Knowledge  must  come  after  Indefinite ; 

Details  after  Outlines 81 

(itt.)  Mind's  Analytic  Power  Defines  Knowledge. 8a 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

i.  Necessity  of  Connecting  Knowledge. 83 

Mind's  Synthetic  Power  Connects ?3 

€,  Necessity  of  both  Universal  and  Particular  Factor.    Re* 

lated  Facts 83 

4L  Necessity  of  Treating  Intellectual  Faculties  as  Successive 

Developments  of  Same  Principle 84 

These  Successive  Developments  are : 
^.\  Perception  which  is  r 

(i)  Both  Presentative  and  Representative 85 

(2)  Sensuous  and  Ideal  and  85 

(3)  Related 8$ 

(ji.)  Memory  which  is  t  _ 

(i)  More  Representative  than  Peception 86 

(2)  More  Ideal  and 86 

(3)  Expresses  more  Relations   86 

(*w.)  Imagination  which  is  ; 

{I)  iJasea  upon  Jkemory 87 

(2)  But  is  more  Representative  and  Ideal   88 

(3)  And  Involves  Wider  Relations  88 

(w.)  Thinking  which  isL- 

-      '     '\i)  Most  Representative  or  Symbolic  of  all  Stages. .  89 

(2)  Most  Ideal  and 89 

(3)  Expresses  Most  Relations    90 

Hence,  the  Educational  Principle  is  to  Develop 

all  by  Same  Methods 90 

I  2. — Stages  of  Intellectual  Development— Training  of 
Perception. 

L— Considered  in  Itself 91 

1.  Should  be  Accurate  and  Full 91 

2.  Should  be  Independent 92 

3.  Should  Form  Habit  of  Observation    92 

IL— Considered  in  Relation  to  other  Stages. 

I.  Must  be  made  Basis  of  Representative  Knowledge 93 

a.  Hence  requires  large  Store  of  Perceptions  prior  to  In- 
struction in  wholly  Representative  Ideas 94 

k.  That  all  Representative  Ideas  be  Illustrated  by  Percep- 
tions •... t 94 


i 


CONTENTS.  XVI 1 

€,  Odierwise  What  is  Learned  is  x 

(t)  Meaningless    94 

(it)  Uninteresting 94 

(•i»)  Productive  of  Mind  Wandering   95 

§  3.— Stages  of  Intellectual  Dovelopment,  continued- - 
Training  of  the  Memory.    Contains  two  Factors  : 

L— Learning • 95 

General  Principle  :  Train  Memory  by  the  Methods  in  which  Studies 

are  Appropriated 95 

This  Principle  may  be  applied : 

I.  To  Memorizing  bare  Separate  Facts  96 

a.  T«  Memorizing  Coasecutive  Statements  of  Facts 96 

m.  Evils  of  Memorizing  by  Sheer  Force  of  Repetition  are  : 

(I)  It  Employs  only  Sensuous  Association 97 

{jU.)  It  Leaves  the  Mind  Passive. 97 

(tt».)  It  Burdens  the  Mind 97 

(iv.)  It  Leads  to  Mind  Wandering. 97 

/.  Proper  Methods  of  Memorizing  rely  : 

(«.)  Upon  Association  of  Ideas 98 

(it.)  Upon  Analysis  and  Synthesis 98 

3.  To  Memorizing  Relations  of  Complex  Ideas 99 

n.   Recollecting— Depends  upon 

1.  Repetition. loo 

Reviews. 

a.  Attention  to  Connected  Ideas 100 

I  ^.—Stages  of  Intellectual  Development,  continued—         ^ 

Training  of  ttnagination.  ) 

/L— Necessity  of  Indirect  Training^  I 

^       I.  Because  of  its  Free  Character loi 

2.  Becau^  of  its  Individual  Character 102 

3.  Because  of  its  Unconscious  Growth 102 

n.— This  Indirect  Training  is  Brought  About— 

I.  Through  Cultivation  of  Expression  of  Imagination 102 

S.  Through  Cultivation  of  the  Feelings  that  Stimulate  Imagination: 

«.  Due  partly  to  Influence  of  Teacher 103 

b.  Partly  to  Development  of  Religious  Emotions. 103 


Xrffi  CONTENTS. 

^  Through  Providing  Material  to  be  Worked  Upon  t 

«.  Natural  Scenes •••••..  I04 

i.  Studies  like  Geography  and  History 104 

r.  Study  of  Literature 104 

8  6— Stages  ©f  Intelleotual  Development— continned— 
Training  of  Thonght. 

L— Indirect  Training  Brought  About  by  Training  other 
Lower  Stages 
Illustrated  by  : 

I.  Generalization  involved  in  Perception •••••  I05 

S.  Relations  involved  in  all  Knowledge.   ..    106 

3.  The  Grouping  of  Facts  brought  about  by  Retention    107 

n— Direct  Training. 

I.  Given  1:^  Language • • • 107 

«.  Words  are  Products  of  Thought, 108 

k.  Structure  of  Sentences  a  Product  of  Thought. 108 

t.  Connected  Discourse  a  Product  of  Thought 109 

1.  Given  by  Science. •• 109 

«.  Physical  109 

k  MatbematioaL •••  109 


CHAPTER  V. 
Tie  Forms  of  Emotional  Development, 

(Second  Division  of  C  w  Mental  Products.) 
L— Conditions  of  Interest. 

Feeling  Accompanies  Activity ••••••••••••••••••••.  Iio 

1.  Spontaneity  of  A.ctivity .•••* lie 

2.  Strength  of  Activity. Ill 

3.  Change  of  Activity Ill 

Monotony  and  Variety. 

4.  Harmony  of  Activities •••..  Ii^ 

XL— Principles  of  Emotional  Growth. 

In  G«Mral  tbe  same  as  Intellectual. m«.  ••••••••• •  117 


OONTENTt.  UX 

1.  Widening  of  Feelinj  : 

a.   Through  Transference I13 

i.  Through  Unconscious  Sympathy 113 

c.  Through  Conscious  Sympathy I14 

2.  Deepening  of  Feeling  ; 

a.  Through  Repetition \,,  1 14 

b.  Through  Cooperation I14 

in.— The  Forms,  or  Stages,  of  Emotional  Growtli. 

I.  Intellectual 115 

0.  Leading  to  the  Acquiring  of  Knowledge  : 

(•.)  Wonder 115 

(w. )  Curiosity 116 

i.  Resulting  from    Acquisition   of  Knowledge,    Feeling  of 

Freedom,  or  of  Self-Command 116 

•.Aesthetic 117 

a.  Factors  of  Beautiful  Object : 

(i. )  Adaptation 117 

(»».)  Economy 118 

(*u. )  Harmony 116 

(»w.)  Freedom ..118 

i.  Factors  of  Aesthetic  Feeling  ; 

Universality  and  Ideality 119 

|.  Personal .••• 119 

a.  Social. 

(»)  Regard  for  Self 1 19 

(m)  Regard  for  Others 120 

Antipathy  120 

Sympathy 120 

(1)  Origin  of  Sympathy 120 

(2)  Development  of  Sympathy 121 

b.  Moral. 

(«)  Contents: 

Rightness,  Obligation,  Approbation 121 

(l«)  Origin  122 

(m)  Result  is  the  Formation  of  Moral  Groups  or  Com- 
munities      122 

The  School : 

(1)  Is  Continuation  of  Family 123 

(2)  Is  Preparation  for  State  123 


CONTENTS. 

fjh.)  Tmimng: 

(1)  Should  be  Concrete 123 

(2)  Punishment  should  aim  at  Development  of  Moral 

Feelings    124 

(3)  Should  be  Based  on  Personal  Affections 124 

Religious ; 

(».)  Dependence 124 

(It.)  Peace    124 

^)  Faith  125 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Forms  of  Volitional  Development. 

(Third  Division  of  C  or  Psychical  Products.) 

Introduction. — Aiialysis  of  Volitional  Act 125 — 127 

Volitional  Act  is  Intelligent 125 

Volitional  Aetis  Controlled 126 

The  Reasop  is  that  it  has  an  End 126 

Definition— Volition-Impulses  Controlled  by  Conception  of  an  End  127 

L— Factors  of  Volitional  Development. 

1.  Formation  of  Idea  of  End 127 

a.  Beginning  of  Idea 127 

h.  Completion  of  Idea 128 

T,  Subjection  of  Impulses  to  Idea,  or  Training  of  Impulses . .  129 

(t.)  Impulses  Trained  through  Development  of  Intellect  129 

(m.)  Training  of  Impulses  reacts  upon  Intellect 129 

(tti.)  Knowing  and  Doing  are,  therefore,  Correlative.. . .  129 
(to.)  When  Trained  Correlatively,  Education  b  Render- 

cd  Practical 130 

(».)  Education  must  rest  upon  Natural  Impulses 131 

(r».)  And  consists  in  Disciplining  them 132 

(t;i»,)  Partly  by  External  Arrangements 1 33 

(vw.)  Partly  by  Internal  Arrangements. 

(«SB.)  And  has  its  end  in  Self-Control  or  Freedom 133 


CONTENTS.  Vd 

a.  Formation  of  Desire. • 134 

(Desire  is  Emotional,  corresponding  to  Intellectual  Idea.) 

a.  Origin  of  Desires 134 

t.  Object  of  Desires. 135 

t.  Training  of  Desires  : 

(».)  Desires  Trained  through  Development  of  Feeling.   .  135 

(«». )  By  Satisfying  or  Thwarting  them 1 36 

(«»».)  Awakening  Idea  of  Possibilities 136 

(<v.)  Through  Cultivation  of  Imagination 137 

Imagination  Widens  and  Strengthens ...........  137 

J.  Realization  of  Desired  Idea 138 

«.  Simple  Case — End  Suggests  its  Means  by  Association.. . .  138 

i.  Complex  Cases — Conflict  of  various  Desired  Ends. 138 

Conflict  Settled  by ; 

(*.)  Deliberation 138 

{it.)  Effort 139 

(tit.)  Choice 140 

4.  Realization  of  Desired  Ends  forms  Character  or  Self- Control..  140 

a.  Character  is  the  Volitional  Aspect  of  Retention 140 

i.  Choice  is  the  Volitional  Aspect  of  Apperception. 140 

t.  Hence  Character  and  Choice  are  Reciprocal ..•••••••«..  140 

d»  Training  of  Character  : 

(t.)  Through  Habitual  Action. 141 

(«.)  Through  Influence  of  Educator  upon  Habits 142 

(tti.)  Through  Self- Reliance  142 

{iv. )  Through  Recognition  of  Law 143 

(v.)  Through  Conception  of  Ideal  Self. . «, 144 

n.-  -Stages  of  Volitional  Development  or  of  Self-Control. .  144 

1,  Physical : 

m.  Relation  to  MoraL • •• 145 

t.  Its  Process  : 

(».)  Differentiation  of  Impulses ....••.•..   146 

(t».)  Interconnection  of  Impulses 146 

t.  Its  Results 146 

(i. )  Idea  of  Act  more  Extended  and  Definite 146 

(it.)  Abilities  and  Tendencies  are  Created 146 

{iu. )  Amount  of  Required  Stimulus  is  Lessened 147 


bA  CONTENTa, 

a.  Prudential  Contrd  t 

«.  Definition • ••••• •••••• •••..  147 

h  Results. 

(i.)  Action  is  more  Deliberate , 148 

(«.)  More  Unified  148 

{/iii. )  More  Determined  and  Persevering 148 

(•».)  More  Intense  or  Energetic , 149 

J.  Moral  Control : 

m.  Definition 149 

#.  Based  on  Physical  and  Prudential  Acts 150 

§,  Which  become  Moral  when  Subordinated  to  Motives  of 

Right 150 

ft.)  Hence,  Moral  Action  is  Constituted  by  Motive....  151 

(»».)  Hence,  Involves  Responsibility 151 

(tt».)  Hence,  Forms  Character,  as  Physical  and  Pruden- 
tial Acts  do  not   152 

|lv.)  Hence,  in  reacting,  Develops  Sense  of  Obligation. .  152 

Growth  of  this  Sense 152 

d.  Moral  Action  is  Secured : 

(».)  By  Habitual  Action 153 

^i.)  By  Use  of  Lower  Motives 153 

iiii. )  By  Appeal  to  Personal  Affections ••■•..  154 

i^  Results  of  Moral  Control : 

(«.)  Generic  Choice 154 

(it. )  Automatic  Decision    154 

(tit. )  Regulation  of  Desires    154 

(i«.)  Effective  Execution    ..^ 155 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Mind  and  Body, 

L— Importance  of  Body  for  Soul 155 

1.  Seen  in  Sense-Organs  156 

2.  In  Muscular  System 156 

3.  In  Brain IS7 


CONTENTS.  xxiii 

n.  -  Str  acture  of  Nervous  System  in  Man 158 

Analyils  of  Nervous  Changes  Involved  in  a  Perception 158 

m.  Elementary  Properties  of  Nerve  Structures 158 

1.  Initablity  or  Excitability 158 

2.  Conductibility •  •  • . .  158 

3.  Summation •> 159 

4.  Inhibition    I59 

5.  Masticity 159 

P'acilitation,  Accommodation. 

IV.— Pwychological  Equivalents. 

1.  Of  Excitability  is  Sensation,  etc. 160 

2.  Of  Inhibition  is  Control,  Intellectual  and  Volitional    160 

3.  Of  Plasticity  is  Habit  &c 160 

v.— Lo\calization  of  Function. 

Principles  Are 161 

1.  Original  Indifference. 

2.  localization  Resulting  from  Use 161 

3.  Mechanical  Functions  the  best  Localized 161 

4.  Sensory  and  Motor  Organs  have  Vague  Centres  .,,.,. 161 

5.  Intellectual  Powers  have  no  Definite  Centres 162 

6.  Ideas  are  not  Localized  at  all 162 

VI.— Educational  Principles. 

1.  Necessity  of  Care  of  Body  in  all  Education 1 62 

2.  Physical  Basis  of  Organization  of  Faculty    163 

3.  No  Separate  Training  of  Faculties 163 

4.  Importance  of  Establishing  Mental  Relations 163 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Summary  of  Principles. 


I.— Bases  of  Instruction. 

1.  Activity  of  Pupil    m  163 

2.  Interest  of  Pupil 164 

3.  Idea  in  Pupil's  Mind , 164 


CONTENTS. 

II.— Ends  of  InstructioH. 

I.  That  Instruction  be  Significant ,,. 164 

m.  As  to  each  Subject 164 

t.  As  to  Statements  vrithin  each  Subject 164 

a.  That  Instraction  6e  Definite 165 

3.  That  Instraction  be  PracticaL 165 

This  b  secured : 

«.  When  right  Habits  are  Formed , 166 

i.  When  New  Faculties  are  Organized 166 

/.  When  Fundamental  Psychical  Powers  and  Processes  are 

Beveloped    166 

m.— Methods  of  Instruction 167 

I.  Teach  one  Thing  at  a  Time 167 

a.  What  Makes  a  Proper  Method,  with  Illustration 167 

i.  This  Gives  the  Analytic  Method i68 

t.  Advantages  of  Analytic  Method  : 

(».)  Economizes  Mental  Energy    168 

(n.)  Defines  Mental  Products , 169 

{Hi. )  Excludes  Irrelevant  Material 169 

(»».)  Prepares  the  Way  for  Memory 169 

(v.)  Forms  the  Analytic  Habit 169 

8.  Teach  in  a  Connected  Manner,  or  Synthetically. 170 

This  Demands  of  the  Teacher  : 

«.  Unity  ofAim 170 

k.  System 170 

f.  Graded  Instruction 170 

Upon  the  Side  of  the  Pupil  it  Demands : 

«.  That  Knowledge  Begin  with  Presentation 1 70 

In  Training  Perception  all  Mental  Powers  should  be 
Trained: 

(i.)  Illustrations 171 

(u.)  Two  Factors  in  Perception. 171 

(l)  Recognition 172 

(a)  Discovery. 172 


CONTENTS.  XXV 

k  That  Groups  or  Centres  of  Ideas  be  Formed 172 

(i. )  Economy  of  this  Method 172 

{it,)  Ways  of  Securing  this  Grouping 1 73 

€,  That   these  Groups  be  Exercised  in  all  Acquisition  of 

Knowledge 173 

This  Principle  Requires  t 

(».)  Frequent  Reviews 174 

(n.)  Mental  Preparation 174 

(m.)  Constant  Exercise  of  Past  Knowledge 174 

IV.  -Relation  of  Knowledge,  Feeling  and  Will 177 

1.  Mind  as  Organic  Unity,  Hence 177 

«.  The  Dependence  of  Knowledge  178 

^,  The  Dependence  of  Knowledge 179 

r.  The  Dependence  of  Will 179 

2.  Education  must,  therefore,  affect  the  whole  Personality 180 

v.— Criticism  of  Maxims. 

1.  Maxim  of  different  Faculties  each  requiring  its  own  Kind  of 

Culture 180 

2.  Maxim  of  First  Forming,  then  Furnishing  Faculty 181 

3.  Learning  to  Do  by  Doing 182 

4.  Proceeding  from  the  Known  to  the  Unknown 182 

5.  Proceeding  form  Concrete  to  Abstract    , 183 

6.  The  Order  of  Nature  and  the  Order  of  the  Subject    183 

Preceeding  from  the  whole  to  the  Part 184 

7.  Teadiing  what  is  understood 184 

8.  Teaching  Things,  not  Words 184 

a.  Words  Introduce  Representative  Factor 185 

^.  Words  Make  Knowledge  General  and  Definite 185 

c.   Words  Concentrate  Knowledge  ..•.. 185 

9.  Let  Education  follow  Nature    • ••••  M 


XXVI  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
The  Method  of  Interrogation,  Art  of  Questicming, 

Introduction    187-189 

Method  of  Exposition  and  of  Questioning   , 187 

Importance  of  Art  of  Questioning. , 187 

Necessity  of  Training  in 188 

Relation  of  Theory  and  Practice 188 

What  Ejcperience  Really  is. 

Division  of  Subject , 189 

A.  Objects  of  Questioning  190 

L— Testing  Retention,  or  Presentation  of  Material....  109 

I.  First  Object  to  discover  Pupil's  Knowledge 190 

a.  This  is  Missed  if 

(».)  Too  easy  Stimulus  (or  Questioning)  is  presented : 

Questioning  the  Past 190 

1.  Such  Questions  fail  to  stimulate 191 

2.  And  hence  are  Monotonous 192 

Illustrated  by  Drill. 

(&'.)  Too  difficult  Stimulus  (or  Questioning)  is  pre- 
sented :  Questioning  the  Future    192 

Such  Questions  Fail  to  Aid  Assimilation    ....  193 
h.  This  is  Secured  if  Teacher  Finds  out  what  Pupil  knows 

and  horw  he  knows  it 194 

Such  Questioning  Connects  the  old  and  the  new    . .  194 

S.  Second  Object  is  to  Fix  Knowledge 195 

a.  Importance  of  Repetition 195 

b.  Law  is  that  Activity  (not  Impression)  Should  be  Re- 

peated      195 

(/. )   Forming  A  nalytic  and  Synthetic  Habit    196 

(iV.)  Forming  Definite  Perceptions  :  Habits  of  Rea- 
soning      196 

r.  Illustrations. 

(». )  Getting  Knowledge  of  Numbers    196 

(/«.)  Getting  Knowledge  of  Relation  of  Numbers  . .  197 

(«V.)  Getting  Knowledge  of  Use  of  Axioms,  Rules,  etc  197 


CONTENTS.  XXVll 

4,  Repetition  of  Act  of  Relating  Facts  Gives  Power  to 

Think 198 

Illustration 199 

A  Proper  and  Improper  Repetition : 

Use  and  Abuse  of  Drill 199 

(i.)  Improper    Repetition    Dwells    too    much    on 

"Concrete" 200 

(iV.)  Drilling  aside  from  the  Real  Point 201 

(^V.)  Drilling  on  Unimportant  Points  : 

Sense  of  Proportion 201 

3,  Third  Object  to  Extend  Knowledge    203 

Distinction  of  Telling  and  Questioning  203 

a.  Extends  by  Making  Vague  Definite    204 

Questioning  Should  make  Pupil  realize  for  Him- 
self Imperfection  of  his  knowledge   204 

(j.)  Illustrations  from  Geometry  205 

{it. )  Illustrations  from  Grammar 206-207 

(m.)  Illustrations  from  Arithmetic    208 

b.  Extends  by  Imparting  New  Knowledge 209 

Questioning  Should  Lead  Pupil  to  Institute  new  Re- 
lations      209 

{i. )  Illustration  from  Pronouncing  Words 209 

{it.)  From  Naming  Numbers 2io 

{iti.)  From  Elementary  Arithmetic 21 1 

{iv.)  From  Solution  of  Problems 212 

{v.)  From  Algebraic  Formulae 213-214 

4.  Fourth  Object  is  to  Cultivate  Power  of  Expression 215 

tM5.--This  applies  to  II.  or  Training  Apperception  as  well  as  to  1.) 

a.  Relation  of  Knowledge  and  Language 21 5 

(1.)  Words  Without  Ideas  are  Empty. 
Ideas  Without  Words  are  Chaotic 

(«V.)  Words  Define  and  Make  Permanent    216 

{Hi.)  Thought  is  Not  Complete  Till  Objectified  in 

Language 217 

k.  Hence  Thought  Lessons  Must  be  Language  Lessons  .  217 

Each  Reacts  upon  the  Other 218 

C  Method  of  Training  Expression  and  Thereby  Thought  219 

(1. )  Question  Pupil  to  Clear  Thought 220 

(iV.)  Then  to  Clear  Oral  Statement  of  the  Thought .  220 
(iU,)  Then  to  Clear  Written  Statement 221 


XVUl  CONTENTS. 

d,  B'justration  of  Rule :  No  Thought  Without  Expression. 

(».)  Elementary  Illustrations a2i 

{it. )  Illustrations  from  Stud/  of  Classics 222 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Method  of  Interrogation — Continued. 

A.  Objects  of  Questioning— C^w/iVwfl/. 
tL— Training  of  Apperception. 

Objects  arc : 

1.  To  Excite  Interest 224 

This  is  secured  by 

a.  Clear  Presentation 225 

Clearness  in  the  Teacher 225 

k.  Developing  Sense  of  Power 226 

Time  requisite  for  Development    226 

Sense  of  Power  requires  Self- Education   227 

r.  Sympathy  in  Teacher 228 

(i)  This  Secures  Confidence 292 

(it)  Brings  Mind  of  Teacher  close  to  Mind  of  Child  229 

(Hi)  It  arouses  the  Dull 230 

d.  Personality  of  Teacher 231 

(»*)  Personality  involves  Union  of  Sympathy  and 

Enthusiasm 232 

(«*)  Method  of  Personality 232 

Evil  of  substituting  Mechanical  Method  for  Per- 
sonal Power 233 

2.  To  arouse  Attention 243 

Questions  challenge  Attention  . 234 

(»)  They  awaken  Old  Knowledge,  adjust  it  upon 

New 234-235 

{ii)  Illustration 235 

3.  To  direct  Attention    236 

(1)  Questions  keep  the  Mind  in  Ordeiiy  Movement  236 
(«0  Thus  develop  Power  of  Analyns  and  Synthesis  236 
(&'i)  Illustrations 337 


CONTENTS.  XXIX 

4.  To  Cultivate  Habit  of  Self-Questioning 338 

(t)  Goal  of  Attention 338 

(ti)  Gives  Independence  of  Mind • 239 

I   Qualifications  of  jbhe  Questioner. 

L  Acquired  Qualifications 240 

I.  Thorough  Knowledge •   .   240 

{t)  Requires  Knowledge  of  Kindred  Subjects  and 

Advanced  Branches , 24c 

{it)   Improtant  in  Primary  Teaching    24 1 

{it't)  As    well  as  in  higher  work 241 

3.    Preparation  of  Lessons  242 

3.  Analytic  Power 343 

4.  Knowledge  of  Mind ,...,... 343 

5.  Practice  in  Questioning    .,.,,., 344 

n.  Natural  Endowments 344 

Force  of  Personality    345 

Its  Moral  and  Religious  Spirit  345 

0-  Matter  and  Form  of  Questions 345 

L  As  to  Matter,  Questions  should  be 

1.  Definite 246 

Illustrations. 

2.  Connected — In  Logical  Sequence  347 

3.  Adapted  to  Capacity 348 

4.  And  should  exhibit  Sense  of  Proportion 249 

n.  As  to  Form,  Questions  should  be 

1.  Put  in  Good  Language 249 

2.  Varied 249 

3.  Given  in  Questioner's  Own  Words , .  249 

4.  Should  not  be  Elliptical    

5.  Should  follow  Serial  by  Topical  Order  350 

ni.  Mode  of  Questioning 

Various  Suggestions 350 

D.  Matter  and  Form  of  Answers. 

Various  Suggestions .•.•••.... 351-252 

Class — ^Answering. 
.  Answers  wholly  Wrong, 
Partly  Right,  Partly  Wrong, 
Writing  Answers,  eto. 


XJU  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    XL 

Kindergarten  Work  and  Self-Instruction  in 
Public  Schools, 

Introduction — 

Grounds  for  introducing  Kindergarten  Work a5a 

1.  Physical  Education 253 

2.  Moral  Education 254 

3.  Intellectual  Education  255 

4.  Kindergarten  Instruction  is  Rational  256 

5.  The  Beginning  of  Wisdom    256 

n.  Blocks  and  Building 257 

1.  Object  Lessons  with  Blocks 258 

2.  Illustration  ..••... ..  259 

3.  Value  of  this  260 

4.  Constructive  Exercises  with  Blocks  261-62 

5.  Self-Instruction  with  Blocks 263-64 

6.  Forms  of  Beauty  with  Blocks 264-67 

7.  Value  of  Kindergarten  Exercises    267-62F 

m.  The  Tablets. 

1.  Description  of 268-69 

2.  Object  Lessons  with 269-71 

3.  Constructive  Exercises  with    ,. 271-72 

4.  Self-Instruction  with  Tablets. 

IV.  The  Sticks. 

1.  Constructive  Exercises  yniiEk 275 

2.  Kindergarten  Drawing     275 

V.  Exercises  for  Hand-Training. 

I.  Slat  Interlacing 278-79 

8.  Paper  Folding  280-83 

3.  Mat  Weaving 283-84 

4.  Kindergarten  Work  aid  «*  Half-Time  "  System 284-86 

VL  Results  Manifested  286 


CONTENTS.  1XX» 

Vn.  Self-Instruction  in  Common  Work. 

I.  Principle  of  Reproduction 286 

a.  Prepare  Self-Instruction  Work 287 

3.  Writing  and  Drawing    ••..  287 

4.  Reading 2S7-88 

5.  Arithmetic   •••••i««...  288 


CHAPTER  XII. 

.Outline  Methods  in  Special  Subjects, 

I.  Geography 289-96 

n.  Arithmetic    296-304 

in.  Primary  Reading   305-11 

IV.  Training  Language  Power 312-15 

V.  Qxammax • 315-17 


PRINCIPLES  AND  PRACTICE 

OF 

EDUCATION 


CHAPTER  L 

PSYCHOLOGY  AND   ITS   RELATION  TO  THE   TEACHER. 

On  hearing  the  oft-repeated  assertion  of  the  high  value  of  a 
knowledge  of  psychology  as  a  preparation  for  teaching,  the 
teacher  may  reasonably  ask  : — What  is  psychology,  and  what 
relation  does  it  bear  to  the  work  of  the  teacher  ?  Is  it  essential 
or  at  least  important,  that  he  should  have  a  knowledge  of  the 
subject  ?  If  it  is  important  what  makes  it  so,  and  how  shall 
the  teacher  avail  himself  of  it  in  order  to  become  a  b'*tter 
educator?  To  a  brief  consideration  of  these  questions,  this 
chapter  will  be  devoted. 

Psychology  Defined. — What  is  psychology?  For  the 
teacher's  purpose,  the  simplest  answer  that  can  be  given  to  this 
question  is  that  it  is  the  science  of  the  minds  of  those  whom  he 
has  to  teach — the  term  mmd  being  used  to  include  the  entire 
psychical  (Greek,  psyche,  soul)  nature,  the  will,  and  the  emo- 
tions, as  well  as  the  intellect.  Since  the  teacher  has  to  do, 
on  the  whole,  with  the  body,  the  physical  nature  of  the  pupil, 
only  on  account  of  its  close  connection  with  moral  and 
intellectual  habits,  it  is  plain  that  this  definition  is  almost 
equivalent  to  saying  that  for  the  teacher  psychology  is  the 
science  of  the  pupil  himself;  it  is  a  systematic  and  orderly 
account  of  the  mind  that  the  educator  must  reach,  of  the  nature  of 
this  mind  and  of  the  laws^  principles  and  results  of  its  activity. 


2  PSYCHOLOGY. 

Formal  Definition  and  Terms. — A  more  tedinical  definition  of 
psychology  is  that  it  is  the  science  of  the  facts  or  phenomena  of  self.  By 
self  is  meant  that  the  mind  exists  for  itself  \  that  it  is  conscious  of  its  own 
processes  and  states.  Other  terms  used  are  Ego  implying  that  the  self 
recognizes  itself  as  Ijn  distinction  from  things  and  from  other  persons.  Sotd 
as  generally  used,  suggests  the  close  relation  between  the  mind  and  its  organ, 
the  body.  Subject  b  used  to  imply  that  the  mind  is  a  unity  binding  together 
all  feelings,  ideas,  and  purposes,  and  distinguishes  it  from  the  object  which 
lies  over  against  self.  The  term  spirit  suggests  the  higher  moral  and  reli- 
gious activities  of  mind. 

Methods  of  Psychology. — There  are  various  methods  used  for  invest- 
igating and  explaining  psychical  facts.  A  person  may  set  himself  to  study 
his  own  mind  ;  may  watch  the  origin  and  progress  of  his  own  thoughts ; 
may  analyze  them  as  they  come  and  go  and  note  the  ties  that  seem  to  con- 
nect them.  In  other  words,  he  may  observe  himself  as  he  would  observe 
any  phenomena.  This  is  the  method  of  introspection — of  looking  within. 
Many  of  our  ideas  come  to  us  primarily  through  the  connection  of  soul  with 
body  in  the  form  of  sensations,  and  many  of  our  states,  as  our  desires,  express 
themselves  through  the  body.  We  may,  therefore,  experiment  with  our 
sense  organs  as  a  means  of  changing  our  ideas.  This  is  the  experimental 
method.  We  may  also  study  the  minds  of  others.  We  may  observe  (l) 
chiW-';n  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the  original  forms  and  gradual 
development  of  what  we  know  introspectively  only  as  finished  products. 
Or  we  may  study  {2)  animals,  with  a  view  to  learning  about  instincts,  and 
the  lower  stages  of  psychical  life  j  or  (3)  the  minds  of  those  defective  or 
disordered,  like  the  blind,  the  deaf,  or  the  insane,  and  thus  discover  the 
effect  of  withdrawal  or  alteration  of  any  factor.  In  these  three  cases,  we 
are  following  the  comparative  method.  Or,  finally,  instead  of  studying  mind 
directly,  we  may  study  its  products  and  then  reason  back  to  those 
activities  of  mind  necessary  to  produce  such  results.  Language,  the  growth 
of  science  and  of  art,  political  and  religious  institutions,  we  may  consider 
and  study  as  manifestations,  embodiments  of  intelligence,  and  hence  infer 
some  laws  of  intelligence  itself     This  is  the  objective  method. 

The  Basis  of  Educational  Method.— More  particu- 
larly, psychology  is  an  account  of  the  various  ways  in  which  the 
mind  works.  Some  of  these  ways  are  what  constitute  the  pro- 
cess of  learning,  and  it  is  of  prime  importance  that  the  teacher 
should  know  them.  In  all  his  educational  work  it  is  to  these 
processes  that  he  must  appeal,  and  upon  them  that  he  must  build 


ITS    RELATION    TO   THE   TEACHER.  S 

A  .nethod  of  teaching  which  does  not  rest  upon  these  processes 
will  be  arbitrary,  and  either  barren  of  good  results  or  positively 
harmful.  Such  a  method,  having  no  connection  with  any  activity 
native  to  the  learner's  mind,  either  hangs  "  in  the  air  "  utterly 
without  practical  significance,  or  tends  to  thwart  some  activity 
instead  of  aiding  its  development.  A  child's  psychical  processes 
will  doubtless  go  on  whether  he  is  taught  well  or  ill,  or  indeed 
whether  he  is  taught  at  all  or  not ;  but  left  to  themselves — to 
the  education  of  "  nature  " — or  directed  by  wrong  methods, 
they  are  almost  sure  to  stop  short  of  their  highest  capacity,  to 
operate  feebly  or  only  intermittently,  and  to  be  exercised  in 
a  wasteful  and  inefficient  way  :  thus  the  true  end  of  education — 
t?u  hantionious  and  equable  evolution  of  the  human  powers — is 
never  .reached.  Methods  find  their  place  in  stimulating 
the  instinctive  activities  into  ever-renewed  movement,  in 
keeping  them  directed  in  the  right  line,  and  progressing 
upon  that  line  in  the  simplest,  most  economical  and  most  vital 
way.  They  must  rest,  therefore,  upon  knowledge  of  the 
activities  of  the  mind  and  of  the  laws  governing  them.  This 
knowledge  psychology  aims  to  give. 

Value  of  Method. — The  position  thus  given  to  method 
does  not  detract  from  its  high  value — a  value  so  high, 
that  the  whole  question  of  education  on  its  practical  side, 
is  a  question  of  method.  It  only  shows  what  is  the  reason  for 
this  high  value.  It  shows  that  methods  have  such  an  import- 
ant place  because  they  are  tributary  to  the  natural  processes 
of  the  mind.  Methods  are  brought  into  disrepute  not  by 
giving  them  this  subsidiary  function,  but  by  making  them 
mere  mechanical  devices  which  the  teacher  is  required  to 
master  in  order  to  give  instruction  in  certain  subjects.  A  method 
regarded  as  a  mere  contrivance  for  imparting  know  ledge  is  at 
best  formal  and  lifeless,  and  at  worst,  degenerates  into  a  mere 
stereotyped  trick,  the  repetition  of  which  is  deadening  to  the 


4  PSYCHOLOGY. 

pupil,  and  degrading  to  the  teacher.  But  exactly  the  same 
outward  procedure  when  not  the  result  of  blind  obedience  to  an 
assumed  educational  rule,  but  followed  as  clearly  auxiliary  to 
some  activity  on  the  part  of  the  pupil,  places  the  work  of  the 
teacher  on  a  rational  basis,  gives  it  vitality  and  effectiveness, 
and  makes  the  teacher  an  qrtist  rather  than  a  tradesman.  It 
should  ever  be  remembered  that  the  servile  imitation  of  what  in 
the  hands  of  another  may  be  a  right  method,  or  the  mechanical 
adherence  to  empirical  rules,  is  not  educational  method  in  any 
true  sense  of  the  term.  True  educational  methods  are  ways  of 
approach  to  the  learner's  mind,  and  ways  of  directing  its 
activities  according  to  well  understood  laws.  They  are  not  the 
blind  observance  of  formulae,  pedagogical,  or  otherwise ;  but 
are  skillful  adaptations  to  the  mental  processes  of  the  concrete 
subject  who  is  learning,  the  actual  individual  self.  (  Upon  this 
fact  and  this  alone  is  based  the  claim  of  the  great  educational 
importance  of  psychology.  ) 

Limitations  of  Psychology.— But  it  is  important  to 
know  what  psychology  cannot  do  as  well  as  what  it  can  do. 
The  following  limitations  are  accordingly  to  be  noticed.  In  the 
first  place  teaching  deals  with  individuals,  while  psychology, 
like  every  science,  is  generic.  That  is  to  say,  as  a  science,  it 
deals  with  classes ;  it  gives  the  laws  of  mind  in  general,  but 
overlooks  the  specifically  different  circumstances  under  which 
these  laws  operate  in  different  individuals.  Botany,  for  example, 
while  giving  the  laws  of  plant  life  in  general,  does  not  deal  with 
the  individual  roses,  geraniums,  etc.,  about  which  the  chief 
interest  of  the  florist  centres.  Similarly  psychology  says  and  can 
say  nothing  about  this  and  that  boy  and  girl ;  yet  it  is  just  with 
this  and  that  boy  and  girl  that  the  teacher  has  continually  to  do. 

In  the  second  place,  psychology  as  a  science  is  theoretical, 
while  teaching  is  practical.  That  is  to  say  psychology  can  give 
the  teacher  knowledge  ol   the  laws  of  the  workings  of  the 


ITS    RELATION   TO   THE   TEACHER.  0 

mind;  but  it  cannot  give  him  the  tact  and  skill  and  insighl 
necessary  to  apply  these  laws  with  the  best  possible  results  in 
his  actual  experiences.  Just  as  one  may  know  the  laws  of  the 
physiology  and  pathology  of  the  human  body  and  yet  be  a  poor 
physician  through  lack  of  the  practical  qualities,  the  sympathy, 
the  insight,  the  energy  necessary  to  apply  this  knowledge,  sc 
one  who  lacks  sympathy  may  be  able  to  state  all  that  is  known 
of  psychology  and  yet  be  a  poor  teacher  ;  for  science  is  a  weak 
substitute  for  sympathy.  On  the  other  hand,  great  sympathy 
with  pupils  will  often  give  the  teacher  a  power  of  insight  into 
their  mental  processes,  and  thus  enable  him  to  adjust  his  teach- 
ing methods  with  good  effect,  although  he  has  but  slight 
theoretical  knowledge  ;  in  this  case,  sympathy  is,  in  part,  a 
substitute  for  philosophy. 

But  these  limitations,  after  all,  only  amount  to  saying  that 
personal  skill  based  partly  on  inborn  qualities,  and  partly  on 
acquired  experience,  counts  for  much  in  teaching  as  in  every- 
thing else.  The  best  teacher  will  be  he  who  unites  high  personal 
qualities  with  knowledge  of  the  theory  of  his  subject  which  has 
been  perfected  by  experience;  for  "studies  perfect  nature 
and  are  perfected  by  experience." 

Mode  of  Treatment. — We  may  begin  our  study  of  the 
theory  which  underlies  teaching  by  comparison  of  a  finished 
manufactured  article  to  completely  developed  mental  states. 
Just  as  a  piece  of  broadcloth  was  not  always  cloth,  but  was  made 
from  the  raw  material  by  certain  mechanical  processes,  so  an 
act  of  thought  or  will  was  at  first  psychical  raw  material  which 
had  to  undergo  certain  psychical  processes  in  order  to  become  a 
finished  product.  The  teacher  will  naturally  desire  to  know 
something  about  each  of  these,  something  about  the  capacities 
which  are  the  beginnings,  the  raw  material — something  about 
the  processes  which  act  upon  the  raw  material,  and  something 
about  the  finished  products.     Accordingly  we  shall  take  up  I. 


6  SENSATION. 

The  Bases  of  Psychical  Life.  II.  The  Processes  of  Psychi- 
cal Life,  and  III.  The  three  forms  of  psychical  development, 
viz.,  the  Intellectual,  the  Emotional,  and  the  Volitional, 
with  something  about  the  various  classes  of  facts  coming  undei 
each  head. 

Note. — Regarding  Psychology  and  its  Methods  consult  Dewey's  Psy 
chology,  Chapter  L 


V 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   BASES    OF    PSYCHICAL   LIFE, 


As  just  said,  the  development  of  mind  takes  its  origin  from 
certain  capacities  which  are  at  once  the  stimulus  to  further 
progress  and  the  raw  material  out  of  which  the  more  complex 
forms  are  made.  These  bases  are,  upon  the  intellectual  side. 
Sensations  \  upon  the  emotional.  Interests  ;  upon  the  voli- 
tional, Impulses.  We  begin  with  a  study  of  the  facts  con- 
cerning 

§1.  SENSATION. 

Sensation  may  be  defined  as  any  Mental  State  which 
arises  from  a  bodily  stimulus,  and  upon  the  basis  of  which  we 
Q^et  knowledge  of  the  world  around  us.  A  few  examples  will 
make  this  clear.  We  smell  of  an  orange,  and  get  the 
sensation  of  odor ;  we  put  a  part  of  it  in  our  mouth,  and  get  the 
sensation  of  taste  \  we  look  at  it,  and  get  the  sensation  of  color  \ 
we  explore  its  surface  with  our  hands,  and  get  the  sensation  of 
contact,  of  pressure,  and  of  temperature ;  we  drop  it,  and  get 
the  sensation  of  sound.  If  we  apply  these  examples  to  our  de- 
finition we  see  (i)  That  smell,  taste,  si^  touch  and  hearing 
are  all  mental  states,  for  the  mind's  content  is  changed  as  soon 


THE   BASES   OF    PSYCHICAL   UFK.  .    7 

as  each  occurs;  (2)  That  the  means  which  occasion  these  mental 
changes  are  bodily  organs y  the  eye,  ear,  hand,  etc.,  together  with 
the  nerves  connecting  these  organs  with  the  brain  \  and  (3) 
That  through  each  of  these  states  we  learn  something  about  our 
surroundings.  If,  now,  we  regard  the  orange  as  an  illustration 
of  the  whole  world  about  us,  we  see  how  the  first  step  in  know- 
ledge of  this  world  is  taken. 

Sensations  are  Immediate  and  Present ative.— By 
immediate  is  meant  that  the  last  antecedent  of  the  mental  state 
is  a  physical  change  and  not  an  intervening  psychical  process 
Sensations  of  yellow,  of  the  peculiar  taste  and  smell  of  the 
orange  follow  as  soon  as  the  eye  or  the  proper  organ  is  directed 
by  the  mind  upon  this  fruit.  The  mind  does  not  have  to  re- 
member, or  imagine  or  think  in  order  to  have  these  feelings. 
But,  if  the  eye  falls  upon  the  figures,  7,  9,  8,  6,  5,  4,  the  intel- 
lect must  go  through  a  series  of  processes  and  come  to  a  con- 
clusion before  discovering  that  the  sum  is  39.  Such  knowledge 
is  accordingly  called  mediate,  that  is,  depending  upon  intermedi- 
ate processes,  and  is  opposed  to  sensation.  We  may  illustrate 
again  by  the  difference  between  simply  hearing  a  sound  and 
comprehending  the  meaning  of  the  words  uttered.  The  sound 
is  heard  as  soon  as  the  stimulus  reaches  the  brain  ;  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  is  not  apprehended  until  certain  processes  of 
interpretation,  to  be  studied  hereafter,  are  brought  to  bear. 

The  term  presentative  has'  somewhat  the  same  significance 
as  immediate.  A  sensation  is  called  presentative  because  it  is 
formed  wholly  of  original  elements,  without  any  reproduced 
factors  entering  in.  Thus  the  pain  that  I  feel  as  I  cut  my 
finger  is  immediately  presented  to  me,  and  is  a  sensation,  while 
the  memory  of  this  pain,  or  the  pain  that  comes  from  the  hear- 
ing of  the  death  of  a  friend,  is  representative,  being  based  upon 
the  recalling  of  past,  experiences.  The  sensation,  in  a  word, 
is  presentative   because    occasioned  by  some  object  actually 


r 


8  SENSATION. 

affecting  the  organ  of  sense  ;  while  memories,  abstract  ideas, 
conceptions  like  those  of  justice,  of  education,  of  arithmetic, 
not  being  produced  by  some  direct  affection  of  the  sense-organ, 
are  representative  in  character. 

Sensation,  to  sum  up,  is  primary  and  original,  not  secondary 
and  derived,  and  has  no  antecedent  excepting  the  physical 
stimulus  of  the  sense-organ.  Sensation  is,  therefore,  the  simple 
and  elementary  material  out  of  which  knowledge  of  the  world 
about  us  is  built  up,  and  hence  our  account  of  how  the  mind 
gains  its  knowledge  must  begin  with  a  study  of  sensations. 

Characteristics  of  Sensations. — From  these  general 
considerations  we  must  turn  to  a  study  of  the  particular  character- 
istics of  sensation.  We  may  continue  to  illustrate  by  the  sensa- 
tions occasioned  by  the  orange— say  the  visual  sensation  of 
color.  This  sensation,  like  every  other,  possesses  quality^ 
extensity,  intensity ^  and  tone.  By  quality  is  meant  the  peculiar 
nature  or  content  of  the  sensation — in  this  case,  that  it  is  a 
color  and  not  a  sound  or  taste,  and  furthermore  that  it  is  yellow 
in  color,  and  not  green  nor  red.  Extensity  refers  to  the  extent 
of  impression  produced,  to  its  voluminousness.  A  small  portion 
of  orange  skin  does  not  make  so  extensive  an  impression 
as  the  whole  orange,  nor  this  as  a  whole  basket  of  oranges* 
Intensity  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  extensity.  The  latter, 
as  just  said,  means  the  largeness  of  the  impression.  But  any 
sensation  of  yellow,  whatever  its  extent,  has  a  certain  degree  of 
intensity  according  to  the  amount  of  light  which  produces 
it.  This  intensity  would  be  nothing  in  pitch  darkness,  and 
at  its  brightest,  of  course,  in  noonday  light,  while  at  twilight 
it  would  be  feeble,  etc  Similarly  the  intensity  of  a  sound  may 
vary  from  the  slightest  whisper  to  the  loudest  roar  of  artillery. 
Finally,  as  to  tone,  the  yellow  may  be  more  or  less  painful,  be- 
cause the  color  is  crude  and  glaring,  or  it  may  be  pleasant 
because  refined  and  pure  in  quality.     The  tone  thus  refers  to 


THE   BASES   OF   PSYCHICAL   LIFE.  9 

the  emotional  effect  which  the  sensation  excites,  whether  agree- 
able or  disagreeable. 

The  Conditions  of  Sensation.— Each  of  these  charac 
teristics  depends  partly  upon  (i)  physical  and  partly  upon  (2) 
physiological  conditions.     These  should  now  be  studied. 

(1)  The  Physical  Factor. — The  ultimate  physical  occa^ 
V  sion  of  sensation  is  always  some  form  of  motion.  Of  taste  , 
and  smell  the  sensory  stimulus  is  molecular  motions  not  well 
understood ;  of  touch,  the  stimulus  is  motion  in  the  form  of 
vibration  of  masses  and  visible  particles ;  of  hearing,  it  is  motion 
of  air  or  some  other  substance  having  weight,  while  of  sight, 
the  stimulus  is  vibrations  of  an  imponderable  medium  called 
ether.  The  intensity,  and,  to  a  certain  degree,  the  quality 
of  sensations,  correspond  to  properties  of  the  motions  occasion- 
ing them.  Imagine  a  ball  hung  by  a  string  to  be  struck  a  blow  \ 
the  harder  the  blow  the  wider  will  be  the  swing  of  the  ball 
That  is,  the  amplitude  of  a  vibration  depends  upon  the  impetus 
of  the  moving  particle.  Now  if  we  imagine  the  swinging  ball 
to  come  in  contact  with  a  drum  head,  it  is  evident  that  the 
harder  the  ball  is  moving  (or  the  greater  its  amplitude)  the 
greater  will  be  the  shock  of  the  contact.  From  this  illustration 
it  may  be  gathered  that  the  intensity  of  a  sensation  depends 
upon  the  strength  of  the  motion  which  stimulates  it,  and,  if 
this  motion  is  in  the  form  of  a  vibration,  upon  the  amplitude 
of  the  vibration. 

Sound  and  Color. — In  the  cases  of  sound  and  color,  at  all 
events,  the  quality  of  the  sensation  corresponds  to  the  velocity 
2Xi!^form  of  the  vibration  exciting  them.  By  velocity  is  meant 
the  number  of  swings  that  occur  in  a  given  time,  whatever  the 
width  or  amplitude  of  the  swing.  The  lowest  musical  tones  are 
produced  by  a  rate  of  from  twelve  to  twenty  vibrations  per 
second  ;  the  highest  tone,  by  vibrations  at  the  rate  of  about  forty 
thousand  per  second.     Between  these  two  extremes  come  the 

<^     JOP   THK.  ^       \ 

■aNiyERSlTYj 


lO  SENSATION. 

various  octaves  of  pitch.  I'here  is  also  a  scale  of  color  in  which 
red  corresponds  to  the  slowest  rate,  which  is,  however,  almost 
infinitely  more  rapid  than  those  of  sound,  being  four  hundred  and 
fifty-one  billions  per  second;  violet  corresponds  to  the  most 
rapid,  seven  hundred  and  eighty  five  billions  per  second,  while 
the  five  other  spectral  colors  occupy  the  interval. 

Mixed  Sounds  and  Colors— So  far  we  have  been 
speaking  only  of  pure  or  unmixed  tones  and  colors.  But  if 
the  vibrations  are  complex  in  form,  composed,  not  of  a  single 
regular  series  of  waves,  but  by  the  superimposition  of  a 
number  of  series,  we  have  mixed  or  composite  sounds  and 
colors.  In  the  sphere  of  hearing  there  is  produced  what  is 
called  timbre  or  tone-color.  This  is  that  quality  in  sound  which 
distinguishes  an  organ  tone  from  a  piano  or  violin  tone  of 
exactly  the  same  pitch  and  intensity,  or  from  a  human  voice, 
or  one  voice  from  another.  In  the  sphere  of  colors,  this  union, 
of  various  systems  of  vibrations  produces  the  mixed  or  impure 
*dt:rfors  which  we  call  shades;  for  example,  in  red,  we  have 
scarlet,  crimson,  rose,  pink,  etc.  The  proper  intermixture  of 
the  vibrations  corresponding  to  the  seven  spectral  colors  forms 
white.  This  is,  perhaps,  all  that  need  be  said  about  the  rela- 
tion of  the  external  stimulus  to  the  sensation. 

(2)  The  Physiological  Factor.— We  turn  now  to  the 
physiological  side  of  the  sensation.  Here  there  are  three  points 
to  be  taken  into  account,  first,  the  nerve  organ  that  receives 
the  physical  stimulus,  second^  the  nerve  conveying  the  stimulus 
from  the  organ  to  the  brain,  and  third,  the  change  in  the 
brain  itself.  The  organs  that  are  exposed  to  stimulation  are 
classified  as  special  and  general  sensory  organs.  The  special 
organs  are  those  whose  function  is  to  receive  some  specific 
stimulus  to  which  it  is  especially  adapted,  as  the  eye,  for  example, 
is  fitted  to  receive  and  react  upon  the  waves  of  ether.  ^\iQ  general 
organs  are  those  the  main  business  of  which  is  not  the  iDeception 


THE   BASES   OF    PSYCHICAL   LIFE.  I J 

of  sensory  stimuli  at  all,  but  the  regulation  of  some  organic  pio- 
cess,  like  breathing,  digestion,  or  circulation.  The  nerves 
found  in  the  lungs,  stomach,  etc.,  are  not  there  for  the  express 
purpose  of  giving  sensations,  but  secondarily  and  incidentally 
they  do  give  rise  to  sensations  which  tell  us  how  the  respiratory 
or  the  digestive  process  is  going  on. 

Differences  between  General  and  Special  Sensa- 
tions.— This  difference  in  organs  leads  to  a  corresponding 
division  of  sensations  into  general  or  organic,  and  specific.  The 
main  distinctions  are  the  following  : 

1.  In  the  specific  sensations,  as  touch,  hearing  and  vision, 
qucUity  is  the  prominent  constituent ;  in  the  organic,  as  diges- 
tion, etc.,  tone.  Taste  and  smell,  although  specific  senses,  have 
so  much  emotional  accompaniment  that  they  are  intermediate. 

2.  From  the  above  difference,  it  results  that  the  specific 
sensations  are  clear  and  their  contents  easily  distinguishable, 
while  the  organic  are  almost  indescribable  in  their  vagueness. 
So  too,  while  the  specific  sensations  are  sharply  defined  in  the 
order  of  both  co-existence  and  sequence,  the  organic  shade  into 
one  another  by  indistinct  blendings. 

3.  The  organic  sensations  report  to  us  the  condition  of  our 
own  bodily  systems,  their  health,  comfort  or  the  reverse,  and 
serve  along  with  taste  and  smell  to  direct  our  bodily  processes 
properly,  while  the  specific  mainly  report  to  us,  objects  outside 
of  our  own  body,  and  subserve  the  theoretical  end  of  know- 
ledge. On  this  account,  the  twdf  classes  are  sometimes  tejmed, 
the  subjective  and  the  objective. 

4.  One  of  the  most  important  differences,  from  the  teacher's 
standpoint,  is  that  in  the  order  of  their  development.  At  birth 
and  in  early  infancy,  sensations  in  which  the  factor  of  tone  pre- 
vails are  the  predominating,  but  they  gradually  give  way  in 
importance  to  sensations  in  which  quality  is  more  important. 
The  infant  is  at  first  taken  up  almost  wholly  with  organic 


i2  SENSATION. 

sensations  of  hunger  and  thirst,  comfort,  or  fatigue  and  pain, 
etc  Even  taste  and  smell  do  not  seem  to  convey  much  idea 
about  the  quality  of  the  substanca  tasted,  but  only  of  its 
emotional  effect  But  in  time  sounds  and  colors  are  observed, 
at  first  the  brighter  and  more  intense.  For  a  long  time  after 
colors  are  noticed,  the  child  has  no  distinct  idea  of  the  differ- 
ence between  various  color  qualities — between  green  and  red, 
yellow  and  blue,  etc.  The  development  begins,  in  other  words, 
with  the  emotiotial  and  the  vague^  and  advances  towards  the 
definite  and  the  intellectual. 

The  senses  in  which  quality  predominates,  particularly  sight, 
hearing  and  touch,  since  they  are  the  senses  which  give  the 
most  information  about  the  surrounding  world,  are  those  of 
most  importance  to  the  teacher. 

The  Sensation  as  a  Psychical  State.— But,  although  the  intensity 

and  quality  of  sensation  depend  largely  upon  external  and  physiological 
circumstances  ;  the  sensation  in  itself  is  psychical ;  it  is  a  state  of  con- 
sriousness.  The  changes  in  the  nervous  system  are  all  physical ;  they  are 
only  changes  of  matter  and  of  motion.  They  are  objective  and  have  no  con- 
iscious  existence  for  themselves.  But  the  sensation  is  not  material  nor 
spatial.  It  has  no  right  nor  left,  no  quick  or  slow  motion.  It  simply 
exists  as  a  psychical  occurrence.  Materialism  attempts  to  regard  the  sens- 
ation as  only  nerve  force  changed  into  another  form,  just  as  heat  may  be 
changed  into  light,  this  into  electricity  and  so  oi^  But  heat,  light  and 
electricity  may  all  be  considered  as  forms  of -fiiotion,  and  hence  as  con- 
rertible  into  one  another  ;  while  sensation  is  not  a  form  of  motion.  Even 
the  materialist  is  obliged  to  confess  that  the  change  from  one  to  the  other  is 
unaccountable,  mysterious,  unthinkable. 

Nervous  Change  is  not  Cause,  but  Stimulus.  We  cannot  re- 
gard the  change  in  the  brain  therefore,  as  sufl&cient  explanation  of  a  sensa< 
lion.  There  is  required  something  which  may  co-operate  with  the  motion. 
This  is  the  soul  itself.  The  motion  acts  as  an  excitation  ;  a  stimulus  to 
call  the  soul  into  activity.  The  soul,  thus  incited,  responds  with  a 
sensation.  The  true  cause  of  a  sensation  is,  therefore,  the  activity  of  the 
soul,  while  the  affection  of  the  sense  and  the  change  in  the  nerve  and  brain 
ar'^  necessary  to  set  this  cause  in  action.  Sensation  may  thus  be  regarded 
ar  the  meeting  place  of  the  physical  and  the  psychical ;  the  transition  from 


THE    BASES  OF    PSYCHICAL  UFB.  13 

Mie  to  the  other.  It  is  in  sensation  that  nature  gains  qualities,  and  is 
transformed  into  color,  sound,  shape,  etc.,  instead  of  remaining  a  mono- 
tonous repetitton  of  motions.  And  in  sensation  the  soul  comes  in  connection 
with  mechanical  law,  with  physical  stimulus,  so  as  to  be  itself  mechanically 
controlled.  __ 

Touch,  the  Foundation  Sense.— Touch  is  important 
because  it  is  the  foundation  sense,  and  because  it  is  most  closely 
connected  with  the  organ  for  the  expression  of  the  will — the 
muscular  system.  It  may  be  called  the  foundation  sense  for  two 
reasons — Firsts  because  the  other  senses  appear  to  be  developed 
from  it ;  since  biologically  considered,  they  are  difFerentations 
of  it ;  and,  secondly^  because  the  other  senses  rest  upon  it  for 
assistance  and  confirmation.  Touch  gives  the  most  intimate 
and  detailed  knowledge  of  any  sense.  To  be  in  contact  with 
anything  is  synonymous  with  having  relations  of  closest  ac 
quaintance  with  it.  We  also  attribute  a  superior  reality  to  the 
reports  of  this  sense,  for  after  feeling  that  our  eyes  and  ears 
may  deceive  us,  on  account  of  their  remoteness  from  the  object, 
we  attempt  to  grasp  the  object,  and  by  handling  it,  to  get  a  sense 
of  certainty.  It  is  characteristic  of  ghosts  that  while  they  can 
be  seen  and  heard  they  ca/inot  be  touched.  The  other  reason 
given  for  the  educational  importance  of  this  sense  is  its  close 
connection  with  the  organ  of  motor  activity, — the  muscular 
system.  Touch  is  pre-eminently  an  active  sense.  Touching 
is  almost  identical  with  the  exercise  of  energy.  Contact  is  not 
passive  reception  of  impressions,  but  is  grasping  and  exploring. 
The  hand,  that  most  mobile  of  organs,  is  the  peculiar  organ  of 
touch.  A  child  is  never  contented  until  he  has  the  object  he 
perceives  in  his  hands,  and  turns  it  over  and  over,  and  "  tries  " 
it  for  himself  The  first  real  education  of  the  senses  comes  through 
touch,  and  wherever  the  senses  are  largely  concerned,  the  teacher 
must  continue  to  rely  upon  it 

Importance  of  Sight  and  Hearing.— The  importance 
of  sight  and  hearing  in  knowledge  is  such  a  commonplace  that  it 


14  SENSATION. 

is  unnecessary  to  call  attention  to  more  than  two  or  three  pomij. 
One  of  these  points  is  the  complex  and  varied  apparatus  which 
each  sense  possesses  for  making  discriminations.  There  is  almost 
no  limit  to  XhQ  fineness  oi  culture  of  which  these  senses  are  suscept- 
ible. They  give  the  clearest  and  most  definite  of  all  sensations. 
It  is  further  to  be  noted  that  the  eye  is,  in  a  certain  way,  the  sense 
for  space,  and  that  it  follows  from  this  that  whatever  exists  as  a 
whole  made  up  of  co-existent  parts  should  be  presented  to  the 
eye  in  order  to  be  apprehended  most  readily  and  thoroughly. 
The  range  also  of  this  sense  is  so  great  that  its  capacity  for 
simultaneous  impressions  makes  it  a  fit  organ  for  grasping  the 
relations  of  a  complex  subject.  Hence  the  use  of  maps,  chron- 
ological charts,  number-tables,  and  all  graphic  representations. 
The  ear,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  sense  for  time  and  of  events 
that  follow  one  another,  and  hence  should  be  appealed  to 
wherever  a  subject  is  to  be  learned  in  which  the  relation  of 
sequence  predominates. 

Individual  Differences  inSense-Organs.— Atten  tion 
however,  should  be  called  to  the  fact  that  individual  differences 
may  make  necessary  a  departure  from  the  rules  just  laid  down. 
There  are  always  some  children  in  whom  one  sense  predomin- 
ates to  such  a  degree  that  it  is  the  natural  organ  for  learning 
and  for  recalling.  This  prominence  may  occur  in  such  a  way 
that  the  child  is  of  the  motor,  the  visual  ox  the  auditory  type.  In 
the  visual  type,  the  eye  is  the  leading  sense,  impressions  being 
received  most  easily  and  retained  most  permanently  through 
this  organ.  Such  persons  note  readily  all  the  details  which 
they  see,  and  can  picture  them  vividly  to  themselves  afterwards. 
Draughtsmen,  geometers  and  chess  players  of  unusual  ability 
are  generally  pronounced  visualists.  Artists  have  been  known 
to  paint  accurately  portraits  from  the  vividness  of  their  mental 
vision  without  the  presence  of  the  person  represented.  Persons 
of  this  type  when  repeating  memorized  matter  seem  to  see  the 
written  or  printed  page  before  their  eyes  and  to  read  from  it. 


THE   BASES   OF   PSYCHICAL   LIFE.  1 5 

\Memory  exists  in  terms  ef  the  sense  through  which  the  impression 
is  most  easily  received. 

The  same  is  to  be  said  of  the  auditory  and  motor  types, 
excepting  that  in  these  cases  the  ear  or  else  muscular  activity 
with  touch  takes  the  lead.  Those  of  the  auditory  type  memor- 
ize most  easily  by  reading  the  matter  aloud.  Upon  repeating 
it  they  seem  to  hear  a  voice  reading  to  them.  Those  of  the 
motor  type  will  articulate  to  themselves  when  reading,  studying, 
or  engaged  in  reflection ;  and  when  recalling  they  depend  upon 
a  repetition  of  this  silent  articulation.  They  often  assist  them- 
selves with  a  kind  of  suppressed  movement  of  the  fingers,  as  if 
writing.  While  an  excessively  one-sided  development  of  any 
hense  is  to  be  avoided,  the  teachers  can  often  be  of  great  service 
10  the  pupil  by  discovering  to  what  type  the  pupil  belongs,  and 
appealing  to  him  through  that  sense. 

Educational  Principles.— We  may  conclude  this  study 
by  summing  up  certain  educational  principles  flowing  from  the 
psychology  of  sensation. 

I.  The  teacher  should  remember  that  it  is  impossible  to  have 
knowledge  where  there  has  been  no  basis  in  presentation.  There 
can  no  more  be  an  idea  of  anything  external  not  derived  in 
some  way  from  sensation  than  a  blind  man  can  tell  how  colors 
look.  Hence  the  necessity  of  constant  appeal  to  the  pupil's 
own  sense-activity,  instead  of  talking  about  or  representing  the 
thing  to  be  known.  Seeing  is  more  than  believing  in  primary- 
education  ;  it  is  the  beginning  of  knowledge.  This  does  not 
imply  that  no  knowledge  can  be  had  excepting  knowledge  of 
just  that  which  has  been  presented  to  the  senses.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  imagination  and  reasoning  ^owtrs  are  capable  of 
erecting  large  and  real  superstructures  upon  a  very  slight  basis 
of  sensation ;  but  it  is  meant  that  there  must  be  some  sensory 
basis.  Furthermore,  a  constant  activity  of  the  senses  in  early 
years  is  necessary  in   order  to   develop  the   imagination  and 


1 6  INTERESTS. 

thought  to  the  point  where  they  may  be  able  to  widen  the 
reports  of  the  senses. 

2.  The  teacher  should  also  keep  in  mind  the  limitations  of 
sensation.  Sensation  is  not  knoivledge,  but  only  a  stimulus  to  it, 
and  material  for  it.  The  mental  processes  must  act  upon  the 
sense-material.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  therefore,  that 
the  ultimate  end  of  appealing  to  the  senses  is  the  development  of 
the  self-activity  of^he  pupil  irl  putting  Into  motion  those  pro- 
cesses of  the  pupil's  mind  which  will  apprehend  the  sensations, 
and  in  strengthening  the  processes  so  that  they  will  grow  natur- 
ally into  memory,  imagination  and  thought. 

3.  The  teacher  should  remember  the  necessity  of  a  propel 
adaptation  of  teaching,  firsts  to  the  stage  of  development  of  sense- 
activity  reached  by  the  pupil,  secondly^  to  the  proper  sense  for 
taking  in  the  particular  subject  taught,  and  thirdly,  to  any 
peculiarities  that  may  exist  in  the  senses  of  the  individual  under 
instruction. 

Note. — Regarding  the  details  of  sensation,  see  Dewey's  Psychology, 
chapter  III. 

§  2.  TBCB  INTERESTS. 

We  have  been  dealing  with  sensation  as  the  basis  of  infor- 
mation about  objects  and  events — with  the  beginnings  of 
knozvledge.  But  we  have  had  occasion  to  notice  that  sensa- 
tions possess  'tone'  in  greater  or  less  degree,  that  is,  that 
they  have  a  certain  agreeiftble  or  disagreeable  emotional 
effect.  This  is  not  any  part  of  the  information  conveyed  by 
the  sensation,  but  is  a  part  of  the  relation  of  the  presentation 
to  the  mind.  It  arises  because  of  the  interest  which  the  pre- 
sentation has  for  the  mind.  It  is  the  matter  of  interest  which 
is  now  to  be  discussed. 

Interest  cannot  be  described,  it  can  only  be  felt.  But  every 
one  knows  what  he  means  by  saying  that  something  interests 
him ;  he  means  that  it  bears  such  a  relation  to  him  as  renders 


THE    BASES   OF    PSYCHICAL   LIFE.  1 7 

it  attractive,  and  draws  and  fixes  the  mind's  attention.  While 
an  analytic  description  cannot  be  given,  certain  differences 
between  the  interesting  side  of  a  presentation  and  that  which 
affords  knowledge  may  be  pointed  out. 

1.  Interest  is  emotional  rather  than  intellectual.  That  is  to 
say,  it  does  not  give  information  about  anything  in  the  external 
world,  but  arises  from  the  state  of  the  mind  itself.  It  is  usually 
accompanied  with  pain  or  pleasure,  but  cannot  be  said  to  be 
identical  with  them. 

2.  Interest  is  subjective,  while  knowledge  is  objective.  The 
term  objective  means  having  to  do  with  the  world,  with  objects, 
events  and  their  laws ;  while  the  term  subjective  means  belong- 
ing to  the  subject,  to  the  mind  without  regard  to  the  world 
outside. 

3.  Interest  is  individual,  while  knowledge  is  universal.  By 
universal  we  mean  belonging  to  a  world  which  is  open  to  all 
minds  alike.  That  seven  and  nine  make  sixteen  is  a  universal 
fact;  it  holds  for  all  minds  under  all  circumstances.  By  in- 
dividual we  mean  being  the  unique  and  peculiar  possession  of 
some  one  mind.  Others  may  have  an  interest  similar  to  mine 
in,  say,  the  subject  of  arithmetic,  but  none  can  share  in  my 
interest.  They  cannot  even  know  that  it  exists  unless  I  speak 
of  it,  or,  by  some  other  external  act,  make  it  known.  In  itself 
it  is  wholly  internal,  and  not  a  fact  in  the  world,  but  a  fact 
belonging  to  me,  or  to  thee,  to  sorne_  individual. 

Interest  is  as  much  a  spontaneous  capacity  of  the  mind  as 
sensation  is.  It  is  an  ultimate  and  irreducible  fact,  and,  like 
sensation,  an  indispensable  basis  for  higher  development. 
While  it  may  be  cultivated  and  transferred  from  subject  to  sub- 
ject in  such  a  way  as  to  make  interesting  what  was  previously 
indifferent  or  repulsive,  it  can  no  more  be  originally  created 
than  a  new  sense  can  be  created. 

Importance  of  Interest. — The  psychological  importance 


1 8  INTERESTS, 

of  interest  is  found  in  the  fact  that  it  is  the  means  by  which 
the  mind  is  drawn  to  any  subject,  and  led  to  exercise  itself 
upon  it.  Whatever  does  not  interest  the  mind,  that  the  mind  is 
indifferent  to ;  and  whatever  is  indifferent  is  for  that  mind  as 
if  it  had  no  existence.  The  problem  of  teaching  an  intelligent 
savage  some  technical  scientific  matter  would  not  be  chiefiy  a 
/  problem  of  how  to  give  him  sensations  regarding  it,  nor  how  to 
give  him  mental  capacity  enough  to  understand  it,  but  how  to 
arouse  his  interest  in  such  a  way  that  he  would  set  his  mind  to 
work  upon  it.  Interest  is,  therefore,  as  much  a  necessary  source 
of  knowledge  as  is  sensation.  Sensations  might  have  all  the 
objective  qualities  that  they  now  possess  and  yet  if  they  failed 
to  interest,  the  mind  would  pass  them  over  and  they  would 
never  enter  into  the  structure  of  our  knowledge. 

Educational  Principle. — The  resulting  educational  prin- 
ciple is  clear.  While  it  is  not  necessary  that  learning  should  be 
made  a  matter  of  play;  while,  indeed,  education  as  the  direc- 
tion of  the  mind  by  methods  supplied  from  without,  is  opposed 
to  theveryidea  of  play,  it  is  necessary  that  teaching  should  always 
appeal  to  some  interest^  and,  if  the  subject  is  not  intrinsically 
interesting,  that  interest  should  be  made  to  gather  about  it 
That  is,  the  subject  should  also  be  connected  with  something 
that  does  possess  this  intrinsic  interest.  In  teaching  children 
there  is  but  little  difficulty  in  mailing  interesting  sensations  into 
elements  of  knowledge.  The  chief  problem  is  how  to  invest 
the  indifferent  with  interest.  By  no  observance  of  rules  can  this 
be  done ;  it  is  matter  of  personal  power  in  the  teacher — ^a 
power  almost  wholly  due  to  sympathy  which  is,  in  the  emotional 
world,  what  attention  is  in  the  intellectual  world.  Under  the 
influence  of  this  power  the  teacher  is  interested  in  the  subject 
for  the  sake  of  the  pupil ;  interest  begets  interest,  and  the  pupil 
often  becomes  interested  in  the  indifferent  for  the  sake  of  the 
teacher.  The  teacher  should  also  keep  in  mind  the  individual 
and  subjective  character  of  interest  as  a  reason  why  his  mod« 


THE   BASES   OF    PSYCHICAL   LIFE.  19 

of  presenting  a  subject  should  be  varied  sufficiently  to  catch  the 
differing  interests  of  different  minds. 
Note. — On  this  subject  see  Dewey's  Psychology,  pp.  i6  and  246,  d  seq, 

§3.  IMPULSE. 

Having  studied  the  intellectual  and  emotional  basis 
of  the  psychical  life,  we  have  to  take  up  Impulse  as  th6 
volitional  basis.  Impulses  are  activities  which  arise  from 
some  feeling  0/  want  and  which,  guided  by  interest  in  the  satisfaction 
of  that  want,  lead  to  some  physical  change.  For  illustration, 
we  may  take  the  impulse  for  food.  This  arises  from  the  organic 
feeling,  hunger,  a  feeling  of  lack  and  of  desire  for  something  to 
satisfy  this  lack,  and  it  manifests  itself  in  a  certain  movements 
of  the  body,  those  necessary  to  supply  the  lack.  Impulse 
reverses  the  order  of  sensation.  The  litter  begins  in  outward 
physical  motion  which  traverses  the  sensory  nerves  to  the  brain, 
and  then  becomes  a  psychical  state.  But  impulses  begin  in  a 
psychical  state,  and  this,  by  means  of  the  brain  and  motor  nerves, 
IS  transformed  into  outward  motion.  Sensation  moves  inward 
and  impulse  outwards. 

Importance  of  Impulse. — To  be  convinced  of  the  import- 
ance of  impulse  we  need  but  watch  any  sentient  being  from 
the  lowest  to  the  highest,  and  call  to  mind  that  all  their  actions, 
excepting  the  purely  physiological,  are  only  the  outward  expres- 
sions of  impulse.  Impulse,  in  short,  is  the  basis  of  will.  It  is 
only  the  basis,  however,  for  it  requires  to  be  regulated,  and  its 
various  forms  harmonized  with  one  another  before  it  becomes 
a  true  act  of  will  \  the  growth  of  will  begins  with  the  acqui- 
sition of  power  over  bodily  movements  ;  the  will  less  activities 
of  impulse  are  isolated  and  co-ordinafed  into  movements  in 
which  purpose  is  clearly  displayed  :  thus  the  child  begins  to 
seize  an  object,  to  hold  the  head  erect,  to  sit  alone,  to  stand,  to 
walk,  to  talk,  etc.     Impulses,  like  sensations,  have  to  be,aeted 


to  IMPULSE. 

upon  by  higher  psychical  processes  in  order  to  be  changed  into 

finished  products. 

Impulse  and  Instinct. — Impulses  are  closely  connected 
with  instincts.  Indeed,  an  instinct  may  be  defined  as  an  im 
pulse  which  takes  at  once,  without  being  taught  by  experience, 
the  channel  necessary  to  reach  its  proper  end.  Instinct,  in 
other  words,  is  an  impulse  which  leads  one  to  do,  without  any 
knowledge  of  the  reason  why,  just  what  one  would  do,  if  he 
had  complete  knowledge  of  the  circumstances.  The  impulse 
for  food,  for  example  is,  in  most  animals  and  in  man  in  his 
infancy,  an  instinct,  because  the  organism  of  each,  as  soon 
as  it  feels  the  want  of  food,  takes  just  the  measures  needed  to 
secure  it,  and  does  this  without  being  guided  by  previous  ex- 
perience. 

Impulses  Classified. — Impulses  may  be  classified,  accord- 
ing to  the  stimulus  which  arouses  the  sense  of  want,  as  im- 
pulses of  sensation^  oi perception^  of  imitation^  and  of  expression. 

I.  Impulses  of  Sensation. — A  sensation  not  only  reports 
something  external  to  the  organism,  but  it  excites  a  tendency 
to  act  with  regard  to  that  something,  to  appropriate  it.  Thus 
the  appetites,  which  are  regularly  recurring  tendencies  to  lay 
hold  of  something  external  and  to  make  it  a  part  of  the  organ- 
ism, arise  in  needs  which  are  excited  by  organic  affections,  that 
is  by  general  sensations.  But  the  special  senses  have  also  cor- 
responding impulses.  There  is  a  hunger  of  the  sense  of 
touch  for  contact  with  bodies,  of  the  sense  of  hearing  for 
sounds,  etc.  Any  one  who  has  been  shut  off,  as  by  sickness, 
from  his  accustomed  quota  of  sensations,  knows  that  the 
pleasure  of  recovery  consists  largely  in  the  satisfaction  of  the 
hunger  of  these  senses.  The  impulses  are  now  permitted  to 
act  freely.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  starving  the  mind  by  not 
satisfying  the  sense-imptilses,  as  well  as  starving  the  body  by 
not  satisfying  its  hunger-impulse. 


THE    BASES   OF    PSYCHICAL   LIFE.  SI 

S.  Impulses  of  Perception. — These  are  such  as  arise  directly 
from  the  mere  perception  of  an  object.  They  come  under 
the  head  of  impulses  to  grasp  something  or,  in  some  way, 
to  continue  the  exploration  of  it.  An  infant  begins  to 
reach  for  things  as  soon  as  he  begins  definitely  to  perceive 
them.  This  impulse  is  one  of  the  chief  foundations  of  the 
play  impulse.  The  child  not  only  grasps  the  objects,  but 
handles  them,  moves  them  here  and  there,  tests  their  various 
qualities  for  himself,  and  tries  to  see  what  he  can  do  with 
them. 

3.  Impulses  to  Imitation. — As  soon  as  an  infant  clearly 
sees  the  actions  of  others,  there  is  an  instinctive  impulse  to  re- 
produce them  in  himself.  He  does  not  understand  the  original 
intention  of  the  action,  nor  why  he  endeavors  to  repeat  it,  but 
the  very  perception  of  the  action  renders  the  child,  for  the  time 
being,  an  automaton.  A  baby  "  reads  "  when  he  takes  a  news- 
paper or  book,  marks  when  he  gets  hold  of  a  pencil,  brushes 
with  a  broom,  strikes  with  a  whip,  and  so  on  indefinitely.  This 
tendency  to  imitation  is  an  exceedingly  important  factor  in  early 
education,  enabling  the  child  to  learn  easily  what  would  other- 
wise be  effected,  if  at  all,  only  by  very  laborious  training. 

4.  Impulses  to  Expression. — These  begin  with  the  expres 
sion  of  emotion  or  of  inward  states.  Thus  the  infant  cries, 
smiles,  laughs,  draws  back  in  fright,  etc.  These  outward  acts 
are  not  originally  intended  to  manifest  the  emotions,  but  are 
their  involuntary  results.  Finally,  however,  they  may  be  used 
as  signs  for  denoting  the  mental  states  which  formerly  produced 
them.  After  the  expression  of  inward  feeling  comes  the 
manifestation  of  impressions  produced  by  external  objects.  The 
child  points  to  and  makes  noises  at  any  object  that  interests 
him,  and  thus  there  gradually  arises  the  whole  class  of  gestures. 
Among  those  in  whom  articulate  speech  does  not  render  it 
unnecessary  there   is   produced  a  gesture  language.     This   is 


it  IMPULSE. 

found  among  deaf  mutes  and  among  savage  tribes  who  are  in 
close  relations  with  other  tribes,  speaking  different  dialects.  So 
instinctive  and  unconventional  is  this  mode  of  expression 
that  it  has  been  found  that  North  American  Indians  and  deaf- 
mutes  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  one  another  when 
they  come  together,  even  for  the  first  time.  The  highest  class 
of  ^impulses  of  expression  is  that  of  the  communication  of 
ideas.  This  manifests  itself,  for  the  most  part,  in  spoken 
language.  In  civilized  mankind,  at  least,  there  is  an  impulse 
towards  speech  as  strong  and  as  instinctive  as  that  towards 
locomotion. 

Educational  Principles. — The  educational  bearing  of 
what  has  been  said  regarding  the  impulses  is  evident. 

(i)  The  teacher  should  keep  in  mind  the  close  connection  of 
the  senses  as  source  of  knowledge  with  the  senses  as  active 
tendencies.  It  is  not  enough  merely  to  put  things  before  the 
senses,  care  must  be  taken  to  see  that  the  senses  are  directed 
upon  the  things.  Education  of  the  senses  comes  through  use 
of  the  senses,  and  training  in  the  use  of  senses  is  training  of  the 
Willi — of  the  regulation  and  co-ordination  of  impulses.  An 
infant  does  not  see^  at  first,  not  because  the  objects  are  not 
reflected  on  its  retina,  but  because  there  is  no  fixity  of  gaze,  no 
control  over  vision,  but  only  a  wandering,  aimles  glance  dir- 
ected by  any  chance  impulses.  The  baby  learns  to  see,  as 
afterwards  it  learns  to  walk,  by  regulating  and  combining  such 
impulses.  The  teacher's  work  in  training  the  senses  must  be 
ftn  extension  and  refining  of  this  spontaneous  learning. 

(2)  The  teacher  should  bear  in  mind  the  great  importance  of 
the  instincts.  ,  It  is  of  the  highest  import  that  teaching  should 
appeal  to  some  natural  instinct  already  existing  and  that  it 
should  draw  out  and  develop  this  instinct.  It  is  of  equal  im- 
portance that  the  order  of  instruction  in  subjects  should  cor- 
respond to  the  natural  order  of  the  appearance  of  instincts  in 


EDUCATIONAL   PRINCIPLES.  tj 

ihc  child.  It  has  been  well  said  that  the  pedagogical  equivalent 
of  "  strike  while  the  iron  is  hot "  is  "  seize  every  instinct  at  the 
height  of  its  development."  In  early  life,  each  instinct  as  it 
appears  is  so  imperious  that  it  is  almost  impossible  that  it  should 
not  meet  satisfaction.  This  constitutes  the  self  taught,  or  rathei 
the  unconsciously  taught  period,  during  which  the  child 
learns  to  talk,  to  walk,  etc  Afterwards  as  the  instincts  are 
more  subtle  and  involved,  there  is  greater  need  of  the  teacher's 
tact  and  control.  Before  an  instinct  in  a  given  direction 
has  shown  itself,  it  is  hopeless  to  educate  a  child  in  that 
direction  ;  after  that  instinct  has  given  way  to  another,  interest 
dies  out  and  the  teacher,  instead  of  availing  himself  of  the  tide 
of  energy  setting  naturally  in  that  direction,  has  to  evoke 
activity  by  artificial  aids. 

(3)  Let  the  teacher,  then,  make  the  most  of  the  impulses  that 
have  been  described.  It  follows  from  the  perception-\vix^\!\%^% 
that  the  child  must  be  doing  something;  undai  a' judicious 
teacher  this  impulse  can  be  gratified  and  at  the  same  time 
directed.  In  rural  schools  a  great  deal  of  time  is  wasted,  or 
more  than  wasted,  which  the  child  should  occupy  in  gratifying 
his  instinct  for  activity.  He  can  be  led — unless  the  teacher 
is  quite  without  power — to  take  an  interest  in  many  so-called 
kindergarten  operations,  in  writing,  drawing,  etc.,  by  which  he 
is  sure  to  gain  quickness  of  eye  and  deftness  of  hand. 

In  such  occupations,  too,  the  impulse  of  imitation  finds  play : 
the  child  likes  to  imitate  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to  the  eye, 
and  skilful  imitation  soon  leads  to  the  desire  and  the  power  to 
invent  beautiful  forms.  But  more  especially  this  impulse  is  a 
powerful  co-fact©r  with  the  *'  environment "  in  educating  the 
child.  At  first  he  unconsciously  imitates  the  actions,  the  tones, 
the  gestures,  the  whole  demeanor  of  those  about  him  ;  but  un- 
conscious imitation  gives  place  to,  or  rather  is  strengthened  by 
voluntary  imitation.  When  the  bond  of  sympathy  has  been 
formed  between  his  teacher  and  himself,  the  child  makes  a 


24  THE   PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

conscious  effort  to  grow  like  the  teacher.  There  is  an  intense 
charm  in  imitating  him  to  whom,  as  posessed  of  superior 
powers,  he  looks  up  with  reverence — fear  blended  with  love- 
He  feels  that  he  is  growing  in  strength,  in  wisdom,  in  all  manly 
qualities,  when  he  is  growing  like  his  teacher  whom  he  regards 
with  so  much  deference.  Thus  it  is  that  the  characteristics  of 
the  teacher,  his  personal  habits  (neatness,  etc.)  his  tones  of 
voice,  his  gestures,  his  self-control,  his  energy,  etc.,  have  a 
powerful  influence  in  forming  the  character  of  the  pupil. 

The  impulse  of  expression  is  equally  important  and  equally 
neglected.  Let  not  the  teacher  thwart,  but  rather  gratify  the 
impulse  ;  through  genuine  sympathy  let  him  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  the  child,  who  will  then  be  able  to  lay  aside  his 
timidity  and  will  take  pleasure  in  trying  to  express  his  -simple 
thoughts  and  feelings.  Every  lesson  should  be  a  lesson  in 
■  expression  as  well  as  a  lesson  in  thinking  \  in  fact,  a  lesson  in 
expression  because  it  is  a  lesson  in  thinking. 

Note. — Regarding  the  impulses,  see  Dewey's  Psychology,  Chapter 
XVII. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 


Three  Ways  in  which  Elements  are  Connected. 

— We  have  now  to  take  up  the  processes  by  which  the  raw 
material — sensations,  interests  and  impulses — are  worked  up 
into  the  forms  of  actual  experience.  If  we  examine  what 
makes  up  the  contents  of  our  minds,  we  shall  see  that  the 
complex  forms  whose  mode  of  production  we  have  to  discover, 
may  be  roughly  grouped  into  three  classes. 

(t)  In  the  first  place,  there  are  wholes  made  up  of  coexist- 
ent members.     For  example,  as  I  look  out  of  my  window  I 


PSYCHICAL  PROCESSES.  25 

do  not  get  disconnected  and  fragmentary  color  sensations,  but 
I  see  a  diversified  landscape  with  its  many  features,  and  all  are 
present  at  about  the  same  instant  of  time.  The  first  group 
is  thus  that  which  comprehends  ideas  composed  of  simultane- 
ous or  coexistent  parts. 

(2)  But  obviously  not  all  our  mental  experience  will  come 
under  this  head.  The  sight  of  the  landscape  may  suggest  some- 
thing that  I  have  read  in  Wordsworth's  poetry,  this  in  turn  may 
call  up  Tennyson,  this  the  subject  of  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
so  on  indefinitely.  Here  we  have  a  trai7t  of  ideas,  and  its 
members  are  connected  successively^  not  simultaneously. 

(3)  Finally  we  might  be  led  from  the  idea  of  the  House  of 
Lords  to  consider  the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  an 
aristocracy.  In  this  case,  we  would  compare  the  history  of 
different  nations,  examine  political  causes  and  effects,  weigh 
and  sift  evidence,  reject  all  that  did  not  seem  to  bear  upon  the 
case  in  hand,  and  arrange  the  remaining  facts  to  meet  the 
desired  end.  Here  the  result,  as  in  the  second  case,  would  be  a 
train  of  ideas,  consisting  of  successive  members,  but  yet  differing 
from  the  second  group.  It  is  not  a  series  whose  parts  suggest 
one  another  at  haphazard,  but  a  controlled  and  regulated  series. 
The  order  is  not  one  of  time  merely,  but  of  an  underlying 
idea  or  end  with  reference  to  which  the  ideas  are  connected. 
In  other  words,  the  second  group  comprises  those  trains  o\ 
successive  members  in  whith  one  idea  is  allowed  to  suggest 
others  just  as  may  happen,  while  the  third  group  include? 
those  trains  whose  successive  parts  are  intentionally  controlled 
so  as  to  lead  up  to  some  end. 

The  Processes  which  Produce  these  Groups.— We 
have  now  to  study  the  processes  by  which  the  elements  are 
united  into  these  three  groups.  Still  speaking  in  a  rough  and 
general  way,  we  may  say  that  Non  voluntary  Attention  is  the 
power  active  in  producing  what  we  may  call  the  simultaneous 
group ;   Association^  that  in  producing  the  group  of  successive 


a6  NON-VOLUNTARY  ATTENTION. 

uncontrolled  parts,  and  Voluntary  Attention^  the  source  of  the 
group  of  successive  parts  purposely  controlled  and  arranged. 

§1.  NON- VOLUNTARY  ATTENTION. 

Meaning  of  the  Expression.— By  attention  is  meant 
simply  the  dwelling  of  the  mind  upon  some  presentation  or  some 
factor  of  a  presentation  so  as  to  give  it  prominence.    The  term 

*  non-voluntary,'  implies  that  the  mind  is  turned  upon  this 
subject-matter  simply  on  account  of  the  attractiveness  of  the 
matter,  not  by  reason  of  any  intervention  on  the  part  of  the  will 
It  is  an  act  of  attention  when  a  student  keeps  his  mind  fixed 
upon  his  lessons  in  spite  of  all  distracting  circumstances ;  of 
voluntary  ^XX^XiixovL  if  it  requires  a  definite  resolve  of  the  will  to 
effect  it,  of  non-voluntary  if  the  subject  naturally  arouses  and 
absorbs  his  mind.  It  is  evident  that  non-voluntary  attention 
must  always  precede  voluntary.     A  baby  '  notices '  (and  this 

*  noticing '  is  precisely  what  is  meant  by  attention)  not  because 
any  appeal  is  made  to  his  reason  and  will  to  keep  his  mind  di- 
rected that  one  way,  but  because  what  is  noticed  interests  and 
excites  him.  We  have  to  study  the  conditions  and  the  effects 
of  non-voluntary  attention. 

1.  Conditions. — The  condition  under  which  any  presenta- 
tion awakens  noiv  voluntary  attention  is  that  it  be  interesting. 
The  attention  is  aroused,  awakened,  drawn,  attracted  by  some 
intrinsic  interests  in  the  presentation.  We  may  possibly  give 
attention  to  what  does  not  interest  us,  but  only  if  we  force  our- 
selves by  power  of  will  to  do  so ;  and  such  an  act  of  volition  is, 
of  course,  not  non-voluntary  attention.  Interest  may,  however, 
be  either  natural  or  acquired, 

(1)  Natural  Interest.— By  this  we  mean  the  value  which 
the  presentation  has  in  itself,  apart  from  all  connection  with 
other  factors  of  mind.  For  example,  the  color  of  an  orange 
may  interest  a  child  either  because  the  color  is  pleasing  in 
itself,  or  because  it  suggested  the  pleasant  taste  of  the  fruit 
In  the  former  case  only  is  it  natural  or  spontaneous  interest 


^•^-^v 


NON-VOLUNTARY     ATTENTION.  »7 

Quantity  and  Tone. — The  constituent  elements  of  natural 
interest  are  quantity  and  tone  of  sensation,  including  under 
quantity  what  we  have  previously  classed  as  intensity  and  ex- 
tensity.  If  there  are  presented  at  the  same  time,  two  colors  or 
two  sounds,  the  infant  mind  will  always  listen  to  the  loudest 
sound  and  look  at  the  brightest  color.  In  the  early  development 
of  intelligence,  the  impression  that  beats  upon  the  doors  of  con- 
sciousness with  the  greatest  force  is  the  one  admitted.  The 
tone  of  a  sensation  we  have  already  explained  to  mean  the 
agreeable  or  disagreeable  property  which  accompanies  it.  The 
organic  sensations,  hunger,  thirst,  fatigue,  satisfaction,  etc., 
possess  the  greatest  amount  of  emotional  accompaniment,  and 
hence,  as  the  most  interesting,  absorb  attention  almost  wholly 
in  the  early  life  of  the  infant.  To  say  that  a  baby  knows 
when  he  is  hungry,  when  he  knows  nothing  else,  is  simply  to 
say  that  the  sensation  of  hunger  will  attract  his  attention  when 
nothing  else  will  do  so.  Gradually  the  mind  is  freed  from  its 
bondage  to  organic  affections.  The  pleasures  that  go  along 
with  tastes,  smells,  muscular  activity,  and  finally  with  hearing 
and  sight,  attract  the  mind  to  notice  all  the  elements  which  are 
admitted  through  the  "  five  gateways  of  knowledge.*' 

(2)  Acquired  Interest,— As  suggested,  a  presentation 
may  acquire  value  in  virtue  of  its  surroundings.  The  sight  of 
the  cup  from  which  a  baby  takes  his  food  has  at  first  perhaps 
not  nearly  so  much  interest  for  him  as  other  more  brightly 
colored  objects  about  him,  but  its  association  with  the  satis, 
faction  of  his  appetite  gradually  lends  it  an  attractiveness  ot 
its  own.  We  may  reduce  the  conditions  which  lead  to  the 
acquisition  of  interest  to  two  \i^z.^%— familiarity  and  novelty. 

Familiarity.— Originally  all  experiences  aside  from  the 
influence  of  quantity  and  tone  stand  upon  the  same  level,  all 
are  equally  noticed  and  hence  equally  unnoticed.  There  is  no 
perspective,  no  foreground  and  no  background.  We  have  a 
somewhat  similar  experience  when  we  are  thrown  into  surround- 


SS  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

ings  wholly  new.  Everything  looks  alike  to  us ;  even  the  faces 
about  us  seem  all  made  from  one  pattern.  "We  do  not  know 
where  to  begin,"  we  say.  That  is,  nothing  stands  out  so  as  to 
attract  our  attention  to  itself.  We  have  to  get  our  bearings. 
Nothing  aids  us  so  much  in  this  process  as  the  constant  recur- 
rence of  certain  features.  Those  factors  which  are  repeated 
stand  out  more  prominently.  The  familiar  occurrences  are 
separated  from  their  surroundings,  and  become  interesting  from 
this  very  fact.  Similarly  we  may  suppose  that  the  fog  which 
surrounds  the  intellectual  life  of  an  infant  lifts  from  about  those 
persons  and  objects  which  are  always  recurring  in  his  experience, 
his  parents,  brothers  and  sisters,  nurse,  cradle,  articles  used  in 
connection  with  his  food,  etc.  They  become  centres  of  interest, 
and  in  acquiring  this  interest  they  fix  the  mind's  attention  and 
gain  distinctness. 

Novelty. — While  in  general  it  is  the  familiar  that  interests 
and  draws  us  to  itself,  yet  familiarity  may  be  carried  to  the  point 
where  it  ceases  to  call  out  the  mind's  activity.  Those  who  live 
near  a  cataract  or  in  a  mill  cease  to  pay  attention  to  the  noise. 
It  has  nothing  to  interest  them.  Similaiiy,  we  do  not  notice 
the  familiar  ticking  of  the  clock  in  our  room,  the  pressure  of 
clothing  upon  our  body,  or  an  even  temperature  about  us. 
Qualities  which  are  the  first  to  strike  a  stranger  we  nevernotice 
in  our  most  intimate  friends.  It  is  a  common  proverb  that 
familiarity  deadens  and  dulls.  Now  in  these  cases  nothing 
arouses  the  sleepy  attention  so  soon  as  change.  Let  the  water- 
fall change  its  noise,  let  the  mill  stop,  let  the  clock  cease  tick- 
ing, let  the  unnoticed  feature  of  our  friend  alter,  and  at  once 
we  are  all  attention. 

Familiarity  and  Novelty  in  Connection.— The  truth 
of  the  matter  seems  to  be  that  it  is  neither  the  familiar  nor  the 
novel  which  interests  in  itself,  but  one  in  connection  with  the 
other.  It  is  the  old  in  the  midst  of  the  new — as  when  a  traveller 
bears  his  own  language  in  a  foreign  country — or  the  novel  in  the 


NON-VOLUNTARY  ATTENTION.  f9 

midst  of  the  customary — as  when  we  hear  a  strange  tongue 
spoken  in  our  own  country — that  attracts  attention.  That  which 
is  wholly  novel  has  no  points  of  connection  with  our  experience 
and  hence  cannot  interest,  while  we  have  become  so  habituated 
to  the  wholly  familiar  that  we  find  nothing  in  it  which  seems 
worth  dwelling  upon. 

2.  Effects  of  Non- Voluntary  Attention.— Atten- 
tion is  both  positive  and  negative  in  its  workings.  That  is  to 
say,  the  mind  dwells  upon  some  presentations  only  because 
it  draws  away  from  others.  Imagine  a  light  equally  diffused 
over  a  room,  then  imagine  all  the  light  focussed  in  some  one 
point.  It  is  evident  that  the  rest  of  the  room  will  grow  dark  as 
this  one  point  grows  bright.  So  it  is  with  attention.  Attention 
has  its  aspect  of  exclusion  as  well  as  of  inclusion. 

Effects  of  Withdrawal  of  Attention.— It  follows 
that  what  is  not  attended  to  is  not  brought  into  consciousness. 
Not  everything  that  comes  before  the  senses,  or  even  that 
affects  them  strongly,  comes  to  be  knowledge.  There  is  an 
indefinite  throng  of  stimuli  —  sights,  sounds,  pressures,  etc., 
knocking  for  entrance  into  consciousness,  which  never  come 
within  its  gates,  because,  the  mind  not  attending  to  them,  no 
mental  activity  is  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  We  are  almost 
always  unaware  of  our  organic  sensations,  of  the  contact  of 
our  clothing  with  our  bodies,  of  the  surrounding  temperature, 
etc.,  because  these  things  do  not  interest  us  enough  to  attract 
our  minds.  One  may  sit  before  an  open  window  and  have 
the  scenes  of  a  busy  street  pictured  upon  the  retina  of  one's 
eye,  and  yet  be  conscious  of  nothing  that  is  going  on.  The 
withdrawal  of  attention  may  go  so  far  that  the  mind  can 
almost  bid  defiance  to  external  stimulus.  Soldiers,  wounded  in 
battle,  but  not  aware  of  pain,  Archimedes  so  engaged  in 
geometrical  study  as  to  be  unconscious  of  the  battle  at  his 
very  doors,  will  serve  as  illustrations. 

Positive  Effects  of  Attention.— On  the  other  hand,  to 


30  PSYCHICAL  PROCESSES. 

attend  to  a  presentation  is  to  hold  it  before  the  mind,  to  get  il 
within  the  range  of  psychical  activity  and  thus  to  bring  into  con- 
sciousness what  would  otherwise  remain  outside.  There  is  no 
fact  of  which  we  are  aware,  that  would  not  serve  as  illustration 
of  this  principle,  but,  perhaps  instances  of  unusual  ability  in 
various  directions  show  it  in  clearest  light.  Workers  in  steel 
are  said  to  distinguish  half-a  dozen  shades  of  color  in  what 
appears  to  one  non-expert  as  a  uniform  glow.  That  is  to  say, 
by  the  cultivation  of  attention  they  are  enabled  to  bring  to 
consciousness  what  entirely  escapes  others.  Similarly,  tea  ■ 
tasters,  etc.,  perceive  a  great  number  of  differences,  where 
others  would  get  only  one  impression.  A  trained  botanist  will 
see  more  in  a  casual  glance  through  a  microscope  than  one 
untrained  would  discover  by  careful  searching.  The  power  of 
attending,  in  other  words,  is  equivalent  to  the  power  of  being 
co?isdous. 

The  Uniting  Power  of  Attention. — Not  only  does 
attention  distinguish  what  were  otherwise  unperceived,  but  it 
unites.  Its  general  law,  the  basis  of  all  mental  progress  what- 
ever, is  that  all  elements  attended  to  by  one  and  the  same  act  of 
mind  become  members  of  one  idea. 

Consequently  all  elements  not  taken  in  by  this  act,  must  be 
grasped  by  another  movement  of  attention,  and  hence  become 
another  idea.  In  other  words,  a  single  idea — a  single  concrete 
state  of  consciousness — means  whatever  has  been  laid  hold  of 
by  one  act  of  attention.  It  makes  no  difference  to  this  one 
idea  whether  its  parts  are  many  or  few,  whether  they  are 
naturally  coherent  or  the  reverse.  Here  then  we  have  the  first 
process  by  which  the  mass  of  sensations  pouring  in  upon  us  is 
given  form  and  unity. 

I.  Illustration  that  a  Number  of  Elements  are  Capable  0/ 
Union  in  One  Idea. — We  may  best  begin  with  a  simple  exam- 
ple. Suppose  twenty  dots  placed  before  the  eye  but  arranged 
very  irregularly.    The  mind  in  order  to  take  them  in  may  be 


NON-VOLUNTARY     ATTENTION.  3I 

obliged  to  pay  attention  to  one  at  a  time — to  count  them.  In 
this  case,  there  will  be  twenty  separate  ideas  involved.  Now 
suppose  them  rearranged  into  four  groups  of  five  dots  each, 
each  group  being  regular  in  itself,  but  not  symmetrical  with  the 
others.  Here  we  shall  have  just  the  same  amount  apprehend- 
ed by  four  acts  of  attention,  and  hence  with  four  resulting 
ideas.  If  these  four  groups  are  now  formed  into  one  symmetri- 
cal whole  the  mind  will  apprehend  all  in  one  idea,  although 
there  is  really  just  as  much  there  to  be  seen,  as  when  the  act 
of  apprehension  involves  twenty  ideas.  This  illustrates  the  fact 
that  it  makes  no  difference  to  the  unity  of  an  idea,  how  much 
there  is  in  it,  provided  only  it  can  all  be  taken  in  by  one  act  of 
attention. 

Application  of  this  Illustration.— This  abstract  illus- 
tration may  be  made  more  definite  by  supposing  a  fact  substi- 
tuted for  each  dot,  and  relations  between  these  facts  for  the 
spatial  arrangement  of  the  dots.  Twenty  isolated  facts  will 
require  as  many  acts  of  attention  to  apprehend  them  and  hence 
will  produce  as  many  distinct  ideas.  But  group  the  facts  under 
one  law — as  various  astronomical  facts  are  connected  m  the  law 
of  gravitation — and  the  mind  at  once  binds  them  together  into 
the  unity  of  one  idea  grasped  and  carried  in  one  act.  The 
same  result  occurs  when  no  law  is  known,  if  any  kind  of  con- 
nection can  be  made  out  between  the  various  facts.  Just  as 
the  mind,  for  the  sake  of  ease  in  apprehending  and  economy  in 
carrying  impressions,  will  attempt  to  form  some  kind  of  group- 
ing among  the  twenty  dots,  even  where  none  is  apparent,  so  it 
will  strive  to  unite  separate  ideas  by  making  connections,  even 
if  none  exist  upon  the  surface.  This  brings  us  to  the  second 
fact  mentioned,  that  elements  having  no  actual  coherence  will 
form  parts  of  one  idea,  if  they  can  be  attended  to  at  once. 

2.  Illustration  that  Unlike  Elements  are  Capable  of  Union 
in  one  idea. — It  may  be  said  indeed  that  for  the  union  of  various 
elements  in  one  idea,  it  is  sufficient  for  these  elements  to  exist 


3«  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

at  the  same  time,  without  there  being  any  real  connection  what- 
ever among  them.  This  is  without  doubt  the  original  source  of 
union  of  the  elements  presented  in  sensation,  simple  co-exist- 
ence in  time.  At  a  later  period,  the  mind,  of  course,  reviews 
the  connections  which  it  has  formed  earlier  in  life,  and  rejects 
those  whose  parts  do  not  seem  really  to  belong  together.  For 
example,  an  infant  originally  connects  the  smell,  taste  and  sight 
of  an  orange,  not  because  he  sees  that  these  qualities  are  really 
component  parts  of  the  orange  (on  the  contrary,  it  is  only  by 
connecting  them  that  he  gets  the  idea  of  the  orange  at  all)  but 
simply  because  these  sensations  are  given  to  him  at  the  same 
time.  Afterwards  he  finds  that  there  is  more  than  a  mere  con- 
nection of  time  between  these  sensations,  that  they  are  what 
we  call  really  connected,  and  he  confirms  his  original  act  of 
union,  while  in  other  cases,  he  may  reverse  his  first  act  of  con- 
nection. The  important  thing  to  notice  here  is  that  whenever 
there  is  no  obstacle  offered,  the  mind  connects  whatever  it  can 
connect,  even  upon  so  slight  a  basis  as  occurrence  at  the  same 
point  of  time.  Many  of  the  popular  fallacies  and  superstitions 
have  arisen  from  a  tendency  to  give  a  real  connection  to  events 
which  are  only  casually  connected;  in  this  we  have  an  explanation 
of  the  common  fallaries  described  by  the  Latin  phrase  post  hoc 
ergo  propter  hoc — "  after  this,  therefore  in  consequence  of  this  " — 
With  the  new  moon  a  change  in  the  weather  has  occurred, 
therefore  the  moon  influences  the  weather ;  with  the  appearance 
of  a  comet,  a  war  or  a  pestilence  has  broken  out,  therefore 
comets  portend  disaster,  etc.  For  many  generations  the  people 
of  St.  Kilda  believed  that  the  arrival  of  a  ship  in  the  harbour 
caused  an  epidemic  of  influenza,  and  clever  men  assigned 
many  ingenious  reasons  why  the  ship  should  produce  "  colds  in 
the  head"  among  the  population.  At  last  it  occurred  to  some 
bold  thinker  that  the  arrival  of  the  ship  might  not  be  the  cause 
of  the  distemper,  but  that  bothvcii^X.  be  the  effect  of  a  common 
cause,  and  then  it  was  remembered  that  a  ship  could  enter  the 
harbour  only  when  a  strong  northeast  wind  wcu  blowing. 


BDUCATIO^AL     PRINCIPLES.  33 

Purther  Illustrations. — Two  or  three  simple  examples  may  make 
the  principles  clearer.  A  French  psychologist  tells  of  a  little  boy  who 
when  going  under  a  railway  bridge  happened  to  think  of  a  toy  horse  which 
had  been  given  him,  and  said  "my  horse."  For  a  long  time  after  that  he 
never  went  under  anything  whatever  without  saying  **  my  horse."  Although 
there  was  absolutely  no  real  connection  between  the  two  facts,  they  were 
connected  for  him  in  one  idea  simply  because  he  had  attended  to  both  at 
the  same  time.  Another  example  :  a  child  who  once  noticed  that  a  railway 
train  stopped  just  as  some  one  moved  the  catch  in  a  window  of  the  car, 
supposed  for  a  long  time  afler,  that  all  trains  were  stopped  by  means  of  th« 
window  catch.  These  examples,  trivial  as  they  are,  serve  none  the  less  kj 
illustrate  the  law  upon  which  all  mental  acquisition  is  originally  founde<!4  — 
namely,  that  whateve^  sensations  occur  at  the  same  time  can  be  attend«7i  to 
by  one  and  the  same  act  unless  there  is  some  actual  opposition  bel  -^een 
them,  and.  since  they  are  grasped  in  one  act  of  attention,  they  b.'come 
members  of  one  idea.  Thus  it  is  that  sensations  in  themselves  fraguientary 
and  separate  become  united  into  the  simultaneous  wholes  of  ca  existent 
parts,  which  constitute  so  large  a  part  of  our  actual  experience.     ,        hEESF  ^77 

Educational  Principles.  V    ^-Tv, 

(t)  The  Necessity  of  Activity. — Perhaps  the  chief  point  ^y^^ 
the  teacher  to  keep  in  mind  is  the  necessity  of  some  activity  of^  — — ^ 
attention  on  the  part  of  the  child  from  the  very  first  and  in 
every  operation.  No  amount  of  presentation,  however  skillful ; 
no  amount  of  repetition,  however  persistent ;  no  amount  of 
explanation,  however  clear — is  of  any  avail,  unless  the  child's 
^tentiony  the  one  condition  of  learning  which  cannot  be  dis- 
pensed with,  is  secured.  That  there  is  attention,  simply  means 
that  the  child's  mind  is  working  upon  the  subject  attended  to ; 
and  that  the  child  is  non-attentive,  simply  means  that  there  is 
no  connection  between  his  mind  and  the  subject.  In  the 
latter  case,  the  teacher  and  pupil  might  as  well  be  in  different 
worlds  so  far  as  any  educational  relation  between  them  is 
concerned. 

(2)  Possible  Errors. — There   is   a   tendency   at   present  to 
emphasize  the  need  of  sense  presentation,  of  intuition  and  of 
object  lessons  in  teaching.     This  is  Well ;  the  need  cannot  be 
c 


34  PSYCHICAL    PROCESSES. 

over-emphasized,  provided  it  be  remembered  that  placing  the 
objects  before  the  senses,  no  more  insures  their  being  appre- 
hended, to  say  nothing  of  their  right  apprehension,  than 
putting  food  before  one  insures  its  being  eaten,  to  say  nothing 
of  its  being  digested  and  assimilated.  There  must  be  an 
activity  proceeding  from  the  mind;  this  may  be  stimulated 
but  cannot  be  produced  by  another.  Here,  we  have  occasion  to 
renew  the  caution  referred  to  in  the  first  chapter  against  the  error 
of  over-estimating  the  part — important  as  it  undoubtedly  is — 
which  the  teacher  can  play  in  education.  There  is  a  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  some  teachers  to  substitute  the  work  of 
presentation  and  explanation  of  material  for  the  more  difficult, 
because  less  mechanical  and  more  personal  task,  of  getting  the 
pupils'  mind  at  work  upon  the  material. 

3.  Non-voluntary  Attention  must  be  Secured  Indirectly. — This 
attention  cannot  be  gained  however  by  the  mere  directing  of 
the  child  "to  pay  attention."  Such  an  injunction,  at  the  stage 
of  development  now  considered,  must  be  meaningless.  Attention 
must  be  attracted^  not  forced.  The  subject  matter,  in  other 
words,  must  be  made  of  interest.  This  interest  once  obtained, 
attention  follows  naturally  and  even  inevitably.  The  teacher 
therefore  can  hardly  overestimate  the  importance  of  Interest: 
it  is  the  beginning  of  non-voluntary  attention,  this  leads  to  dis- 
crimination and  association,  this  to  voluntary  attention,  and  this 
again  is  the  test  and  condition  -of  intellectual  development. 

4.  It  can  hardly  need  repeating  that  interesting  does  not  mean  amusing. 
It  does  not  mean  that  the  subject  must  be  surrounded  with  factitious 
attractions  in  order  to  appeal  to  some  individual  taste  of  the  pupil.  Such 
a  conception  wrongs  and  belittles  the  intelligence  of  the  child.  Every 
child,  not  actually  stupid,  takes  delight  in  the  activity  of  his  mind  as  he 
does  in  the  activity  of  his  body,  and  to  render  a  subject  interesting  meani 
only  to  make  it  capable  of  calling  forth  this  natural  activity.  To  rely  upon 
such  sources  of  interest,  as  are  directed,  not  to  the  native  and  simple  delight 
in  mental  activity,  but  to  awakening  various  outside  pleasures,  is  like  think- 
ing that  a  child's  natural  hunger  cannot  be  trusted  to  make  him  eat  appro* 
priate  food,  but  that  his  palate  must  be  artifically  stimulated  and  tickled 


EDUCATIONAL     PRINCIPLES.  35 

Two  wrongs  are  thus  committed.  The  child's  true  intellectual  powers  are 
left  in  abeyance,  and  an  abnormal  faculty,  requiring  constantly  increasing 
artificial  stimulus,  is  created. 

5.  Use  of  the  Play-impulse. — On  the  other  hand,  in  early 
training  good  use  may  be  made  of  the  "play-impulse"  by  a 
proper  selection  of  work  which  the  child  will  take  delight  in — 
for  example,  some  of  the  gifts  and  ocvupations  of  the  kinder- 
garten. Between  such  work  and  the  play-impulse  there  is  an 
available  relation,  as  the  success  of  kindergarten  methods  clearly 
proves.  The  principles  of  the  kindergarten,  and  some  of  its 
methods-  or  at  least  modified  forms  of  them — may  be  applied 
in  all  primary  education.  Why  not  awaken  attention  by 
gratifying  the  hunger  of  the  senses — of  the  eye  for  seeing,  of  the 
ear  for  hearing,  of  the  hand  for  doing?  There  is  scarcely  a 
child  that  will  not  become  deeply  interested  in  Building,  Folding, 
Pricking,  Stick-laying,  Drawing,  eta  He  will  therefore  give  the 
best  of  "non-voluntary"  attention  to  what  he  is  doing,  and  thus 
will  begin  to  form  habits  both  mental  and  physical  which  must 
prove  of  high  value  in  his  future  development. 

6.  Methods  of  Awakening  Normal  Interest. — Normal  attrac- 
tion is  such  as  naturally  calls  forth  in  some  degree  the  attention 
of  every  healthy  mind.  No  specified  rules  for  creating  it  can 
here  be  given-  That  belongs  partly  to  pedagogy,  in  a  narrow 
^ense,  and  still  more  to  the  personal  power  of  the  teacher.  But 
notice  may  again  be  called  to  the  fact  that  interest  depends 
largely  upon  familiarity  and  novelty  and  their  intermixture  in 
due  proportion.  To  thrust  something  new  upon  a  child,  and 
take  no  pains  to  bring  out  points  of  likeness  between  this  new 
subject  and  those  already  somewhat  familiar,  is  to  repel  attention. 
To  continue  to  dwell  upon  a  topic  or  illustration  worn  thread- 
bare will  give  the  same  result.  Connections  should  be  made 
between  matters  and  interests  familiar  outside  of  school,  and 
those  taken  up  within,  as  well  as  between  various  school  subjects. 
A  boy  may  sometimes  be  interested  in  arithmetic  by  connecting 


^6  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

a  problem  with  his  father's  business,  etc.  Interest  in  history  or 
in  geography  may  be  called  forth  in  connection  with  contempor 
aneous  events  in  which  the  pupils  have  or  may  be  made  to  have 
a  lively  interest.  It  is  a  great  mistake  in  all  ways,  but  in  none 
more  than  in  this  matter  of  attention,  to  shut  off  the  school 
from  the  outside  world. 

(7)  Further  Suggestions. — (dj)  The  «<?^d!//V^  aspect  of  attention, 
the  shutting  out  of  impressions  which  would  call  away  the 
mind  from  the  matter  in  hand,  should  be  looked  after.  Before 
the  development  of  voluntary  attention  the  mind  follows  the 
greater  of  two  interests,  and  if  this  should  happen  not  to  be 
connected  with  the  study,  the  latter  will  suffer.  {b)  In  this 
connection  there  may  be  noticed  certain  physical  conditions  of 
attention,  depending  on  the  child's  health  and  vigour,  and  on 
his  surroundings.  Attention,  even  in  its  early  stage,  means 
mind-tension,  and  this,  again,  means  a  severe  demand  on 
nervous  energy ;  it  cannot  therefore  be  expected  that  a  sick 
or  weary  child  can  show  much  activity  of  attention  even  for  a 
usually  interesting  topic  Again,  when  there  is  a  feeling  of 
discomfort  (or  very  often  something  worse)  arising  from  bad 
lightings  heating,  vefitilation,  seating,  etc.,  it  is  extremely  difficult 
to  arouse  the  attention  of  the  child  and  keep  it  fixed  in  a 
definite  direction,  {c)  The  unifying  aspect  of  attention  must 
also  be  kept  in  mind.  To  present  too  many  subjects  in  suc- 
cession, to  use  too  many  illustrations,  too  many  explanations, 
to  hurry  from  one  point  to  another  is  a  successful  mode  of 
producing  the  habit  of  mind-wandering,  {d)  Again,  since  the 
young  mind  is  apt  to  connect  things  occurring  at  the  same  time, 
whether  they  should  be  united  or  not,  great  pains  must  be 
taken  to  select  just  the  points  which  are  important,  and  to 
present  them  in  their  proper  relation,  (e)  Finally,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  while  questioning  \vzs,  a  certain  justification  as  a 
necessary  means  of  reaching  important  ends  in  education^  its 
chief  justification   is   in  its  power  of  arousing  attention  and 


ASSOCIATION.  37 

keeping  it  rightly  directed.  A  question  is  a  challenge  to 
attention.  And,  while  disconnected,  mechanical,  unprepared 
questions  gradually  weaken  what  power  of  attention  originally 
exists,  orderly,  progressive  and  suggestive  questions  infallibly 
strengthen  it.  The  chief  thing  to  be  aimed  at,  in  fact,  is  to 
cultivate  in  the  pupil  the  habit  of  asking  himself  questions. 
This  ensured,  the  power  of  holding  and  controlling  attention 
from  within  (voluntary  attention  in  other  words)  is  secured. 
With  the  remark,  therefore,  that  the  end  of  the  training  of  non- 
voluntary attention  is  to  lead  up  to  voluntary  attention,  wg 
may  leave  this  subject. 

§2.    ASSOCIATION. 

What  is  meant  by  Succession  of  Ideas.— It  has 

already  been  stated,  that  Association  is  the  means  by  which  a 
successive  train  of  ideas  arises.  But,  by  succession,  is  not 
meant  simply  that  presentations  follow  after  one  another. 
Successive  acts  of  attention  would  produce  a  succession  of 
ideas,  on  the  principle  already  explained,  that  each  act  of  at- 
tention results  in  a  distinct  idea.  What  is  meant,  is  rather  that 
there  grows  out  of  some  presentation  or  idea,  another  idea, 
and  out  of  this  a  third,  and  so  on,  the  whole  process  going  on 
without  the  intervention  of  any  new  presentation.  This  is 
generally  called  the  association  of  ideas.  A  standard  illustra- 
tion is  that  of  Hobbes,  (born  1588)  one  of  the  first  to  call 
attention  to  the  subject.  In  a  company,  when  the  conversa- 
tion turned  upon  the  subject  of  the  civil  war  in  England 
between  the  Stuarts  and  the  Puritans,  some  one  asked  the 
value  of  a  Roman  Denarius.  This  question,  he  says,  appeared 
abrupt,  but  upon  reflection,  he  traced  the  following  thread  of 
associations  :  Civil  war,  the  king,  the  treachery  of  those  who 
surrendered  him,  the  treachery  of  Judas  Iscariot,  the  sum  of 
money  received,  its  value.  We  shall  take  up :  First,  the  con- 
ditions  of  Association  second,  its  varieties  \  and  third,  \^ 
results. 


3^  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

(i)  Conditions  of  Association. — Why  is  it  that  ideas  enter 
into  successive  trains,  each  suggesting  the  next  ?  The  answer 
in  a  general  way  is  that  ideas  which  have  been  once  connected 
together  have  the  power  of  calling  one  another  up.  Association 
is  thus  seen  to  depend  upon  non-voluntary  attention.  In  the 
latter,  as  we  have  learned,  as  many  parts  as  possible  are  made 
one.  Now,  if  one  of  these  parts  is  presented,  there  is  a 
tendency  for  it  to  complete  itself  by  suggesting  the  parts  not 
actually  presented.  These  parts  are  said  to  be  re-presented. 
Suppose,  to  take  a  very  simple  example,  that  I  have  heard 
a  celebrated  orator  deliver  a  speech ;  by  my  acts  of  attention 
at  the  time,  the  speech  and  the  speaker  became  indissolubly 
united  into  one  idea.  Now,  years  afterward,  I  read  this  ora- 
tion  and  there  recurs  to  my  mind  the  idea  of  the  speaker  as  he 
delivered  it  The  reason  is  evident ;  the  speech  is  not  an  inde- 
pendent idea  in  my  mind ;  it  is  only  one  part  of  a  larger  idea, 
and  it  completes  itself  by  suggesting  its  other  member. 
Integration  and  Red-integration.  —The  two  acts  of  presentation  and 

of  representation  are  sometimes  called  integration  and  red-integration. 
The  term  integration  signifies  as  the  etymology  implies,  that  the  original 
presentation  was  a  whole  formed  out  of  parts  ;  red-integration  is  a  second 
act  of  integration  based  upon  the  first.  Thus,  when  the  sight  of  a  flower 
recalls  the  place  where  it  was  picked,  when  the  perception  of  some  tokeu 
suggests  the  person  who  gave  it,  when  a  Latin  word  calls  up  its  English 
equivalent— in  all  these  cases  we  have  instances  of  one  part  of  a  whole  idea 
completing  itself  by  calling  up  the  part  with  which  it  was  formerly  connect- 
ed. It  may  be  said,  therefore,  that  the  conditions  of  association  are,  first^ 
original  union  in  one  idea  by  an  act  of  attention,  and  second,  the  occurrence 
of  one  piirt  of  this  idea,  which  then  completes  itself  by  calling  up  the  other 
parts. 

2.  Varieties  of  Association. — There  are  two  kinds  of  associ- 
ation, know  as  association  by  the  principle  of  contiguity^  and  by 
the  principle  of  similarity.  They  are  also  known  as  external 
and  internal  association.  By  the  principle  of  contiguity  is 
meant  that  whatever  ideas  or  objects  have  been  conjoined  in 
ipau  or  in  time  have  the  power  of  redintegrating  one  aaotheK 


ASSOCIATION.  J9 

In  other  words,  objects  existing  by  the  side  of  one  another, 
events  following  one  another,  will  become  so  associated  that 
one  calls  up  another.  By  similarity  is  meant  that  whatever 
ideas  or  objects  are  like  one  another,  whether  this  likeness  be 
in  appearance,  in  meaning,  in  mode  of  use,  in  soUnd,  or  in  any 
other  respect,  have  the  power  of  recalling  one  another. 

Examples  of  Contiguity.— An  instance  of  contiguity 
in  space  is  the  following :  If  I  think  of  the  post  office,  I  may 
be  lead  to  think  of  the  adjoining  building,  this  may  suggest 
the  next  and  so  on.  Were  1  sufficiently  familiar  with  the  whole 
city,  this  process  of  suggestion  might  go  on  till  I  had  called 
before  me  all  its  buildings.  Contiguity  in  time  is  illustrated  by 
the  fact  that  a  note  of  music  will  suggest  a  bar,  the  bar  the  air, 
the  air  the  entire  tune,  etc.  One  letter  of  an  alphabet  suggests 
the  next  and  so  on;  a  line  of  a  familiar  poem  suggests  the 
succeeding  line,  this  the  next  until  the  whole  poem  is  repeated. 
We  think  of  something  that  occurred  yesterday,  and  at  once 
there  arises  in  succession  the  entire  day's  doings.  A  visiting 
friend  once  asked  a  little  Irish  boy  his  age,  he  replied,  "  I  was 
seven  years  old,  the  day  the  pig  died ; "  evidently  what  to  him 
were  two  important  events  had  been  associated  because  they 
had  occurred  at  the  same  time. 

Examples  of  Similarity. — Seeing  a  portrait  calls  up 
the  original.  One  face  suggests  another  which  it  resembles. 
The  apple-blossom  calls  up  the  rose ;  the  locust  flower  the  pea, 
etc.  Napoleon  the  Great  may  suggest  Julius  Caesar;  while 
Cicero  calls  up  Demosthenes.  The  idea  of  a  straight  line  may 
suggest  rectitude;  a  hammer  call  up  a  hatchet.  The  word 
frater  will  call  up  the  words  Brudcr  and  brother,  etc.  In  some 
of  these  cases,  there  is  similarity  in  appearance,  in  others,  of 
meaning,  or  use,  or  sound,  or  of  mere  analogy.  No  limits  can 
be  put  to  the  use  of  the  principle.  Wherever  there  is  perceived 
to  be  the  slightest  similarity  between  two  ideas,  then  one  idea 
has  the  power  of  summoning  the  other  into  consciousness. 


fft  PSYCHICAL    PROCESSES. 

Association  by  Contrast. — A  remarkable  extensioc  of 
the  principle  of  similarity  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  opposites  call 
each  other  up;  so  vice  suggests  virtue,  night  day,  joy  sorrow, 
a  dwarf  a  giant,  a  valley  a  mountain,  etc.,  etc.  It  may  seem 
absurd  to  call  this  mutual  suggestion  of  each  other  by  opposites 
a  case  of  similarity,  but  such  it  clearly  is.  Vice  and  virtue  are 
simply  the  extremes  of  moral  conduct,  night  and  day  of  the 
whole  astronomical  day,  dwarf  and  giant  of  human  stature,  etc 
That  is,  there  is  a  common  underlying  basis,  and  the  contrast 
only  emphasizes  this  identity  of  basis. 

External  and  Internal  Association.— As  already   mentioned, 

association  by  conii^uity  is  sometimes  called  external^  that  by  similarity 
internal.  The  reason  is  as  follows.  In  contiguous  association  both  the 
suggesting  and  the  suggested  idea  have  been  parts  of  one  idea,  but  the  bond 
of  union  was  an  external  one,  i.e.^  it  did  not  arise  from  any  essential  con- 
nection between  them.  When,  e.g.^  a  certain  idea  brings  into  consciousness 
the  place  in  the  page  where  first  I  read  it,  the  idea  and  place  are  connected, 
but  only  outwardly.  Each  would  be  unchanged  if  this  connection  had  not 
occurred.  The  union  does  not  affect  the  internal  structure  of  either.  Not 
so  in  association  by  similarity.  When  the  sight  of  a  portrait  is  followed  in 
consciousness  by  the  idea  of  its  original,  the  bond  of  union  is  just  the 
internal  quality  of  likeness,  and  without  this  quality,  neither  the  face  nor 
its  copy  would  be  what  it  i&  The  connecting  tie  enters  therefore  into  the 
very  make-up  of  the  ideas. 

3.  Results  of  Association. — Mental  Order  and  Free- 
dom.— The  first  result  has  already  been  remarked  upon.  It 
is  the  formation  of  a  train  of  ideas,  each  member  of  which  grows 
from  the  preceding  member  by  some  rule.  Continuity,  sequence, 
some  semblance,  at  least,  of  order  and  of  regularity  thus  come 
into  psychical  life.  Ideas  are  no  longer  isolated,  but  shaped 
into  sequences  having  some  common  bearing,  some  unity. 
While  in  non-voluntary  attention  the  mind  is  always  called  into 
action  from  without  and  thus  is  subject  to  whatever  is  presented, 
in  association,  the  mind  forms  a  series  of  ideas  from  within. 
The  succession  of  ideas  does  not  depend  any  longer  upon  the 
order  in  which  external  objects  afifect  us,  but  upon  the  internal 


ASSOCIATION.  41 

train  of  suggestion.  It  may  fairly  be  said,  therefore,  that 
another  result  of  association  is  to  free  the  mind  from  bondage 
to  its  sensations,  impulses,  etc.,  and  to  allow  it  a  certain  inde- 
pendence of  its  own. 

Superiority  of  Association  by  Similarity. — Associ- 
ation based  upon  internal  similarity  assists  the  development  of 
mental  power  and  freedom  much  more  than  that  based  upon 
accidental  conjunction  in  space  or  time.  One  might  associate 
for  example,  a  dog  with  a  wolf  because  he  had  seen  both 
together,  or  because  their  pictures  or  names  had  been  conjoined 
in  a  book.  Or,  he  might  associate  them  because  of  some 
common  principle  which  he  recognized  to  be  involved  in  the 
structure  of  both.  It  is  evident  that  in  the  first  case  (associ- 
ation by  contiguity)  there  is  no  reason  in  the  association ;  it 
might  just  as  well  have  happened  between  other  ideas ;  while  in 
the  latter  case  (association  by  similarity)  there  is  meaning  in  the 
association  and  it  may  lead  to  something  beyond  itself — to  a 
scientific  comprehension  of  the  relation  of  the  two  animals. 
Similarly  an  historical  event  may  be  associated  with  some 
part  of  a  page  or  chart  (spatial  contiguity)  or  it  may  be  associ- 
ated with  other  events  of  a  like  kind.  The  former  association 
has  no  significance  the  latter  stimulates  the  mind  to  reflect  and 
possibly  to  discover  some  historical  law. 

Pormation  of  Habits. — The  point  made  thus  far  is  that 
the  occurrence  of  an  association  tends  to  give  the  mind  an  order 
and  freedom  in  its  ideas  and  activities  independent  of  the  sense- 
impressions  which  are  constantly  beating  upon  consciousness. 
This  is  especially  true  if  an  association  of  ideas  or  actions  is  so 
often  repeated  that  a  habit  is  formed.  By  a  habit  is  meant  such 
a  thoroughly  formed  train  of  associations  that  if  one  member  of 
the  train  comes  into  consciousness  the  other  members  follow  almost 
inevitably  y  and  ivithout  any  intervention  on  the  part  of  will  or  of 
consciousness.  For  example,  we  now  have  the  habit  of  standing 
erect  and  of  walking.     We  do  not  need  to  pay  careful  attention 


43  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

to  every  detail  and  stage  of  the  complex  movements  involved 
in  these  acts.  It  is  enough  that  we  begin  the  movement,  the 
rest  goes  on  of  itself.*  But  it  was  not  always  so.  One  need 
only  watch  a  young  child  learning  to  walk  in  order  to  see  that 
he  has  to  form  the  associations  between  all  successive  move- 
ments of  his  muscles ;  that  he  has  to  repeat  these  successive 
associations  carefully  and  an  indefinite  number  of  times.  But 
these  associations  repeated  often  enough  make  habit,  and  the 
once  difficult  acts  are  performed  automatically,  /.^.,  without  the 
special  intervention  of  the  will. 

Active  and  Passive  Habits.— Habits  are  distinguished 
as  active  and  as  passive.  By  passive  habits  is  meant  simply 
that  we  are  habituated  or  accustomed  to  anything.  It  implies 
no  more  than  ability  to  hold  our  own  so  that  we  are  not  con- 
quered by  external  impressions  or  activities.  Active  habit  is 
more  than  this.  It  implies  ability  to  react  against  the  external 
impression,  to  make  it  of  use  to  ourselves.  It  is  skill,  capacity, 
trained  ability  in  some  direction.  Passive  habit  is  illustrated 
by  the  binding  force  of  a  custom  upon  us ;  active  habit,  by  the 
dexterity,  quickness  and  accuracy  of  a  well-trained  mechanic. 

Function  of  Habit. — Habit  serves  a  two-fold  purpose  in 
mental  life.  In  the  first place^  it  forms  a  psychical  mechanism 
or  piece  of  machinery  by  means  of  which  the  soul  both  holds  its 
own  and  asserts  itself  against  the  pressure  of  surrounding  cir- 
cumstances ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  it  allows  the  Intelligence 
and  the  Will  time  and  opportunity  to  apply  themselves  to  the 
mastery  of  new  and  higher  acts. 

First  End. — In  the  early  period  of  psychical  existence, 
the  mind  is  at  the  mercy  of  its  impressions.  It  can  understand 
nothing  of  its  surroundings,  and  can  execute  no  purposes, 
indeed,  it  is  not  capable  of  forming  purposes.  It  is  xhQ  forma- 
tion of  habits  more  than  anything  else  that  lifts  the  infant  from 
this  state  of  subjection.  If  he  forms  an  intellectual  habit — 
say  that  of  noticing  the  circumstances  under  which  his  food  \s 


ASSOCIATION.  43 

given  him — there  is  at  least  one  respect  in  which  he  stands 
above  the  chaos  which  in  other  regards  overpowers  him.  H 
he  forms  a  habit  of  will— say  of  walking,  of  controlling  the 
movements  of  his  hands,  of  putting  sounds  together  into  arti- 
culate speech — he  is  in  these  respects,  the  master  of  his  impulses 
instead  of  being  mastered  by  them. 

Habit  is  Self-Oontrol. — A  habit,  in  other  words,  is  a 
mode  of  self-control  in  some  definite  direction.  It  is,  as  is  often 
said,  second  nature,  that  is,  it  is  a  mode  of  self-control  so 
thoroughly  acquired  that  it  asserts  itself  spontaneously  and  with 
out  effort  whenever  there  is  any  occasion  for  its  use.  It  is  by 
habit  that  the  body  becomes  a  fit  and  accurate  instrument  for 
the  soul.  It  is  through  habit  that  the  soul  impresses  itself  upon 
the  body,  and  trains  it  into  a  servant  which  is  ever  working  for 
useful  ends,  without  waiting  for  special  instructions  from  its 
master.  Thus,  when  the  mind  is  thinking  about  other  things, 
the  required  act  is  still  executed — as  when  one  talks,  or  walks, 
or  reads,  or  plays  a  musical  instrument,  while  occupied  with 
some  problem.  The  influence  of  habit  is  seen  most  clearly  in 
the  capacity  of  the  body  to  perform  certain  complicated  acts 
without  any  direction  from  the  mind  except  in  initiating  the 
process,  but  there  are  also  purely  mental  habits — ways  of  think- 
ing or  of  feeling,  as  we  ordinarily  call  them.  The  artist  has  one 
mental  habit,  the  scientific  man  another,  the  teacher  another, 
the  statesman  another,  and  so  on.  Each  has  certain  kinds  of 
mental  trains  into  which  the  mind  falls  naturally  and  spontan- 
eously and  in  which  it  is  little  or  no  effort  to  keep  thinking, 
because  the  lines  of  association  are  so  well  established. 

Second  End. — If,  as  suggested,  a  habit  may  be  fairly  said 
to  execute  itself,  requiring  intelligence  and  will  merely  to  start 
it,  then  clearly,  the  formation  of  habits  relieves  the  mind  from 
the  necessity  of  any  supervision  of  such  actions  and  leaves  it 
free  to  devote  itself  to  other  matters.  For  example,  when  a 
child  is  learning  to  walk  (that  is,  when  he  is  forming  an  associ- 


44  EDUCATIONAL     PRINCIPLES. 

ation  between  certain  impulses)  he  must  give  his  entire  mind  to 
it;  his  mental  processes  cannot  occupy  themselves  with  anything 
else.  But  the  habit  once  formed,  it  seems  to  be  taken  entirely 
out  of  the  mental  sphere ;  the  mind  can  think  of  other  things 
as  much  as  if  the  walking  were  not  going  on  at  all ;  and  so  with 
every  other  habit  in  the  degree  of  its  perfection.  If  one  counts 
the  time  given  to  purely  mechanical  acts,  like  dressing,  eating, 
walking,  the  articulation  of  sounds,  etc.,  and  then  supposes  that 
th  nind  had  to  give  itself  specially  to  such  acts  -  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  else — one  can  see  what  a  boon  to  us  is  the  power 
of  forming  habits  which  regulate  themselves. 

Educational  Principles.— Following  the  idea  origin- 
ally laid  down  that  the  teacher's  work  is  to  assist  and  regulate 
the  normal  psychical  processes  of  the  learner's  mind,  it  is 
evident  that  the  associative  activities  demand  the  closest  atten- 
tion and  wisest  care  of  the  educator.  Their  use  is  fundamental 
in  every  stage  of  mental  growth  and  hence  they  may  be  helpfully 
discussed  with  reference  to  their  employment  in  three  stages, 
Xht  primary,  the  secondary  and  the  higher. 

I.  The  First  Stage  is  Mechanical. — It  should  be  kept  in  mind 
by  the  teacher  that  in  the  earlier  years  it  is  chiefly  the  mechanical 
aspects  of  association  that  come  into  play.  That  is  to  say,  the 
association  is  made,  for  the  most  part,  by  the  mind  acting  as  a 
machine  would  act,  without  consciousness  of  any  reason  for 
making  the  association,  while  the  result  is  mainly  to  give  the 
mind  a  machine-like  power  of  performing  the  same  operation 
in  the  future.  The  child  who  learns  to  read,  for  example,  can 
have  no  clear  conception  of  what  he  is  really  doing,  of  the 
mental  processes  called  into  activity,  or  of  the  ultimate  value 
of  what  he  is  acquiring.  From  his  standpoint,  there  is  merely 
a  mechanical  putting  together  or  associating  of  words,  sentences, 
etc.,  And  of  course,  the  result  is  not,  at  this  stage,  the  truly 
culturing  eflfect  that  comes  from  later  reading ;  it  is  simply  the 


EDUCATIONAL     PRINCIPLES.  45 

acquisition  of  a  new  capacity  or  habit,  making  it  more  easy  to 
form  similar  associations  in  the  future. 

2.  Repetition  the  Principle  of  the  Mechanical  Stage, — The 
mechanism,  the  capacity  for  performing  the  act  spontaneously 
and  without  effort,  is  built  up  through  repetition.  There  is 
in  primary  education  absolutely  no  substitute  for  going  over  a 
thing  again  and  again.  The  processes  of  ideal  assimilation, 
much  more  those  of  rational  comprehension,  are  undeveloped. 
The  principal  way  of  appeal  to  the  mind  is,  therefore,  t  ^ 
systematic  repetition  of  an  association,  of  a  connection  of  facts, 
ideas  or  words,  until  a  capacity,  a  habit  is  acquired  in  this 
direction.  There  is  one  dictum  of  modem  pedagogy  whichi 
u?uier  proper  limitations^  finds  its  application  here :  Learn  tp 
do  by  doing.  This  principle  is  by  no  means  co-extensive  with 
the  whole  of  education,  and  is  in  fact  much  abused  by  some 
educational  "reformers,"  but  it  is  the  basis  of  all  early  training. 
Reading  can  be  learned  only  by  reading;  spelling  only  by 
spelling;  writing  only  by  writing;  the  fundamental  operations 
of  number  only  by  performing  them,  and  so  on.  The  teacher 
must  aim,  therefore,  at  thoroughness  and  continuity  of  repetition, 
and  while  having  constantly  in  view  the  dawning  intelligence  oi 
the  child,  must  avoid  undue  reliance  upon  the  rationale  of  the 
subject-matter,  and  undue  appeal  to  a  reason  as  yet  undeveloped. 

3.  Discipline  the  Object  of  the  Mecha?iical  Sta^e. — The  teacher 
must  remember,  however,  that  no  piece  of  machinery  has  its 
end-in-itself ;  its  value  is  in  what  it  can  do.  To  make  even 
early  mental  training  purely  mechanical  is  as  if  a  weaver  were  to 
regard  it  as  his  sole  business  to  keep  his  loom  in  motion  wholly 
irrespective  of  making  any  cloth.  While  the  process  of 
early  education  must  be  largely  mechanical,  its  spirit  must  be 
intelligent  and  rational  There  is  a  temptation  in  the  practical 
work  of  teaching  to  forget  this,  and  to  allow  the  whole  work  to 
become  one  of  dead  routine.  How  shall  the  teacher  avoid  this 
and  yet  not  make  premature  appeal  to  an  immature  reason  ? 


46  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

By  remembering  that  the  end  of  the  mechanical  training  is 
discipline. 

What  is  Meant  by  Discipline- — Discipline,  like  habit,  has  its  active 
and  its  passive  side.  It  aims  to  make  the  mind  at  once  capable  of  resistance 
and  capable  of  positive  effort.  A  mind  is  disciplined  just  in  the  degree  in 
which  it  can  hold  its  own  against  both  the  pressure  and  the  distracting  soli- 
citations of  sensations  and  impulses,  and  in  the  degree  in  which  it  has  the 
power  of  systematically  acting  upon  them,  so  as  to  shape  them  for  its  own 
ends.  The  effect  of  discipline,  in  short,  is  to  give  the  mind  tAe  capacity  of 
acting  steadily t  easily  and  efficiently  to  the  accomplishment  of  some  definite 
worky  while  at  the  same  time  it  gives  power  to  act  in  new  and  untried  ways^ 
The  object  of  teaching  elementary  arithmetic,  for  example,  is  to  give  ability 
to  ascertain  the  simpler  relations  of  number  easily,  quickly  and  accurately, 
and  at  the  same  time,  to  enable  the  mind  to  act  with  greater  strength  and 
efficiency  in  all  directions.  Now,  if  this  end  is  kept  in  mind,  there  is  no 
danger  that  a  mechanical  spirit  will  pervade  the  teaching,  no  matter  how 
mechanical  the  processes  in  themselves. 

4.  Learn  to  do  by  Knowing. — It  may  be  well  to  warn  the 
teacher  against  the  present  tendency  to  misapply  the  maxim 
quoted  in  the  foregoing  paragraph — "  learn  to  do  by  doing.' 
It  is  true  under  certain  conditions  and  is  chiefly  applicable  in 
the  primary  stage  of  learning,  but  there  have  arisen  educa- 
tional evangelists  who  preach  it  as  a  universal  principle.  And 
thus,  what  is  but  a  partial  truth  even  in  primary  education,  be- 
comes a  positive  error  in  advanced  stages.  "  Learn  to  speak 
by  speaking " — therefore  no  formal  grammar.  **  Learn  to 
cypher  by  cyphering  " — therefore,  no  science  of  arithmetic 
"  Learn  to  teach  by  teaching  " — therefore  no  science  of  educa 
tion  and  no  professional  training  of  teachers,  and  so  on 
thiough  a  long  list  of  *'  practical "  inferences,  which  are  plainly 
at  variance  with  a  sound  philosophy  of  education.  "  Let  eye. 
and  ear,  and  hand,  be  thoroughly  trained,"  by  all  means ;  but 
is  there  not  Something  behind  these  organs  that  makes  the 
seeing  eye,  the  hearing  ear  and  the  forming  hand  ?  Is  the  pro- 
cess from  without  \nvf2ixd. — first  the  hand,  then  the  brain,  then  the 
mind?  Or  is  it  from  within  outward — mind,  brain,  hand?  Even  in 


EDUCATIONAL     PRINCIPLES.  47 

the  elementary  work  of  what  we  have  called  the  mechanical 
stage,  thinking  precedes  doing  ;  in  writing,  for  example,  the  child 
must  have  an  idea  of  the  form  of  a  letter  before  the  hand  can 
reproduce  it.  It  may  be  true  that  the  making  of  the  outward 
forms  aids  the  mind  to  more  definite  conceptions ;  but  from 
the  elementary  to  the  highest  stages,  the  ideal  is  before  the 
actual.  "  In  aiming  at  a  new  construction,"  says  Professor 
Bain,  *'  we  must  clearly  conceive  what  is  aimed  at.*'  And  so,  as 
we  have  already  intimated,  the  teacher  must  constantly  keep  in 
view  the  growing  intelligence  of  the  child,  helping  him  to  form 
clear  ideas  of  the  new  "  constructions  "  aimed  at,  and  teaching 
him  how  these  constructions— manual  or  otherwise — can  be 
mastered  with  the  least  waste  of  power.  "  Where  we  have  a 
very  distinct  and  intelligible  model  before  us,  we  are  in  a  fair 
way  to  succeed  :  in  proportion  as  the  ideal  is  dim  and  wavering, 
we  stagger  and  miscarry."  It  appears,  then,  that  the  maxim, 
"  learn  to  do  by  doing,"  is,  after  all,  but  the  complement  of  a 
wider  and  profounder  principle  learn  to  do  by  knowing. 

5.  The  Secondary  Stage  is  one  of  Forming  Connections. — 
While  in  the  primary  stage  of  reading  (for  example)  there  is 
rather  association  of  the  activities  involved  in  reading  than  of 
the  ide<is  read,  in  the  secondary  stage  there  is  obvious  and  con- 
scious connection  of  ideas.  This  is  what  constitutes  "learning 
lessons "  in  the  narrower  sense  of  that  term.  When  a  pupil 
sets  himself  to  learn  a  geography  or  history  lesson  so  as  to  be 
able  to  recite  upon  it,  he  is  intentionally  forming  certain  con- 
nections of  ideas.  The  work  of  teaching  now  changes  its 
aspect  somewhat  and  the  main  emphasis  should  be  put  n^^on  pre- 
senting the  proper  connections  of  ideas^  and  upon  assisting  the 
pupil  to  re-make  them  in  his  own  mind. 

6.  The  Associations  in  this  Stage  may  be  Sensuous  or  Ideal 
— As  a  pupil  studies  his  lessons  he  may  be  forming  associations 
of  either  of  two  kinds.     He  may  connect  the  successive  visible 


49  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

appearances  of  the  words,  or  their  successive  sounds.  This 
is  sensuous  association^  since  it  is  only  the  auditory  or  visual 
sensations  that  are  thus  formed  into  a  series.  Or,  he  may 
connect  the  ideas  conveyed  by  the  sights  and  sounds ;  this  is 
ideal  association.  Of  course  it  is  almost  impossible  to  form  one 
kind  of  association  without  somewhat  of  the  other  also.  Idiots 
have  been  known  to  learn  pages  of  matter  in  a  language  of 
which  they  knew  nothing,  but  no  child  of  ordinary  intelligence 
could  form  such  a  string  of  purely  sensuous  associations.  On 
the  other  hand,  one  would  hardly  remember  the  ideas  of  a 
book  which  one  had  read  without  some  knowledge  of  the  look 
and  sound  of  the  successive  sentences. 

7.  Sensuous  Associations  should  be  Subsidiary. — When  a 
teacher  compels  pupils  to  recite  lessons  verbatim  and  calls 
upon  one  to  stop  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence  and  the  next  to 
take  it  up  at  that  point,  he  is  doing  his  utmost  to  induce  the 
pupil  to  form  only  sensuous  associations.  In  such  cases  there 
is  no  proper  activity  of  intelligence,  and  this  fact  alone  con-* 
demns  the  method.  Children's  sense-organs  are  exceed- 
ingly sensitive ;  they  are  plastic  to  mere  sights  and  sounds, 
apart  from  what  they  mean,  in  a  way  that  can  be  rivalled  by 
no  adult.  The  teacher  should,  of  course,  appeal  to  this  ready 
receptiveness  of  sense,  but  it  should  be  used  only  as  an  instru- 
ment or  organ  for  forming  connections  between  ideas. 

8.  *'  Teach  only  What  is  Understood." — It  is  in  this  second  stage  of 
the  development  of  association  that  the  precept  **  A  child  should  learn  only 
what  he  understands  "  has  its  application.  In  the  earlier,  mechanical  stage, 
it  cannot  be  said  to  be  true  at  all ;  and  in  this  second  stage,  its  true  mean- 
ing should  be  carefully  noted.  It  does  not  mean  what  it  literally  says  : 
that  a  child  should  learn  only  what  he  comprehends.  To  understand  implies 
to  know  scientifically ;  to  grasp  the  relations  of  a  subject,  and  it  is  absurd 
to  demand  this  of  one  whose  reason  is  yet  undeveloped.  In  fact,  the  learn- 
ing of  a  very  large  number  of  facts  whose  relations  are  not  understood  is  the 
sole  condition  of  understanding  them  at  a  later  time.  What  the  dictum 
really  means  is  that  the  pupil  should  learn  only  that  which  has  some  nuan' 


EDUCATIONAL    PRINCIPLES.  49 

i«^— which  appeals  to  him,  which  conveys  something  to  him.  It  means 
that  he  should  connect  ideas,  the  significance  of  things,  rather  than  asso- 
ciate meaningless  sounds  or  sights.  When  a  child  learns,  for  example,  that 
arithmetic  is ""  the  science  of  the  relations  of  numbers,"  it  is  impossible  that 
he  should  fully  understand  what  this  means.  But  it  is  possible  that  the 
definition  should  be  something  more  then  a  mere  association  of  words — 
that  it  should  carry  son^e  significance  with  it.  And  this  it  does,  if  there  be 
associations  of  ideas^  instead  of  sounds  or  of  sights  alone. 

9.  Importance  of  Habit. — The  teacher  can  hardly  exaggerate 
the  importance  of  the  law  of  habit.  Rousseau's  saying  "  "^mile 
must  be  allowed  to  learn  no  habits  save  that  of  having  none," 
is  substantially  false  as  a  general  principle  of  education.  It  is 
much  nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  education  consists  in  the  former 
tion  of  good  habits — good  habits  of  body  and  of  mind.  The 
first  act,  mental  or  bodily  is  the  starting  point  of  habit ;  it  leaves 
a  tendency  or  disposition  to  recur,  so  that  the  second  act  is 
easier  than  the  first,  the  third  easier  then  the  second,  and  so  on, 
till  the  performance  of  the  act  becomes  a  second  nature.  In 
other  words  the  power  and  tendency  to  follow  any  course  of  action 
are  measured  by  the  frequency  with  which  the  acts  involved  have 
been  repeated.  This  law,  from  which  there  is  no  escape,  works  in 
all  education — intellectual^  moral,  physical,  and  it  works  with 
special  power  during  the  impressionable  period  of  childhood. 
Assuming  that  the  teacher  is  possessed  of  a  living  personality, 
that  in  his  little  kingdom  those  great  psychic  forces,  sympathy 
and  imitation,  hold  sway,  it  seems  impossible  to  unduly  exalt 
the  greatness  of  his  work.  Such  a  man  will  teach  not  by 
precept  alone,  nor  by  example  alone,  but  also  by  action  :  lazi- 
ness, fickleness,  disorder,  uncouthness,  slovenliness,  irreverence, 
etc,  are  not  to  be  found  in  his  pupils  because  they  are  not  to  be 
found  in  him.  On  the  other  hand,  dilligence,  neatness,  cleanli- 
ness, order,  politness,  self-sacrifice,  etc.,  become  habits  with  the 
pupils,  because  they  are  habits  of  the  teacher. 

10.  The  Third  Stage  is  One  of  Culture. — As  the  first  stage  is 
of  discipline,  and  the  second  of  learning  in  the  narrower 

D 


50  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

sense  of  the  word,  the  third  is  one  of  culture.  Associations  are 
formed  on  the  principle  of  similarity,  and  thus  ideas  are 
grouped  about  a  common  centre.  The  tie  in  the  case  of  associ- 
ation by  similarity  is  natural  and  intrinsic  While  ideas  associ- 
ated by  coTitigiiity  may  be  in  themselves  so  foreign  to  each  other 
as  to  require  a  constant  effort  of  mind  to  hold  them  together, 
ideas  united  by  similarity  naturally  grow  into  each  other  and 
strengthen  the  mind.  Ideas  externally  associated  have  been 
compared  to  a  bundle  o.  food  strapped  upon  the  back;  ideas 
internally  associated  to  food  eaten  and  digested,  and  wrought 
over  into  blood,  bones  and  muscles ;  the  one  may  be  a  strain 
upon  mental  fibre,  the  other  adds  to  it.  Rational  comprehen- 
sion grows  naturally  from  the  habit  of  forming  associations  by 
similarity  \  the  commo?i  principle  constantly  gains  in  distinctness 
and  is  finally  seen  in  its  relations  to  all  the  facts  united  by  it 

Note. — Further  upon  Association,  see  Dewey's  Psychology,  pp.  90-117. 

§3.    VOLUNTARY  ATTENTION. 

Relations  to  Non- Voluntary. — Voluntary  attention  is 
based  upon  non-voluntary,  but  differs  from  it  as  a  mental 
movement  directed  with  fixed  purpose  to  attaining  some  future 
end,  differs  from  one  which  moves  here  and  there  stimulated 
simply  by  the  chance  attraction  of  the  moment.  For 
example,  we  may  suppose  a  botanist's  attention  called  spon- 
taneously to  a  flower  by  its  vivid  colouring.  He  may  be  attracted 
the  next  moment  to  the  contrasting  colour  of  the  foliage,  and 
so  on.  Or,  he  may  observe  something  peculiar — say  an  appa- 
ratus for  catching  insects.  Now  he  has  an  end  in  view.  He 
will  examine  the  plant  scientifically  to  see  the  mechanism  and 
its  mode  of  operation.  He  observes  the  structure  of  the 
flower  ;  compares  it  with  others  of  the  saaie  genus  ;  with  other 
plants  that  attract  insects.  He  notices  the  insects  that  are 
already  caught  and  speculates  upon  the  mode  aad  purpose  of 
their  capture.     He  sets  himself  to  watch  the  plant  and  see  the 


VOLUNTARY   ATTENTION.  5 1 

exact  method  by  which  some  insect  is  entangled.  Non-volun 
tary  attention  has  passed  into  voluntary  ;  he  no  longer  notices 
because  of  some  attractive  trait  in  the  flower,  but  because  of 
some  end  he  wishes  to  reach,  something  which  he  desires  to 
find  out.  Voluntary  attention,  in  other  words,  is  directed  in 
its  movements  with  a  view  to  getting  at  something,  with  refer- 
ence to  an  end,  while  non-voluntary  is  based  upon  agreeable 
qualities  of  the  presentation. 

Relation  to  AssOCia.tion. — Voluntary  attention  can 
create  no  new  material.  It  can  deal  only  with  the  presenta- 
tions afforded  by  non-voluntary  attention  and  the  representa- 
tions given  by  association.  But  while  association  by  itself 
goes  on  at  hap  hazard,  one  idea  suggesting  another  according 
to  any  accidental  bond  of  contiguity  or  of  similarity,  voluntary 
attention  lays  hold  of  this  train  and  manipulates,  controls  it  for 
its  own  end.  It  compels  the  train  in  one  direction ;  it  shuts 
off  all  suggested  ideas  which  do  not  appear  to  lead  towards 
the  desired  end.  Ideas  which  the  mind  feels  to  be  helpful 
towards  the  end  are  selected  and  emphasized.  Association 
passes  into  voluntary  attention  when  the  ideas  that  form  the 
train  suggest  one  another  not  by  any  accidental  bond,  but  by 
some  fundamental  characteristic,  some  unity  which  gives  them 
a  common  bearing  and  end. 

Example. — Take  again  the  botanist  who  has  noticed  the 
apparatus  for  catching  insects.  Following  association  alone  he 
might  then  think  of  some  former  time  when  he  had  seen  a 
similar  plant ;  then  of  the  swamp  where  he  saw  it ;  then  of 
some  luxuriant  marsh  in  South  America ;  then  of  the  wonderful 
vegetation  of  the  carboniferous  era ;  then  of  the  making  of 
coal ;  then  of  the  present  price  of  coal,  and  so  on  till  he  had 
thought  of  any  number  of  topics  apparently  disconnected,  yet 
each  naturally  growing  out  of  the  preceding.  Thus  one  often 
finds  himself  wondering  how  he  comes  to  be  thinking  of  some- 


53  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

thing  so  foreign  to  what  his  mind  was  occupied  with  a  fei^ 
minutes  before.  The  train  of  associations  has  led  him  on. 
But  voluntary  attention  prevents  a  succession  of  ideas  having 
no  common  significance.  It  keeps  the  suggested  ideas  of  our 
botanist,  e.g.  in  harmony  with  the  end  desired — knowledge  of  the 
structure  of  such  an  apparatus,  and  of  the  process  of  its  de- 
velopment. Voluntary  attention  is  a  train  of  associations  con' 
fined  to  some  channel  leading  up  to  an  unified  result. 

Early  Forms  of  Voluntary  Attention.— Voluntary 
attention  arises  as  soon  as  the  mind  becomes  capable  of  forming 
the  conception  of  an  end  which  it  finds  interesting.  Ideas  no 
longer  come  and  go  at  random,  but  with  reference  to  this  end- 
At  first,  voluntary  attention  is  simply  attraction  of  the  mind  by 
a  remote  instead  oidi  present  interest.  For  example,  a  boy  forms 
the  idea  of  making  a  kite.  As  soon  as  he  has  this  idea,  his 
thoughts  and  activities  at  once  get  a  certain  unity.  They  are 
controlled  by  the  end  which  he  desires  to  reach,  and  the  end 
suffices  of  itself  to  suggest  those  ideas  which  lead  to  it,  and  to 
expel  others.  So,  too,  a  boy  may  wish  to  find  how  a  story  "turns 
out,"  and  the  interest  in  this  end  will  keep  his  mental  processes 
engaged  in  reading,  while  otherwise  they  would  be  straying  here 
and  there.  There  is  simply  an  extension  of  non-voluntary 
attention  by  interest  in  some  future  occurrences. 

Higher  Forms. — But  cases  occur  in  which  the  end  inter- 
ests but  yet  does  not  suffice  of  itself  to  control  the  train  of 
ideas.  The  boy,  for  example,  who  has  made  a  kite,  afterwards 
sets  himself  to  making  a  steam-engine.  Here  the  matter  is  so 
complicated  that  the  intermediate  steps  must  be  separately 
studied  and  their  relations  to  one  another  and  to  the  whole,  made 
out.  The  end  is  forgotten  for  the  time  being,  and  attention  is 
given  to  all  the  steps  leading  up  to  it.  So  with  a  pupil  solving 
a  problem  in  algebra.  While  the  whole  process  is  directed  with 
a  view  to  reaching  the  end  (finding  the  value  of  x\  yet  it  is  the 


YOLUNTARY    ATTENTION.  53 

successive  operationo  to  be  gone  through  that  absorb  attention. 
In  the  earlier  stages  the  end  "takes  care  of  itself,"  so  to 
speak;  the  mind  need  only  be  fixed  upon  the  end  and  the 
means  to  it  natmally  suggest  themselves.  But  in  the  higher 
forms,  the  labori>is  concentration  of  attention  upon  each  step 
is  required.  Ai  Hie  power  of  attention  grows,  the  end  becomes 
more  and  moie  comprehensive  until  it  requires  the  cooperation 
of  almost  evciy  process  of  the  intellectual  life.  Thus  we  may 
imagine  Newton's  attention  to  have  been  absorbed  while  he 
was  engage'?  with  the  discovery  of  the  law  of  gravitation. 

Activities  Involved  in  Attention. — Attention  may, 
therefore,  be  defined  as  a  movement  of  ideas  unified  and  controll- 
ed by  the  conception  of  some  end.  There  are  various  activities 
involved  in  this  movement,  of  which  three  may  be  particularly 
mentKjned.  Attention  is  (i)  an  adjusting^  (2)  a  selecting  and 
(j)  a  relating  activity. 

I.  Atte7iiion  as  Adjusting  Activity.^— In  association  the  mind 
IS,  in  one  sense,  passive.  It  seems  to  be  a  spectator  before 
whom  jdeas  come  and  go.  Its  extreme  form  is  reverie;  the 
mind  drifts  on  from  one  topic  to  another.  If  we  ask  why  this 
happens,  we  see  that  it  is  because  the  mind  lets  ideas  take  their 
course.  .  It  is  not  filled  before-hand  with  some  idea  by  which 
it  tests,  and  with  reference  to  which  it  directs,  other  ideas.  But 
in  attention^  the  mind  comes  to  the  train  of  ideas  prepared.  It 
is  not  indifferent ;  it  is  hardly  impartial.  It  has  a  controlling 
and  compelling  interest  in  a  given  direction.  It  has  a  predis- 
position, a  trend,  in  favor  of  certain  ideas.  Hence  it  is  watch- 
ful, alert  for  everything  favouring  these  ideas,  while  everything 
not  connected  with  this  interest  is  passed  over. 

Illustration.— By  way  of  illustration,  consider  a  biologist 
engaged  in  studying  the  life  history  of  an  animal  under  9 
microscope.     He  cannot  allow  his  mind  to  follow  up  any  train 


54  PSYCHICAL  PROCESSES. 

tff  Ueas  that  suggests  itself;  he  must  be  indifferent  to  all  sights 
and  sounds  unconnected  with  the  animal  observed.  He  must 
notice  the  slightest  change  there;  must  connect  this  with  what 
goes  before,  and  what  comes  after.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that 
whatever  corresponding  ideas  he  has  already  in  mind  must  be 
held  prepared,  even  in  tension,  to  go  out  and  meet  whatever 
corresponds  to  them  in  the  object.  The  mind  at-iends,  is 
stretched  towards  what  is  coming,  to  anticipate  it,  to  meet  it 
more  than  half-way.  Hence  the  fatigue  accompanying  any 
prolonged  activity  of  attention.  Ideas  are  not  allowed  to 
follow  their  own  course;  but  a  certain  group  of  ideas  must  be 
held  to  the  front  by  a  special  mental  efforty  to  react  on  the  new 
presentations.  y 

Why  Called  Adjusting  ?— It  is  clear,  therefore,  why 
the  activity  is  called  an  adjusting  one.  An  empty  mind  cannot 
attend  to  anything ;  a  mind  empty  in  a  given  direction  can- 
not attend  in  that  direction.  It  must  have  some  idea,  however 
vague  and  general,  of  what  is  coming,  of  what  is  to  be  looked 
for.  The  more  a  mind  knows  of  a  certain  subject,  the 
more  quickly  and  accurately  it  can  pay  attention  to  anything 
new  in  that  subject.  Attention  is  thus  the  bringing  to  bear, 
the  adjusting,  of  what  already  is  in  the  mind,  to  the  presenta- 
tion without.  Attention  is  not  the  fixing  of  the  mind  in  general 
but  the  fixing  of  a  dejl/iite  group  of  ideas  upon  presentations 
having  points  of  community  with  the  group.  The  adjusting  power 
of  attention  consists  in  getting  to  the  foreground  of  the  mind  and 
holding  there,  those  ideas  allied  to  the  object-matter  attended  to. 
A  pupil  attends  to  a  problem  in  arithmetic  only  as  he  brings 
to  the  foreground  of  consciousness  that  knowledge  of  numbers 
which  he  already  possesses,  and  applies  it  to  the  new  case. 

Illustration, — ^The  nature  of  mental  life  may  be  illus- 
trated as  follows  :  An  individual  is  in  a  dark  room  with  which 
he  is  unacquainted.     This  room  is  lighted  up  at  brief  intervals 


VOLUNTARY    ATTENTION.  55 

by  an  electric  spark.  Now,  previous  to  the  first  illuminarion 
there  can  be  no  preparatory  activity  of  the  mind.  It  doe£  not 
know  what  to  look  for,  and  hence  cannot  get  ready.  But  at  the 
first  spark,  it  obtains  some  dim  idea  of  the  room,  and  this  makes  a 
basis  for  attention  at  the  second  lighting  up.  Being  slightly 
prepared,  it  now  sees  more  in  the  second  flash.  This  give/» 
greater  power  to  adjust  the  next  time,  and  so  on.  Finally,  som,* 
flash,  though  not  lasting  any  longer  than  the  first  flash  during 
which  nothing  was  seen,  reveals  almost  the  entire  contents 
of  the  room.  In  other  words,  the  more  perfectly  the  mind  can 
make  a  preparatory  adjustment  of  its  internal  ideas  to  the  out- 
ward presentation,  the  better  it  can  attend,  and,  of  course,  the 
more  it  can  become  conscious  o£ 
Attention  and  Past  Experience.— It  is  furthermore  evident  that 

the  power  of  voluntary  attention  in  any  direction  depends  largely  upon 
past  experience  in  that  direction.  We  cannot  bring  ideas  to  bear,  cannot 
form  adjustments,  where  we  have  no  ideas.  In  every  fact  learned,  in  every 
process  of  knowing,  therefore,  we  are  deciding  our  future  knowledge  as 
well  as  our  present,  for  we  are  deciding  in  what  directions  we  may  be  able 
to  form  adjustments,  to  pay  attention.  The  difference  between  a  child  and 
a  man,  between  an  uncultured  and  an  educated  man,  is  largely  that  ono 
has  definite  groups  of  ideas,  or  instruments  of  adjustment,  ready  to  bring  to 
bear  upon  presentations,  while  the  other  has  not. 

2.  Attention  as  Selecting  Activity. — Thus  far  we  have  been 
considering  the  attitude  of  the  mind  in  attention ;  the  pre- 
paration necessary  in  order  to  give  attention.  Now  we  shall 
suppose  that  adjustment  has  been  secured,  and  ask  what  is 
the  eff^ect  upon  the  subject  matter  attended  ta  The  primary 
effect  is  selective.  The  mind  emphasizes  ^i-  slurs,  brightens  iPt 
JBB*dims,  according  to  the  end  it  wishes  to  reach.  Attention 
has  the  same  efifect  upon  any  mental  content  that  a  lens  has 
upon  light:  the  point  focussed  stands  out  with  brilliancy,  while 
the  surroundings  are  dull  and  indistinct  Attention,  as  adjust- 
ment, has  been  called  "  asking  questions  of  the  future,"  and  the 
question  once  asked,  the  mind  must  select  material  fitted  to 
answer  it 


56  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

Basis  of  Selection. — The  mind  when  attending  is  in  a 
cross-examining  attitude.  It  does  not  take  presentations  as  they 
come,  but  inquires  into  their  value,  and  makes  use  of  them  ac- 
cordingly. The  basis  on  which  some  are  chosen  and  others  are 
rejected  is  the  end  in  view  and  the  interest  the  mind  takes  in  it. 
A  flower  will  produce  the  same  sensations  in  the  mind  of  an 
artist,  a  farmer  and  a  man  of  science ;  but  the  artist  will  notice 
the  qualities  that  make  for  beauty,  the  farmer's  attention  will 
select  those  that  refer  to  use,  that  seem  to  testify  to  a  weed  or 
to  a  useful  plant,  while  the  botanist  may  neglect  both  use  and 
beauty  in  an  examination  of  the  scientific  relations  of  the 
flower.  In  a  certain  sense,  no  two  of  them  see  the  same  flower. 
One  perceives,  or  selects,  one  thing,  and  this  is  invisible  to  the 
others  who  neglect  it.  And  in  any  case,  it  is  the  end  which 
the  mind  wishes  to  reach,  the  prevailing  interest  which  it  brings 
with  it,  that  decides  the  selection. 

Variable  and  Permanent  Ends  of  Selection.— 

Different  persons  and  different  classes  of  persons,  since  they 
have  different  occupations  and  interests  in  life,  will,  as  just 
illustrated,  select  varying  things.  But  all  minds,  since  they  are 
minds,  have  a  common  interest  in  knowledge,  and  a  common 
end  in  noticing  these  universal  features,  at  least,  without  which 
there  would  be  no  knowledge.  Thus  we  may  suppose  a 
thousand  persons  reading  a  book  and  each  underlining  what 
especially  strikes  him.  A  large  number  of  the  passages  under- 
lined would  vary  according  to  the  various  ages,  tastes,  stages  of 
culture,  etc.,  of  the  readers.  But  there  might  be  a  number  of 
passages  in  the  book  which  would  appeal  to  all,  and  which  all 
would  emphasize.  So  with  the  book  which  the  world  presents 
to  be  read  by  every  mind. 

The  Law  of  Common  Selection. — While  no  rule  can  be  laid  down 
for  the  selective  activity  when  it  varies,  excepting  that  it  follows  the  pre. 
vailing  interest  whatever  that  may  be,  there  is  a  law  for  the  selections  in 
which  minds  agree.      The  mind  always  selects  those  sensations  and  impulses 


VOLUNTARY    ATTENTION.  57 

that  are  signs  of  something  else  ;  that  point  to  something  beyond  themselves. 
Elements  having  no  meaning  outside  their  own  occurrence,  are  neglected. 
For  example,  although  muscular  sensations  are  of  great  importance  to  us, 
we  are  never  conscious  of  them  in  themselves,  unless  it  be  when  we  are 
tired.  We  notice  only  what  the  sensations  are  signs  of — what  they  signify 
We  move  the  hand  through  the  air  and  are  not  conscious  of  the  muscular 
strain,  but  only  of  the  space  which  is  measured  by  it.  There  are  instances 
of  persons  who  became  blind  in  one  eye  and  yet  did  not  know  it  for 
years.  Their  knowledge  of  objects,  of  what  the  sensations  pointed  to, 
being  unchanged,  they  never  noticed  the  change  in  the  sensations  them- 
selves. Each  of  us  has  a  multitude  of  sensations  which  he  neglects  en- 
tirely either  because  they  have  no  reference  to  objects,  or  because  this 
reference  is  so  much  more  important  than  the  sensations,  that  he  attends  to 
that  alone. 

J.  Atteniion  as  Relating  Activity.— As  we  have  previously 
noticed,  ideas  may  be  connected  externally  or  internally,  />.,  be- 
cause they  occur  at  the  same  time  or  because  there  is  something 
in  their  meaning  which  connects  them.  The  relations  which 
form  the  internal  connection  are  those  of  similarity  and  con- 
trast. And  it  is  the  chief  characteristic  of  voluntary  attention 
that  it  aims  at  penetrating  below  the  accidental,  superficial,  con- 
nections of  ideas,  and  at  discovering  the  hidden  relations  which 
unite  and  which  distinguish  them.  Ordinary  experience, 
chance  contact  with  objects,  presents  us  with  no  arrangement, 
no  classification.  Objects  might  forever  thrust  themselves 
upon  the  mind,  and  if  the  mind  did  not  react  upon  them  with 
the  idea  of  a  system  according  to  which  they  might  be  grouped,  a 
system  based  upon  points  of  internal  likeness  and  difference, 
experience  would  remain  an  accidental  juxtaposition  of  ideas» 
without  true  order  or  law. 

Example. — If  we  depended  simply  upon  the  order  in 
which  our  ideas  present  themselves  or  suggest  one  another, 
what  kind  of  Zoology,  for  example,  should  we  have  ?  It  would 
consist  simply  of  a  continuous  description  of  animals  taken  in 
any  chance  order  of  arrangement,  with  no  law  of  subordina- 


58  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

tion  and  co-ordination,  no  principle  of  classification.  Asso- 
ciation by  similarity  would  suffice,  doubtless,  to  give  some  larger 
divisions — birds,  insects,  quadrupeds,  etc.,  might  fall  into 
groups  by  themselves.  But  here,  without  further  action  of 
voluntary  attention,  there  would  be  no  standard  which  could  be 
used  to  test  even  such  a  rough  classification ;  bats  would  be 
called  birds,  and  whales  fishes.  Finer  classification  and 
knowledge  of  the  relations  of  various  groups  would  be  almost 
wholly  lacking.  For  zoological  classification  consists  in  this, 
that  we  examine  into  our  presentations  instead  of  taking  them 
just  as  they  come,  that  we  search  for  some  hidden  unity,  some 
common  principle  or  cause  among  facts  the  most  diverse  in  ap- 
pearance, and  then,  in  accordance  with  this  principle,  rearrange 
the  accidental  connections  which  experience  provides. 

Comparison. — This  act  of  voluntary  attention  by  which 
we  search  for  identities  and  distinctions  is  termed  comparisoiu 
We  compare  when  we  hold  two  ideas  together  in  the  mind,  and 
then  let  our  thoughts  move  from  one  to  the  other  in  order  to  see 
in  what  points  they  agree  or  differ.  It  is  association,  without 
doubt,  which  originally  brings  the  two  ideas  together;  but 
attention  is  required  to  hold  the  ideas  before  the  mind,  to 
keep  them  from  being  displaced  by  further  suggestions,  and 
attention,— the  idea  of  an  end,  and  the  direction  of  our  thought 
by  it — is  required  to  seize  upon  the  points  of  likeness  in  apparent 
difference,  or  of  diversity  in  apparent  similarity.  Comparison 
holds  together  and  holds  apart  at  the  same  time ;  it  unifies  and 
it  discriminates. 

Unffication- — When  we  say  that  attention  aims  at  unifiying  ideas,  it 
must  not  be  thought  that  two  ideas  zxt/used  into  one.  The  tw  o  ideas  stiU 
remain  separate  in  their  existence,  it  is  only  their  meaning  that  is  identified. 
Both  are  seen  to  signify  the  same  thing.  Thus  the  fall  of  the  apple,  th« 
path  of  the  cannon  ball  in  the  air,  the  revolution  of  the  moon,  the  rise  of 
the  tide,  facts  separate  in  themselves,  are  unified  by  the  lavi^  of  gravitation. 
Voluntary  attention,  then,  sets  out  with  the  idea  of  a  law,  a  relation,  a  prin* 


VOLUNTARY    ATTENTION.  59 

ciple  common  to  different  facts,  and  it  controls  the  flow  of  ideas  with  refer- 
ence to  this  one  idea ;  it  seeks  for  it  everywhere  ;  it  tries  this  and  that 
experience  to  see  if  it  contains  this  one  idea.  Consider,  for  example,  the 
procedure  of  a  scientific  man,  endeavoring  to  discover  or  to  verify  a  law  ;  it 
is  the  idea  of  this  law  which  compels  his  experiences  to  assume  unity. 

Discrlmlliatioil. — When  speaking  of  non- voluntary  attention,  we  notic- 
ed that  one  of  its  effects  is  to  bring  whatever  receives  attention  more  clearly 
into  consciousness.  In  voluntary  attention  we  have  an  extension  of  the 
same  principle.  The  mind  sets  itself  intentionally  to  distinguish  lietween 
one  object  and  another,  between  one  feature  or  quality  of  the  object  and 
another  property.  It  is  through  this  process  that  knowledge  ceases  to  be 
vague,  and  gains  clearness.  For  example,  a  child  recognizes  a  tree  before 
he  recognizes  any  particular  kind  of  tree.  The  elm,  the  oak,  the  maple, 
are  all  simply  trees  to  him.  But  he  notices,  say,  the  difference  in  the  leaves 
of  two  trees  ;  he  then  compares  the  two  trees  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  in 
what  other  respects  they  differ.  Each  difference  as  it  is  noticed  makes 
knowledge  of  the  tree  known  more  distinct,  or  definite.  Thus,  also,  the 
child  begins  with  a  vague  idea  of  meat,  which  by  noticed  differences, 
becomes  discriminated  into  ideas  of  beef,  veal,  mutton,  etc.  The  undefin- 
ed in  every  case  precedes  the  distinct,  and  the  vague  becomes  the  definite, 
by  the  activity  of  attention  in  fixing  upon  differences. 

The  Goal  of  Attention.— Through  the  double  act  of  iden- 
tifying and  discriminating,  knowledge  becomes  at  once  unified 
and  definite.  While,  at  first,  attention  can  grasp  only  a  small 
idea,  one  with  few  details  in  it,  and  these  few  vague,  with  grow- } 
ing  culture  it  takes  in  larger  and  larger  wholes,  and  the  details ' 
of  these  larger  wholes  are  better  and  better  defined.  The  mind 
takes  in  more  at  one  grasp,  and  the  details  stand  out  more 
clearly.  For  example,  a  child  just  learning  to  read  has  before 
him  a  printed  page  \  the  unit  of  attention  is  necessarily  small ; 
say  the  single  word,  or  at  most  the  sentence.  And  the  members 
of  this  unit  are  not  clearly  defined ;  the  child  will  hardly  dis- 
criminate *mop'  from  'map' ;  *  apply'  from  'apple ;'  or,  if  he  can 
recognize  the  meaning  of  a  sentence  at  one  act  of  attention,  he 
will  not  know  the  relations  of  the  different  parts  of  the  sentence, 
the  value  of  each  of  its  members.  But  ten  years  after,  he  will 
be  able  to  take  in  a  paragraph  in  one  mental  act,  and  at  the 


6o  EDUCATIONAL    PRINCIPLES. 

same  time  he  will  have  a  more  definite  idea  of  each  of  its 
factors,  than  he  had  when  he  was  obliged  to  go  through  them 
laboriously  one  at  a  time.  The  goal  of  the  development  of 
attention  is,  therefore,  ability  to  grasp  in  one  act  large  wholes^ 
and  at  the  same  time,  give  distinctness  to  every  part  of  this  whole 
In  the  degree  in  which  this  goal  is  reached,  there  is  economy 
and  facility  in  the  expenditure  of  mental  power. 

Educational  Principles.— The  work  of  securing  atten- 
tion from  any  individual  pupil  is  something,  of  course,  which 
depends  upon  the  patience,  tact,  interest  and  skill  of  the 
teacher.  But  there  are  certain  psychological  principles  upon 
which  he  must  build  either  consciously  or  unconsciously,  if  even 
his  best  energies  and  sympathies  are  to  be  of  any  avail. 

1.  Voluntary  Attention  Demands  Mental  Effort. — The  train 
of  ideas,  if  left  to  itself,  will  go  on  by  the  principle  of  associ- 
ation. And  when  all  successions  of  ideas  are  occasioned  wholly 
by  mere  suggestion  we  have  mind-wandering.  It  requires, 
therefore,  a  certain  mental  energy  to  interfere,  as  it  were,  with 
the  sequences  of  association  and  to  control  them,  to  compel 
them  to  take  a  certain  course.  It  requires  no  positive  effort  or 
training  to  let  the  mind  wander  ;  we  have  simply  to  allow  it  to 
follow  its  own  course.  This  is  easy,  and  so  mental  laziness 
becomes  one  of  the  greatest  hindrances  of  the  teacher's  work. 
There  is  a  certain  strain  or  stress  involved  in  attention,  and 
the  student  must  be  awakened  from  the  inertia  natural  to  the 
association  of  ideas,  and  made  to  exercise  his  mental  powers, 
and  to  assume  an  active,  energetic  habit  of  mind. 

2.  Voluntary  Attention  Demands  Unity  and  Permanence  of 
Interest. — Dissipation  of  interest  is,  next  to  sheer  mental  lazi- 
ness, the  great  foe  of  attention.  Watch  an  inattentive  school- 
boy; one  moment  he  studies  one  lesson,  the  next  moment, 
another  lesson,  then  he  must  write  upon  his  slate,  then  sharpen 
his  pencil,  then  speak  to  a  fellow-pupil,  and  so  on  in  a  con- 


PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES.  6 1 

stantly  interrupted  round  of  disconnected  doings.  There  is  no 
one  and  lasting  interest  which  runs  through  his  operations. 
This  dissipation  of  interests  results  inevitably  in  disconti?iuity 
of  attention.  The  pupil  may  have  had  good  powers  of  non- 
voluntary attention,  that  is  to  say,  objects  may  have  attracted 
him  readily  and  kept  his  attention  fixed  as  long  as  the  attrac- 
tion  endured,  but  if  the  successive  attractions  were  nevel 
welded  into  a  series,  if  they  were  given  no  underlying  unity,  the 
result  is  necessarily  a  skipping,  jerky,  disconnected  habit  of 
mind.  Whatever  secures  unity  of  interest  in  diverse  subjects 
works  in  and  of  itself  to  secure  continuous  attention. 

3.  Voluntary  Attention  demands  that  there  be  already  in  the 
Mind  some  Store  of  ideas  akin  to  the  Subject  to  be  attended  to. — 
Attention,  as  we  have  seen,  is  not  bringing  the  mind  in  general, 
that  is  an  empty  mind,  to  bear  upon  a  subject,  it  is  focussing  upon 
the  subject  ideas  already  had,  knowledge  already  obtained. 
To  require  a  young  student,  for  example,  to  pay  attention  to 
abstract  statements  about  the  form,  position,  mode  of  revolu- 
tion and  subdivisions  of  the  earth,  without  ascertaining  whether 
he  has  any  analogous  ideas,  any  acquired  knowledge,  which  may 
serve  to  fix  and  interpret  the  new  statements,  is  to  commit  a 
pedagogical  blunder.  A  certain  superficial  attention  of  the  eye 
or  the  ear  may  be  secured,  but  no  truly  mental  attention.  To 
demand  a  merely  ^rwa/ attention  from  a  student,  that  is,  to  ask 
him  to  fix  his  psychical  processes  in  general  upon  a  subject,  is 
to  demand  an  impossibility.  That  there  may  be  real  assimila- 
tion, attention  must  be  paid  to  something  in  particular,  and 
requires  the  presence  in  the  mind  of  ideas  somewhat  similar — • 
havmg  some  relation  to  the  subject  taught. 

4.  Voluntary  Attention  requires  that  this  Store  of  similar  Ideas 
)e  not  tdtent  in  the  Mind,  but  Actively  brought  into  Play.  It  is  not 
enough  that  the  mind  should  have  experiences  analogous  to 
che  topic  in  hand  stored  away,  it  must  bring  therh  to  the  surface ; 


62  EDUCATIONAL     PRINCIPLES. 

it  must  have  them  ready  to  seize  upon  whatever  is  presented 
If  mental  effort  and  unity  of  interest  exist,  and  yet  there  is 
failure  of  attention,  it  is,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  because  this 
preparatory  work  has  not  been  done.  Of  course,  training  in 
holding  attention  in  any  subject  gives  self  control,  and  makes 
attention  easier  in  other  directions,  and  yet  it  is,  for  example, 
no  great  help  when  attention  is  required  in  historical  study,  to 
have  just  been  absorbed  in  mathematics.  Indeed,  it  may  be  at 
first  a  hindrance;  the  circle  of  historical  ideas  must  be  brought 
to  the  surface  of  the  mind.  Historical  conceptions  and  interests 
must  be  fresh  and  active  ;  then  attention — the  conjunction  of 
the  inner  mental  acquisition  with  the  outer  object  to  be  acquired 
— ^is  easily  secured. 

5. — Counterfeit  Attention. — It  follows  from  this,  that  there 
may  be  the  outward  form  and  attitude  of  attention — the 
apparently  hearing  ear  and  seeing  eye — while  the  mind  is  utterly 
out  of  connection  with  the  subject.  There  are,  also,  other 
forms  of  such  spurious  attention  which  are,  as  already^ 
intimated,  all  but  equally  futile.  Some  attention  may  be  paid 
to  a  lesson ;  its  facts  and  principles  may  be  severally  appre- 
hended while  the  underlying  unity  is  never  grasped.  A 
pupil,  for  example,  may  give  sufficient  attention  to  a  reading 
lesson  to  enable  him  to  understand  the  separate  sentences, 
und  yet  fail  to  acquire  a  clear  conception  of  the  lesson  as  a 
whole ;  the  higher  activity  of  attention,  the  relating  power. 
is  wanting ;  there  are  disconnected  acts  of  attention  but  no 
perception  of  relations,  no  unifying  power.  Similarly,  a  pupil 
may  comprehend  each  of  the  successive  steps  in  a  demonstra- 
tion and  yet  fail  to  master  it,  through  not  giving  the  higher 
power  of  attention  necessary  to  such  mastery.  Or,  again,  a 
student  may  grasp  the  connections  of  the  several  points  of  a 
topic  and  still  fail  to  assimilate  the  "new  knowledge  with  the 
old ;  he  does  not  revive  and  hold  in  readiness  the  groups  of 
ideas  bearing  on  the  subject ;  he  fails  in  the  adjusting  power  ol 


ff   y^  OF  THK         '  r^ 

f  UNIVLP,:3ITY 

VOLUNTARY    ATTENTION.      V     o^     ^^^=    6^     ^ 

attention,  and   the   result  is   neither   permanent  increase    ol 
knowledge  nor  development  of  mind-function. 

6.  Voluntary  Attention  requires  that  the  Mind  move  along 
Related  or  connec'ed  Points.  Contradictory  as  the  statement  may 
sound,  attention  can  be  kept  fixed  only  as  it  is  kept  moving.  Let 
us  suppose  that  the  preceding  conditions  have  been  met ;  the 
mind  is  aroused  to  active  effort,  it  has  continuous  interest ;  it 
has  had  knowledge  of  matters  analogous  to  that  to  be  attended 
to,  and  this  knowledge  has  been  stirred  up  and  called  to  the 
surface.  And  now  the  subject  is  put  before  the  pupil,  and  he 
is  told  by  the  teacher  to  pay  attention.  A  most  lame  and  im- 
potent conclusion  !  The  pupil  is  now  waiting  and  anxious  to 
pay  attention ;  how  to  pay  it  is  the  essential  point,  and  the 
point  on  which  he  is  too  apt  to  get  no  help.  If  he  tries  to 
keep  his  mind  resting,  to  keep  it  literally  fixedy  one  result  is 
inevitable  :  the  mind  must  move  in  one  way  or  another ;  it 
cannot  rest  without  consciousness  ceasing;  some  association 
suggests  itself,  this  suggests  another,  and  so  on.  So,  with  the 
firm  purpose  to  pay  attention,  the  pupil  finds  his  mind 
wandering. 

How  then  shall  the  attention  be  kept  fixed  ?  Attention  is 
the  movement  of  ideas  controlled  by  the  relations  of  identity 
and  difference.  The  process  of  paying  attention  is,  therefore, 
one  of  naticitig  and  discovering  these  relations.  In  the  early 
stages,  this  work  must,  of  course,  be  performed  largely  by  the 
teacher ;  he  must  arrange  the  material,  he  must  arrange  his 
questions  so  as  to  make  the  relations,  the  connections  of  a  sub- 
ject, prominent.  Unimportant  and  irrelevant  features  must  be 
excluded ;  the  points  of  connection  must  be  made  salient ; 
they  must  be  emphasized  and  reiterated  until  the  pupil's  mind 
forms  the  habit  of  following  their  connections,  to  the  neglect  of 
all  else.  This  habit  once  formed,  there  grows,  almost  natur- 
ally and  of  itself  in  higher  stages,  the  habit  of  picking  out  and 


64  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

forming  the  connections  without  help.  When  this  point  is 
reached,  no  attention  need  be  paid  to  attention.  Attention 
takes  care  of  itself,  for  this  power  of  observing  and  creating  re 
lations  is  Attention. 

V^  7.  Further  Suggestions. — {a)  In  infancy  and  childhood 
attention  must  be  secured  indirectly,  that  is,  it  must  be  attracted 
by  some  interest  in  the  subject,  or  secured  by  the  personality 
of  the  teacher ;  his  tact,  earnestness,  sympathy,  patience,  wilL 
power,  etc.  But  as  non-voluntary  attention  grows  into 
voluntary,  and  the  creature  of  impulse  becomes  capable  of 
self-control,  rational  motives  may  be  effectively  appealed  to. 
Thus,  a  subject  unattractive  or  even  repulsive  in  itself,  com- 
mands attention  through  its  association  with  "  pleasure  in 
prospect "  of  some  desired  end.  (J?)  As  in  the  earlier  years 
something  must  be  given  the  child  to  do,  so  in  the  later  years 
something  must  be  left  to  his  thinking;  the  child  delights  in 
doing  with  the  hand,  the  youth  delights  in  doi?ig  with  the 
mind — in  conquering  difficulties  for  himself,  {c)  The  difTerent 
tastes  and  •ftB^^abilities  of  pupils  must  be  taken  into  account. 
A  pupil  may  have  little  native  capacity  for  a  subject,  or, 
through  irrational  teaching,  he  may  have  acquired  a  thorough 
dislike  for  it.  In  either  case,  true  attention  on  his  part  is  ex- 
tremely difficult.  He  cannot  attend  in  the  specific  direction, 
because  he  has  nothing  to  attend  with— no  groups  of  ideas 
which  are  related  to  the  new  subject  and  without  which  he 
cannot  seize  upon  it ;  for,  once  more,  a  mind  empty  in  a  given 
direction,  cannot  attend  in  that  direction.  In  such  a  case,  if 
the  teacher  is  without  sympathy  and  the  kindly  insight  that 
flows  from  it — a  servile  follower  of  pedagogic  rule  and  formula, 
he  draws  the  sweeping  inference  :  Stupid  in  one,  stupid  in  all. 
Thus,  many  a  youth  of  fine  ability  has  been  grossly  wronged 
because  of  his  inability  to  make  progress  in  a  pathway  along 
which  his  blind  guide  would  force  him.  (d^  Not  only  is 
attention  the  prime  condition  and  the  measure  of  intellectual 


APPERCEPTION   AND    RETENTION.  6$ 

development,  it  is  of  perhaps  equal  importance  in  the  moral 
sphere.  "  The  boy  is  father  of  the  man ;"  if,  in  the  school,  the 
habit  of  attention  is  formed,  the  power  of  concentrated  thought 
developed,  there  will  be  thoughtfulness  and  steadiness  of  pur 
pose  in  the  character  of  the  man.  But  the  habit  of  inattention 
and  the  incapacity  for  steady  thinking,  are  the  chief  factors  in  a 
character  infirm  of  purpose,  **  unstable  as  water."  Defective 
attention  in  practical  life,  (says  Compayr6)  is  the  synonym  of 
thoughtlessness  and  heedlessness.  To  be  habitually  attentive 
is  not  only  the  best  means  of  learning  and  progressing  in  the 
sciences,  and  the  most  effective  prayer  we  can  address  to  the 
truth  in  order  that  it  may  bestow  itself  upon  us ;  but  it  is  also 
one  of  the  most  precious  means  of  moral  perfection,  the 
surest  means  of  shunning  mistakes  and  faults,  and  one  of  the 
most  necessary  elements  of  virtue.  See  Dewey^s  Psychology, 
pp.  133-148. 


8  4.  APPBEOEPTION  AND  RETENTION. 

We  have  finished  our  study  of  the  processes — attention, 
voluntary  and  non-voluntary,  and  association — which  elaborate 
the  raw  material  of  psychical  life,  previously  studied,  into  the 
concrete  forms  yet  to  be  taken  up.  Before  taking  them  up,  it 
is  necessary  to  notice  that  these  processes  have  a  double  refer- 
ence or  aspect.  They  affect  both  the  material  acted  upon,  and 
the  mind  which  acts — they  look  towards  both  the  object  and 
the  subject.  For  example,  certain  sensations  are  occasioned 
by  an  object ;  the  processes  of  attention  and  association  work- 
ing upon  them,  form  the  idea  of  a  flower.  This  is  the  outward 
objective  effect  But  the  mind  now  has  knowledge  of  this 
flower ;  its  own  store  of  ideas  is  increased ;  its  structure  is  en- 
larged in  this  direction.     This  is  the  inner,  subjective  effect. 

Retention  and  Apperception.— This  latter  effect  it 


66  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

knotvrn  as  retention^  the  former  as  apperception.  Apperception 
may  be  defined  as  the  action  of  the  mind  upon  the  material  pre- 
sented to  it.  Retention  is  the  action  upon  the  mind  of  this  mater- 
ial  when  apprehended.  Apperception  is,  thus,  the  process  of 
taking  anything  into  the  mind  {apprehending^  of  giving  it 
psychical  position  and  meaning.  Retention  is  the  effect  which 
the  material,  when  taken  into  the  mind,  has  upon  the  mind 
itself. 

Illustrations. — These  abstract  definitions  may  be  made 
clearer  by  examples.  An  infant,  a  savage,  an  ignorant  man,  and 
a  skilled  mechanic  are  before  a  steam-locomotive.  It  produces 
the  same  effect  upon  all,  so  far  as  sensat'-ons  are  concerned, 
supposing  that  all  have  their  senses  intact.  And  yet  the  baby 
apprehends  nothing;  there  is  no  result  except  the  mingled  feelings 
of  curiosity  and  terror.  The  savage  also  has  these  feelings, 
and  in  addition  recognizes  some  qualities;  its  immense  size, 
the  peculiarities  of  its  form,  some  analogies  of  appearance  and 
of  movement  with  those  of  animals  that  he  has  known ;  per- 
haps he  calls  it  an  "  iron-horse."  The  ordinary  man  perceives 
the  locomotive — that  is,  he  knows  the  purpose  of  this  object, 
knows  that  it  is  propelled  by  steam,  aixi  knows  some  details  of 
its  structure.  The  mechanic  perceives,  in  addition,  the  precise 
purpose  of  each  part ;  the  *  bearing'  and  relation  of  it  He  per- 
ceives the  adjustment  of  means  to  an  end ;  the  exact  significance 
not  only  of  the  whole  locomotive  but  of  each  member  of  it 
Whence  come  these  differences  of  ideas  in  the  four  cases? 
Not  from  the  engine ;  not  from  the  sensations ;  but  from  the 
attitude  of  the  mind  towards  the  sensations — in  short,  from 
Apperceiving  power — from  the  dififerent  ways  in  which  the  mind 
acts  upon  the  sensations. 

On  the  other  hand,  certain  results  flow  from  the  appercep- 
tion. The  baby,  it  may  be,  will  not  be  so  frightened  the  next 
time   he  sees  a   locomotive  ;    he   will  have  a  dim   sense   of 


APPERCEPTION    AND    RETENTION.  67 

familiarity,  of  recognition.  The  structure  of  his  mind,  in 
other  words,  has  been  changed  in  a  slight  degree.  The  savage 
watches  the  locomotive ;  he  notices  how  it  moves  upon  the 
rails  ;  how  it  is  governed  by  levers,  etc.  The  next  time  he  sees 
a  locomotive  he  does  not  have  to  observe  these  things  in  order 
to  know  that  they  are  there ;  his  mind  supplies  them  from 
his  previous  experience.  This  experience,  therefore,  after  van- 
ishing, left  some  trace,  some  relic  of  itself.  Let  us  now  suppose 
that  the  mechanic  shows  the  unlearned  man  the  details  of  the 
engine ;  that  he  imparts  to  him,  as  far  as  possible,  his  own 
knowledge.  It  is  evident  that,  from  this  time  forward,  the 
attitude  of  mind  of  the  latter  toward  locomotives,  has  entirely 
changed.  He  has  not  simply  had  some  new  facts  told  him,  but 
these  facts  have  entered  into  his  mind  and  enlarged  its  powers. 
Knowledge  is  not  a  temporary  occurrence,  but  is  a  permanent 
possession.  In  these  instances,  we  have  the  fact  of  Retention 
illustrated. 

Mutual  Relations. — It  is  evident  that  each  of  these 
processes  depends  upon  the  other.  We  can  retain  only  what 
we  have  once  apprehended,  so  much,  at  least,  is  clear.  Fur- 
thermore, what  we  retain  from  one  experience  is  that  with  . 
which  we  apprehend  ever  afterwards.  If  the  baby,  or  the 
savage,  or  the  ignorant  man  apperceives  more  the  second  time 
he  sees  a  locomotive  than  he  did  the  first,  it  is  because  of 
what  he  has  retained  from  that  former  experience.  If  every 
experience  were  "writ  in  water,"  if  it  left  no  trace  of  itself 
behind;  in  other  words,  if  there  were  no  such  thing  as  reten- 
tion ;  the  result  would  be  that  we  should  always  remain  infants 
intellectually,  for  there  would  be  no  growth  in  apperceiving 
power. 

The  Nature  of  Retention.— The  student  is  not  to  infer 
that  the  experience  itself  is  stored  up  in  the  mind,  as  grains  of 
com  are  stored  in  a  bin.    The  mind  is  sometimes  spoken 


68  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

of  as  a  store-house,  or  as  a  magazine  or  granary ;  but  such 
metaphors  are  misleading.  The  idea,  as  an  idea,  ceases  to  exist 
the  moment  that  it  leaves  consciousness.  Nor  can  we  say  in 
strict  truth  that  a  copy,  or  image,  or  trace  of  it  is  left  behind. 
What  then  is  retained,  if  it  is  neither  the  idea  itself  nor  a  copy 
of  it  ?  The  reply  is  that  the  effect  which  the  experience  makes 
upon  the  mind  is  retained.  The  apprehending  activity  of  the 
mind  may  be  compared  to  the  reception  and  assimilation  of 
food  by  a  living  organism.  As  the  tree,  for  example,  does 
not  absorb  surrounding  gases,  moisture  and  mineral  substances 
and  "  store  them  up "  unaltered,  but  as  these  act  and  react 
upon  the  living  tissues  of  the  tree  until  they  themselves  are 
changed  into  living  tissues ;  so  the  mind  deals  with  its  experi- 
ences. They  are  not  passively  received  into  the  mind,  to  be 
preserved  there  unchanged,  but  they  are  worked  over  into  the 
strengthening  of  old  powers  and  tendencies  and  into  the  ger- 
mination of  new  ones. 

Educational  Illustration.— Suppose  a  child  has  to  add 
a  column  of  figures.  If  he  has  added  columns  before  and  if  he 
has  "retained"  something  from  the  mental  action  involved  in 
the  operations,  he  will  be  able  to  do  this  without  assistance. 
But  it  is  not  the  preservation  in  his  mind  of  the  figures  which 
he  has  added  before,  nor  of  their  copies,  that  enables  hirn  to 
add.  These  former  experiences  have  acted  upon  his  mind, 
however,  so  as  to  give  him  the  power  to  control  its  action 
in  a  certain  direction,  and  to  perceive  and  to  construct  rela- 
tions in  this  direction.  A  child  should  not  learn  the  multipli- 
cation table  so  that  its  exact  image  recurs  to  him  when  he 
has  to  multiply  two  numbers,  but  in  order  that  he  may  form  f/u 
habit^  gain  the  power,  of  dealing  with  numerical  combinations. 

Dynamical  Associations. — What  is  retained  is  some- 
times called  a  "dynamical  association."  By  this  is  meant  thai 
retention  consists  in  an  active  tendency  to  form  connections. 


APPERCEPTION   AND    RETENTION.  69 

The  mind  which  has  joined  objects  or  ideas  by  attention  or  by 
association,  has  not  only  the  capacity  of  making  similar  connec- 
tions more  easily  in  the  future,  but  it  has  a  tendency^  a  predis- 
position, to  make  them.  Long  before  a  child  has  conscious 
memory  or  recollection,  he  retains  something  from  each  of  his 
experiences  and  it  is  by  this  retention  that  his  mind  grows  in 
power,  that  it  develops  and  matures.  If  we  examine  what  is 
retained  before  memory  exists,  we  see  that  it  is  the  ability  and 
the   impulse  to  form  associations   like  those  formerly  e*ftgp-**^,^ 

Nature  of  Apperception.— We  are  now  prepared^ to  (Sfe  .,' 
more  clearly  what  constitutes  apperception.     //  is  bringing  to    ^fiHi\ 
bear  what  has  been  retained  of  past  experiences  in  such  a  way  as        -~^ 
to  interpret,  to  give  meaning  to,  the  new  experience.     Without  this 
act  of  bringing  to  bear  what  is  retained  in  the  mind,  there  is  no 
knowledge  of  what  is  presented.     It  may  be  said,  therefore, 
that  in  a  certain  sense  all  cognition  is  re-cognition.     Know- 
ledge of  what  is  perceived  depends  for  its  meaning  upon  re- 
lations to  what  the  mind  brings  with  it  to  the  perception. 

An  Objection  Considered.— It  may  be  objected  that 
if  this  were  the  case,  there  would  be  no  such  thing  as  growth  or 
advance  in  mental  life.  The  objecter  might  say  that,  on  this 
theory,  if  a  new  fruit,  a  guava,  for  instance,  were  presented  to  a 
person,  he  would  not  know  it  at  all,  since  he  could  not  recognize  it 
But  this  objection  may  be  met  so  as  to  bring  out  the  very  point 
desired.  The  person  tastes  the  fruit ;  his  mind  from  its  previous 
experiences,  recognizes  a  taste ;  by  similar  acts  of  recognition  he 
gets  its  odor,  size,  color  and  other  properties.  By  its  relations 
to  his  past  experiences  he  thus  judges  the  object  to  be  a  kind  of 
fruit.  In  relating  it  to  similar  things  he  has  known,  he  recognizes 
differences,  as  well  as  similarities,  and  thus  enlarges  his  past 
experiences.  He  reorganizes  qualities  into  new  combinations, 
into  a  new  objects.    From  the  united  similarities  and  differences 


7©  PSYCHICAL   PROCESSES. 

he  gets  his  knowledge  of  something  hitherto  unknown.  On  the 
basis  of  the  likeness  he  recognizes  what  sort  of  an  object  is 
presented  to  him,  /.  ^.,  he  identifies  the  object ;  on  the  basis  of 
the  differences^  he  enlarges  his  past  experiences  into  a  distinct 
idea,  an  idea  of  something  different  from  what  was  previously 
known.  And  in  either  case,  it  is  only  by  the  results  of  his  past 
experiences  that  there  is  actual  knowledge  of  the  thing  ex- 
amined. 

Educational  Principlea 

r.  As  to  Retention. — If  the  teacher  will  keep  in  mind  that 
the  retention  of  what  is  learned  consists  not  in  preserving 
it  unchanged,  but  in  working  it  over  into  mental  capac- 
ities and  tendencies,  he  will  see  that  the  end  of  instruction  is 
not  so  much  the  acquisition  of  a  given  amount  of  information 
as  the  production  of  powers  and  tendencies,  of  abilities  and 
tastes.  Not  what  is  perceived  so  much  as  power  to  perceive 
and  interest  which  impels  to  perception,  is  the  end  of  *'  object 
lessons."  Not  what  is  remembered  so  much  as  capacity  to 
remember,  and  a  fixed  tendency  to  seize  upon  the  salient 
points  of  every  experience,  are  the  objects  of  memory  lessons ; 
not  what  is  thought  about  so  much  as  the  habit  of  thinking,  is 
the  end  to  be  sought  in  the  instruction  of  reason.  Knowledge 
of  the  real  nature  of  retention  affords  the  psychological  basis 
of  what  it  often  stated  as  an  empirical  truth,  viz.,  that  education 
consists  not  in  the  i?npartifig  and  acquirujg  of  mere  facts,  but  in 
the  development  of  the  whole  personality. 

Yet,  it  is  to  be  observed,  there  is  often  too  broad  a  contrast 
made  between  knowledge  and  mental  power  as  ends  of  edu- 
cation. The  fact  is,  that  the  mind  gains  power  in  the  act 
of  acquiring  knowledge.  The  two  processes  are  necessarily 
correlative.  For  organizing  mental  faculty,  there  is  no  other 
means  than  organized  knowledge.     Still,  if  the  mental  power 


EDUCATIONAL     PRINCIPLES.  7 1 

is  made  the  true  aim,  it  is  likely  that  the  elements  of  know- 
ledge will  be  more  logically  presented,  and  so  both  results  will 
be  more  thoroughly  attained. 

2.  As  to  Apperception. — The  psychogical  equivalent  of  ap- 
perception is  precisely  "  learning."  The  student  learns  what 
he  apperceives.  Since  apperception  consists  in  bringing  the 
mind  (with  its  past  experiences  organized  into  its  structure) 
to  bear  upon  material,  it  is  evident  that  learning  depends 
upon  the  relation  of  the  mind  to  what  is  presented.  The 
teacher's  office,  therefore,  in  relation  to  learning  is,  on  the^one 
hand,  to  secure  the  presentation  of  material  of  such  a  kind  and 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  mind  can  be  brought  into  relation 
with  It ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  to  secure  such  a  preparation  and 
attitude  of  mind  that  it  may  easily  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
what  is  presented.  Proper  presentation  of  material  on  the  one 
si&Q, proper  preparation  of  mind  on  the  other  are  the  two  condi- 
tions of  learning.  Further  details  regarding  these  conditions 
we  shall  meet  with  in  our  next  chapter  in  discussing  the  prin- 
ciples of  intellectual  development. 

3-  Organization  of  Faculty. — The  mind  of  the  infant,  while 
inheriting  certain  tendencies  and  abilities  which  act  instinc- 
tively, does  not  possess  powers  and  faculties  ready  for  action  in 
definite  directions.  There  are  no  apperceptive  organs  formed, 
no  groups  of  ideas  ready  to  seize  upon  and  assimilate  new 
material.  There  is  simply  a  bundle  of  dormant  capacities  which 
must  be  stimulated  into  activity  and  organized  into  faculty  by 
the  presentation  of  material  from  without,  and  by  the  mind's 
reaction  from  within.  Every  mental  experience  leaves  behind 
it  a  trace — called  by  some  residuum — an  effect^  which  tends^to 
reproduce  the  experience,  and  the  accumulation  of  such  traces 
creates  special  power  and  tendency — mind-function  of  a 
definite  kind.  Moreover,  from  the  known  connection  of 
mind  with  brain,  there  is  no  doubt  that  such  experiences  ar# 


72  EDUCATIONAL   PRINCIPLES. 

accompanied  by  some  modification  in  groups  of  brain  cells,  and 
that  their  growth  into  special  organs  of  apperception  is  attended 
with  nervous  growths  which  actually  modify  the  structure  of 
the  brain.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that  habit  becomes  a 
secend  nature  so  strong  and  active  as  sometimes  to  be  mistaken 
for  \}cit.  first.  This  power,  bent,  facility  to  act — right  or  wrong, 
good  or  evil — in  a  definite  direction,  has  entered  iiito  the  struc- 
ture of  both  body  and  mind,  and  will  give  a  coloring  to  all 
future  thoughts  and  actions,  just  as  the  food-elements  absorbed 
by  the  tree,  become  part  of  its  living  tissue  and  affect  the 
assimilation  of  all  material  afterwards  absorbed.  Now,  the 
teacher  is  not  wholly  responsible  for  such  development  of 
faculty — the  powerful  influence  of  environment  must  be  taken 
into  account — but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  under  conceivably 
favourable  circumstances,  he  is,  in  no  small  degree,  responsible. 
He  can  make  the  child  love  what  he  himself  loves,  and  hate 
what  he  hates.  It  is  difficult  to  over-rate  the  far-reaching  influ- 
ence of  a  teacher  of  strong  personality.  Under  the  teaching  of 
such  a  man,  the  child  once  thinks  certain  thoughts  and  is  stirred 
with  certain  emotions ;  from  that  moment  he  will  never  again 
be  exactly  what  he  was  before ;  it  is,  indeed,  possible  that  he 
will  have  acquired  a  bent  which  will  determine  his  character 
forever. 

In  this  law  of  retention  and  apperception,  the  teacher  holds 
in  his  hand  the  principle  which  underlies  all  educational  pro- 
cesses, moral,  physical  and  intellectual ;  the  law  that  exercise 
strengthens  faculty,  develops  faculty,  and  almost  literally  creates 
faculty.  A  child,  e.g.,  of  volatile  disposition  comes  into  his 
hands ;  he  gets  from  the  child  one  act  of  attention  suitable  to 
his  feeble  capacity,  then  a  second  act,  then  a  third,  and  so  on 
till  a  fair  habit  of  attention  and  a  moderate  power  of  concen- 
tration are  formed,  and  the  whole  psychical  life  thereby  influenc- 
ed. Or,  the  child  is  found  to  possess  no  "  faculty  "  for  literature, 
or  mathematics,  or  science,  or  art ;  but  the  teacher  has  powei 


INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT.  73 

to  develop  faculty,  ability,  taste  for  one  or  more  of  them,  ac- 
cording to  the  special  apperceptive  "organs"  which  have 
been  developed  in  his  own  mental  life.  On  the  moral  side, 
the  law  is  equally  effective.  If  a  teacher  finds  that  a  child  is  of 
a  selfish  disposition — **a  wretch  concentred  all  in  self" — does 
he  leave  him  to  the  workings  of  this  meanest  of  all  passions  ? 
No,  he  watches  for  a  favorable  occasion  to  excite  a  generous 
sentiment  in  the  selfish  heart,  and  to  make  this  effective  in  a 
kindly  act ;  he  now  occupies  a  higher  vantage-ground  ;  it  will 
be  easier  to  excite  a  second  generous  emotion,  and  to  lead  to 
a  second  kindly  act ;  and  thus  the  process  goes  on — the  selfish 
principle  becoming  feebler  with  each  successive  act — till  by  the 
accumulation  of  the  right  experiences,  a  noble  self-sacrificing 
character  is  formed — a  new  creation  over  which  something 
higher  than  "  the  morning  stars  "  may  sing :  for,  *'  to  make  some 
human  hearts  a  litde  wiser,  manfuller,  happier,  more  blessed> 
less  accursed,  is  a  work  for  a  God." 

Note. — Further  on  Apperception  and   Retention,   see    Dewey*s  Psy- 
chology, pp.  81-90 ;  148-153. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

FORMS  OF  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

We  have  studied  the  Raw  Material  of  psychical  life,  and  the 
Processes  which  elaborate  the  material.  Wc  have  now  briefly 
to  study  the  Finished  Products.  As  stated  in  Chap.  I.,  p.  6, 
these  may  be  arranged  in  three  classes,  the  Intellectual  (matter 
of  knowledge),  the  Emotional  (matter  of  feehng),  and  the 
Volitional  (matter  of  will).  In  this  chapter  we  shall  discuss 
Intellectual  Development,  taking  up  in  the  first  section  its 
general  principles,  and  afterwards  the  concrete  stages,  par- 
ticularly in  their  educational  relations. 


74  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

§   1.    PRINOIPLBS    OP    INTELL-EOTUAIi  DB- 
VBLOPMBNT. 

1.  The  Development  of  Intelligence  is  from  the  Presentativi 
to  the  Representative. — Sensation,  pure  and  simple,  cannot  be 
said  to  stand for^  or  symbolize^  or  represent  anything  beyond  its 
own  occurrence.  But  the  test  of  value  of  a  sensation  is  its 
power  to  merge  its  own  existence  in  what  it  represents.  A 
sensation  of  hunger  fills  the  mind  with  itself ;  it  thrusts  out  of 
consciousness  everything  but  its  own  quality,  all  but  its  own 
imperious  demands  and  hence  gives  next  to  no  knowledge. 
A  sensation  of  color,  on  the  other  hand,  leads  the  mind 
beyond  its  own  existence,  to  associations  with  other  sensations, 
those  of  touch,  of  sound,  etc.  It  suggests  these  sensations 
when  they  are  not  present,  and  thus  becomes  a  sign  or  symbol 
of  them — it  represents  them.  As  I  look  at  a  rose,  for  example, 
all  I  see,  strictly  speaking,  is  certain  shades  of  color.  Were 
my  knowledge  to  stop  short  with  this  presentative  factor,  it 
would  never  occur  to  me  that  a  rose  was  before  me.  But 
these  shades  of  color  stand  for  a  certain  size  and  shape,  etc. 
They  call  up  other  sensations  not  now  present,  but  experienced 
in  the  past ;  they  call  up  also  associated  sensations  of  touch, 
of  smell,  etc.  And  from  all  these  factors — the  most  of  them 
being  now  only  representative  in  character — I  get  the  idea  of  a 
rose. 

Further  Illustration.— Or,  suppose  I  hear  a  strain  of 
music  which  I  recognize  as,  say,  part  of  the  song  of  "  Robin 
Adair."  All  that  is  present  is  a  certain  auditory  sensation  ;  as 
such,  it  is  not  Robin  Adair,  it  is  not  a  song,  it  is  not  music ; 
it  is  not  even  significant  language.  It  is  sound.  But  by  what 
the  sound  stands  for,  what  it  symbolizes,  it  gains  successively 
all  its  meaning. 

2.  The  Development  of  Intelligence  is  from  the  Sensuous  to 
the  Ideal. — This,  indeed,  follows  at  once  from  the  principle 


INTELLECTUAL!  DEVELOPMENT.  75 

already  laid  down.  The  presented  elem<*nf  is  s^j^'||^ifln  ]  the 
represented  element  can  onW  be  images,  ideas.  Not  being 
supplied  trom  the  senses,  the  representative  factor  must  be 
supplied  from  within  the  mind  itself,  and  is  thus  called  "  ideal." 
Consider  the  perception,  for  example,  of  some  particular  object, 
this  pen,  this  paper,  this  book,  as  now  present  in  space.  It  might 
seem  at  first  as  if,  in  the  perception  of  this  book,  there  were  no 
ideal  element,  because  the  entire  book  is  actually  present.  But  if 
we  simply  look  at  the  book,  the  only  elements  presented  to  the 
mind  are  the  color-sensations  with  which  the  mind  is  affected. 
The  color-sensations  do  not  make  up  an  idea  of  the  book. 
This  contains  not  only  color-element,  but  also  those  ot  weight, 
size,  forms,  and  also  the  notion  of  a  number  of  pages,  printed 
with  type,  containing  information  and  meant  to  be  read.  Now, 
of  all  these  elements,  the  only  one  that  can  be  seen,  as  matter 
of  sensation,  is  color.  The  other  qualities,  therefore,  are  idea/ 
— ^are  supplied  to  the  perception  by  the  mind  itself. 

Idealizmg  Activity. — Since  the  ideal  factor,  which  is 
also  equivalent  to  the  representative  factor,  is  of  so  much  im- 
portance, it  will  repay  further  study.  The  ideal  factor  is  due 
to  retention.  It  is  what  the  mind  has  preserved  from  its  for- 
mer experiences  and  supplies  to  the  sensuous  presentation. 
•  The  development  of  knowledge  from  the  presentative  and  sen- 
suous to  the  representative  and  ideal,  is  due,  therefore,  to  the 
results  of  past  experience  that  are  brought  to  bear  upon  new  ex- 
periences^ The  sensation  produced  by  the  object  as  it  affects 
the  senses  is  all  that  in  strictness  can  be  said  to  be  presented. 
Whether  this  sensation  comes  to  mean  or  signify  anything 
beyond  its  occurrence,  depends  first,  upon  whether  the  mind 
has  had  similar  experiences  in  the  past ;  secondly y  upon  whether 
these  experiences  have  taken  root  in  the  mind  and  pro- 
duced fruit  there,  and  thirdly,  upon  whether  they  are  brought 
to  bear  upon  the  new  presentation.  Certain  principles  of  great 
educational  importance  flow  from  what  has  been  laid  down. 


f6  EDUCATIONAL     PRINCIPLES. 

Educational  Principles. 

1.  T?ie  development  of  knowledge  is  the  result  of  an  inter- 
preting process.  The  sensation,  the  presentative  factor,  must  be 
interpreted  in  order  to  become  representative,  symbolic,  or 
ideal ;  in  a  word,  in  order  to  become  significant,  and  upon  the 
degree  of  interpretation  depends  the  degree  of  significance.  It 
is  not  enough  to  present  a  lesson  to  a  pupil  to  be  learnt,  to 
show  him  natural  objects  which  he  is  to  understand,  to  lecture 
to  him  upon  laws  and  relations.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
the  pupil,  the  important  thing  is  whether  he  can  interpret  the 
lesson,  the  object,  the  lectures.  If  he  has  no  organs  of  inter- 
pretation^ the  material,  however  true  and  well  arranged  in 
itself,  is  so  much  mere  sensation  to  him,  sound  and  color 
signifying  nothing. 

2.  //  is  the  result  of  an  assimilating  process.  The  interpre 
tation  must  occur  through  what  the  mind  has  within  itself. 
The  past  store  of  knowledge,  not  held  mechanically  in  min 
but  wrought  over  into  mental  structure,  capacity  and  tendency, 
is  that  through  which  the  interpretation  occurs.  The  process 
of  interpreting  is  a  process  of  assimilating  what  is  presented 
with  what  is  already  contained  in  the  mind.  It  is  of  great 
importance,  therefore,  that  the  instructor  should  carry  on  his 
work  in  such  a  way  as 

a.  Not  to  load  the  mind  with  information,  but  to  develop  ten- 
dencies, organs,  which  may  receive  and  elaborate  new  material. 

b.  To  create  centres  of  interests  and  of  ideas  which  shall  be  on 
the  alert  for  new  material,  so  that  whatever  is  presented  shall 
gravitate  naturally  to  these  centres,  and  be  appropriated  and  as- 
similated by  them. 

c.  To  be  as  careful,  upon  presenting  new  material,  to  arouse 
preparatory  interest  and  the  activity  of  the  mental  organs  which 
are  to  interpret  and  assimilate  the  material^  as  to  have  the  ma- 
terial itself  well  chosen  and  arranged. 

d.  Always  to  utilize  past  knowledge  in  acquiring  new.     There 


rpre-  I 
'tself  1 
lind,    / 


INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT.  77 

is  no  greater  educational  blunder  than  disconnected,  dispersive 
instruction.  In  the  primary  stages,  not  only  should  lessons  in 
the  same  subject  be  closely  connected  by  proper  grading,  by 
overlapping  of  ideas,  etc.,  but  different  subjects  should  gather 
about  some  common  centre.^  In  proper  instruction,  reading, 
writing,  construction  of  sentences,  arithmetic  and  geography, 
should  have  a  certain  amount  of  interconnection  and  unity,  so 
as  mutually  to  co-operate  with  and  aid  one  another,  instead  of 
calling  into  play  diverse  and  separate  groups  of  interests  and 
ideas.  To  present  four  subjects  isolated  from  one  another  is 
to  treat  the  pupil  as  having  four  minds ;  it  is  almost  to  quad- 
ruple the  required  expenditure  of  energy.  One  subject  is  out 
of  relation  to  another,  and  can  give  no  aid  in  apprehending  it. 

3.  The  Development  of  Intelligence  is  from  the  Vague  to  tht 
Definite,  and  from  the  Particular  to  the  Universal.  Its  End 
is,  thereforeyto  be  both  Specific  and  General — Knowledge,  in  its 
first  stages,  is  both  indefinite  or  vague,  and  limited  or  non- 
general  in  character.  A  child's  knowledge  of,  say,  a  horse,  as 
compared  with  a  man's,  possesses  no  sharply  defined  features  or 
qualities,  and  is  lacking  in  recognition  of  the  relations  which 
this  horse  has  in  common  with  others.  The  child  neither  dis- 
criminates this  horse  carefully  from  all  other  horses,  nor  from 
other  animals  somewhat  similar.  If  the  horse  is  the  animal 
with  which  he  is  most  familiar,  the  dog  will  be  to  him  a  small 
horse,  the  elephant  a  large  horse.  Taine  tells  of  a  child  who 
had  often  been  shown  an  infant  in  a  picture  and  told  that  it 
was  a  baby ;  for  a  long  time  that  child  called  every  picture, 
no  matter  of  what,  a  baby.  And  this  example  is  typical  of 
the  beginning  of  intelligence.  There  is  no  defniteness,  no  re- 
cognition of  specific  qualities ;  all  is  vague,  and,  as  it  were, 
massed,  not  individualized. 

It  is  evident  that  early  knowledge  has  a  certain  kind  of 
generality — the  generality  of  vagueness.     The  word  "  mamma," 


78  INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

may  mean  every  woman,  the  word  "  dog,"  every  anima>,  and  S€ 
on.  This  is  not  a  true  universality,  however,  for  there  is  no 
recognition  of  any  general  relation  as  such.  The  child  may 
call  every  round  object,  from  a  circle  drawn  on  his  slate  to  the 
moon,  "  plate,"  but  this  is  not  because  he  grasps  the  identity  of 
relation  (in  the  matter  oi  form)  in  these  various  objects.  It  is 
simply  because  he  sees  one  salient  quality  and  ignores  differ- 
ences. Knowledge  is  general  only  in  the  sense  that  it  is  not 
individualized.  In  reality,  the  child's  kno'.dedge  is  limited^  not 
general.  Immature  intelligence  always  takes  facts. in  their 
isolation ;  each  is  taken  to  be  what  it  appears  to  be  on  its 
surface,  a  separate  fact  without  connection  with  others.  De- 
pendencies of  one  fact  upon  another,  internal  relations,  reasons 
and  laws,  do  not  appeal  to  a  young  child ;  in  fact,  he  cannot 
be  made  to  see  them.  Since  each  fact  stands  alone,  knowledge 
is  necessarily  limited  or  particular.  With  the  recognition  of 
internal  connections,  of  ways  in  which  one  fact  depends  upon 
another,  or  is  the  reason  for  some  third  fact,  limitation  is 
removed. 

Generality. — An  idea  is  general,  in  the  degree  in  which 
it  stands  for,  represents,  or  symbolizes,  ideas  not  contained  in 
its  own  existence.  It  becomes  general  Just  in  the  degree  in 
which  it  is  taken  out  of  its  separation,  its  isolation,  from  other 
facts  and  is  connected  with  them  through  some  bond  of  like 
meaning.  To  a  child,  for  example,  a  pebble  may  be  simply 
what  it  appears  to  be  in  itself,  one  object,  separate  from  all 
others,  with  an  individuality  of  its  own.  But  a  scientific  man 
generalizes  the  pebble.  He  sees  it  connected  with  other  objects 
through  the  law  of  gravitation,  through  physical  forces,  through 
chemical  actions  and  reactions.  He  may  finally  rise,  through 
the  discovery  of  the  law  of  interdependence  of  all  things,  to 
the  statement  that  if  the  pebble  were  otherwise  than  as  it  is, 
the  whole  structure  of  the  Universe  would  have  to  be  different. 
In  other  words,  the  qualities  of  the  pebble  have  now  become 


INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT.  79 

stgnificantoi  wide  relations^  instead  of  being  just  what  they  seem 
to  be  in  themselves. 

From  the  Unrelated  to  the  Related.— The  principle 
of  the  development  of  intelligence  may  be  otherwise  worded  : — 
The  development  of  knowledge  is  from  the  unrelated  to  the 
related.  Relations,  as  ve  saw  when  studying  attention,  are 
either  of  identity  or  of  difference.  Now,  the  mind  has  only  a 
very  limited  capacity  of  relating  its  first  experiences;  it  has 
almost  nothing  with  which  it  may  compare  any  presentation ; 
hence,  as  the  relation  of  difference  is  not  noticed,  knowledge  is 
vague,  and,  as  the  relation  of  identity  is  not  recognized,  know- 
ledge is  limited.  The  discriminafuig,  or  analytic,  activity 
develops  relations  of  difference,  and  hence,  clearly  discrimin- 
ates one  thing  from  another,  and  gives  each  an  individuality 
of  its  own.  The  identifying,  or  synthetic,  activity  develops 
relations  of  unity  between  various  facts  and  then  takes  them 
out  of  their  isolated,  separate  character,  into  the  generality  of 
their  common  law  or  aspect.  Every  fact,  as  soon  as  it  is  con- 
nected with  another  fact,  widens  its  meaning,  for  it  has  added 
to  it  the  significance  of  this  other  fact.  On  the  other  hand, 
every  fact,  as  it  is  distinguished  from  another  fact,  defines  its 
meaning,  for  it  is  seen  to  signify  something  slightly  different  from 
the  other  fact. 

Illustration. — If  we  return  to  the  child  who  confuses  a 
plate,  a  circle  and  the  moon,  we  shall  find  him,  as  he  grows 
older,  seeing  differences.  He  will  notice  the  brightness,  etc.  of 
the  moon ;  the  solid,  useful  character  of  the  plate ;  the  abstract 
character  of  the  circle.  Each  object  thus  gains  in  individuality. 
But,  as  time  goes  on,  he  learns  that  the  circle  is  a  geometrical 
figure,  a  surface,  curvilinear,  etc.  He  identifies  it  with  these 
other  figures — the  plate,  etc.,— and  learns  that  it  has  certain 
qualities  in  common  with  them  ;  thus  his  knowledge  of  it 
becomes  wider,  more  general     He  learns  also  to  know  the 


So  EDUCATIONAL    PRINCIPLES. 

moon  as  a  heavenly  body,  as  not  a  fixed  star,  as  a  satellite,  etc. 
In  other  words,  he  identifies  it  with  each  of  these  classes  oi 
objects,  and  in  identifying  it  with  them,  adds  to  it  the  qualities 
which  they  possess.  Then  too,  he  recognizes  the  laws  which 
connect  the  moon  with  other  heavenly  bodies ;  the  moon  ceases 
to  be  an  isolated  body  in  the  heavens,  and  becomes  a  member 
of  a  vast  system,  connected  with  every  other  member  by 
permanent  and  universal  laws.  Knowledge  of  the  moon  is  now 
both  definite  (in  that  its  differences  from  other  bodies,  similar  in 
some  respects,  are  recognized)  and  general^  in  that  its  connec- 
tions with  other  bodies,  however  different  in  appearance  they 
may  be,  are  recognized. 

Educational  Principles. — The  principles  just  laid  down 
are  important  as  suggesting  both  the  ends  aimed  at  in  the 
education  of  intelligence,  namely,  definiteness  and  generality^ 
and  the  means  by  which  these  ends  are  to  be  reached,  namely, 
analysis  and  synthesis. 

I.  The  Teacher  has  to  make  Knowledge  Definite. — It  is  some- 
times said  that  knowledge  begins  with  the  concrete  and  advances 
to  the  abstract,  and  from  this  principle  the  rule  is  deduced  that 
particular,  definite,  objects,  should  first  be  presented  to  the 
pupil,  and  afterwards  his  mind  be  led  to  consider  abstract 
qualities.  However  true  the  principle  may  be,  if  it  is  rightly 
interpreted,  it  is  thoroughly  false  it  it  is  meant  to  imply  that 
knowledge  is  at  first  concrete,  and  that  this  concrete,  definite 
knowledge  may  be  used  as  the  basis  for  further  knowledge.  So 
far  ought  the  teacher  to  be  from  assuming  that  objects  have  the 
same  concreteness  and  definiteness  to  a  pupil  that  they  have  to 
him,  that  his  rule  should  be  to  make  knowledge  definite  and 
concrete. 

Illustra.tions. — It  is  an  extremely  common  error  to  sup- 
pose tliat,  because  an  object,  in  itselfi  is  definite  and  concrete, 
it  is  so  to  the  mind.     A  triangle,  for  example,  is  in  itself,  per 


INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT.  8 1 

fectly  definite ;  it  has  just  such  and  such  properties  and 
no  others.  But  a  child's  idea  of  it  has  no  such  con- 
creteness.  Indeed,  the  process  by  which  he  learns  about 
the  triangle  is  simply  the  process  by  which  bis  idea  gains 
definiteness.  If  his  idea  were  already  definite,  his  knowledge 
would  be  complete,  whereas  it  is  only  beginning.  A  triangle 
is  not  a  triangle  to  the  child  in  the  sense  of  a  definite  figure ; 
it  has  to  be  made  a.  triangle,  as  he  learns  that  it  has  three 
sides,  in  distinction  from  a  square,  that  it  is  bounded  by 
straight  instead  of  curved  lines,  as  a  circle,  etc.  Primary 
object  lessons,  in  the  same  way,  are  not  to  lead  the  mind  on 
from  some  definite  idea  which  the  pupil  already  has,  but  to 
§wg  him  definite  ideas,  corresponding  to  the  concrete  individual 
character  of  the  object. 

2.   The   Teacher  should  present^  first,    Wholes,  then  Parts: 
first  Outlines,  then  Details. — The  growth*  of  knowledge  in  a 
child's  mind  has  been  well  compared  to  the  growth  of  his  repre- 
sentation of,  say,  a  man.     The  child,  at  first  draws  upon  his 
slate  two  circles,  one  for  the  head,  another  for  the  body,  and 
puts  under  the  body  two  lines  for  legs.     After  a  time,  arms  are 
added,  perhaps  a  neck  ;   then  the  face  begins  to  gain  features, 
first  eyes  and  mouth,  then  nose  and  ears ;   the  arms  are  en- 
dowed with  hands  ;    the  legs  are  given  feet.     Then  the  same 
process  is  repeated  for  each  organ.     The  eye  gains  eye-brows, 
lashes  and  ball ;   the  arms  have  joints ;  the  hands,  fingers,  etc. 
Then  perhaps  the  child  undertakes  to  draw  different  individuals, 
and  delineates  the   characteristic  features  that  distinguish  one 
person  from  another.     So  it  is  with  our  idea  of  any  object ;   it 
exists  first   in    vague  outline   rude  and    typical  in  character. 
Gradually /ar/j,  members,  are  recognized,  the  most  interesting 
first,  then  these  again,  are,  subdivided.    Various  objects  of  the 
same  general  kind  are  examined  with  a  view  to  seeing  indi- 
vidual differences,  and  thus  knowledge  becomes  gradually  spe. 


8i  EDUCATIONAL   PRINCIPLES. 

cific  and  concrete.     The   teacher   should  follow   this   natural 
psychological  order.* 

3.  The  Teacher  must  rely  on  the  Mind's  Analytic  Power. — 
To  reach  his  end,  the  educator  must  be  able  to  excite  the  dis- 
tinguishing capacity  of  the  student's  mind.  He  cannot  present 
the  differences,  the  details  directly  to  another ;  but  he  can  call 
attention  to  these  qualities.  That  is  to  say,  he  can  set  the 
pupil's  mind  working  in  such  ways  that  the  latter  will  naturally 
produces  for  himself  the  required  distinctions.  This  process  of 
recognizing  differences  is  native  to  the  mind,  and  goes  on,  there- 
fore, spontaneously  and  largely  unconsciously.  The  teacher 
has  rather  to  incite  it  and  rely  upon  it,  than  to  create  or  con- 
sciously manipulate  it.  If  suitable  material  is  presented,  the 
pupil's  mind  will  be  almost  as  sure  to  act  upon  it  properly, 
without  specific  guidance,  as  his  digestive  organs  will  be  sure 
to  digest  wholesome  food  without  being  told  how  to  do  it 

The  awakening  and  developing  of  mental  appetites  or  interests^ 
and  preparing  apt  material  for  them  to  work  upon,  give  wide 
enough  scope  to  the  teacher's  ability  without  his  attempting  to 
show  the  pupil's  mind  just  how  it  must  work.  The  right  use  of 
object  lessons,  of  definite  and  precise  statements  in  text-books, 
of  talks  and  lectures  by  the  teacher,  etc.,  etc.,  are  all  covered 
by  the  three  heads  of  arousing  interest^  of  presenting  material 
properly  arranged  and  of  preparatory  mental  activity.  The 
native,  distinguishing  capacities  of  the  mind  must  be  trusted 
for  the  rest,  and  if  the  teacher  succeeds  in  securing  the 
conditions  just  mentioned,  he  need  have  no  doubt  about  the 
result       The    mind    is    always    seizing    upon   whatever    is 

*  The  term  "  whole,"  however,  is  here  used  in  a  psychological  not 
in  a  spatial  sense.  Because,  the  world  is  really  the  whole  of  which 
geography  treats,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  the  whole  with  which  the 
child's  mind  naturally  begins.  Or  because  the  sentence  is  a  grammatical 
whole,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  the  psychological  outline  first  in  a 
child's  mind. 


INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT.  83 

presented,  noticing  differences,  subdividing,  comparing,  and 
producing  new  distinctions.  It  cannot  work  at  all  without  going 
through  these  operations.  Discrimination  is  a  fundamental 
mental  capacity. 

4.  The  Teacher  mustdependy  similarly ^  upon  the  Synthetic  Func- 
tion of  Mind. — The  mind  naturally  works  towards  unity,  as  it 
does  towards  definiteness.  If  the  teacher  awakens  a  genuine 
appetite  for  facts  and  reasons,  and  by  all  methods  at  his  com- 
mand, presents  material  so  that  this  appetite  is/<f^,  and  noX  pam- 
pered on  the  one  hand,  or  repressed  on  the  other,  the  pupil's  mind 
will  instinctively  work  towards  the  underlying  relations  of  things. 
Ideas  grow  together  in  the  mind  ;  centres  of  psychical  gravita- 
tion are  formed  about  which  ideas  of  a  like  kind  gather ;  and 
these  centres  become  organs  for  the  apperception  of  like  ideas 
in  the  future.  If  the  mind  works  upon  facts  of  like  kind  and 
along  the  lines  which  connect  them,  the  time  will  surely  come 
when  it  will  notice  these  connections  and  the  similarities. 
Firsts  unconscious  growth  towards  unifying  or  grouping  facts,  then 
conscious  recognition  of  the  unities,  classes  and  laws,  is  the  order 
of  nature, 

5.  Neither  Facts  alone,  nor  Relations  alone,  but  Related  Facts 
should  be  Taught. — It  is  now  generally  recognized  in  theory,  at 
least,  that  it  is  an  educational  blunder  to  cram  the  mind  with  a 
mass  of  isolated  facts,  regarded  simply  as  facts,  apart  from  their 
reasons.  It  may  be  questioned  whether  there  has  not  been,  in 
some  quarters,  a  reaction  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  whether 
reasons,  relations,  causes,  are  not  presented  at  too  early  a  period. 
For  example,  many  teachers  require  pupils  that  are  little  more 
than  beginners  in  arithmetic,  to  write  out  examples  in  addition, 
subtraction,  etc.,  with  a  statement  of  the  exact  reason  for  every 
operation  performed.  Teachers  have  been  known  to  explain 
to  children  beginning  technical  grammar,  the  difference  between 
a  percept  and  a  concept,  in  order  to  make  them  understand  the 


84  INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

difference  between  a  common  and  a  proper  noun  !  If  a  florist 
were  not  content  with  supplying  a  plant  with  all  necessary 
material  for  its  growth,  and  with  then  allowing  it  to  produce 
fruit  naturally,  but  should  insist  upon  analyzing  the  flower  in 
order  to  find  the  seed  within  it,  he  would  be  acting  on  pre- 
cisely the  same  principle. 

Facts,  in  and  of  themselves,  have  relations  to  one  another^  or 
explain^  that  is,  furnish  reasofis  for  one  another.  The  mind 
also  has  an  instinctive  tendency  to  connect  facts  and  search  for 
reasons.  Now,  if  facts  be  taught  according  to  the  relation 
which  unites  them,  and  if  interest  be  awakened  in  the  mind  in 
assimilating  the  facts,  the  mind  can  hardly  help,  even  if  it 
would,  a  final  discovery  of  the  relation.  The  teacher  must 
have  the  greatest  confidence  in  the  rationality  of  facts ^  when 
they  are  rightly  connected,  and  in  the  native  tendency  of  the 
mind  to  develop  itself  through,  first,  unconscious  appropriation 
of  this  rationality,  and,  second,  conscious  recognition  of  it.  If 
the  teacher  will  but  have  confidence  in  facts  and  in  intelligence, 
he  will  not  try  himself  to  take  the  place  both  of  the  facts  and  of 
the  pupil's  mind. 

6.  The  so-called  Faculties  of  Mind  are  Successive  Stages  in 
the  Development  of  Intelligence. — These  faculties  are  Perception. 
Memory,  Imagination,  and  Thinking.  They  are  sometimes 
treated  as  independent  powers  of  mind,  having  no  connection 
with  one  another,  excepting  that  they  all  happen  to  belong  to 
the  same  being.  But,  in  reality,  they  are  the  results  of  the 
progressive  growth  of  intelligence  in  representative,  ideal 
and  related  character.  The  same  activities,  the  same  prin- 
ciples run  through  all,  but  in  various  degrees  of  development. 

1.  Perception.  This  may  be  defined  as  the  recognition  of 
some  particular  object  now  present  in  space,  as,  for  example,  this 
particular  tree,  this  particular  blade  of  grass,  this  particular 
pebble,  etc.,  such  knowledge  is 


INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT.  S$ 

(i)  BofA  presentaiive  and  representative. — It  is  presentative, 
because  based  on  actual  sensation.  It  is  representative,  because 
this  sensation  does  not  constitute  the  perception  excepting  in 
connection  with  what  it  stands  for.  Take,  for  example,  the 
perception  of  this  tree.  As  I  stand  here,  I  see  it  at  a  distance 
of  twenty  feet.  The  only  sensations  that  I  get  from  it  now  are, 
therefore,  those  of  color  and  the  muscular  sensations  which  I 
have  as  my  eye  turns  from  one  point  of  light  to  another.  The 
representative  elements  are  the  form,  size,  height  and  distance  of 
the  tree ;  the  feeling  it  would  give  if  I  had  power  to  touch  it ;  its 
wider,  unseen,  structure  and  arrangement ;  the  kind  of  tree,  as 
e.  g.  a  maple,  and  all  the  scientific  knowledge  that  I  have  of  its 
modes  of  growth  and  reproduction,  etc.,  etc.  The  very  few 
sensations,  which  I  have,  symbolize  all  the  qualities  which  are  not 
actively  {that  is  sensibly)  present. 

(2)  //  is  Largely  Ideal. — ^These  representative  factors  are 
ideal.  They  are  supplied  from  the  mind,  not  given  in  the 
actual  affection  of  sense.  All  th^  meaning,  the  significance, 
that  the  present  perception  has,  is  supplied  from  what  the  mind 
has  preserved  of  former  experience.  The  mind,  on  the  basis 
of  its  own  content,  thus  idealizes  the  given  sensation,  into  the 
complex  idea  of  the  tree. 

(3)  //  is  Largely  made  up  of  Relations. — ^The  relations  which 
are  most  prominent  in  perception  are  those  of  space.  The 
object  is  at  a  certain  distance,  has  a  certain  position,  form, 
surface  and  bulk.  Each  of  these  qualities  is  relative.  Distance 
is  measured  from  my  body  or  from  some  other  object ;  posi- 
tion is  the  place  of  the  object  with  reference  to  other  objects; 
its  form  is  its  relation  to  bodies  that  bound  it,  etc.  We  perceive 
an  object,  therefore,  only  by  relating  it  to  other  objects.  A 
body  absolutely  isolated  cannot  be  perceived  at  all.  Such 
relations,  (that  is  spatial  ones)  are,  however,  largely  external. 


46  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

The  relation  of  one  body  to  another  in  space  may  be  changed 
without  changing  its  own  nature. 

2.  Memory, — This,  in  its  most  complete  sense,  may  be 
defined  as  the  reproduction  cf  some  event  or  idea  once  present  to 
mind  but  not  now  so,  with  a  refereiice  of  it  to  its  proper  place  in 
time.  My  remembrance  of  a  railway  accident,  for  example,  is 
complete  when  I  can  reproduce  all  its  details,  and  also  tell 
when  it  occurred,  that  is,  place  or  date  it  with  reference  to  pre- 
ceding and  to  succeeding  events.     Such  reproductions  are 

(i)  Largely  Representative. — The  representative  element  is 
greater  than  in  perception,  for,  in  the  latter,  the  sensation  which 
is  present,  say  of  color,  represents  other  sensations  of  weight, 
contact,  taste,  etc.,  which  might  be  made  present,  if  only  we 
applied  our  other  senses.  But  in  memory,  both  the  remem- 
bered event  and  the  time  in  which  it  occurred  have  vanished, 
and  we  could  not  make  them  present  if  we  wished.  We 
represent  not  what  we  could  experience,  but  what  we  have 
experienced. 

(2)  It  is  Largely  Ideal. — The  memory  of  pain  is  not  itself  a 
pain  \  the  memory  of  the  sun  does  not  shine ;  the  memory  of 
an  apple  does  not  taste,  etc.  etc.  Memory,  in  other  words,  is 
largely  divested  of  sensible  qualities,  and  is  mental  or  idea)  in 
nature. 

(3)  //  Consists  of  Relations. — In  "memory,  we  extend  the 
sphere  of  relations  beyond  those  of  space  to  those  of  time.  We 
fix  the  object  or  event  not  only  with  reference  to  co-existing 
objects,  but  with  reference  to  those  that  go  before  and  those 
that  come  after.  An  event  can  no  more  be  fixed  in  absolute 
time,  independent  of  relation  to  other  events,  than  an  object 
can  be  located  in  absolute  space.  It  is  the  extent  of  relations 
involved  that  makes  it  so  difficult  for  young  children  to  have 
any  idea  of  the  duration  of  experiences,  or  of  the  times  when 
*hey  occurred. 


INTELLECTUAL  DLVELOPMENT.  ©7 

3.  Imagination. — Imagination  is  the  power  of  producing 
ideas  without  any  reference  to  our  own  past  experience. — Suppose 
that  instead  of  recalling  some  railway  accident  which  we 
ourselves  have  experienced,  we  attempt  to  picture  it  to  our- 
selves. We  frame  mental  pictures  of  the  moving  trains,  of 
their  collision,  of  the  crash,  of  the  escaping  steam,  etc.  etc., — and 
all  this  without  ever  having  experienced  any  such  combination 
of  incidents.  Here  we  have  imagination.  It  is  evidently 
closely  allied  to  memory  in  two  ways.  In  the  first  place,  we 
must  even  in  memory,  picture  or  image,  what  is  not  present,  and 
thus  use  a  kind  of  imagination.  In  the  second  place,  we  very 
rarely  recall  events  just  as  they  happened  ;  we  leave  out  unim- 
portant details,  we  re- arrange  the  details  according  to  some 
plan  or  system,  we  gradually  and  unconsciously  shift  the  rela- 
tions of  facts,  and  even  sometimes  transform  the  facts  them- 
selves. In  so  doing,  we  are  virtually  making  new  combinations, 
we  are  imagining. 

Persons  who  have  formed  decided  recollections  of  important 
events  that  happened  years  before,  are  often  startled  upon 
coming  upon  an  actual  description  of  the  experience  (per- 
haps even  written  by  themselves)  at  the  time  it  occurred,  to  see 
the  difference  between  the  fact  and  their  recollection  of  it.  The 
latter  has  become  a  work  of  fancy,  and  this  has  happened 
simply  by  the  natural  laws  of  the  development  of  reproduction, 
without  any  intention  on  the  part  of  the  person  concerned  to 
alter  or  distort.  i?<?-production  always  tends  to  bring  out  the 
universal,  the  typical,  to  neglect  the  accidental  and  insignifi- 
cant, and  thus  passes  gradually  into  production.  Imagination 
might  be  called  idealized  memory — memory  which  has  lost  its 
personal  reference  to  our  own  experience  and  become  general- 
ized. Thus  art,  the  product  of  imagination,  has  been  termed 
**  the  world's  memory  of  things."  In  the  same  sense  poetry 
has  been  pronounced  truer  than  history. 


&S  INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

The  productions  of  imagination  are  thus — 

(i)  BoiA  Representative  and  Ideal. — The  inr^age  which  we 
make  for  ourselves  need  not  correspond  to  anything  now 
present,  or  ever  present,  either  to  ourselves  or  to  another.  Or, 
it  may  correspond  to  what  indeed  is  not  present,  but  to  what 
would  be  present  if  our  senses  were  greatly  enlarged  and  our 
vision  into  things  deepened.  In  the  latter  case,  it  represents 
real  but  unperceived  and  unremembered  facts.  Professor  Tyn- 
dall  thus  gives  to  imagination  a  very  high  place  in  the  develop- 
ment of  science.  It  may  also  represent  not  what  is  capable  of 
being  present,  but  what  we  should  like  to  be  present,  if  we 
could  have  our  way,  if  we  could  reconstruct  affairs  about  us. 
Imagination  thus  reshapes  the  actual  order  and  under  the  influ- 
ence of  love  and  desire  gives  birth  to  ideals^  which  in  turn  be- 
come guides  to  conduct. 

(2)  //  Involves  Wide  Relations. — Imagination,  as  it  is  more 
representative  and  ideal,  deals  with  wider  relations  than 
memory  and  perception.  Its  relations  are  not  confined  to 
space  and  time.  Indeed,  it  frees  its  images  from  the  limita- 
tions of  place  and  of  time,  and  contemplates  them  in  their  uni- 
i-ersal  significance.  Take  the  old  story  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton 
and  the  fall  of  the  apple.  As  a  matter  of  perception  he  saw 
the  fall  of  this  particular  apple ;  in  memory  he  could  call  up 
the  falling  of  many  material  bodies,  of  all  he  had  ever  experi- 
enced. By  imagination  he  grasped  the  fall  of  this  apple  as 
significant  oi  relations  of  all  material  bodies  to  one  another ;  he 
saw  embodied  in  it,  relations  as  wide  as  the  material  universe. 
This  illustrates  the  usual  working  of  imagination  in  its  higher 
forms.  It  idealizes  some  particular  fact  or  idea,  and  makes  it 
typical  of  a  whole  group  of  facts ;  it  universalizes  the  fact  or 
idea. 

4.  Thinking.— This  may  be  defined  as  the  recognition  of 
universal  factors  or  of  relations  in  their  connections  with,  one  an- 
other  and  with  particular  facts.     While  we  perceive,  or  remem- 


INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT.  89 

ber,  or  imagine  something  particular^  some  given  object,  or 
event,  or  person,  we  think  what  is  general.  In  thinking,  we  do 
not  deal,  for  example,  with  any  particular  rose  or  geranium,  but 
with  the  class  of  roses  or  of  geraniums  ;  with  the  relations  that 
make  the  rose  what  it  is  as  a  rose,  independent  of  the  peculiar- 
ities which  any  one  individual  rose  may  happen  to  possess. 
So,  while  the  mathematician  may  have  before  him  a  particular 
triangle  drawn  on  a  certain  blackboard,  yet  his  demonstra- 
tions do  not  concern  this  triangle,  but  deal  with  triangles  in 
general,  when  he  proves  that  the  three  interior  angles  are 
together  equal  to  two  right  angles.  In  thinking,  the  particular 
is  degraded  to  be  simply  a  sign,  or  instance,  or  illustration  of 
the  general  law  or  relation.  It  is  of  no  value  in  itself,  but 
simply  as  standing  for  a  universal. 

Thinking  deals  accordingly  with  representative,  ideal  and  re- 
lated factors. 

(i)  They  are  representative^  for,  as  just  said,  the  presentation 
has  no  value  of  its  own ;  its  worth  is  entirely  in  its  capacity  to 
stand  for  a  law  or  a  class.  It  is  a  sign  like  the  x  of  the  alge- 
braist, having  per  se  no  value  ;  and  having  its  value  finally  de- 
termined by  what  it  is  discovered  to  stand  for. 

(2)  That  which  is  thus  signified  is  ideal.  The  universal  has 
no  existence  as  a  separate  thing  in  time  or  space.  It  is  the 
significance  or  meaning  which  is  general,  and  meaning  is  ideal. 
When  we  speak  of  having  a  general  idea  of  a  rose,  for  example, 
this  does  not  mean  that  we  think  of  some  object  somewhere 
existing,  which  is  a  universal  rose.  Nor  does  it  mean  that 
we  are  able  to  frame  an  idea  of  a  rose  in  general,  that  is  of 
qualities  common  to  all  roses,  and  excluding  all  qualities  pecu- 
liar to  each.  Any  idea  we  frame  must  be  of  a  rose  of  certain 
size,  color,  form,  etc.  ;  it  must  be  particular.  It  is  just  like  the 
triangle  drawn  on  the  board ;  we  can  make  only  some  par- 
ticular triangle,  not  triangle  in  general.  What  is  general  is  the 
power  which  the  particular  has  of  standing  for,  or  symbolizing,  a 


go  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

relation  or  group  of  relations.  In  other  words,  the  general 
factor  lies  neither  in  some  one  actual  object,  nor  in  an  actual 
idea,  but  in  the  relations  of  a  particular  object — in  the  significanct 
of  a  particular  idea. 

(3)  Thinking  is  an  Explicit  Promss  of  Grasping  Relations. 
Relations  are  implied,  involved  in  perception,  memory  and  imagi- 
nation, but  thinking  deals  expressly  and  openly  with  the  rela- 
tions and  with  nothing  else.  The  mind  discriminates  and 
identifies  in  those  earlier  stages,  and  in  thinkmg  it  simply  aimi 
consciously  at  discovering  unities  and  differences ;  the  whole 
process  is  one  of  conscious  analysis  and  synthesis. 

Educational  Principle.— 7%^  Teacher  should  always 
keep  in  Mind  that  Perception^  Memory,  Imagination  and  Think- 
ing are  Stages  of  Mental  Development^  and  that  one  grows 
naturally  out  of  another. — Much  harm  has  resulted  in  peda- 
gogy from  treating  these  stages  of  development  as  if  they  were 
independent  faculties,  having  no  connection  with  one  another. 
When  this  is  laid  down  as  a  fundamental  principle  of  psy- 
chology, unity  of  education  is  lost ;  each  "  faculty "  is  then 
trained  by  separate  methods.  There  is  one  process  to  train 
perception,  another  to  train  memory,  another  for  thinking,  etc. 
The  inevitable  result  is  so  great  a  number  of  "  methods  "  that 
both  teacher  and  pupil  are  burdened.  Again,  this  separation 
is  abnormal,  not  corresponding  to  any  psychological  fact.  The 
methods  employed  are,  therefore,  artificial  as  well  as  too  nu 
merous.  Spontaneity  and  interest  are  thus  killed.  Above  all 
the  multiplication  of  separate  and  artificial  methods  is  wasteful 
of  mental  energies,  and  ineflficient  in  results.  But  in  reality 
each  *' faculty"  is  but  a  stage  in  the  increasing  growth  of 
knowledge  in  symbolic  or  representative  character,  in  meaning 
or  significance,  in  generality  and  in  definiteness.  No  arbitrary 
line  separates  one  from  another ;  much  less  does  each  have  an 
independent  and  isolated  principle  of  activity.     It  follows  that 


TRAINING   OF   PERCEPTION.  9I 

the  right  education  of  perception  is  at  the  same  time  a  training 
of  memory^  and  the  proper  education  of  memory  insures  the 
correct  development  of  imagination  and  of  thought.  Any  right 
method  trains  intellectual  function  and^  thereby^  trains  each  faculty. 
These  topics  will  now  occupy  us  in  more  detail. 

§  2.  PERCEPTION. 
The   training  of  perception  should  be  considered   by  the 
teacher  both   (i)  in  itself,  and,  (2)  in  its  reference  to  other 
stages,  a  preparation  for  them. 

Perception  is  the  most  immediate  aad  presentative  of  all  the  stages  of 
knowledge,  and  hence  is  the  closest  to  sensation.  There  can  be  no  per- 
ception except  when  there  is  an  object  affecting  the  senses,  and  the  rich- 
ness of  the  perception  will  depend  on  the  degree  in  which  the  senses  are 
exercised.  What  has  been  said  regarding  sensation  should,  therefore,  be 
again  rpfered  to. 

(1)  The  Training  of  Perception  in  Itself.— This 
should  be  of  such  a  character  as  :  (i)  To  render  the  percept — 
what  is  perceived — accurate  and  complete ;  (2)  To  render  the 
perception  independent,  and  (3)  To  form  the  habit  of 
observation. 

I.  Accuracy  and  Fullness. — ^Very  few  persons  see  just  what  is 
before  them,  or  see  it  in  its  fullness,  for  seeing  is  using  the 
mind,  not  opening  the  eyes  or  staring  with  them.  To  avoid 
hazy  perceptions,  those  which  slur  over  the  object  and  report 
it  in  a  dim  way,  or  only  partially,  the  mind  must  be  active. 
There  must  be  mental  alertness  instead  of  indolence  and 
inertia.  In  the  earlier  stages  of  life,  this  alertness  and  the  corre- 
sponding degree  of  definiteness  of  perception,  are  ensured  by 
the  child's  physical  activity — the  attempts  to  reproduce  the 
object,  to  imitate  it,  to  get  hold  of  it,  to  do  something  with  it ; 
and  in  carrying  out  any  course  of  action,  in  making  anything, 
there  is  necessarily  a  process  of  taking  apart  and  putting  to* 
gether^  which  is  the  best  possible  preparation  for  future  mental 
analysis  and  synthesis.     These  activities,  as  previously  sug- 


92  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

gested,  may  be  carried  int6  the  school.  Folding,  weaving, 
drawing,  modelling,  etc.,  all  of  them  make  perception  accurate, 
because  all  of  them  require  an  unconscious  analysis,  at  least,  of 
the  features  of  the  object,  and  then  a  recombination  of  them 
into  a  new  whole.  Such  activities  exercise  the  mind  as  well 
as  the  senses. 

Principle  further  Applied. — ^The  teacher  should  strive  to  have  the 
pupil  carry  the  same  spirit  of  enquiry  into  sul)jects  where  chiefly  mental 
analysis  and  synthesis  are  required.  The  student's  mind  should  always 
be  in  a  questioning  attitude  ;  what  feitures  has  this  object,  this  event  ? 
How  do  they  go  together  to  make  the  whole  ?  What  have  I  known  like  it  ? 
What  of  the  same  kind,  and  yet  different  ?  and  so  on.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
carry  on  a  recitation  simply  as  a  test  of  memory  :  its  primary  end  should 
be  to  test  the  original  perception  ;  to  discover  what  the  student  has  grasped, 
and  should  (without  confusing  him)  leave  him  with  such  a  sense  of  imper. 
feet  perception  as  to  stimulate  him  to  renewed  perceptive  activity. 

2.  Independence. — In  the  higher  grades  of  education,  fresh- 
ness and  originality  should  be  aimed  at.  This  does  not  mean 
necessarily  that  the  student  should  make  original  discoveries, 
that  he  should  see  what  no  one  else  has  ever  seen.  But  it 
does  mean  that  he  is  to  observe /<?r  himself ;  that,  so  far  as  he 
is  concerned,  what  he  perceives  is  to  be  a  discovery,  whether 
it  is  for  other  people  or  not.  Every  teacher  knows  that  there 
is  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  pupil  to  fall  into  the  habit  of 
seeing  only  what  he  is  expected  to  see,  of  seeing  what  is  repre- 
sented by  others  to  be  before  him,  rather  than  what  is  actually 
presented.     Perception  thus  becomes  barren  and  conventional. 

Agassiz  was  accustomed  to  put  his  pupils  at  a  microscope,  and  giving 
them  no  idea  of  what  was  to  be  seen,  compel  them  to  look  for  themselves 
until  they  had  observed  everything  possible.  Whether  this  is  the  best 
method  of  accomplishing  the  result  or  not,  there  is  no  doubt  about  the  de- 
sirability of  the  pupil's  using  his  own  mental  powers  in  perception,  rather 
than  following  the  reports  of  others. 

3.  Habit  of  Observation. — Far  more  important  than  the  per- 
ception of  any  object  or  number  of  objects,  no  matter  how  ac- 


TRAINING   OF   PERCEPTION.  93 

curate  and  comprehensive  the  percepts  may  be,  is  the  formation 
of  a  habit  of  observation.  A  pupil  who  leaves  school  on  the 
look-out,  with  his  senses  wide  awake  and  keen  for  whatever  is 
presented,  and  with  a  knowledge  of  how  to  employ  them,  has 
the  most  perfect  equipment  the  teacher  can  provide  him  with, 
so  far  as  perception  is  concerned.  The  traming  of  the  ^ower 
to  observe  should  be  the  prime  object,  rather  than  the  actual 
observation  of  a  certain  number  of  things.  This  power  involves 
three  elements :  (i)  An  interest  in  natural  objects  amounting 
to  sympathy  with  and  love  for  them ;  (2)  An  attention  which 
is  both  alert  and  under  control ;  and  (3)  Ability  to  use  the  sense- 
organs,  especially  the  eye,  the  ear  and  the  hand,  as  instruments^ 
just  as  one  would  use  the  microscope  or  the  pencil 

(2)  Perception  in  its  Relation  to  other  Stages.— 

The  other  stages  of  knowledge  are  developed  from  perception 
by  a  natural  process  of  growth.  It  is  their  germ.  Unless, 
therefore,  perception  is  rightly  educated,  memory  suffers,  not  ^^T 
merely  because  it  is  not  supplied  with  sufficient  material  to 
remember,  but  because  the  functions  which  enter  into  memory 
itself  are  feeble  and  imperfectly  developed.  So,  too,  there 
will  not  only  be  less  material  for  imagination  and  reason  to 
work  upon,  but  the  mental  activities  which  are  necessary  for 
imagination  and  reason  will  be  defective.  A  training  of  per- 
ception is,  therefore,  necessary  not  only  for  knowledge  of 
things  which  are  and  may  be  perceived,  but  for  the  sake  of 
knowledge  of  what  may  never  be,  or  perhaps  cannot  be,  under 
actual  observation.  For  example,  a  child  will  learn  about 
many  things  in  his  geography  and  history  lessons  which,  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  he  cannot  perceive ;  foreign  countries 
and  their  productions ;  past  epochs  and  their  customs.  Now, 
these  things  will  either  mean  nothing  to  the  pupil,  or  will  be 
thought  of  in  analogy  with  what  he  does  perceive.  The  pupil 
will  extend  and  combine  his  own  past  perceptions  till  they  seem 


94  INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

to  convey  to  him  the  required  idea.     We  thus  derive  the  im- 
portant principle  : 

All  that  a  child  hears  or  reads  about,  if  not  itself  matter  of 
perception,  will  be  trans/at<  d  into  perceptions  already  familiar,  and 
only  as  so  translated  will  it  have  any  7neaning.  The  teacher 
must  absolutely  see,  therefore, 

(a)  That  the  child  has  a  sufficiently  wide  store  of  actual  per- 
ceptions before  he  goes  into  fields  which  demand  representative 
ideas,  and 

(b)  That  the  child  connects  ideas  which  are  given  to  him  in 
a  representative  way  (from  the  teacher  or  from  the  text  book) 
with  some  actual  perception,  and  with  the  perception  best 
fitted  to  render  the  representative  idea  significant ;  that  is,  there 
must  be  illustrative  teaching,  and  the  teacher  must  take  care 
that  the  illustrations  appeal  to  clear  and  adequate  perceptions. 

Possible  Errors. — It  is  easy  to  blame  a  pupil  for  ideas 
that  seem  ridiculous  and  absurd,  when  really  his  having  such 
ideas  shows  that  he  is  doing  his  best  to  translate  unknown 
topics  into  what  is  familiar  and  significant.  That  his  transla- 
tion is  inadequate  or  erroneous,  is  rather  the  fault  of  the  teacher 
than  of  the  pupil.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  to  put 
constantly  before  pupils  representative  ideas  which  they  cannot 
make  over  into  perceptions  previously  experienced,  is  to  burden 
the  mind  with  what  is  meaningless.  And  the  evil  does  not  stop 
with  loading  the  mind  with  this  mass  of  dead  matter.  In  the 
meaningless,  the  mind  cannot  take  any  interest.  It  is  interested 
only  in  what  has  some  connection  with  itself;  interest  has  even 
been  defined  as  the  relation  of  an  impression  to  a  group  of  ideas 
in  the  mind.  If,  therefore,  there  is  no  connection  between 
what  is  given  to  the  mind  to  learn,  and  its  own  store  of  expe- 
riences, interest  is  an  impossibility.  And,  finally,  with  the  loss 
of  interest  vanishes  the  power  of  paying  attetition. 


TRAINING  OF  MEMORY.  95 

The  Cause  of  Dullness  and  Mind-Wandering.— It  is  a  too  com- 
mon experience  to  find  children  who  at  five  or  six  years  old  are  keen  and 
alert — interested  in  everything  with  which  they  come  in  contact,  become 
after  six  or  eight  years  schooling,  dull  and  listless  in  all  that  concerns  their 
studies.  In  the  great  number  of  cases,  the  reason  undoubtedly  is  that  so 
much  matter  has  been  put  before  them  which  thej  cannot  "apperceive," 
that  is,  which  thay  cannot  really  bring  their  minds  to  bear  upon.  And  the 
reason  they  cannot  bring  their  minds  to  bear,  cannot  interpret  and  assimi- 
late, is  the  lack  of  previous  experiences  into  which  the  new  material  can  be 
translated.  Thus  studies  become  unreal  and  artificial,  belonging  to  a  realm 
outside  the  significant  experience  of  the  pupil,  and  the  mind  can  assume 
only  a  mechanical  relation  to  what  is  learned. 

§  3.    MEMOEY. 

For  the  teacher's  purposes,  memory  may  be  defined  as  the 
power  ofgetling  afty thing  into  the  mind  so  that  it  can  be  got  out 
again  when  wanted.  One  factor  then  concerns  the  original 
getting  of  a  thing  into  the  mindy  or  learning,  the  other,  the  getting 
of  it  out  again^  or  recollecting.  Each  of  these  factors  depends 
chiefly  upon  attention  and,  of  course,  interest,  since  attention 
itself  depends  upon  interest. 

(1)  Learning. — The  chief  thing  for  the  teacher  to  keep  in 
mind  is  that  the  training  of  memory  is,  to  a  very  large  degree, 
training  in  original  apperception — in  apprehension  and  assimi- 
lation of  what  is  to  be  remembered.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  a 
rule  :  Do  not  aim  at  training  memory  directly,  but 
indirectly,  through  the  training  of  the  apperceiv- 
ing  powers.  The  attitude  of  the  pupil's  mind  should  be  :  I 
must  perceive  this  just  as  it  is  and  in  all  its  bearings  ;"  not,  I  must 
remember  this.  If  the  original  perception,  in  other  words,  is 
what  it  should  be,  accurate,  comprehensive  and  independent, 
memory  may  be  left  very  largely  to  take  care  of  itself.  For  the 
first  step  in  remembering  anything  is  to  get  it  within  the  mind, 
and  apperception  is  just  this  getting  it  within  the  mind.  If  this 
is  thoroughly  done,  the  first  step  in  memory  is  already  taken, 
and  it  needs  no  special  training  of  its  own.  We  may  now 
apply  this  general  rule  so  as  to  make  it  more  specific. 


90  INTOLLBQT&AI.  SSYBLOPMENT. 

I.  A  certain  amount  of  material  which  has,  in  itself,  no  mean- 
ing, always  has  to  be  memorized. — This  includes,  to  a  large 
extent,  the  spelling  of  words,  historical  dales,  names  of  coun- 
tries, rivers  and  other  geographical  data,  and,  perhaps  to  a 
certain  extent,  in  primary  teaching,  rudimentary  arithmetical 
facts.  Now,  the  wrong  method  of  training,  that  which  insists 
on  the  direct  training  of  memory,  would  pay  small  attention,  or 
none,  to  the  original  perception  of  these  facts,  but  would  en- 
deavor by  the  force  of  repetition  to  get  them  impressed  upon 
the  mind.  The  correct  method  endeavours  to  see  that  the  pupil's 
interest  is  aroused,  that  he  pays  keen  attention,  and  that  he  forms 
a  lively  and  definite  idea  of  what  he  is  to  remember.  If  he  is 
to  learn  to  spell  "  deceive,''  he  is  not  to  do  it  by  a  mechanical 
repetition  of  the  letters  one  after  another  till  they  are  graven 
into  his  memory,  but  by  a  perception  of  them,  based  on  interest 
in  the  form  and  structure  of  the  the  word,  and  by  holding  the 
mind  in  strong  tension  to  see  just  what  should  be  seen  and 
nothing  else.  If  the  child  performs  this  act  of  interested  and 
lively  perception,  and  if  he  is  occasionally  called  upon  to 
reproduce  his  knowledge,  there  is  not  much  danger  that  he 
will  forget  the  word.  And  so  with  memorizing  the  other 
classes  of  facts  mentioned.  The  teacher  thus  best  cultivates 
memory  by  arousing  interest,  keeping  the  senses  sharp  and 
tense,  and  by  allowing  memory  to  grow  out  of  the  resulting 
perception. 

2.  There  is  also  material  to  be  memorized,  which  consists  in  the 
consecutive  statement  of  matters  of  fact. — It  differs  from  what  was 
included  in  the  first  class  in  that  it  has  meaning  of  its  own ; 
but  it  consists  of  facts  rather  than  of  reasons  for  the  facts.  It 
includes  the  largest  part  of  historical  and  of  geographical  studies, 
and  of  elementary  physical  science.  Here  again  it  is  original 
apperception  that  needs  most  looking  after.  "  Learning  by 
heart/'  in  the  sense  of  impressing  the  facts  ui)on  the  mind  by 
the  force  of  sheer  repetition,  should  not  be  permitted.     It  may 


TRAINING  OF   MEMORY.  97 

be  necessary  to  learn  many  of  the  impo?  tant  statements  so  that 
they  can  be  repeated  exactly^  and  it  will  probably  be  necessary 
to  use  repetition:  but  the  literal  memorizing  should  be  accom. 
plished  through  the  ways  in  which  the  statements  are  appre- 
hended, and  repetition  should  be  used  as  an  aid  to  the  appre- 
hension^ and  not  as  the  basis  of  the  memory.  " 

"  Learning  by  Heart." — This,  as  a  process  of  memorizing  by  repeat 
ing  the  subject-matter  over  and  over  till  it  is  fixed  in  mind,  is  faulty  for 
four  reasons. 

( 1 )  //  employs  only  sensuous  association.  The  mind  has  to  form  some  associa  • 
tions,  even  in  such  memorizing,  but  it  forms  only  associations  between  the 
sounds  of  the  words,  or  their  visible  appearances.  There  is  no  association 
of  the  ideas  involved. 

(2)  //  leaves  the  mind  passive.  What  is  learjied  is  impressed  upon  the 
mind,  not  produced  by  the  mind's  activity.  The  result  of  treating  the  mind 
as  a  wax-tablet  is  always  that  the  various  impressions  blur  and  blot  out  one 
another,  and  that  finally  the  wax  is  worn  out,  and  there  is  left  only  a 
hard  surface  which  will  not  receive  impressions.  The  common  complaint 
that  memory  fails  with  increase  of  years  is  largely  due  to  this  misuse  of 
memory,  fii  childhood  there  is  without  doubt  a  very  great  impressibility 
of  the  senses.  The  mind  is  plastic  and  sensations  are  vivid.  The  result  is 
that  sensuous  associations  are  easily  formed.  But  as  impressions  grow  less 
vivid,  and  sensations  become  common  place,  this  plasticity  and  the  forming 
power  of  sensuous  associations  is  greatly  impaired. 

(3)  The  mind  being  passive,  only  receiving  impressions,  it  is  burdened  by 
-juhat  it  remembers.  This  does  not  enter  into  the  mental  structure  and  is 
;hus  a  load  for  it  to  carry.  It  may  be  laid  down  as  an  axiom  that  whatever 
does  not  help  the  mind  hinders  it ;  whatever  does  not  aid  the  mind  to 
group  new  material  is  a  strain  on  mental  energy. 

(4)  The  senses^  rather  than  the  mind,  being  engaged,  the  habit  of  mind- 
vjandering  is pi-oduced.  One  of  the  commonest  sources  of  inability  to  con* 
centrate  attention  and  keep  it  fixed,  is  that  the  pupil  has  been  accustomed  to 
memorize  by  the  mere  repetition  of  sense  impressions  while  his  mind  was 
really  occupied  with  something  else. 

It  is  to  be-bome  in  iliind  that  the  foregoing  reiparks  apply  to  leaming-by*-' 
heart  as  a  mechanical  process  in  which  only  verbal  associations  are  formed.* 
If  learning-by-heart    includes— as  it  ought  to  include — an  appeal  to  the  ' 
intelligettcet  it  becomes  of  high  value  in  education ;  it  is  accordingly  to  be 


TTNIVERSITY 


98  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

regretted  that,  in  the  just  reaction  against  mere  rote  learning,  there  is  a 
pernicious  tendency  to  disparage  the  memory  and  especially  to  eliminate 
from  "modern"  methods  the  truly  educating  practice  of  intelligently 
learning  by  heart  selections  from  the  masterpieces  of  our  literature. 

Reliance    upon   Association    and    Attention. — 

What  has  been  said  should  not  be  taken  to  mean  that  the  senses 
are  not  to  be  employed  to  the  utmost  in  memorizing.  On  the 
contrary,  whatever  vividness  and  plasticity  the  senses  possess, 
should  be  utilised.  But  they  should  be  employed  in  subordi- 
nation to  the  mental  functions.  The  senses  are  good  servants 
but  poor  masters ;  they  should  be  used  in  memorizing,- just  in 
the  degree  in  which  they  are  necessary  to  c/eary  vivid  and  full 
apperception^  and  no  further. 

Association  of  Ideas. — On  the  positive  side,  it  may  be 
said  that  memorizing  should  rest  upon  the  association  of  ideas, 
not  of  sensations.  That  is,  what  the  sensations  mean,  what 
they  convey  to  the  mind,  should  be  connected ;  and,  so  far  as 
possible,  the  kinds  of  connection,  whether  of  contiguity  or  of 
similarity,  should  be  noticed.  It  will  be  found  a  great  aid,  even 
in  teaching  young  pupils,  to  point  out  the  way  in  which  facts 
are  connected. 

Analysis  and  Synthesis- — The  constant  employment 
of  the  functions  of  analysis  and  synthesis  should  be  relied  upon. 
The  student  may,  for  example,  first  read  ovei  the  whole  lesson, 
reading  it  with  attentive  mind,  and  not  with  his  eyes  alone ;  that 
is,  interpreting  it  by  his  present  store  of  knowledge,  and  as- 
similating it  to  that  as  far  as  possible.  Thus  he  will  gain  a 
general  idea  of  the  whole ;  then  let  him  go  over  the  subject 
again,  making  the  various  parts  of  the  whole  definite,  and  getting 
them  in  their  relations  to  one  another.  If  the  material  is  suited 
to  the  pupirs  stage  of  development,  that  is,  if  he  can  grasp  its 
bearing  and  properly  apperceive  it,  then  by  the  time  he  has  ap- 
prehended the  material  as  a  whole  and  in  its  parts,  it  will  gen- 
erally be  found  that  no  special  draft  upon  the  specific  capacity 
ri  memory  is  requisite  ;  in  taking  it  in,  he  has  memorized  it 


TRAINING   OF    MEMORY.  99 

3.  There  is  material  to  be  learned  consisting  in  the  relations  .y 
complex  Ideas. — This  includes  subjects  like  higher  mathematics, 
political  economy,  psychology,  the  more  advanced  stages  of  na- 
tural science,  etc.  Such  material  has  meaning  in  itself,  and  also 
states,  either  expressly  or  by  implication,  reasons  for  the  facts,  as 
well  as  the  facts  themselves.  Here  the  main  principle,  that 
memory  is  a  function  dependent  upon  original  apprehension,  still 
holds  good.  Such  material  must  be  understood  and  the  process 
of  understanding  it,  of  developing  relations  and  tracing  their 
connections  with  one  another,  is  a  process  of  making  it  over 
into  mental  structure,  and,  therefore,  fulfils  the  first  requisite  of 
memory.  To  memory  in  this  third  and  highest  stage,  the  state- 
ment  of  a  French  author  that  memory  should  be  the  cradle  and 
not  the  tomb  of  an  idea,  is  particularly  applicable.  Such  mate- 
rial when  taken  into  the  memory,  should  not  lie  dormant,  but 
should  be  constantly  assimilating  material  to  itself,  so  as  finally 
to  re-appear  in  transformed  and  enriched  shape. 

Forgotten  Knowledge- — It  is  on  this  ground  that  we  are  able  to 
answer  the  question  often  asked  as  to  the  benefit  of  studies,  such  e.  g.,  as 
Greek  Grammar  and  the  Calculus,  whichj  are  often  forgotten  after  leaving 
school,  by  one  who  never  uses  them.  There  is  not  only  the/orma/  benefit, 
the  discipline  of  the  mental  powers  employed  in  learning  these  subjects, 
but  there  is  a  material  benefit.  While  the  person  may  not  be  able  to  recall 
just  what  he  learned,  he  yet  remtmbers  it  in  the  sense  that  it  has  been  trans- 
formed into  new  mental  growths.  It  has  been  changed  into  assimilating 
power — into  mental  function.  This  accounts  for  the  paradoxical  statement 
sometimes  made,  that  one  never  remembers  till  one  has  forgotten. 

(2)  Recollection. — Beside  learning  or  getting  the  subject- 
matter  into  the  mind,  there  is  recollecting,  or  drawing  it  forth 
again  when  desired.  Correct  apprehension  greatly  aids  ready 
and  correct  recalling,  for  correct  apprehension  takes  hold  of  the 
connections  of  ideas  in  what  is  learnt,  and  thus  makes  it  easy 
and  almost  necessary  for  the  mind  to  pass  from  one  idea  already 
present  to  another  which  it  wishes  to  make  present.  If  the 
association  is  merely  sensuous,  however,  there,  is  nothmg  inter* 


£00  INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

nal  to  connect  the  facts  or  objects,  and  hence  recollection  may 

be  broken  off  at  any  point.     Aside  from  this,  however,  recollec- 
tion depends  upon  (i)  Repetition  and  (2)  Attention, 

1.  Repetition. — If  the  original  act  of  apprehension  has  been 
an  interested  and  an  attentive  one,  difficulty  of  recollection  will 
generally  be  found  to  be  due  to  the  multiplicity  of  associations 
that  arise.  The  idea  that  is  already  in  the  mind,  instead  of 
suggesting  the  idea  desired,  starts  a  number  of  allied  ideas. 
Thus,  it  will  be  found  that  the  reason  why  an  illiterate  man 
seems  to  have  a  better  memory  than  an  educated  one,  or  a 
child  than  an  adult,  is  that  the  child  and  the  illiterate  have, 
comparatively,  so  few  experiences  that  there  is  less  difficulty  in 
passing  from  one  to  another.  When  there  are  a  great  number 
ot  associations  clustered  about  the  same  idea,  they  run  into  and 
obstruct  one  another.  The  best  means  of  obviating  this  is  fre- 
quent repetition  of  that  association  deemed  most  important,  until 
the  mind  acts  more  easily  along  that  line  than  along  the  lines 
of  other  associations.  Each  exercise  of  an  associative  activity 
strengthens  capacity  in  that  direction,  and,  makes  subsequent 
exercise  easier. 

Reviews. — From  what  has  been  already  said,  it  will  be  un^derstood  that 
repetition  is  not  to  be  mechanical  but  active.  That  is,  it  is  not  to  be  a 
repetition  of  the  impression  upon  the  mind,  but  of  the  activity  by  which  the 
impression  is  apprehended.  In  the  great  majority  of  cases  it  will  be  found 
that  mastery  of  a  subject  depends  less  upon  its  first  reception  into  the  mind 
than  uponthe  frequent  going  over  of  what  was  then  learned.  To  use  the  com. 
parison  of  a  recent  writer,  just  as  a  military  officer  must  daily  review  his 
troops  to  see  that  they  are  in  proper  condition  for  battle,  so  a  student  must 
constantly  review  his  ideas  to  keep  them  fresh  and  ready  for  use. 

2.  Attention. — In  this  connection,  we  do  not  refer  to  the  use 
of  attention  in  the  original  apprehension,  but  in  the  act  of  recol- 
lection. The  machinery  of  recollection  is  as  follows  :  There  is 
an  idea  in  the  mind  which  has  either  been  contiguous  to  the 
idea  we  wish  to  recall,  or  is  similar  to  it     By  the  laws  of  asso- 


PERCEPTION.  101 

ciation,  therefore,  the  present  idea  will  suggest  what  is  wanted 
When  we  say  we  recollect,  it  is  really  one  idea  or  a  group  of 
ideas  which  recalls,  or  redintegrates,  the  other.  But  it  may  fail 
to  suggest  the  othe;  pontaneously.  It  is  then  necessary  to 
pay  attention  to  all  factors  connected  with  what  we  wish  to  re- 
call^ and  thus  stimulate  them  to  suggest  what  is  wanted.  In 
other  words,  the  will  cannot  aid  directly  in  recollecting,  but 
only  indirectly  by  dwelling  upon  associated  factors.  It  is  these 
factors  which,  working  by  contiguity  or  similarity,  bring  about 
the  recollection.  If,  for  example,  we  wish  to  recall  some  one's 
name,  we  think  of  where  we  met  him,  who  introduced  him, 
what  was  said,  etc.;  we  go  over  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  to  try 
whether  the  name  will  be  suggested  by  its  initial  letter.  Thus 
we  start  by  attention  a  number  of  converging  associations  to  pro- 
duce what  is  wanted.  If  the  original  act  of  apperception  was 
one  of  mental  connection,  of  analysis  and  synthesis,  this  pro- 
duction will  easily  occur. 

§4.  IMAGINATION. 

Of  all  the  stages  of  intelligence,  Imagination  is  the  least 
capable  of  direct  training.  As  reasons  for  this  fact,  may  be 
mentioned,  (i)  its  free  character,  (2)  its  individual  nature  and 
(3)  the  unconscious  mode  of  its  growth. 

I.  Imagination  is  free  in  that  it  is  not  boufid  down  by  any 
external  laws.  It  is  not,  like  perception  and  memory,  under 
constraint,  to  actual  experience ;  nor  to  logical  rules  like  think- 
ing. Objects  of  perception  may  be  put  before  a  pupil  and  he 
tan  be  directed  as  to  what  and  how  to  see, — and  the  resulting 
perceptions  can  be  tested  by  questioning.  Lessons  to  memo- 
rize may  be  given  the  student,  and  he  can  be  examined  to  find 
out  what  he  remembers.  But  the  pupil  cannot  be  told  to 
imagine,  cannot  have  rules  laid  down  for  him  to  follow,  cannot 
be  examined  on  the  results  of  his  imaginings.  The  free  nature 
of  imagination  puts  it  beyond  such  external  direction  and  re- 
straint 


I02  IMAGINATION. 

2.  Imagination  is  personal^  individual,  taking  its  spring  in 
feeling  and  desire  rather  than  from  information  or  logical  pro- 
cesses. Its  birthplace  is  in  what  is  most  intimate  to  the  soul 
itself ;  it  is  the  reflex  of  hope,  love,  reverence  and  admiration. 
Thus  it  cannot  be  pried  into  from  without;  nor  can  it  be 
greatly  stimulated  from  without,  excepting  by  awakening  the 
feelings.  A  child's  imagination  is  often  so  deeply  personal  that 
it  cannot  be  treated  with  too  great  reserve ;  too  close  scrutiny 
or  guidance  is  violation  of  the  child's  personality. 

3.  Imagination  does  not  grow  by  the  conscious  following  ol 
certain  methods,  or  from  the  formal  study  of  certain  subjects, 
but  by  unconscious  steps.  It  grjows  with  the  development  of  the 
child  in  power  of  feeling  and  desiring;  it  grows  by  what  it 
feeds  upon,  beautiful  scenes,  pictures,  poems,  ideas,  characters. 
Its  roots  are  in  the  underlying  forces  of  human  nature,  funda- 
mental instincts  and  feeling.;,  which  rarely  come  into  conscious- 
ness, and  which,  if  forced  into  consciousness,  lose  their  spon- 
taneity and  value.  Thus  a  child  questioned  about  his  imagina- 
tion, will  often  conceal  his  real  fancies  entirely,  or  will  pro- 
duce an  artificial  product,  either  conventional  or  strained  and 
mawkish  in  sentimentality. 

The  training  of  the  imagination  must,  therefore,  be  largely 
indirect.  This  indirect  training  may  come  about  (i)  Through 
cultivation  of  its  modes  of  expression ;  (2)  Through  cultivation 
of  the  feelings  that  find  their  outlet  in  imagination,  and  (3) 
Through  presentation  of  material— scenes  of  nature,  works  of 
art,  fine  literature — fitted  at  once  to  awaken  and  guide 
imagination. 

I.  It  is  natural  for  the  imagination  to  project  itself;  to 
attempt  to  embody  its  images  in  outward  form.  These  out- 
ward modes  of  expression  may  be  very  largely  guided  and  con- 
trolled without  interfering  unduly  with  the  inward  moods  and 
dispositions  whence  they  flow.     Drawing,  modelling,  designing, 


IMAGINATION.  103 

even  plaiting,  sticklaying  and  machine  work,  may  be  made,  not 
only  means  of  training  the  impulses,  the  sense  organs  and  the 
functions  of  intelligence,  but  also  the  imagination.  Composi- 
tion-work and  essay-writing  are  means  which  should  not  be 
neglected ;  the  choice  of  subjects  and  the  mode  of  treatment, 
both  being  of  importance. 

2.  The  cultivation  of  the  feelings,  which  shape  the  material 
provided  by  the  senses  and  by  memory,  and  which  give,  rise  to 
the  ideals  that  the  images  try  to  express,  may  be  treated  under 
two  heads. 

(1)  The  Personal  Influence  of  the  Teacher.— It 

is  feelings  of  love,  of  admiration,  and  of  desire  for  something 
not  attained,  that  underlie  imagination  in  all  its  higher  forms. 
Imagination  must  be  unselfish  ;  one  who  is  wholly  interested  in 
his  own  needs  and  appetites  and  in  their  satisfaction,  will  not  be 
able  to  get  outside  of  himself,  and  hence  will  not  be  able  either 
to  produce  or  to  notice  external  beauty.  The  emotions  and  the 
mood,  which  predispose  to  imagination,  must  be  left  largely  to 
the  vital  influence  and  personal  sympathy  of  the  teacher.  The 
enthusiasm  and  the  devotion  of  the  teacher  for  whatever  is 
worthy  of  admiration,  will  go  further  than  any  set  methods. 

(2)  The  Development  of  Religious  Emotions.— 

The  imagination  is  an  idealizing  and  universalizing  power.  It 
attempts  to  clothe  all  objects  with  beautiful  forms;  to  find 
them  significant  of  ideals.  It  takes  the  mind  beyond  its  own 
experiences  of  perception  and  memory  into  what  is  general, 
what  has  no  concern  with  private  enjoyments.  Imagination 
thus  tends  to  take  the  mind  beyond  the  present  and  the  appa- 
rent Hence  its  kinship  to. religious  emotions  and  ideas.  Early 
religious  ideas  are  at  once  the  product  of  the  imagination  and 
the  most  influential  means  of  forming  it  Religious  emotions, 
reverence,  and  especially  awe,  the  objects  of  religious  worsU'o 


I04  imagination; 

especially  the  great  personalities  of  religion,  if  rightly  presented 
to  a  child,  call  out  imagination  more  than  almost  anything  else, 

3.  Imagination  must  have  material  to  feed  upon.  Imagina- 
tion is  the  outgrowth  of  perception  and  memory  ^  and  unless  these 
supply  a  rich  and  varied  material,  it  will  be  defective  or  un- 
healthy. While  originating  in  the  emotions,  imagination  should 
not  feed  upon  them,  but  upon  outward  objects,  scenes  and 
ideas ;  imagination  which  both  springs  from  and  lives  upon  the 
emotions  will  be  morbid  and  unhealthy.  Material  proper  for 
imagination  to  work  on  may  be  classified  as  follows : 

( 1 )  Natural  Scenes. — Taking  children  into  the  wodds,  to 
lakes  and  mountains,  calling  their  attention  to  sunsets,  clouds 
and  all  the  forms  of  animate  and  inanimate  nature,  are  highly 
important.  The  beautifying  of  the  school-room  with  flowers ^ 
with  works  of  art,  etc.,  the  inculcation  of  care  for  whatever  is 
beautiful,  are  means  that  tell  with  great  effect.  An  im- 
portant step  in  the  training  of  imagination  is  taken  when  a  child 
realizes  that  a  beautiful  object,  simply  because  it  is  beautiful* 
should  not  be  destroyed,  or  sacrificed  to  his  own  needs. 

(2)  Studies  like  Geography  and  History.— These 
studies  take  the  pupil  beyond  himself,  one  in  the  direction  of 
space,  the  other  of  time.  They  should  be  taught  almost  as 
much  as  means  of  widening  and  deepening  the  imagination,  as 
of  furnishing  the  mind  with  information. 

(3)  The  Study  of  Literature.— The  products  of  the 
imagination  of  the  race,  as  embodied  in  literature,  are  perhaps 
the  most  influential  means  of  training  the  imagination.  For 
young  children,  that  literature  is  the  best  which  is  the  uncon- 
scious product  of  races  and  of  peoples  rather  than  of  the  con- 
scious invention  of  individuals.  Fairy  tales,  folk-lore,  myths» 
historic  epics,  and  traditions  are  natural  and  healthy.  There 
ts  a  connection  between  the  childhood  of  the  race  and  of  the 


TRAINING   OF  THINKING.  10$ 

individual  that  makes  such  literature  peculiarly  appropriate  for 
the  imaginations  of  youthful  minds.  As  the  child  grows  older 
he  should  be  introduced,  of  course,  to  more  conscious  literary 
products,  the  preference  being  given  to  such  as  are  narrative 
rather  than  subjective.  Sir  Walter  Scott  will  appeal  to  chil- 
dren whom  Shelley  or  Wordsworth  will  leave  untouched. 
Upon  the  whole,  also,  preference  should  be  given  to  literature 
produced  as  literature,  rather  than  to  works  of  imagination  pro- 
duced expressly  for  children, 

%  5.  THlNKXtra. 

The  stage  of  intellectual  development  next  higher  than  imagi- 
nation is  thinkmg.  It  is  important  for  the  teacher  to  notice  that 
the  training  of  thinking  may  be  either  direct  or  indirect ;  that 
is,  it  may  be  by  means  whose  specific  end  is  the  development 
of  reasoning  power,  or  it  may  be  by  methods,  which  in  them- 
selves, are  directed  toward  the  development  of  other  powers, 
but  which,  nevertheless,  tend  towards  the  education  of  th  ought. 

1.  Indirect  Training. — Thinking,  since  it  is  not  an  iso- 
lated faculty,  but  a  stage  of  mental  development,  must  have 
implied  within  it  the  same  mental  processes  (association  and 
attention),  the  same  mental  functions  (analysis  and  synthesis)  as 
perception,  memory  and  imagination.  Of  necessity y  therefore^ 
any  correct  training  of  perception^  etc.,  is  at  the  same  time  a  train- 
ing of  the  power  of  thinking.  There  is  no  abstract  faculty  of 
thinking,  that  is  no  faculty  apart  from  what  is  thought  about : 
there  is  simply  the  power  of  dealing  with  certain  kinds  of  mental 
relations  and  products,  and  this  is  an  outgrowth,  a  development 
of  preceding  powers.  These  statements  may  be  illustrated  in 
more  detail  by  considering  the  relations  of  the  various  mental 
stages  to  (i)  generalization,  (2)  relation,  (3)  retention. 

(1)  Generalization. — Thinking  is,  as  previously  shown, 
generalizing;  it   is   dealing  with   the   universal   factor.      The 


I06  TRAINING    OF   THINKINO. 

general  factor  is  implied  or  involved  in  the  lower  stages.  It  is 
a  mistake  to  suppose  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  knowledge, 
one  particular,  the  other  general.  There  are  two  factors^  one 
particular,  the  other  general,  in  every  kind  of  knowledge^  and 
thinking  differs  from  perception  only  in  the  more  explicit  de- 
velopment and  conscious  recognition  of  the  universal  factor. 
When  we  perceive  that  this  something  now  before  us  is  a  book, 
we  generalize  or  classify.  We  bring  this  particular  thing  under 
a  wider  class  or  genus,  and  ascribe  to  the  particular  the  relations 
which  the  genus  or  class  possesses.  There  is  involved,  there- 
fore, in  the  simplest  perception  an  unconscious  recognition  at 
least,  of  the  identity  of  the  present  experience  with  something 
else.  This  generalization  is  also  a  process  of  reasoning.  We 
conclude,  or  infer,  that  this  something  is  a  book,  because  of  cer- 
tain similarities  between  what  ^is  presented  and  the  general  no- 
tion of  book. 

(2)  Relation. — Thinking  is  comparison  with  a  view  to 
recognizing  relations,  identity  and  difference.  It  involves  con- 
scious analysis  and  conscious  synthesis.  These  functions  appear 
in  thinking  as  induction  and  as  deduction — induction  being  the 
recognition  of  the  one  common  law,  in  the  midst  of  diverse, 
particular  facts ;  deduction^  the  application  of  the  general  law  to 
some  particular  fact  as  a  case  coming  under  it.  Induction 
begins  with  particulars  and  advances  to  the  universal  relation 
implied  within  them;  as  when  Newton  advanced  from  the 
study  of  particular  heavenly  bodies  to  the  discovery  of  the  law 
of  gravitation.  Deduction  begins  with  the  universal  and  brings 
some  particular  under  it,  as  when  we  say  that  since  the  law  of 
gravitation  applies  to  all  heavenly  bodies,  it  must  apply  to 
some  newly  discovered  comet,  although  we  have  not  dis  covered 
as  matter  of  observation,  that  it  does  apply.  Now,  since  all 
knowledge  requires  the  functions  of  discrimination  and  identi- 
fication, and  induction  and  deduction  are  only  the  higher  de. 
velopments  of  these  functions,  all  knowledge  is,  to  some  degree, 
A  preparation  for  reasoning. 


TRAINING   OF   THlNKINa  I07 

(3)  Retention. — There  goes  on,  in  retention,  an  uncon- 
scious assimilation  which  groups  facts  about  some  common 
centre  and  according  to  some  common  principle.  Every  one 
has  had  the  experience  of  learning  some  branch  of  study,  as 
algebra,  without  having  comprehended  all  of  it ;  but  a  year  or 
two  later,  upon  returning  to  this  subject,  it  appears  clear  and 
even  simple.  The  facts  seem  to  have  fallen  into  their  right 
relations,  and  to  be  just  what  they  should  be.  In  other  words, 
the  results  of  thinking  have  been  obtained,  and  this  without  the 
conscious  exercise  of  thought.  This  would  not  have  occurred, 
indeed,  had  the  algebraic  knowledge  lain  inert  in  the  mind,  but 
the  use  of  it,  the  employment  of  relations  similar  to  those 
learned  in  algebra,  have  performed  for  us  what  thinking  would 
perform.  This  result  inevitably  follows,  whenever  knowledge 
once  appropriated,  is  afterwards  used.  The  relations  implied 
within  it  become  explicit ;  perception  and  memory,  in  other 
words,  have  grown  into  reason. 

From  the  facts  that  knowledge  retained  and  organically  as- 
simulated  becomes  thought ;  from  the  fact^  that  generalization 
and  relation  are  involved  in  all  mental  stages,  we  gather  this 
law  :  The  power  of  reasoning  is  a  natural  and  necessary  growth 
from  the  powers  of  perception,  memory  and  imagination,  provided 
*hese  are  trained  rationally,  that  is  according  to  true  psychological 
principles. 

2.  Direct  Training. — Not  all  subjects,  however,  calbforth, 
to  the  same  extent,  the  processes  of  generalizing  and  relating, 
and  the  power  of  organic  assimilation.  Among  the  subjects 
which  call  them  forth  the  most,  and  thus  give  the  best  training 
of  thought,  may  be  mentioned  language  and  science. 

I.  Language. — There  is  a  common  educational  precept  that 
needs  careful  interpretation,  namely,  "  Teach  things,  not  words." 
Its  only  proper  meaning  is  that  mere  words,  or  sounds,  should 
not  be  taught,  but  that  with  the  word,  the  meaning  for  which 


io9  TRAINING  OF   THINKINa 

it  stands  should  be  taught.  So  far  as  the  principle  seems  to 
imply  that  the  development  of  language  is  not  of  the  greatest 
importance,  for  the  sake  of  the  knowledge  qf  things^  as  well 
as  for  its  own  account,  the  principle  is  erroneous.  Proper  train- 
ing in  words  is,  in  and  of  itself,  one  of  the  most  effective  me- 
thods of  training  thought.  This  may  be  shown,  (i)  with  regard 
to  the  employment  of  words  themselves,  (2)  with  regard  to 
their  combination  in  sentences,  and  (3)  with  regard  to  the  com- 
bination of  sentences. 

(i)  Words. — Every  common  noun  is  general ;  it  names  a 
class  and  not  an  individual.  Every  adjective  expresses  quality, 
and  quality  is  getieral ;  quality  is  the  basis  upon  which  classes 
are  constJucted.  Every  verb  expresses  a  mode  of  action,  or  of 
being,  and  this  again  is  general ;  *  to  be,'  '  to  run,'  '  to  study,' 
are  not  particular  things,  but  relations.  When  a  child  learns 
such  words  (not  the  sounds,  but  the  words)  he  is  necessarily 
performing,  although  only  unconsciously,  acts  of  generalization. 
When  an  infant  learns  the  word  *  dog,'  not  only  does  the  object, 
the  thing,  become  more  definite,  because  he  has  now  a  means 
of  specifying  that  object,  but  he  performs  an  act  of  classification. 
He  apprehends,  however  roughly,  the  properties  possessed  by 
all  animals  of  this  class. 

(2)  Sentences. — Grammar  is  the  logic  of  language.  Every 
structure  in  language  is  objectified  thought.  The  unit  of 
sructure  is  the  sentence,  and  this  corresponds  to  the  unit 
of  thought,  the  judgment.  In  a  judgment  a  relation  is  af- 
firmed, or  an  act  of  thought  is  completed,  some  connection 
between  a  universal  and  a  particular  is  stated.  A  sentence  but 
manifests  this  connection,  and,  if  the  meaning  of  the  sentence 
is  understood,  it  requires,  however  imperfectly,  the  action  of  the 
same  functions  of  analysis  and  synthesis  that  are  involved  in 
judgaieot 


TRAINING   OF  THINKING.  I09 

(3)  Combination  of  Sentences. — Reasoning  is  termed,  logi- 
cally, discourse.  This  is  the  consecutive  employment  of  sen- 
tences upon  some  subject,  and  /j,  in  substance,  a  process  of 
reasoning.  While  the  statements  of  a  book  are  not  arranged 
in  successive  syllogisms,  they  are  none  the  less  arranged,  if  the 
book  has  any  system  or  order,  upon  logical  principles.  There  is 
reason  in  the  presentation,  that  is,  there  is  classification,  group- 
ing, selection,  movement  towards  some  end.  If  a  pupil  really 
reads,  that  is,  if  he  appropriates  the  meaning,  the  thought  in 
what  he  reads,  he  himself  thinks,  for  he  reproduces  the  connec- 
tion, the  order  and  the  subordination  of  ideas. 

2.  Science. — Scientific  knowledge  is,  of  course,  the  most 
perfect  expression  of  orderly  thought  It  is  conscious  and 
explicit  statement  of  relations,  of  groups  of  relations,  of  refer- 
ence of  fact  to  law,  and  law  to  fact.  In  each  step  of  science, 
description,  classification^  explanation,  reasoning  is  concerned. 
If  then  the  pupil  studies  science  as  he  should,  that  is  if  he 
really  reproduces  what  he  learns  so  as  to  know  what  it  means, 
he  is  training  his  thinking  powers.  Scientific  study,  therefore, 
should  be  not  only  the  memorizing  of  facts,  or  even  the  train- 
ing of  observation,  but  the  development  of  thought.  If,  on  the 
one  side,  the  scientific  material  is  properly  presented,  and  if,  on 
the  other  side,  the  pupil  really  appropriates  it,  or  makes  it  his 
own,  the  education  of  the  thinking  powers  will  surely  be 
attained.  Natural  science  gives  the  best  training  of  the  anal, 
ytic  or  inductive  powers,  mathematical  science  of  the  synthetic 
or  deductive.  


no  FOKMS   OF    EMUTIONAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE   FORMS   OF    EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

We  have  completed  our  study  of  intellectual  development, 
and  turn  now  to  the  growth  of  Feeling.  Since  the  same  processes 
of  attention  and  association  underlie  it,  and  since  its  develop- 
ment is  analogous  to  that  of  the  intellec*;,  it  may  be  treated  with 
comparative  brevity.  It  may  also  be  mentioned  at  the  outset 
that  the  training  of  feeling  is  so  largely  personal  and  indirect 
that  the  educator  must  be  left  for  the  most  part  to  apply  his 
own  knowledge  of  the  psychology  of  the  subject  without  de- 
tailed suggestions  as  to  method.  The  subject  may  be  conveni- 
ently treated  under  the  head  of  I.,  Conditions  of  Interest^  or  oj 
Emotional  Development;  II.,  The  Principles  of  Growth;  III., 
The  Resulting  Forms. 

I,  Conditions  of  Interest. — The  most  general  law  of 
interest  is  that  feeling  accompanies  exercise  or  activity.  Feeling 
is  excitation,  and  implies,  accordingly,  stimulation  and  response 
to  stimulus  in  some  activity.  If  the  activity  is  free  and  unim- 
peded, if  it  results  in  increasing  activity,  the  feeling  is  pleas- 
urable. If  the  activity  is  hindered,  either  from  internal  de- 
fects, or  from  external  obstacles,  if  it  decreases  the  amount  of 
energy  that  may  be  put  forth,  the  feeling  is  painful.  Since 
feeling  accompanies  activity,  its  traits  are  dependent  upon  the 
nature  of  the  activity,  and  this  dependence  will  now  be 
discussed. 

I.  Spontaneity. — As  just  said,  pleasure  is  the  result  of  free 
activity.  It  is  an  ultimate  law  of  mind,  both  in  its  higher 
aspects  and  in  its  connection  with  the  body  through  the  senses 
and  the  impulses,  that  it  strives  to  express  itself.  It  has  an 
internal  tendency  towards  action,  and  this  is  stimulated  by  every 
impression  made  upon  it.  Whatever  calls  forth  this  activity,  or 
whatever  increases  it,  interests  by  that  very  fact.     Interest  is 


FORMS   OF   EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  Ill 

xhe  accompaniment  of  the  spontaneous  self-activity  of  the  child. 
This  principle  transcends  almost  all  others  in  educational  im- 
portance. The  child's  mind  must  be  aroused  from  within  and 
his  own  activity  called  upon,  if  he  is  to  be  interested  in  any 
subject 

2.  Strength  of  Activity. — All  materials  of  study,  regarded 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  pupil,  are  a  stimulus,  a  challenge  to 
his  own  powers.  The  stimulus  must,  therefore,  be  properly 
adjusted  to  these  powers.  Too  weak  stimuli — that  is,  too  easy 
material — do  not  call  out  enough  activity  to  be  interesting; 
too  strong  stimuli,  the  mind  cannot  respond  to.  Very  slight 
stimuli  often  irritate  the  mind ;  each  seems  to  call  for  activity, 
and  yet  it  does  not  call  loud  enough  to  get  an  answer.  Slight, 
repeated  excitations  have  the  effect  of  distracting  mental  activity, 
while  intense  ones  fatigue  and  finally  exhaust  it.  Strength  of 
stimulus  is  thus  a  relative  term,  depending  upon  the  mind's 
power  of  response.  The  stimulus  which  calls  forth  as  much  of 
the  mind's  activity  as  is  possible  without  straining  it,  is  of 
proper  strength  and  awakens  the  most  interest. 

3.  Change  of  Activity. — A  stimulus  which  the  mind  has 
wholly  responded  to,  ceases  to  be  a  stimulus,  and  calling  forth  no 
more  activity,  it  awakens  no  more  interest.  Hence  the  need 
of  change,  of  alternation  in  studies  and  in  modes  of  present- 
ing them.  That  a  subject  is  monotonous  means  that  the 
mind  has  already  exercised  itself  in  that  direction  as  far  as 
is  possible.  When  a  teacher  detects  signs  of  monotony, 
it  is  time  for  him  to  vary  something.  He  must  appeal  to 
the  mind  from  a  new  side,  and,  awakening  new  activity,  call 
out  new  interest.  Constant  activity  in  one  direction,  also,  if 
the  mind  does  not  succeed  in  answering  the  challenge  of  the 
stimulus,  produces  mental  fatigue,  and  thus  lowering  disposable 
energy,  lowers  interest  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  if  the  eye 
gazes  upon  the  color  red  for  a  time  and  then  turns  to  green, 


I  It  FORMS   OF     EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

the  green  seems  brighter  than  it  otherwise  would  seem.  The 
nerves  being  fatigued  in  one  direction,  give  stronger  impres- 
sions in  another.  This  law  prevails  in  education,  and  the 
teacher  should  avail  himself  of  it  by  providing  for  due  al- 
ternation of  activities  ;  first  an  activity  of  the  senses,  then  one 
of  memory,  then  of  bodily  impulses,  like  gymnastics,  etc, 
then  an  appeal  to  imagination,  etc 

4.  Harmony  of  Activities. — Activity  is  more  permanent  and 
wider  in  the  degree  in  which  it  is  harmonious.  Harmony  is 
defined  as  a  unity  made  up  of  a  variety.  Variety  which  has 
no  unity  interrupts  and  distracts  the  mind ;  unity  which  has 
no  variety  within  it  is,  as  just  seen,  monotonous  and  dead. 
But  the  co-operation  of  various  factors,  having  some  common 
end  and  meaning,  calls  forth  one  activity,  and  yet  an  activity 
which  manifests  itself  in  a  great  many  directions.  Each  ac- 
tivity supports  and  stimulates  every  other.  Hence  there, 
arises  a  permanent  and  ever-growing  interest.  There  is  no 
more  practical  problem  in  the  school-room  than  how  to  at- 
tain the  due  adjustment  of  unity  in  variety.  The  subjects 
must  be  brought  into  relation  with  one  another,  and  the  various 
facts  and  principles  of  the  same  subject  must  be  united,  but 
yet  the  mind  must  not  be  kept  dwelling  too  long  upon  bare 
unity.  The  best  method,  in  general,  of  solving  the  problem  * 
and  thus  keeping  interest  awake  and  increasing,  is  to  start  from 
some  centre  and  then  develop  facts,  principles,  subjects  from 
that.  The  common  centre  ensures  unity  of  activity  j  the  various 
branches  developed  from  it  ensure  variety  and  growth. 

II.  Principles  of  Emotional  Growth.— The  de- 
velopment of  the  interests  from  their  original  form  into  com- 
plex productSj  is  analogous  to  the  inlellectual  development  al- 
ready traced.  It  begins  with  immediate  sensuous  states,  and 
advances  by  idealizing  them  into  more  universal,  and  at  the 
same  time  more  distinct  forms.     What  has  been  said  on  the 


FORMS   OF    EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  II3 

principles  of  intellectual  thus  hold  good  very  largely  of  cmo 
tional  development.  Instead  of  repeating  these  principles,  we 
need  only  call  attention  to  some  of  their  aspects, 

I.  The  Widening  of  Feeling. — Feeling  is  originally  limited  in 
scope  and  significance.  The  early  feelings  spring  from  the 
senses  and  do  not  extend  their  value  beyond  the  time  in  which 
they  are  experienced,  or  beyond  the  individual  who  has  them. 
A  feeling  of  taste,  or  of  smell,  or  of  hunger,  is  personal  in  the 
narrowest  and  most  exclusive  sense  of  the  terra.  But  gradually 
emotions  take  a  wider  bearing  and  value. 

(flt)  Transference. — This  widening  of  feeling  occurs  first, 
through  what  may  be  called  the  transference  of  feeling. 
Feeling  which  intrinsically  belongs  to  some  one  presentation 
passes  over  into  whatever  is  associated  with  it.  The  pleasure 
which  a  child  gets  from  his  food  is  extended  to  the  utensils 
used,  formerly  indifferent,  and  to  the  person  who  gives  the 
food.  The  interest  which  a  child  has  in  gaining  the  appro- 
bation of  a  parent  or  a  teacher,  is  widened  into  interest  in  the 
study  or  occupation  which  was  at  first  simply  a  means  of  gain- 
ing approbation.  The  pleasure  which  a  child  takes  in  mere 
activity,  physical  and  mental,  becomes  transferred  to  the  ob- 
jects upon  which  the  activity  is  exercised. 

(^)  Widening  through  Uticonscious  Sympathy. — The  widening 
appears  oftentimes  to  be  purely  instinctive  and  reflex;  a  child 
becomes  interested  in  matters  simply  because  those  about  him 
are  interested  in  them.  The  child  unconsciously  puts  himself 
in  the  place  of  others,  and  thereby  widens  his  interest  to  the 
horizon  of  others.  A  child's  games  generally  follow  the  busi- 
ness of  his  parents.  Almost  all  children  play  "  keep  house  ** 
and  "  school."  These  plays  simply  witness  to  the  fact  that  the 
child's  feelings  are  being  colored  by  his  contact  with  others,  and 
that  he  is  desirous  of  making  their  wider  life  his. 
H 


114  FORMS   OF    EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

(e)  Widening  through  Conscious  Sympathy  or  Love. — The 
most  important  method  (at  least  from  the  teacher's  standpoint) 
of  widening  emotional  life,  is  arousing  personal  sympathy  and 
love.  This  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  second  principle.  If  a  child 
really  cares  for  his  parent  or  his  teacher,  he  is  perforce  inter- 
ested in  what  he  sees  them  to  be  interested  in.  This  is  not  the 
result  of  desire  to  gain  praise,  but  the  result  of  an  identification 
of  feeling  with  them,  so  that  whatever  affects  them  affects  him. 
The  moulding  and  transforming  influence  some  teachers  pos- 
sess, is  due  more  largely  to  their  power  to  make  their  pupils 
share  their  interests,  than  to  anything  else.  And  this  power  to 
communicate  interest  arises  in  the  admiration  and  regard  of  the 
pupil  for  the  teacher's  personality.  It  is  a  vital  and  personal 
force. 

2.  Deepening  of  Feeling. — Interests  at  first  are  not  only  limit- 
ed, but  they  are  transitory  and  unstable.  Their  development 
consists  in  making  them  fixed,  instead  of  fickle ;  deep,  instead 
of  superficial. 

{a)  Repetition. — This  deepening  results  very  largely  from 
repetition^  coming  under  the  general  law  that  exercise 
strengthens  function,  while  disuse  weakens  it.  A  feeling  con- 
stantly restrained  from  expression  is  starved ;  one  always 
allowed  to  give  itself  outward  form,  is  deepened.  A  feeling 
may  be  developed,  first,  by  constantly  presenting  material 
that  will  evoke  it,  and,  secondly,  by  allowing  it  to  act  upon 
this  material  whenever  present.  Thus,  the  sentiment  for 
beauty  is  deepened  when  beautiful  objects  are  always  at  hand 
to  stimulate  it,  and  when  the  sentiment  is  allowed  and  en- 
couraged to  re-act  upon  the  stimulus.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
disposition  to  anger  dies  out  when  persons  and  objects  that 
would  excite  it,  are  kept  away  from  the  child,  or  when,  although 
they  are  present,  the  child  is  not  allowed  to  manifest  anger. 

ip)  Co-operation. — Besides  repetition,  the  teacher  may  rely 
upon    co-operation    of    feelings.       Feelings    of   similar    kind 


FORMS   OF   EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.      ^  115 

Strengthen  one  another;  for  example,  to  train  one  moral  feeling, 
like  truthfulness,  will  generally  be  found  to  deepen  others,  like 
reverence  and  purity.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  generally  diffi- 
cult to  uproot  any  feeling  by  acting  upon  it  alone.  Another  and 
antagonistic  feeling  must  be  called  into  play,  which  by  superior 
strength  shall  drive  away  the  feeling  it  is  desired  to  displace. 
The  habit  of  anger  is  more  easily  corrected  by  getting  the 
child  under  the  influence  of  motives  of  love,  than  by  negative 
injunctions  not  to  give  way  to  anger. 

The  result  of  the  deepening  of  feeling  is  the  formation  oidispositions^  moods 
and  emotional  tendencies.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  emotional  character, 
manifesting  itself  in  fixed  capacities  and  active  tendencies,  as  well  as  intel- 
lectual or  volitional  character.  The  principle  of  retention  covers  the  life 
of  feeling. 

III.  The  Forms,  or  Stages,  of  Peeling. — These  may 
be  classified  as  Intellectual^  Aesthetic^  and  Personal^  according 
to  the  order  of  increasing  significance  (or  representative  charac- 
acter)  and  of  increasing  universality  and  definiteness. 

I.  Intellectual  Feelings. — These  are  such  as  lead  to  the  ac- 
quiring of  knowledge,  or  as  result  from  its  positive  acquisition. 
The  intrinsic  feelings  that  induce  a  child  to  intellectual  activity 
are  wonder  and  curiosity.  A  distinction  may  be  made  between 
these  two  terms  :  Wonder  is  the  feeling  the  mind  always  has 
(or  should  have)  in  presence  of  the  unknown.  It  is  the  feel- 
ing,  that  a  universe  of  objects  is  before  the  mind  calling  upon 
it  lor  action.  It  is  the  feeling  that  intelligence  is  challenged 
into  activity  to  discover  what  is  presented.  It  is  thus  a  per- 
manent feelmg  or  back  ground  of  emotion.  It  is  an  active 
feeling ;  that  is,  it  serves  as  a  stimulus  to  the  intellectual  pt. 
cesses  to  put  themselves  forth  and  master  what  evo^^  wonder 
It  has  been  termed  the  "  mother  of  science  and  p*^^^*^ophy.* 

It  has  been  said  that  while  the  customary  anj*  is^.  .Amiliar  cease  to  exdr* 
wonder  in  the  ordinary  mind,  it  is  a  mark  <*  genius  that  it  wonders  at 
the  familiar  as  well  as  at  the  novel.  It  should  be  one  result  of  education 
to  keep  alive  the  feeling  that  there  is,  in  every  experience,  something  won* 
derful,  something  which  demands  attention  and  inquiry. 


Il6     -^  FORMS  OF  EMOTIONAL  DEVELOPMENT. 

Curiosity. — This  is  not  a  feeling  that  can  be  awakened  by 
every  experience,  but  only  by  an  occurrence  which  goes  against 
what  was  expected.  When  the  mind  takes  it  for  granted  that 
something  is  thus  and  so,  and  then  finds  it  to  be  otherwise, 
there  is  the  feeling  of  surprise.  This  awakens  curiosity  to  find 
an  explanation  for  the  puzzling  fact  Curiosity  has  both  a  good 
and  a  bad  sense.  In  the  good  sense,  it  is  desire  of  investigation, 
to  discover  what  the  fact  is.  In  the  bad  sense,  it  is  desire  of  in- 
vestigation in  order  to  satisfy  some  personal  or  selfish  interest. 
In  its  good  sense,  curiosity  is  one  of  the  most  potent  allies  of 
the  teacher.  The  teacher  should  endeavor  so  to  educate  it 
that  it  may  pass  into  openness  and  disinterestedness  of  mind. 
Some  minds  seem  shut  to  all  new  ideas  and  hard  and  rigid  in 
structure,  others  are  flexible  and  open  to  new  ideas,  and  hence 
never  cease  mental  growth. 

Feelings  of  Acquisition. — As  the  two  relations  implied  in 
knowledge  are  identity  and  difference,  there  are  two  corres- 
ponding emotions  which  arise.  Every  identification  of  ideas 
apparently  diverse,  is  accompanied  by  a  peculiar  thrill  of  satis- 
faction :  a  feeling  of  harmony  and  of  expansion.  ^Ytry  dis- 
tinction is  accompanied  by  a  feeling  of  clearness  and  light  in 
place  of  confusion  and  darkness.  These  feelings  together  give 
a  sense  of  self-command,  of  power  and  of  intellectual  freedom. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  great  advantage  of  education  is  not  so 
much  the  information  it  gives,  as  the  sense  it  affords  that  we 
are  not  deceived.  True  education,  in  other  words,  gives  a  sense 
of  control  over  ideas  and  objects,  instead  of  a  sense  of  being  at 
their  mercy.  The  educated  mind  feels  that  it  has  the  power 
to  deal  with  facts,  to  discover  the  relations  of  identity  and  dif- 
ference among  them ;  in  other  words,  to  distinguish  the  reality 
from  the  appearance,  and  so  avoid  being  deceived.  The 
sense  of  power  which  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  awakens  is 
one  of  the  most  potent  allies  of  the  teacher.     It  shows  itself 


FORMS  OF    EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  II7 

in  the  earliest  stages.  The  child  who  has  learned  to  put 
together  easy  words,  to  make  simple  numerical  combinations 
has  gained  a  sense  of  capacity  which  rewards  Kim  for  past 
effort  and  stimulates  him  to  new  activity.  Studies  which  are 
too  difficult  or  which  are  meaningless  do  not  permit  the  pupil 
to  master  them,  and  thus  deprive  the  teacher  of  this  ally. 

n.  Aesthetic  Feelings. — These  may  be  defined  as  emo- 
tions arising  from  the  apperception  of  an  ideal  element  embodied  in 
some  form  of  reality.  In  the  beautiful  object  there  seems  to  be  a 
balance,  an  equivalence  of  the  real  and  the  ideal  There  is 
presentation,  some  sensible  object,  and  there  is  representation, 
for  embodied  in  the  presentation  is  an  ideal  value  or  signifi- 
cance. It  differs  from  an  object  of  scientific  knowledge  because 
in  the  latter  the  presentation  serves  only  as  a  symbol  to  suggest 
the  idea ;  while  in  the  beautiful  object,  the  idea  is  so  embodied 
in  the  presentation  that  no  distinction  can  be  made  between 
them.  It  requires  activity  of  the  reasoning  power  to  get  at  the 
ideal  factor  in  science ;  while  the  conscious  activity  of  thinking 
must  be  excluded  from  a  recognition  of  beauty.  The  beautiful 
object,  in  other  words,  is  an  object  of  perception^  not  of  con- 
ception. 

Factors  of  the  Beatdiful  Object. — It  is  impossible  to  tell 
beforehand  just  what  particular  qualities  an  object  which 
awakens  aesthetic  feeling  will  possess,  for  the  very  reason  that 
this  object  is  an  embodiment  of  imagination  in  perceptual  form, 
and  not  of  reasoning  in  a  symbol.  But  in  general  every  beau- 
tiful object  has  adaptation,  economy,  harmony  and  freedom. 

I.  Adaptation. — By  adaptation  is  meant  such  inter-relation  of 
parts  as  expresses  some  one  meaning,  or  serves  some  one  end. 
There  may  be  either  external  or  internal  adaptation.  In  eoc- 
ternal  adaptation,  the  arrangement  of  parts  is  such  as  to  render 
the  object  useful  for  something  beyond  itself.  It  serves  an 
outside  purpose ;    thus  a  tool,  a  piece  of  machinery,  is  sub- 


ri8  FORMS   OF    EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

servient  to  something  beyond  itself.  So,  too,  a  poem  which  is 
meant  to  convey  some  moral  lesson,  is  adapted  to  this  ex- 
traneous end.  In  internal  adaptation  no  outside  purpose  is 
subserved.  In  every  living  being,  there  is  complete  adaptation 
of  parts  to  one  another  and  to  the  whole.  But  this  adaptation 
is  for  the  sake  of  the  living  being  itself;  it  is  identical  with  its 
own  structure;  it  serves  its  own  purpose,  and  not  anything 
outside.  So  far  as  adaptation  is  external,  the  object  is  useful 
but  not  beautiful ;  when  it  is  internal,  however  useful  it  may 
be,  the  object  is  beautiful. 

2.  Economy. — There  is  another  method  of  stating  the  same 
principle.  Where  some  one  end  is  reached  by  the  co-operation 
of  members  and  the  members  co-operate  to  bring  about  the 
richest  end  with  the  least  waste  and  in  the  simplest  way,  there 
is  beauty.  Economy  is  not  to  be  mistaken  for  poverty,  or 
sparseness.  It  implies  rather  fullness,  and  abundance,  but  it 
implies  that  this  fullness  means  something  in  all  its  details^  that 
there  is  nothing  superfluous.  Grace,  whether  of  existence  or 
of  action,  always  means  that  the  result  is  reached  with  the 
slightest  expenditure  of  means,  with  no  perceptible  effort; 
while  clumsiness,  awkwardness,  always  shows  that  the  result  is 
not  easily  and  economical!)  reached, 

3.  Harmony. — This  signifies  many  members  constituting  a 
unity.  A  regular  form,  a  picturesque  landscape,  a  pleasing 
poem  or  statue  or  painting,  always  possesses  proportion, 
harmonious  adjustment  of  parts.  In  a  beautiful  object  there  is 
sub-ordination  and  coordination ;  there  is  a  central  figure  about 
which  others  are  grouped ;  there  is  a  leading  motive  to  which 
others  are  tributary ;  there  is  perspective,  etc. 

4.  Freedom. — The  very  fact  that  the  adjustment  or  harmony 
serves  no  external  end,  implies  that  it  is  free  or  unconstrained. 
Life  is  more  beautiful  than  what  is  inanimate ;  indeed,  when  we 
find  nature  or  some  of  its  forms  beautiful,  it  is  because  we 


FORMS   OF    EMOTIONAL    DEVELOPMENT.    .  II9 

attribute  to  them  a  life  of  their  own.  There  are  law  and  order 
in  the  beautiful  object ;  even  the  most  irregular  and  apparently 
capricious  piece  of  music  is  based  upon  mathematical  and 
physical  laws ;  but  the  law  is  internal ;  the  beautiful  object 
appears  as  living  law,  not  as  a  lifeless  object  obeying  some  law 
outside  itself  On  account  of  this  freedom,  aesthetic  activity 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  play ;  it  is  activity  which  has  its  end 
in  its  own  manifestation. 

Factors  of  Aesthetic  Feeling.— If  we  turn  from  the  beautiful  ob- 
ject to  the  feeling  which  it  awakens,  we  find  that  aesthetic  feeling  has  a 
certain  universality  and  ideality.     From  these  characteristics  it  follows  that 

(1)  The  lower  senses  do  not  have  any  important  place  in  art. — Tasting  and 
smelling  may  produce  agreeable  sensations,  but  not  emotions  of  beauty. 
Such  presentations  have  no  universal  value  ;  they  are  of  worth  only  to  the 
organism  that  has  them,  and  only  while  it  has  them.  They  are  sen- 
suous  and  particular, 

(2)  Aesthetic  feeling  must  exclude  the  feeling  of  ownership. — The  beautiful 
object  can  be  owned,  but  not  its  beauty.  Every  feeling  that  enters  into  aes- 
thetic enjoyment  must  be  capable  of  being  shared  by  all  who  witness  the 
object.    Aesthetic  feeling  is  unselfish. 

III.  Personal  Feelings. — These  may  be  defined  to  be 
such  as  arise  from  the  relations  of  self-conscious  beings  to  one  an- 
other. They  may  be  classified  as  Social,  Moral  and  Religious, 
in  the  order  of  the  increasing  width  of  relations  involved. 

I.  Social  Feelings. — These  come  under  the  general  heads  : 
regard  for  others  and  regard  for  self.  These  are  not  necessarily 
exclusive,  although,  of  course,  they  may  become  so.  But  re- 
gard for  self  is  a  social  feeling,  as  much  as  regard  for  others, 
because  the  self  has  no  meaning  except  in  relation  to  others. 
An  absolutely  isolated  self  would  be  no  self  at  all.  The  recog- 
nition of  "  me  "  and  "  mine  '*  implies  a  related  "  thee "  and 
"thine." 

(a)  Feelings  for  Self. — The  root  of  all  feelings  that  gather 
about  one's  own  self  is  interest  in  one's  own  existence.    Love  oi 


I20  FORMS    OF    EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

property,  a  desire  for  fame,  regard  for  one's  rights — or  what  one 
may  demand  from  others — feelings  of  self-respect  and  humility 
— all  personal  emotions— have  a  common  source  in  the  desire 
to  affirm  or  express  the  self.  Interest  may  be  taken  in  the  self 
as  physical,  or  as  intellectual,  as  moral,  as  in  relative  union  with 
or  isolation  from  others,  and  from  these  various  sides  of  self 
arise  the  various  forms  of  personal  feelings.  The  love  of  pro- 
perty, for  example,  arises  from  the  desire  to  affirm  one's  being  or 
will  in  control  over  material  nature,  and  thus  indirectly  over 
others.  The  love  of  power  and  influence  is  the  desire  to  extend 
personality  beyond  the  limits  of  the  body,  and  to  realize  it  in 
the  deeds  and  thoughts  of  others.  In  itself  this  desire  to 
affirm  or  express  one's  own  being  is  neither  moral  nor  immoral. 
It  may  become  the  source  of  the  highest  and  purest  achieve- 
ments of  humanity,  or  of  its  most  vicious  and  degraded  acts, 
according  to  the  direction  which  is  given  to  it 

{b)  Feelings  for  Others, — These,  as  they  are  friendly  or  hos- 
tile, are  sympathetic  or  antipathetic.  In  both,  there  is  an  identi- 
fication, conscious  or  unconscious,  of  the  state  of  mind  of  others 
with  our  own ;  in  one  case,  we  find  this  state  repulsive,  while 
in  the  other,  if  not  agreeable,  yet  2i  possible  state  of  our  own. 

Origin  of  Sympathy.— Sympathy  has  its  origin  in  the 
contagious  character  of  feeling.  Laughing  and  crying  are  both 
"  catching."  A  person  is  depressed,  if  he  goes  mto  an  atmos- 
phere of  sorrow,  even  if  the  sorrow  does  not  touch  him  personal- 
ly, or  even  if  he  does  not  know  the  cause  of  the  grief.  Children 
are  constantly  manifesting  such  sympathy.  Babies  in  their 
second  year  cry  or  "  make  believe  "  to  cry  when  they  see  others 
grieved,  while  quite  early  in  the  first  year  there  is  a  smile,  that 
cannot  be  other  than  reflex,  responsive  to  the  mother's  smile. 
This  imitative  sympathy  is  a  factor  which  the  teacher  may 
largely  rely  upon,  especially  with  younger  pupils.  It  is  also  the 
psychological  fact  which  lies  back  of  class-woik  as  opposed  to 


FORMS   OF    EMOTIONAL    DEVELOPMENT.  121 

individual  treatment.  The  teacher  knows  that  every  school 
and  even  every  class  has  its  own  pecuHar  atmosphere  and 
coloring;  and  this  results  from  the  contagion  of  emotion. 
Many  a  child  that  has  refused  to  study  or  learn  when  trained 
alone  at  home  has  "  taken  a  start "  as  soon  as  he  went  to 
school  through  the  influnce  of  his  fellow  pupils  upon  him. 
This  feeling  possessed  by  groups  of  persons  may  be  disciplined, 
and  then  it  becomes  fjprit  de  corps-2S  important  a  help  to  the 
teacher  as  to  the  officer. 

Development  of  Sympathy.— Higher  than  reflex  sym- 
pathy, however,  Is  active  sympathy,  which  in  addition  to 
reproducing  states  of  another,  recognizes  that  they  belong  U 
another.  We  must  first,  indeed,  make  the  feeling  our  own, 
but  must  then  make  it  another's.  To  have  true  sympathy  with 
a  man  suffering  from  poverty,  for  example,  we  must  feel  in 
ourselves  somewhat  as  he  feels,  but  we  must  also  realize  that 
factually  has  those  feelings,  those  sufferings,  and  the  latter 
factor  is  practically  much  more  important  than  the  former. 
Many  philanthropists  appear  very  callous  to  the  feelings  of 
others,  while  persons  who  are  most  sensitive  in  reproducing 
feelings  of  others,  are  sometimes  least  ready  in  removing  the 
causes  of  their  sufferings.  The  fact  that  we  have  taken  out 
illustrations  from  sympathy  with  sorrows  should  not  mislead 
the  student ;  sympathy  is  with  joy  as  well  as  with  grie^  it  is 
with  every  feeling  of  another. 

2.  Moral  Feelings. — A  complete  account  of  these  emotions  be- 
longs to  ethics  rather  than  to  psychology,  but  a  statement  of  their 
origin  and  contents  is  in  place  here.  They  are,  psychologically, 
an  outgrowth  of  social  feelings,  particularly  of  sympathy.  They 
contain,  as  factors,  feelings  of  rightness,  of  obligation,  and  of 
approval  or  disapproval.  Reversing  the  natural  order,  we  shall 
take  up  first  the  contents  and  then  the  origin  of  moral  feelings. 

Contents  of  Moral  Feelifig. — The  feeling  of  rightness  is  the 


122  FORMS    OF   EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

feeling  that  a  certain  act,  say  truth-telling,  is  in  harmony  with 
the  ideal  of  personality,  while  its  opposite  contradicts,  and  in  so 
far,  destroys  the  true  personality.  It  is  a  personal  feeling,  there- 
fore, because  it  deals  with  the  relations  of  states  of  mind  and  of 
acts  to  personality.  An  act  felt  to  be  right  is  also  felt  to  be 
obligatory.  Thus  the  feeling  that  one  ought  to  be  what 
ideally  one  may  be.  Something  is  due  to  the  ideal  personality  ; 
one  is  bound  to  do  everything  possible  to  make  it  real,  and 
hence  all  acts  contributing  to  its  realization  are  felt  as  duties, 
something  due  or  owed.  A  right  act  or  character  calls  forth 
ai>probation  \  a  wrong  one,  disapprobation,  or,  if  the  act  is 
our  own,  remorse.  Approbation  is  the  pleasure  which  spon- 
taneously arises  upon  feeling  the  harmony  of  real  and  ideal 
character,  just  as  aesthetic  pleasure  spontaneously  arises  upon 
perceiving  the  harmony  of  real  and  ideal  in  an  object. 

Origin  of  Moral  Feeling. — As  already  said,  it  grows  out 
of  social  feeling.  Sympathy  in  its  highest  form,  is  interest  in 
everything  which  concerns  the  interests  of  personality ;  it  is  unity 
of  interest,  the  realization  that  a  group  of  persons  has  a  common 
relation  to  a  common  good,  and  that  this  good  is,  therefore,  to 
be  shared  by  all.  It  thus  becomes  love,  which  not  only  feels 
the  experience  of  others,  but  is  actively  interested  in  making 
those  loved  sharers  in  whatever  is  good.  In  this  way,  begin- 
ning with  a  sympathy  which  is  purely  natural,  even  having 
a  physical  basis,  arises  an  ethical  sympathy.  Love  becomes 
the  source  of  moral  groups  or  communities.  The  family,  for 
example,  while  made  up  of  distinct  persons,  parents  and  chil- 
dren, has  a  common  good,  and  hence  a  common  interest  and 
purpose.  A  moral  community  is  one  in  which  there  is  felt  to 
be  some  common  end,  or  good,  and  where  there  is  felt  the 
need  of  realizing  it  in  every  member  of  the  community. 

Ethical  Basis  of  the  School.— 7%<?  school  is,  both  histori- 
cally and  philosophically,  the  expansion^  the  continuation  of  the 


FORMS   OF   EMOTIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  1 23 

family.  It  is  the  connecting  link  between  the  family  and  a  higher 
ethical  community,  the  general  social  order.  Thus  the  school 
is,  both  historically  and  philosophically,  the  preparation  for  tht 
community  and  the  state. 

These  propositions  give  the  ethical  basis  and  function  of 
the  school,  as  a  distinct  organization  having  education  in  its 
cliarge.  The  school  is  a  definite  social  and  moral  organization ; 
it  aims,  like  the  family,  at  the  highest  development  or  good  of 
each  of  its  members ;  like  the  family,  it  attempts  to  reach  this 
end  by  definite  training,  authority  and  order  imposed  from 
without  It  prepares  each  of  its  members  for  membership  in  a 
larger  community,  where  each  takes  charge  of  his  own  develop- 
ment or  training,  and  where  he  comes  in  contact  with  external 
authority  only  as  a  restraining,  not  as  an  educative  or  developing 
power.  The  school,  therefore,  while,  resting  on  the  authority  oj 
the  family^  must  train  with  reference  to  free  citizenship  in  the  state. 
This  is  the  principle  which  underlies,  ethically,  the  disciplinary 
organization  of  the  school 

Training  of  Moral  Feeling. — A  few  specific  principles 
may  be  mentioned,  (i)  It  is  generally  useless  to  give  abstract 
and  didactic  moral  teaching.  It  should  be  connected  either  with 
something  the  pupil  has  actually  done,  or  with  social  relations 
yhich  he  will  have  to  meet  in  later  life,  and  with  which  he  is 
already  somewhat  familiar.  It  is  not  enough  to  exhort  to  do 
right ;  it  should  rather  be  shown,  by  examples  coming  within 
the  range  of  the  pupil's  experience,  what  it  is  that  is  right. 
Failure  of  the  pupil  to  do,  what  he  should  do,  may  be  made  the 
occasion  of  awakening  his  own  sense  of  disapprobation  and  of 
obligation.  His  interest  in  business,  in  politics,  may  be  appeal- 
ed to,  and  thus  he  may  be  interested  in  the  rights  and  duties 
that  spring  out  of  such  relations.  In  other  words,  moral 
instruction  should  be  concrete  not  abstract.  (2)  However  it 
may  be  in  the  state,  the  object  of  punishment  in  the  school  is 


124  FORMS   OF    EMOTIONAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

the  development,  the  awakening  and  the  strengthening  of  the 
pupil's  own  moral  nature.  Its  ultimate  aim  is  the  development 
of  the  sense  of  obligation,  and  capacity,  through  the  formation  of 
corresponding  right  habits,  for  self-control  and  self-government. 
The  thorougli  recognition  and  application  of  this  principle  would 
do  more  for  our  schools  than  any  one  can  easily  imagine.  (3) 
The  vital  motives  as  interest,  sympathy  and  love,  are  much  more 
effective  in  securing  right  conduct  than  fear,  regard  for  authority, 
or  even  reverence  for  abstract  law.  It  has  been  well  said  that  the 
worst  of  men  probably  know  as  much  of  what  is  right  as  the 
best  of  men  can  do.  The  practical  problem  is,  therefore,  the 
cultivation  of  feelings  and  dispositions  which  may  be  relied 
upon  to  impel  the  pupil  to  right  action. 

3.  Religious  Feeling. — As  previously  suggested,  this  is  con- 
nected with  the  imagination.  The  feeling  of  a  synthesis  or 
connection  of  all  natural  objects  with  one  another,  and  of 
the  inmost  nature  of  things  with  ourselves,  is  a  factor  con- 
tained, however,  dimly  and  unconsciously,  in  religious  senti- 
ment. And  this  factor  is  supplied  originally,  at  least,  by  the 
imagination.  Fused  with  this,  controlling  and  giving  it  meaning 
and  content,  should  be  factors  supplied  by  moral  motives. 
As  the  result  of  this  fusion  there  come  feelings  of  depend- 
cnce,  of  peace,  and  of  trust  or  faith.  The  feeling  of  depefid- 
ence  has  as  its  intellectual  element,  the  feeling  that  we  are 
only  a  part  of  a  whole,  much  wider,  more  powerful  than  our- 
selves. As  its  moral  element,  it  contains  the  feeling  that  the 
source  of  all  good,  in  ourselves  and  in  the  world,  is  a  Being 
upon  whom  we  are  dependent  for  power  to  think  and  attain 
the  good.  The  feeling  of  peace,  as  the  factor  supplied  by 
imagination,  has  the  idea  of  unity  already  referred  to,  the  feel- 
ing that  the  heart  of  things  is  one  with  our  nature.  The 
moral  factor  adds  the  feeling  that  this  peace  can  be  attained 
only  through  unity  with  the  Being  who  is  perfect  Goodness. 


FORMS    OF    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  I25 

So  di  faith.  Through  the  intellectual  feeling  of  our  oneness 
with  the  world,  we  feel  that  we  can  trust  it,  that  we  are  borne 
along  by  it.  The  moral  element  is  that  the  Being  who  is  perfect 
Goodness  is  the  only  ultimate  Reality  and  is  the  Ideal  towards 
which  we  should  strive.  This  Ideal  cannot  be  seen  or  felt,  oi 
made  known  to  the  senses,  but  is  to  be  apprehended  by  faith. 
No  specific  methods  of  cultivating  religious  emotions  can  be  laid  down 
here.  As  a  general  principle  the  teacher  should  keep  in  mind  that  a  vague 
form  of  the  religious  feeling  of  unity,  is  supplied  by  the  imagination, 
although  in  very  varying  degrees  of  strength  and  intensity  in  different 
individuals.  But  to  a  certain  degree  this  feeling  of  unity,  and  desire  for  it, 
exist  in  every  child,  and  so  far  the  teacher  can  assume  It  as  a  basis.  His 
work  is  then  to  give  this  feeling  a  moral  and  personal  turn  and  filling. 
Note. — For  the  development  of  feeling  in  general  see  Dewey's  Psychology, 
pp.  262-295 ;  for  intellectual  feeling,  pp.  296-308  for  aesthetic,  pp.  309*325; 
for  personal,  pp.  326-346. 


CHAPTER   VL 
FORMS    OF   VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

As  already  stated,  in  the  second  chapter,  the  beginning  of 
will  is  impulse.  Impulse  becomes  volition  proper  by  the  pro- 
cesses of  attention  and  association  working  upon  it  There  are 
no  new  activities,  no  new  functions,  no  new  laws  to  be  met  with 
in  the  subject  of  will.  Analysis  and  synthesis  play  as  great 
part  here  as  they  do  in  the  intellect ;  development  is  here,  as 
there,  from  the  immediate,  the  particular  and  the  indefinite 
to  the  ideal,  the  general  and  the  definite.  From  the  fact,  how- 
ever, that  the  development  concerns  a  different  material,  the 
impulses,  and  not  the  sensations  or  the  interests,  certain  new 
phases  present  themselves. 

Contrast  of  Impulsive  and  Volitional  Action.— 
The  characteristics  of  an  act  of  will  may  be  seen  by  comparing 
it  with  an  impulsive  act.     Action   originating   in   impulse  is 


126  FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

blind ;  that  is  it  does  not  see  its  way  clear  to  any  end.  li 
occurs  from  a  tendency  to  act,  but  it  does  not  know  whithei 
this  tendency  leads,  towards  what  it  is  aiming.  A  bird  builds 
its  nest  from  impulse,  without  knowing  the  purpose  to  be 
reached ;  a  child  when  hurt  strikes  wildly  about  him  without 
having  any  end  in  view.  When  we  say  that  such  and  such  a 
person  acts  from  the  impulse  of  the  moment,  we  mean  that  that 
person  is  inclined  to  act  out  any  impulse  that  occurs  to  him 
without  looking  beyond  the  moment  in  which  the  impulse  takes 
him.  Its  end  is  not  taken  into  consideration.  Impulsive 
action  is  thus  opposed  to  intelligent  action,  the  latter  being  that 
which  has  an  end  in  view. 

Uncontrolled. — Another  distinction  is  that  impulsive  ac- 
tion is  uncontrolled.  When  we  say  that  a  person  is  a  creature  of 
impulse,  we  mean  that  his  conduct  is  apparently  unregulated; 
that  it  does  not  evince  settled  law  or  order.  Action  is  uncon- 
trolled when  the  impulse  is  not  measured  by  some  standard  and 
its  value  fixed  by  the  comparison.  For  example,  there  is  an 
impulse  towards  speech,  but  unless  this  impulse  is  controlled 
by  a  standard,  the  speech  will  be  mere  meaningless  babble.  In 
strictly  impulsi\  e  action,  each  impulse  has  its  own  value,  and 
this  intrinsic  value  is  sufficient  motive  for  action.  Every  im- 
pulse is  followed,  none  is  suppressed,  none  is  checked,  none  is 
guided  towards  any  end.  Every  impulse  expresses  itself,  and 
only  itself.  But  if  the  impulses  are  directed  towards  an  end  all 
this  is  changed.  The  impulse  now  is  not  valuable  in  itself,  but 
only  so  far  as  it  helps  to  reach  the  end.  If  it  does  not  make 
towards  the  end  it  is  suppressed  \  if  it  does  lead  towards  the 
end,  it  is  connected  with  others  with  which  it  may  co-operate ;  it 
is  thus  nowhere  allowed  to  express  itself  but  only  the  end,  to 
whose  law  it  is  subjected.     In  other  words,  it  is  controlled. 

The  Conception  of  End. — It  is  evident,  therefore,  that 
what  makes  the  difference  between  impulsive  and  volitional 
action  is  the  conception  of  an  end.     Impulse  is  blind,  because  it 


FORMS  or    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  la) 

has  no  purpose,  no  end  in  view ;  it  is  uncontrolled  for  the 
same  reason.  Volitional  action  has  an  end  in  view,  and  this 
end  controls  and  subordinates  all  the  steps  of  the  activity. 
JMjjjnn  ^'°  ^ ***/*" ^'^^  rnfifrnJIpA  and  harmnni7.f>d  hy  the  concfption 
qf  an  end.  In  studying  will,  we  have  to  study  the  development 
of  the  idea  of  an  endy  and  the  ways  in  which  the  idea  becomes 
actual. 

niustration. — Take  as  an  example  of  volitional  action,  the 
building  of  a  house.  This  is  the  end  of  action.  In  the  first 
place,  there  must  be  an  idea  of  this  end,  the  builder  or  the 
architect  must  have  a  plan.  The  clearer  and  the  more  definite, 
the  more  detailed  the  plan,  the  more  orderly  and  eflftcient  will 
be  the  work.  But  at  this  stage,  the  end  is  only  an  idea.  The 
idea  must  be  changed  into  an  actuality ;  it  must  be  realized. 
The  execution  of  a  purpose,  is  as  necessary,  therefore,  to  com* 
plete  volition  as  the  formation  of  the  purpose.  We  shall  (i) 
take  up  the  way  in  which  the  purpose,  or  the  idea  of  an  end  is 
formed,  and  (2)  the  process  of  its  realization. 

I.  Beginning  of  Idea  of  End. — While  an  impulsive  action 
does  not  aim  at  an  end,  it  none  the  less  reaches  an  end.  A 
child  grasps  after  a  bright-colored  ball,  not  because  he  has  any 
purpose,  but  because  an  impulse  has  been  aroused  by  the  ex- 
citation of  the  retina  of  his  eye ;  but  if  he  grasps  the  ball  an  idea 
of  the  ball,  of  its  feeling,  and  especially  of  what  can  be  done 
with  itf  is  formed.  The  child  sees  that  he  can  throw  it,  can 
bound  it,  etc  The  next  time  he  sees  the  ball,  the  idea  of  the 
action  that  he  can  perform  is  (by  the  law  of  association), 
part  of  his  idea  of  the  ball.  The  sight  of  the  ball  thus  sug- 
gests 01  redintegrates  the  action,  and  this  is  accordingly 
performed. 

IiL.iStrations  Continued.— No  one  can  watch  a  baby  of  the  age  of 
from  one  to  two  years  and  not  be  convinced  that,  to  the  child's  mind,  the 
qualities  of  an  object  are  mostly  made  up  of  what  he  can  do  with  the  ob- 
ject .     A  hai  is  something  to  be  put  upon  the  head  ;  a  whip  something  to 


128  FORMS    OF    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

Strike  with  ;  a  drawer  is  something  to  be  drawn  out  and  pushed  back,  etc.j 
etc.  His  own  actions  about  or  with  the  object  constitutes  his  ideas  of  the 
object ;  his  knowledge  exists  in  terms  of  his  actions  with  reference  to  the 
thing.  The  idea  of  an  object  accordingly  always  suggests — rather  is — to 
him  thai  which  he  can  do,  and  so  the  idea  of  an  object  passes  naturally,  or 
even  inevitably,  into  action. 

Completion  of  Idea  of  End, — Here  we  have  the  transition  to 
true  volitional  action.  The  action  is  no  longer  the  mere  ex- 
pression of  an  impulse,  but  occurs  as  the  accompaniment  of  an 
idea.  The  idea  which  an  object  awakens  is  the  connecting 
link  between  the  impulse  and  the  action.  It  is  not  yet  true 
volition,  however,  because  the  action  does  not  occur  for  the  sake 
of  realizing  the  idea  of  an  end.  But  when  the  child  learns  that 
there  are  a  great  many  things  which  he  can  do  with  an  object, 
and  that  some  of  these  conflict  with  one  another,  when  he 
learns  (mainly  through  language)  that  the  object  has  qualities 
independent  of  his  actions,  he  comes  to  distinguish  between  the 
object  and  what  he  can  do  with  it.  Thus  the  idea  of  what  he 
can  do  becomes  a  distinct  idea  to  him,  and  so  an  end  in  itself. 
He  learns  that  a  whip  is  not  something  to  strike  with  always 
and  under  all  circumstances ;  and  he  learns  also  that  the  act  of 
striking  is  not  necessarily  connected  with  a  whip.  This  act, 
therefore,  becomes  a  distinct  idea  in  his  mind,  and  hence  a  dis- 
tinct end  ;  while  previous  to  this  time  it  was  only  one  quality 
always  suggested  by  the  object. 

Suramaiy. — At  first,  as  Professor  James  very  truly  says, 
we  do  not  know  what  we  are  going  to  do  until  after  we  have 
done  it ;  the  true  nature  of  the  impulse  is  not  revealed  until  it 
has  executed  itself.  But  the  act  once  done  the  idea  of  the  act 
is  ever  afterwards  associated  with  the  impulse,  and  hence  there 
is  an  end  supplied  to  that  impulse  for  the  future.  Thus  the  im- 
pulses  gradually  and  normally,  if  they  are  properly  trained,  pass 
into  volitional  action.     It  is  to  this  point  that  we  now  come. 


TRAINING   OF    IMPULSES.  If 9 

Training  of  Impulses. 

1.  The  development  of  the  impulses  depends  upon  the  develop- 
metit  of  the  intellect. — There  can  be  no  volitional  activity  until 
there  is  an  idea  of  an  end.  The  child  cannot  do  until  he  knows. 
To  quote  Professor  James  again,  we  might  as  well  ask  a  man 
to  give  the  Choctaw  equivalent  of  some  English  word,  as  to  ask 
him  to  perform  some  action  corresponding  to  which  he  has  no 
equivalent  in  the  way  of  a  mental  notion.  If,  for  example,  a 
child  is  to  pronounce  the  word  *■  cat,'  or  is  to  write  the  word,  he 
iCiMs\.  first  have  a  mental  image  and  th^n  express  it 

2.  Every  development  of  the  impulses  results  in  a  training  of 
the  intellect. — While  the  foregoing  principle  is  true,  it  is  also 
true  that  the  operation  of  an  impulse,  the  reaching  of  an  end  is 
necessary  to  the  idea  of  the  end.  The  child  will  not  have  a 
distinct  knowledge  of  the  sound  of  d,  for  example, until  he  has 
made  it.  At  first  he  imitates  the  position  of  the  vocal  organs 
of  his  teacher,  and  by  his  own  activities  makes  sounds  resem- 
bling that  of  the  teacher.  Finally  he  hits  the  correct  sound  : 
he  has  the  thrill  of  identification,  and  now  for  the  first  time  he 
truly  recognizes  or  knows  the  sound  in  the  future,  as  well  as 
know  how  to  make  it.  And  this  but  illustrates  the  general  law. 
First,  the  manifestation  of  an  impulse  reaches  an  end  and 
leaves  behind  the  idea  of  the  end ;  then  this  idea  is  utilized 
as  guiding  and  controlling  the  impulse.  The  impulse  now 
manifests  itself,  under  the  control  of  an  idea,  in  a  more 
definite  and  complete  way,  and  the  idea  is  further  enriched. 
This,  in  turn,  supplies  a  still  more  definite  end  to  impulse, 
and  so  on  indefinitely.  Thus  the  development  of  intellect  and 
of  impulse  is  reciprocal. 

3.  Knowing  and  Doing  must,  therefore,  be  trained  by  the  same 
processes,  and  correlatively  to  each  other. — We  are  now  able  to 
state  the  psychological  principle  which  reconciles  the  two  pre- 
cepts ah-eady  given  (pp.  45  and  46),  "  Learn  to  do  by  doing,* 

I 


130  FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

and  "  Learn  to  do  by  knowing."  The  principles  when  rightlj 
interpreted  include  rather  than  exclude  each  other.  Unless 
we  do^  we  cannot  understand  the  ideas  involved  in  action^  much 
less  act  And  unless  we  know^  we  cannot  act  in  a  signifi- 
cant way,  in  a  way  which  is  really  expressive  of  ideas.  Apply 
this  to  the  teaching  of  arithmetic.  A  child  will  never  under* 
stand  an  abstract  rule  or  principle  until  he  has  acted  accord- 
ing to  it :  until  he  has  embodied  it  in  arithmetical  operations ; 
he  will  never  fully  understand  it  until  he  has  repeatedly  acted 
upon  it,  so  that  he  is  thoroughly  master  of  it.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  his  actions  will  be  blind  and  meaningless,  ex- 
cepting he  comes  to  see  them  as  the  manifestation  of  a 
principle.  He  is,  in  other  words,  to  "  do  sums,"  not  for  the 
sake  of  forming  a  blind  habit  of  "  doing  sums,"  but  in  order  to 
understand  the  rational  ideas  involved  in  the  operations ;  and 
he  is  to  learn  the  rule  and  the  principles,  not  for  the  sake 
of  the  abstract  ideas  themselves,  but  for  the  sake  of  power  to 
act  upon  them,  for  the  sake  of  mastery.  There  is  a  similar 
relation  between  speech,  and  the  laws  of  language  found  in 
grammar.  These  laws  cannot  be  understood  apart  from  the 
action  of  which,  indeed  they  are  only  the  abstract  statement 
The  child  must  "  do,"  must  speak  and  write  in  order  to  know 
the  laws.  But  on  the  other  hand,  unless  the  child  is  brought 
consciously  to  realize  the  laws  involved  in  language,  he  not 
only  has  nothing  by  which  to  test  speech,  but  has  no  idea  of 
its  rational  basis.  Language  to  him  will  be  a  mere  meaningless 
tool. 

4.  Such  a  reciprocal  training  of  the  Impulses  and  the  Intellect 
renders  education  Practical. — There  is  no  need  of  saying  that 
practical  does  not  merely  mean  commercial,  or  capable  of 
being  applied  to  money>making.  Nor  does  it  mean  that 
everything  learned  must  be  capable  of  direct  application  to 
action.  It  is  only  in  early  childhood,  while  action  is  still 
largely  impulsive,  thsct  all  ideas  are  converted,  upon  the  spot, 


TRAINING   OF     IMPULSES.  I3I 

into  action.  But  no  education  is  practical  which  does  not,  in 
training  the  intellect,  train  the  will ;  which  does  not,  in  giving 
knowledge,  give  ability  to  act.  No  graver  accusation  can  be 
brought  against  any  course  of  education  than  that  it  is  not 
practical,  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term  practical.  A  course  of 
school-training  which  does  not  fit  one  for  his  true  life  of  action, 
is  defective,  regarded  even  as  training  of  the  intellect,  for 
knowledge  is  not  truly  knowledge  as  long  as  it  remains  imper- 
sonal, remote  from  the  activities  of  its  possessor,  and  it  is 
yet  more  defective  on  the  moral  side,  for  he  who  is  not 
trained  to  rational  activity  has  no  preparation  for  a  moral 
life.  We  have  now  seen  what  is  the  goal  of  the  training  of  the 
impulses — such  a  development  of  them  as  subordinates  them  to 
ideas,  while  ideas  are,  at  the  same  time,  employed  to  control 
impulses.  We  may  now  briefly  discuss  the  means  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  teacher  for  reaching  the  desired  goal. 

5.  Educational  training  should  be  based  upon  natural  impulses 
and  interests. — The  teacher  does  not  have  to  create  impulses, 
but  to  utilize  those  already  existing.  School  life  is  a  develop- 
ment of  the  instinctive  activities,  not  a  creation  of  new  and  ar- 
tificial ones.  This  is  a  common-place,  and  yet  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  any  pedagogical  precept  is  more  frequently 
violated,  or  with  more  harmful  results.  The  artificial  atmos- 
phere of  some  schools,  the  dislike  of  pupils  for  their  studies 
(and  perhaps  lor  their  teachers),  the  stupidity  of  some  children, 
and  the  feverish  mental  activity  of  others,  are  too  often  due  to 
the  fact  that  an  unreal  goal  has  been  set  up  ;  study  has  become 
something  apart  from  the  normal  impulses  of  the  pupils,  and  con- 
sequently factitious  and  unhealthy  methods  must  be  resorted  ta 

Pleasure  in  Training. — Since  education  is  only  a  training  of  natural 
impulses,  it  follows,  almost  axiomatically,  that,  if  the  great  mass  of  pupils  do 
not  delight  in  their  training  as  they  do  in  the  expression  of  their  natural 
impulses,  there  is  something  defective  in  the  educational  methods.  There 
•re,  of  course,  individual  exceptions :    some  children  through  hereditary, 


f3«  FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

home  and  other  influences  beyond  the  teacher's  control,  do  not  seem  to 
have  any  tendencies  worth  mentioning  towards  knowledge  and  mental 
activity  ;  while  others  are  morally  so  defective  that  any  subjection  of  im- 
pulses to  law  and  order  is  irksome  and  repulsive.  But  the  statement  re- 
garding the  ** great  mass"  remains  true. 

6.  These  natural  impulses  are  to  be  subjected  to  discipline. — 
This  again  is  a  normal  process,  as  natural  as  the  expression  of 
the  impulses.  Every  impulse  tends  to  reach  an  end,  and  the 
end  once  reached  it  tends  to  subordinate  itself  in  the  future  to 
the  control  of  that  end.  The  teacher  simply  utilizes  this  nor- 
mal  psychological  principle.  He  employs  it  in  a  systematic  way 
by  overseeing  the  end  tow^ards  which  the  impulses  work,  and 
by  taking  care  that  they  work  regularly  toward  these  ends. 
The  spontaneous  self-discipline  offered  by  the  tendency  of  im- 
pulses to  subject  themselves  to  the  law  of  their  end,  is  defec- 
tive, firsts  because  there  is  nothing  to  ensure  that  the  impulse 
reaches  its  highest  and  fullest  end,  and  secondly,  because  there  is 
nothing  to  ensure  that  it  reaches  the  end  so  regularly  that  the 
tendency  to  work  towards  the  end  shall  become  a  law.  Sur- 
rounding influences  preclude  the  impulse  manifesting  itself  to 
its  highest  capacities,  and  they  preclude  anything  more  than  a 
fitful  and  intermittent  activity  of  it.  The  teacher  supplies 
ends  which  call  out  the  fullest  manifestation  of 
the  impulses,  and  he  supplies  regular  and  constant 
means  for  working  towards  these  ends.  This  may 
almost  be  said  to  exhaust  the  work  of  the  teacher. 

7.  A  portion  of  this  discipline  consists  in  external  arrange- 
ments.— A  child  left  to  spontaneous  self  discipline,  is  left  to  the 
na.tura.\  force  of  the  impulses  and  to  chance  for  their  expression, 
A  child  in  school  is  surrounded  with  a  multiplicity  of  special 
influences  reinforcing  the  natural  strength  of  the  impulses  and 
almost  ensuring  their  regular  expression.  The  child  is  to  take 
and  to  keep  a  certain  place  in  school :  he  is  to  be  present  at  a 
certain  hour  :  to  be  doing  fixed  things  at  fixed  times,  etc,  etc, 


TRAINING   OF    IMPULSES.  I33 

Order  is  either  of  space  or  of  time.  Punctuality  as  to  time-re- 
lations, and  regularity  as  to  place-relations  are  demanded  of 
the  pupil.  All  that  comes  under  the  head  of  the  organization  and 
administration  of  the  school  has  for  its  purpose  the  ensuring  of 
regularity  and  certainty  in  the  manifestation  of  the  impulses. 
This  organization,  with  all  it  includes,  is  a  good  servant,  but  a  bad 
master.  Its  true  significance  is  to  be  tributary  to  the  discipline 
of  the  pupil — it  is  a  mechanism  for  a  certain  end,  and  the  mean- 
ing of  mechanical,  real  as  well  as  etymological,  is  instrumental. 

8.  A  portion  of  the  discipline  is  internal. — ^The  external 
means  accompany  and  render  efficient  instruction  in  certain 
subjects.  There  is  a  regular  recurrence  of  studies;  a  fixed 
order  in  the  materials  studied  as  well  as  in  the  arrangements 
that  induce  to  study.  The  educator,  through  these  studies,  fur- 
nishes the  ends  best  fitted  to  guide  the  impulses  into  complete  ac- 
tivity, and  he  gives  them  orderly  and  regular  exercise.  To  go  into 
details  upon  the  ways  in  which  these  studies  afford  discipline, 
would  be  to  repeat  all  that  has  been  said  upon  the  training  of 
association,  attention  and  the  various  faculties,  and  to  antici- 
pate all  that  will  be  said  in  the  next  part  upon  educational 
praxis. 

9.  Discipline  accomplishes  its  purposes  when  it  results  in  Self- 
control. — The  training,  to  which  the  impulses  are  subjected,  is 
to  become  the  law  of  the  impulses ;  a  law  internal  to  them, 
which  they  manifest,  not  merely  something  external  to  which 
they  must  conform.  The  training  is  to  result  in  a  law  inherent 
in  the  impulses,  and  when  this  is  done  there  is  self-control, 
^2X\%,  freedom.  It  must  be  repeated  that  the  school-discipline 
is  not  to  repress  the  impulses,  nor  to  substitute  something  else 
for  them,  but  to  ensure  to  them  their  highest  activity  and  de- 
velopment, and  this  not  fitfully  but  regularly.  When  disci- 
pline has  had  this  result,  freedom  takes  the  place  of  authority. 
The  impulses  have  again,  and  in  a  true  and  lasting  sense,  be- 
come a  law  unto  themselves ^  because  they  have  embodied  disci- 


134  FORMS   OF   VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

pline,  law  within  themselves.  The  person  acts  both  from  im- 
pulse and  from  principle.  This  ideal  may  never  be  reached, 
but  it  is  none  the  less  the  teacher*s  function  and  duty  to  aim 
at  its  realization. 

Idea  and  Desire. — Aristotle  sa3rs  that  volition,  or  the 
power  of  originating  action,  constitutes  a  man,  and  that  volition 
may  be  termed  either  reason  that  desires  or  desire  that  reasons. 
As  impulse  is  blind  action,  so  it  is  blind  desire.  It  includes 
feeling  of  want  or  lack,  but  it  does  not  know  what  is  wanting  ; 
the  want  thus  aims  blindly  at  its  own  satisfaction.  Desire  is 
intelligent  impulse  ;  it  is  want  that  has  become  conscious  of  its 
own  nature  and  of  the  end  that  satisfies.  Thus  volition  is  desire 
that  reasons  ;  desire  that  takes  account  of  itself.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  a  mere  idea  does  not  constitute  volition.  The  idea 
of  an  end  will  not  move  to  action  if  the  mind  is  satisfied  with 
its  present  condition.  This  idea  must  stir  the  emotions,  must 
influence  the  feelings— in  a  word,  arouse  desire — before  there  is 
any  tendency  for  it  to  become  more  than  a  mere  idea.  Thus 
/olition  is  also  reason  that  desires :  reason  that  has  ceased  to  be 
abstract  and  impersonal,  and  become  emotional  and  interested 
So  far  we  have  studied  only  the  rational  side,  the  idea ;  we 
must  now  take  up  the  emotional  side,  the  desire. 

Origin  of  Desires. — In  the  impulse  of  a  child  to  seek  food, 
to  grasp  bright  objects,  to  throw  them  and  play  with  them, 
there  is  contained  a  tendency  to  satisfy  some  want,  whether  of 
food  for  the  body  or  for  the  senses,  or  of  physical  activity.  As 
soon  as  the  impulse  is  manifested,  some  end  is  reached  which 
satisfies  the  want  to  some  extent.  The  child  finds  the  food,  he 
seizes  the  ball,  etc.  The  child  who  has  played  with  the  ball  finds 
that  it  satisfies  his  previous  need  of  activity.  From  this  time  play- 
ing with  it  is  an  object  of  desire  with  him.  If  the  child  sees  the 
ball  and  yet  does  not  play  with  it,  the  idea  conflicts  with  reality. 
The  idea,  moreover,  as  compared  with  the  reality,  is  pleasurable ; 
in  comparison  with  it,  the  present  reality  does  not  interest     The 


TRAINING  OF    DESIRE.  I35 

dM  wrould  rather  play  with  the  ball  than  do  what  he  is  doing. 
As  long  as  this  state  continues  there  is  tension  ;  there  is  plea- 
sure so  far  as  the  idea  of  the  end  is  found  satisfactory  :  there  is 
pain,  so  fiu"  as  the  present  reality  is  opposed  to  the  idea.  TAis 
conflict  of  an  idea  felt  to  be  satisfactory  ^  with  a  reality  which  fails 
to  satisfy,  constitutes  desire. 

The  Object  of  Desire.— It  is  to  be  noticed  that  what 
is  desired  is  not  tiie  thing  or  the  activity,  nor  yet  the 
pleasure  afforded  by  them.  What  is  wanted  is  the  satisfaction 
of  the  self.  The  thing  is  desued  only  because  through  it  the  self 
is  satisfied ;  pleasure  is  wanted  only  so  far  as  it  testifies  to 
satisfaction.  Pain  is  an  object  ot  desire  when  it  is  considered 
to  satisfy  self  better  than  pleasure.  The  desires  are  developed, 
therefore,  just  in  the  degree  in  which  the  self  is  developed. 
When  the  self  becomes  complex,  having  many  kinds  of  activities 
and  many  interests,  desires  are  correspondingly  complex. 
When  the  self  becomes  aware  of  its  possession  of  any  capa- 
city— of  a  capacity  for  finding  satisfaction  in  any  direptitJ^ee SE^ 
a  desire  is  awakened.  \Xl  jsj-j  t/'^  ^'"^ 

Training  of  Desire.  —The  impulses  must  be  trainedoj^  or 
their  relation  to  desire  as  well  as  in  their  relations  to  an  idea.  -— 2t| 
Indeed,  the  complaint  sometimes  made  that  school  training 
leaves  children  bright  and  quick  intellectually,  but  without  cor- 
responding moral  training,  is  largely  due,  so  far  as  it  is  well- 
based,  to  lack  of  training  of  the  desires,  or  of  the  emotional 
side  of  the  will.     We  notice  then 

(i)  Desires  are  trained  through  a  development  of  the  emo- 
tional nature ;  whatever  ifUer^sts  is  desired. — The  development 
of  interests  is,  therefore,  as  important  for  the  development  of 
will  as  of  intellect.  The  connection  of  love  and  desire  is  so 
close  that,  in  popular  language  the  terms  are  identified ;  and 
there  is  this  warrant  for  the  identification,  that  whatever  one  likes 
one  also  desires  to  possess.     Sympathy  is  a  powerful  coadjutor 


136  FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

in  training  desire.  The  manifestation  of  desire  by  one  tends  to 
awaken  it  in  another.  As  soon  as  a  child  wants  something,  his 
playmates  generally  "  want  it  too,*'  even  though  it  was  previously 
indifferent.  Rivalry  may  sometimes  be  appealed  to  in  order 
to  awaken  desire,  but  in  most  cases  sympathy  is  more  eflfective- 
A  teacher  of  strong  desires  will  gradually  find  his  pupils  reflect- 
ing his  own  wishes  and  aversions,  while  the  lack  of  permanent 
and  controlling  desires  on  his  part,  generally  shows  itself  in  the 
school. 

a.  Desires  are  trained  by  satisfying  or  failing  to  satisfy  im- 
pulse-— Impulses  that  are  always  thwarted  die  out  to  some  ex- 
tent. Having  no  expression  there  is  no  experience  of  satisfaction 
to  recur  in  the  form  of  desire.  On  the  contrary,  the  constant 
arousing  and  satisfying  of  some  impulse,  originally  feeble,  will 
by  the  cumulation  of  images  of  satisfaction  gathering  about  that 
impulse,  strengthen  desire.  The  practical  problem  with  a  boy 
called  stupid  often  is  to  search  out  and  systematically  gratify 
some  impulse  which  has  never  been  allowed  to  express  itself. 
This  done,  definite  desire  is  produced,  and  the  boy  is  quickened 
into  the  exertion  of  his  own  powers  to  gain  satisfaction  in  the ' 
future ;  having  tasted  the  fruits  of  gratification,  he  never  falls 
back  into  passivity.  There  is  a  moral  as  well  as  an  intellectual 
application  of  this  same  principle.  A  selfish  child  should  be 
made  to  feel  the  gratification  of  satisfying  what  generous  im- 
pulses he  does  possess  \  an  untruthful  child,  the  satisfaction  of 
stating  things  as  they  are,  etc.  While  moral  action  is  not  con- 
stituted by  action  for  the  sake  of  gratification,  it  is  often  none 
the  less  true  that  it  is  by  experiencing  gratification  from  moral 
conduct  that  the  child  is  led  to  desire  moral  conduct  for  its 
own  sake. 

3.  Desire  is  trained  by  awakening  discontent  with  present  at- 
tainments and  interest  in  untried  activities. — There  is  desire 
for  anything  only  when  the  idea  of  that  thing  seems  more  satis- 
factory than  the  actual  state.     To  lessen  satisfaction  with  the 


TRAINING   OF    DESIRE.  137 

actual  state  has,  therefore,  the  same  result  in  awakening  desire  as 
to  increase  the  satisfaction  of  the  ideal  end.  Though  a  child  can- 
not be  made  to  feel  the  satisfaction  of  generous  conduct,  he  may 
perhaps  be  led  to  realize  the  unsatisfactory  nature  of  selfish- 
ness. Pupils  should  be  trained  to  the  thought  of  their /^j«- 
bilities  not  yet  made  actual.  Once  make  a  pupil  feel  that  he 
can  do  something,  even  if,  as  yet,  he  has  not  done  it,  and  desire 
to  do  it  will  be  awakened.  Hardly  anything  is  more  important 
in  the  personal  relation  of  teacher  and  pupil  than  inducing 
the  pupil  to  believe  in  his  own  capacities  and  possibilities.  A 
person  to  whom  a  new  possibility  is  open,  has  a  new  world 
before  him.  It  may  be  questioned  if  the  transforming  influence 
which  religion  often  exercises,  is  not  largely  due  to  the  effective 
belief  it  gives  in  new  and  hitherto  untried  personal  possibilities. 
Real  belief  in  the  possibility  of  an  achievement  is  the  most 
efficient  kind  of  desire  for  it 

4.  Desire  is  trained  through  the  cultivation  of  the  imagination. 
— Imagination  both  widens  and  strengthens  desire.  It  widens 
it,  because  it  does  not  leave  desire  dependent  upon  the  precise 
forms  of  old  satisfaction,  but,  under  the  influence  of  love,  hate, 
etc.,  creates  new  conceptions — desires  for  honor,  fame  or 
wealth,  etc.  Imagination  strengthens  desire,  for,  to  allow  the 
mind  to  dwell  upon  any  image  is  to  endear  it  to  the  mind. 
When  we  imagine  anything  we  think  of  it  as  real,  and  wish,  in 
some  degree  to  make  it  real.  If  imagination  habitually  dwells 
upon  some  idea,  this  idea  is  apt  to  become  the  controlling 
desire  of  the  mind.  An  artist  imagines  beautiful  forms  and 
scenes  so  vividly  that  he  is  impelled  to  produce  the  realities 
that  correspond.  By  the  same  principle  a  child  whose  mind  is 
filled  with  impure  images,  is  impelled  to  impure  desires  and 
actions ;  and,  fortunately,  a  child  whose  imagination  is  filled 
with  graceful,  harmonious  and  pure  ideas  is  stirred  to  corres- 
ponding  desire  and  activity.  The  teacher  can  offer  no  more 
practical  prayer  for  his  pupil  than  that  of  Socrates,  that  he 


l$S  FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL    DEVELOPMENT. 

may  have  ^^  beauty  in  the  inward  soul,"  for  this  insures  al« 
most  of  itself  that  the  "outward  and  the  inward  man  be  at 
one/' 

II.  The  Realization  of  the  Desired  Idea.— We 
have  studied  the  first  step  in  volition  :  the  formation  of  the 
idea  of  an  end,  and  of  its  accompanying  feeling  of  want 
We  have  now  to  study  the  realization  of  the  idea — the  way 
in  which  it  is  changed  from  an  idea  into  a  presentation,  into 
an  actual  fact.  If  there  is  but  one  desired  end,  the  manner 
of  realization  may  be  illustrated  as  follows  :  The  child  forms 
the  idea  of  handling  a  colored  balL  This  idea  suggests,  by 
contiguous  association,  that  of  reaching  out  the  arm  and 
grasping  the  ball ;  and  thus  the  end  is  reached.  In  other  words, 
the  idea  of  the  end  suggests,  by  association,  the  means  neces- 
sary for  reaching  the  end.  In  more  complex  ends,  attention  is 
active,  rather  than  association,  and  first  analyzes  the  end  into 
the  means  or  steps  which  lead  up  to  it,  and  then  combines  them 
so  as  to  reach  the  end.  In  either  case,  there  is  no  factor 
involved  which  has  not  been  previously  studied. 

Conflict  of  Ends  and  of  Desires. — But  generally  the 
case  is  not  so  simple.  There  is  not  merely  one  idea  in  the  niind 
which  immediately  proceeds  to  suggest  the  means  of  its  own 
realization,  but  there  are  various  ends  desired,  and  these  con- 
flict with  one  another.  The  child  who  wishes  to  play  with  the 
ball  may  also  wish  to  look  at  his  picture  book,  or  he  may  have 
been  told  not  to  play  with  it,  and  he  desires  to  obey  this  com- 
mand. One  cannot  have  his  cake  and  eat  it  too.  In  case  of 
conflict  it  is  out  of  the  question  that  the  desired  end  work 
itself  directly  out.  Before  this  can  occur  the  conflict  must  be 
decided,  and  some  one  end  emerge  as  the  real  end  of  action. 
The  various  steps  in  the  settlement  of  conflict  may  be  stated  as  : 
deliberation,  effort  and  choice,  all  together  constituting  control. 

Dliberation. — The  beginning  of  deliberation  is  checking,  or, 
in  technical  language,  inhibiting  the  carrying  out  of  action.   The 


FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL    DEVELOPMENT.  I39 

child  Stops  or  pauses  before  doing  what  he  wishes  to  do. 
During  the  pause,  he  considers  and  reflects  in  the  degree  in 
which  his  mental  powers  are  developed,  He  weighs  the  value 
of  the  end  proposed,  compares  it  with  other  ends,  and  in 
general  calls  upon  all  the  reasons  that  would  lead  to  action  in 
one  direction  rather  than  in  another.  The  process  in  a  child 
is,  of  course,  largely  unconscious ;  it  is  not  meant  that  the 
child  consciously  sets  himself  to  weigh  reasons,  pro  and  con, 
regarding  an  action.  But  the  conflict  between  desires  arrests 
attention,  and,  the  mind  dwelling  upon  the  conflict,  various 
considerations  are  suggested  by  association. 

Effort — In  some  cases  the  child  wants  to  act  in  one  way, 
but  feels  that  he  ought  to  act  in  another.  He  wishes  to  play 
but  ought  to  study,  for  example.  In  this  case  what  is  desired 
and  what  is  desirable  do  not  coincide.  If  the  child  does  not 
recognize  anything  that  is  desirable,  different  from  what  is 
desired,  there  is  no  conflict.  He  continues  to  do  as  he 
wishes  to  do.  Or,  if  the  act  is  not  only  desirable  but  desired 
(that  is,  if  duty  and  evident  satisfaction  go  together)  there 
is  no  conflict ;  the  child  does  what  he  ought  to  do.  But  in 
many  cases  the  child  recognizes  that  he  ought  to  desire  one 
action,  while  he  actually  desires  another.  Here  effort  is  required. 
It  requires  effort  to  arrest  action  in  the  direction  desired  ;  it  re- 
quires effort  to  prefer  what  should  be  preferred. 

True  effort  consists  in  reinforcing  by  additional  ideas,  desires 
and  motives^  the  side  felt  to  be  the  weaker.  It  may  be  true  that 
action  follows  the  strongest  desire,  but  it  is  also  true  that  we 
have  the  power  to  call  up  considerations  and  feelings  that 
strengthen  and  that  weaken  the  force  of  a  desire.  The  idea  of 
obligation  itself,  if  it  has  been  frequently  acted  upon,  becomes  a 
very  considerable  force,  and  if  ideas,  images  and  emotions  are 
clustered  about  the  idea  of  that  which  ought  to  be  done,  it 
gradually  becomes  not  only  desirable,  but  desired,  and  action 
follows  in  that  direction. 


140  FORMATION    OF    CHARACTER. 

Choice — The  end  of  conflict,  following  deliberation  and 
effort,  is  choice.  Choice  may  be  defined  as  the  selection  of  a 
certain  end  of  action  and  the  identification  of  self  with  it.  In 
choice,  the  self  throws  itself  into  one  desire,  and  gives  that  all 
the  strength  of  the  self.  While  desire  manifests  a  possible 
act  or  state  of  self,  choice  aflftrms  that  this  possibility  shall 
be  made  real,  and  that  other  possibilities  shall  not  be  realized. 

Character  and  Retention. — By  character  is  meant  the  self  as 
possessed  of  definite  powers  or  abilities,  and  of  permanent  predisposi- 
tions or  desires  corresponding  to  these  abilities.  The  make-up 
or  character  of  a  man  is  shown  by  what  he  can  do,  plus  what 
he  continually  tends  to  do.  Character  is  formed  by  reten- 
tion. It  is  the  organized  residuum  or  result  of  all  past  ac- 
tions. In  the  beginning  there  are  inherited  instincts  and  im- 
pulses. These  are  acted  upon ;  some  are  encouraged  ;  the 
end  of  some  is  consciously  adopted  as  motive  to  action. 
Each  activity  leaves  behind  an  effect  which  renders  it 
easier  to  act  in  that  way  again.  The  accumulation  of  such 
effects  creates  a  tendency  to  act  in  that  way.  In  the  same  way 
something  is  retained  from  each  desire,  and  this  leads  desire  m 
the  same  paths  m  the  future.  Character  is  thus  organized  ten- 
dency and  desire. 

Choice  and  Apperception. — Choice  corresponds  to  appercep- 
tion. Indeed,  it  is  apperception  practically  directed  It  is  the 
selection  and  assimilation  of  some  course  of  action.  In  know- 
ledge,  appert:eiving  is  bringing  the  mind  to  bear  through  itJi 
organized  centres  of  experience,  upon  presented  sensations.  In 
will,  it  is  bringing  to  bear  the  organized  centres  of  ability  and 
desire  upon  the  presented  impulses.  The  result  in  both  cases 
is  that  the  presentation  is  connected  with  the  acquired  results 
of  past  experience.  Since  apperception  and  retention  mutually 
depend  upon  each  other,  it  follows  that  the  relation  of  character 
and  choice  is  a  reciprocal  one.  Character  is  organized  de- 
cisions or  choices.      Choice   is  the  expression  of  character 


FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  141 

Choice  builds  up  character  and  character  is  manifested  in 
choice.  Every  choice  enters  into  the  building  up  of  an  organ 
of  choice  and  thus  decides  future  decisions. 

Control. — Finally,  we  may  say  that  a  desire  or  impulse  is  con- 
trolled when  it  is  brought  into  connection  with  character.  Every 
one  has  certain  organized  groups  or  systems  of  desires  and  of 
tendencies  to  action.  When  an  impulse  or  desire  does  not 
express  itself  merely,  but  expresses  a  relation  to  one  of  these 
groups,  it  is  in  so  far  controlled,  and  it  is  controlled  in  the 
highest  degree  when  it  is  brought  into  relation  with  the  totality 
of  such  groups — with  character.  A  desire  may  come  in  con- 
tact only  with  a  superficial  and  simple  group  of  desires  and 
tendencies ;  comparatively  the  conflict  is  brief,  effort  slight,  and 
the  resulting  choice  unimportant.  Another  desire  may  send 
roots  into  all  the  groups.  Here  the  conflict  is  prolonged,  for 
each  of  these  groups  must  be  allowed  due  consideration; 
effort  is  severe,  for  the  conflicting  claims  of  these  groups  must 
be  reconciled,  and  choice  is  important,  influencing  the  entire 
future  of  the  self,  for  it  affects  each  of  the  centres  that  together 
make  the  self  what  it  is.  But  since  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
character  in  general^  since  character  is  only  the  totality  of  all  the 
groups  0/  fixed  tendencies,  ideas  and  desires,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  however  unimportant  any  one  choice  may  be  (since 
affecting  only  one  centre),  yet  it  is  by  the  cumulation  of  such 
single  acts  that  each  centre  is  built  up  and  character  formed. 

The  Training  of  Character. — It  may  be  said  that 
self-control  is  obtained  by  the  proper  training  of  desire,  and  by 
the  subordination  of  impulses  to  the  law  of  their  ends.  But 
after  our  study  of  the  realization  of  an  end  we  can  add  some 
further  points. 

I.  Self-control  is  reached  through  habitual  action, — Character 
is  built  up  through  successive  acts.  From  each  act  something 
is  "retained,"  which  thus  becomes  influential  in  controlling 
future  activity.     Character  is  the  sum  and  result  of  all  these 


14a  FORMATION  OF  CHARACTER. 

activities.  It  is  significant  that  our  words  "ethical**  and 
"  moral  '*  both  find  their  origin  in  words  signifying  customs  or 
habits.  Character,  good  or  bad,  is  in  very  considerable  degree 
the  outcome  of  acts  which  in  themselves  are  neither  good  nor 
'bad,  but  only  customary  or  habitual  A  child  in  his  earliest 
years  has  instincts  and  tendencies,  but  no  character.  Day  by 
day,  as  he  is  directed  in  actions  which  are  right,  and  yet  which 
he  does  not  do  simply  because  they  are  right,  he  forms  the  habit 
of  right  action,  he  grows  in  love  of  such  actions  as  he  con- 
stantly finds  satisfaction  in  them,  he  forms  a  tendency,  which 
is  almost  instinctive  or  natural,  to  repeat  them.  Then  as  his 
reason  develops  and  he  sees  the  true  nature  of  such  acts,  he  is 
prepared  consciously  to  choose  them  because  they  are  right. 
The  acts  are  now  right,  not  only  externally,  but  also  internally ; 
that  is,  they  have  a  right  motive  and  purpose,  as  well  as  con- 
form outwardly  to  the  demands  of  morality. 

2.  The  formation  of  habits  is  largely  under  the  control  of 
others:  thus  self-control  is  trained  through  external  control. — 
It  is  in  the  facts  just  mentioned  that  the  educator  finds  at  once 
his  opportunity  and  suggestions  as  to  methods.  Character  is 
largely  the  result  of  unconscious  habit :  and  the  teacher  has  it 
in  his  hands  to  aid  in  the  formation  of  habits.  While  the  in- 
fluence of  education  in  training  character  nas  often  been  exag- 
gerated, as  when  it  is  supposed  that  certain  systems  of  education 
will  turn  out  a  certain  kind  of  product  with  the  fixity  and  cer- 
tainty of  machinery,  the  influence  is  so  great  that  it  stands  in 
no  need  of  exaggeration.  Nature  contributes  its  share,  but  nur- 
ture has  its  part  also.  "  The  virtues,"  says  Aristotle,  "  come 
neither  by  nature  nor  against  nature,  but  nature  gives  the 
capacity  for  acquiring  them  and  training  develops  it" 

3.  Self  control  is  trained  by  habits  of  self-reliance. — While  the 
young  and  immature,  almost  characterless  child,  is  highly  sus- 
ceptible to  external  discipline  in  forming  his  habits,  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  sole  end  of  this  external  control  is 


FORMS    OF    VOLITIONAL  DEVELOPMENT.  I43 

self-control.  The  habit  of  decision  can  be  formed  only  by 
repeated  personal  decisions.  Choice,  as  we  have  seen,  is 
identification  of  self  with  a  desire.  No  one  but  the  self,  there- 
fore, can  choose.  One  can  do  much  for  another,  but  he  can- 
not choose  for  him.  The  teacher  may  and  should  supply  all 
the  possible  conditions  of  right  choice ;  he  must  check  hasty 
action,  he  must  encourage  deliberation,  he  must  suggest  all 
reinforcing  motives,  but  the  act  of  choice  belongs  to  the  child. 
If,  therefore,  no  opportunity  for  decision  is  given,  if  the  edu- 
cator does  everything  for  the  child,  as  soon  as  this  external  prop 
is  removed  the  fact  that  no  habit  of  choice  has  been  formed 
reveals  itself  in  weak  and  in  wrong  action.  The  child  of  the 
streets  has  often  a  better  training  of  will  than  the  favoured 
child  of  culture,  because  the  former  has  always  to  choose  for 
himself,  while  the  latter  is  surrounded  with  influences  that  do 
not  allow  decision. 

4.  Self  control  is  trained  through  recognition  of  idea  of  Law 
and  strengthening  regard  for  it. — We  have  already  seen  that 
impulses  work  towards  an  end,  and  that  this  end  once  reached 
becomes  the  law  to  which  they  thereafter  subject  themselves. 
This  gives  a  multiplicity  of  laws ;  as  many  laws  as  there  are 
ends.  But  as  the  child  grows  in  intelligence  he  frames  the 
ideas  of  larger  and  more  comprehensive  ends,  and  thus  of  more 
inclusive  laws.  Finally  he  rises  to  the  generalization  of  law ; 
of  law  in  general,  not  merely  a  particular  law  for  each  particu- 
lar impulse.  There  is  set  up  a  general  permanent  standard — 
conformity  to  law — by  which  all  impulses  and  desires  may  be 
measured ;  and  if  the  sense  of  obligation  is  correspondingly 
developed,  it  is  felt  that  they  must  be  referred  to  this  law  as 
their  standard.  The  conception  of  such  a  law  gives  self-control 
even  in  new  circumstances,  for  it  is  felt  that  there  is  some  law 
to  be  followed,  and  there  is  cultivated  the  habit  of  searching 
for  this  law.  The  habit  of  referring  desires  to  law  which  is 
fdt  to  be  obligatory,  constitutes  conscientiousness. 


144  FORMATION   OF    CHARACTER. 

5.  Self-control  is  trained  through  the  conception  of  an  ideal  or 
perfect  self, — With  the  growth  of  the  child  in  intelligence  and  in 
conscientiousness,  the  conception  of  character  is  enlarged.  It 
includes  not  only  the  actual  self,  the  result  of  past  decisions 
and  actions,  but  an  ideal  self.  There  is  nothing  mystical 
about  the  conception  of  the  ideal  self;  it  simply  includes  over 
and  above  actual  attainments,  the  idea  of  capacities  or  possi- 
bilities not  yet  realized.  Desires  are  measured  not  merely  by 
their  reference  to  the  actual  state  of  character  as  the  organized 
result  of  past  experiences,  but  by  their  reference  to  the  deve 
lopment  of  possibilities  of  character  in  the  future.  Desires  in 
line  with  the  development  of  these  possibilities,  however 
much  in  contrast  with  past  attainnents,  are  stimulated  and 
reinforced,  others  are  arrested.  A  perfect  character  means  also 
a  completed  character — a  character  with  all  capacities  realized. 
When  such  an  ideal  is  made  the  end  of  activity,  desires  are 
controlled  in  the  highest  degree  ;  they  are  controlled  by  relation 
to  past  attainments  and  by  reference  to  future  possible  attain^ 
ments.     Such  self-control  is  freedom. 

Kinds  of  Control. — The  foregoing  considerations  may 
be  rendered  more  specific  by  a  brief  consideration  of  the 
various  kinds  of  self-control.  These  may  conveniently,  though 
soemwhat  arbitrarily,  be  classified  as  physical^  prudential  and 
moral.  In  the  first  place  a  child  has  to  gain  control  of  his  body. 
This  includes  everything  by  which  the  child  is  enabled  to  use 
his  body  as  an  instrument  in  executing  any  volition,  walking, 
articulate  speech,  writing,  etc.,  etc.  Then,  a  child  has  to  be 
able  to  control  his  speech,  his  actions,  and  even  his  thoughts 
and  feelings  with  reference  to  his  own  welfare.  And  finally,  he 
must  be  able  to  control  himself,  with  regard  to  what  is  demanded 
of  him  by  the  obligations  of  morality —first  as  they  are  em- 
bodied in  the  requirements  of  others,  and  afterwards  as  he  re- 
cognizes his  own  obligations  to  his  own  and  *o  others*  per- 
sonality. 


FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT.  I45 

I.  Physical  Control. — This  is  of  importance  in  the  edu- 
cation of  will,  both  for  its  own  sake,  and  for  the  discipline  of 
volition  afforded  by  it.  The  necessity  of  a  child's  being  able  to 
control  his  senses  and  his  muscles  is  so  evident  as  not  to  need 
illu  jtration.  But  it  must  also  be  remembered  that  in  learning 
to  control  them  he  is  exercising  all  the  factors  that  enter  into 
self-control  of  the  highest  kind.  He  is  subordinating  his  im- 
pulses to  law ;  he  is  forming  and  guiding  desires ;  he  is  cm- 
ploying  self-restraint,  effort  and  choice. 

Relation  of  physical  to  moral  control. — It  is  thus  obvious  that 
the  training  of  the  impulses  of  physical  activity  is  a  very  import- 
ant factor  in  moral  training,  aside  from  all  moral  uses  the  train- 
ing is  put  to.  A  child  cannot  learn  to  write,  to  sit  still  when 
necessary,  to  prepare  and  recite  lessons  at  certain  times  (consid- 
ered merely  as  physical  processes)  without  exercising  self-con- 
trol ;  and  so,  in  these  actions  he  forms  habits  of  self-control, 
which,  when  subordinated  to  riglit  motives,  constitute  morality. 
There  is  therefore,  a  decided  moral  as  well  as  intellectual  side  to 
the  training  of  the  eye,  the  ear,  the  tongue  and  the  hand.  "  Kin- 
dergarten "  and  "  manual  "  training  are  tributary  to  specifically 
ethical  culture.  It  is  said  that  in  a  certain  reformatory,  part  of 
the  prisoners  were  subject  to  definite  physical  training,  gymnas- 
tic exercises,  etc.,  and  that  they  not  only  gained  intellectually 
and  in  personal  appearance,  but  in  general  moral  character. 
And  this  is  what  one  might  expect. 

Process  of  physical  control. — No  new  principles  are  involved 
in  physical  control.  Association  and  attention  acting  upon 
the  impulses  and  instincts  explain  the  results.  In  particular, 
the  two  functions  of  analysis  and  synthesis  are  employed  in 
gaining  control  of  the  physical  self.  In  the  first  place,  all  im- 
pulses are  vague.  Aside  from  one  or  two  primary  instincts, 
they  are  diffused  through  the  entire  muscular  system.  An  in- 
fant has  very  early  the  impulse  to  walk,  but  the  impulse  instead 
K 


146  FORMATION    OF   CHARACTER. 

of  being  distinct  and  confined  to  the  proper  muscles,  expends 
itself  through  all  the  muscles.  So,  a  child  when  learning  to 
write  moves  his  whole  arm,  and  even  his  body,  face  and 
tongue.  Learning  to  perform  some  physical  act  consists, 
therefore,  in  the  first  place,  in  the  differentiation  and  localization 
of  the  impulse.  And  in  the  second  place,  it  consists  in  the 
uniting^  the  interconnecting  of  these  differentiated  impulses.  To 
walk  is  to  combine  and  co-ordinate  a  series  or  succession  of 
distinct  muscular  impulses.  In  articulate  speech,  a  series  of 
motor  impulses  of  vocal  organs,  tongue,  lips,  etc,  must  be  con- 
nected, and  then  this  series  must  be  properly  associated  with  a 
series  of  auditory  sensations,  and  this  with  a  series  of  ideas.  That 
is,  in  order  to  speak,  the  child  must  co::itrol  his  vocal  organs;  to 
control  them  he  must  have  as  a  standard  the  images  of  the 
sounds  which  he  is  to  make ;  and  if  these  sounds  are  to  mean 
anything,  they  must  be  connected  with  ideas.  Similar  complex 
combinations  are  involved  in  writing,  playing  musical  instru- 
ments, reading  aloud,  etc 

Results  of  Control. — i.  The  idea  of  what  can  be  done 
becomes  more  exte?ided  and  more  definite. — Not  only  is  the  act 
more  definite,  but  the  idea  is  more  definite,  for,  as  we  have 
previously  noticed,  it  is  only  when  an  end  has  been  reached 
that  we  know  what  the  end  is.  A  baby  has  no  definite  idea 
either  of  what  a  word  sounds  like  or  how  to  speak  it,  until  he 
has  succeeded  in  pronouncing  it.  And  the  idea  becomes  more 
extensive '^wsX  in  proportion  as  the  act  combines  more  impulses. 
An  infant  lives  in  the  present  because  his  actions  do  not  ex- 
tend their  significance  beyond  the  present.  Compare  with  an 
infant  a  youth  who  is  learning  a  trade.  Here  all  actions  have 
a  unity  in  their  reference  to  the  end  aimed  at,  and  the  youth's 
ideas  gain  a  similar  unity  and  comprehensiveness.  His  con- 
sciousness takes  in  a  wide  future  range. 

2.  Abilities  and  tetidencies  are  created. — We  come  again  upon 
the  fact  of  retention.     Movements  become  organized  into  the 


FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL    DEVELOPMENli  147 

Structure  of  the  body,  and  through  the  effect  that  each  act  pro- 
duces, the  act  is  easier  in  the  future ;  since  easier,  it  tends  to 
be  repeated  in  preference  to  acts  requiring  more  energy  ;  being 
repeated,  habit  is  formed.  Isolated  acts  have  become  powcf 
to  act.  That  which  has  been  acquired  by  hard  labor  becomes 
spontaneous  function,  becomes  play.  These  abilities  become 
tendencies  \  that  is,  the  person  follows  or  acts  according  to 
them  unconsciously  or  automatically,  and  unless  he  exercises 
effort,  he  falls  into  these  habits  so  easily  that  they  seem  to 
to  control  him.  He  apparently  becomes  the  creature  of  what 
he  has  created. 

3.  The  amount  of  stimulus  and  effort  required  is  lessened.'-^ 
This  follows  from  the  two  principles  already  stated.  When,  in 
writing,  the  impulse  is  diffused  through  the  entire  body,  it  is 
clear  that  the  most  of  it  is  wasted.  When  it  is  confined  to  the 
fingers,  there  is  less  draft  upon  the  energies  required.  In  an 
infant,  the  original  stimulus  to  activity  is  an  excitement  of  the 
whole  organism.  There  are  chance  and  random  movements, 
but  actions  directed  to  an  end  occur  only  when  the  whole 
organism  is  stirred  by  a  demand  for  food.  Then  strong 
affections  of  a  single  sense — ^as  a  bright  light,  or  a  loud 
sound,  rouse  activity;  then  a  perception  of  moderate  force  suffices 
the  sight  of  a  play-thing  induces  activity ;  the  sound  of  a  word, 
is  stimulus  to  repeat  the  sound.  Then  a  suggestion  or  in- 
junction from  another  suffices;  the  child  does  what  he  is 
told  to  do.  Then,  at  last,  an /^ifa originating  in  his  own  con- 
sciousness is  sufficient  stimulus  to  action.  Thus  there  are 
gradations  between  affection  of  the  whole  physical  organism 
at  one  extreme,  and  the  mere  idea  at  the  other.  And,  of 
course,  as  habits  are  built  up,  the  amount  of  necessary  effort  is 
lessened  until,  as  just  mentioned,  it  may  require  effort  not  to 
act  rather  than  to  act 

II.  Prudential  Control.— As  soon  as  physical  control  b 
made  a  means  to  something  beyond  itself,  the  stage  of  pruden- 


148  FORMATION   OF   CHARACTER. 

tial  control  is  reached.  When  a  child  speaks,  not  for  the  sake 
of  learning  to  speak,  but  for  the  sake  of  some  end  beyond,  the 
control  is  not  only  physical  but  prudential.  It  thus  begins  at 
a  very  early  period  in  life.  Prudential  action  involves  all 
action  for  the  sake  of  any  end  felt  to  be  satisfactory ^  excepting  a 
moral  end. 

Results  of  Prudential  Control.— We  have  already 
studied  desire,  deliberation,  choice,  and  the  intellectual  pro- 
cesses which  enter  into  control.  There  is  nothing  new  in- 
volved in  prudential  control,  excepting  the  kind  of  end  for  the 
sake  of  which  the  control  occurs — some  recognized  satisfaction. 
Accordingly  we  turn  at  once  to  the  results  of  prudential  control 
in  the  formation  and  development  of  character. 

1.  Action  is  more  deliberate. — Since  the  action  aims  at  some 
recognized  satisfaction,  it  is  necessary  to  weigh  and  compare 
means  and  ends.  The  child  cannot  follow  his  impulses  im- 
mediately, but  must  reflect  upon  them  to  see  which  will 
reach  the  most  useful  end,  and  what  steps  he  must  take  to 
reach  the  end  he  decides  upon.  In  this  way  character  becomes 
thoughtful  ox  reflective. 

2.  Action  takes  in  more  remote  and  more  comprehensive  ends. — 
The  satisfaction  may  be  one  which  cannot  be  reached  in  a  day 
or  even  in  a  year.  If  such  a  remote  satisfaction  is  desired,  it  is 
evident  that  all  acts  between  the  time  of  choice  and  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  end,  must  be  controlled  with  reference  to  the  one 
end.  For  example,  consider  a  person  studying  a  profession 
or  learning  a  trade.  The  end  may  become  very  inclusive  it  may 
be  health,  or  wealth,  or  political  honor,  or  success  as  a  teacher 
or  author.  Such  ends  are  exceedingly  complex,  involving  an 
indefinite  number  of  minor  acts  of  restraint,  effort  and  choice. 
Thus  character  gains  unity  and  continuity, 

3.  Action  is  more  determined  and  persevering. — While  only  a 
"esolute  or  determined  person  is  likely  to  be  persevering,  the 


FORMS  OF  VOLITIONAL  DEVELOPMENT.  I49 

terms  are  not  synonymous.  Resolution  or  determination  has 
reference  to  the  choice  of  ends.  A  determined  or  firm  person 
is  one  who  chooses  definitely  and  fixedly ;  he  knows  what  he 
wants  and  is  not  to  be  induced  to  change  his  purpose.  Having 
settled  upon  his  end,  he  is  now  persevering  in  attempting  to 
reach  it.  Persevering  thus  relates  to  use  of  means,  as  resolute 
does  to  choice  of  end.  A  persevering  person  is  one  not  turned 
aside  from  an  end  because  it  is  not  immediately  reached,  be- 
cause obstacles  present  themselves,  because  other  agreeable 
ends  suggest  themselves.  Resolution  and  perseverance  give  char* 
acter  permanent  stability. 

4.  Action  becomes  more  intense  or  energetic. — As  prudential 
control  is  obtained,  action  becomes  forceful,  manifesting  in- 
creased power.  This  does  not  mean  excitement.  It  is  not  mea- 
sured by  the  amount  of  effort  apparent.  A  person  who  appears 
very  intense  is  often,  like  a  puffing  engine,  not  doing  much. 
Physical  energy  is  defined  as  power  to  do  work,  and  so  voli- 
tional energy  or  intensity,  is  measured  by  its  result,  by  its 
capacity  for  doing,  not  by  apparent  activity.  A  teacher 
should  avoid  the  idea  that  there  is  any  value  in  mere  ac- 
tivity, in  going  through  a  set  of  motions  or  performances ; 
the  value  is  in  what  the  activity  accomplishes.  Energy 
renders  character  effective.  If  we  sum  up  what  has  been 
said,  it  follows  that  a  thoroughly  controlled  will  involves  de- 
liberation before  choosing,  certainty  and  singleness  in  making 
the  choice,  tenacity  in  clinging  to  the  choice  once  made,  and 
energy  using  all  appropriate  means  for  realising  it. 

III.  Moral  Control- 
There  are  no  new  processes  involved  in  moral  control  It 
differs  from  physical  and  prudential  control  only  in  the  end  to 
which  the  volitional  processes  are  subject.  It  aims  at  con- 
trolling the  impulses  and  the  desires  by  the  law  of  good  char- 
acter, and  not  by  the  law  of  physical  action  or  of  personal 
welfare. 


150  FORMATION    OF    CHARACTER. 

Relation  to  physical  and  prudential  control. — It  is  of  great  im- 
portance to  the  teacher  to  realize  that  moral  control  consid- 
ered simply  upon  the  side  of  volitional  factors  that  enter  into 
it,  namely,  desire,  effort,  (-hoice,  etc.,  is  the  same  as  physical 
and  prudential  control,  and  that  only  the  end  or  motive  dif- 
fers.    This  fact  gives  two  principles  for  the  teacher's  guidance. 

1.  Every  act  of  will^  whether  directly  moral  or  not,  may  be 
rendered  tributary  to  formation  of  Moral  Character. — It  was 
shown,  when  speaking  of  the  intellectual  faculties,  that  their 
training  is  \d^xg^\yindirect ;  that  memory,  for  example,  is  trained 
in  training  perception;  that  thinking  is  trained  by  right  per- 
ception and  memory.  The  same  law  of  indirect  culture  holds  in 
moral  training ;  and  it  is  fortunate  for  both  teacher  and  pupil 
that  such  is  the  case.  Every  act  of  attention  on  the  part  of  the 
pupil,  every  concentration  in  study  that  excludes  distracting 
stimuli,  every  physical  restraint,  as  sitting  quietly  when  neces- 
sary; every  form  of  physical  control,  as  guiding  the  pen  in 
writing ;  every  subordination  of  present  pleasure  10  future  satis- 
faction, requires  the  same  activity  of  will  that  moral  conduct 
requires,  and  results  in  a  training  of  character  through  the  forma- 
tion of  habits.  If  the  teacher's  methods  and  his  own  purpose 
are  not  mechanical  but  moral,  if  an  ethical  spirit  animates  him, 
this  ethical  spirit  will  lay  hold  of  all  the  details  of  school  work, 
and  make  them  subservient  to  the  development  of  character 
in  the  pupil. 

2.  These  processes,  not  directly  moral  in  themselves,  when 
mbordinated  to  right  motives,  become  moral. — In  other  words,  in 
order  to  develop  morality,  the  teacher  does  not  have  to  resort  to 
some  new  processes,  to  some  kind  of  activity  and  training  dis- 
tinct from  all  employed  before,  but  has  to  awaken  love  of  what  is 
right  and  to  stimulate  the  pupil  to  make  this  love  the  motive  of 
his  actions.  Moral  action,  in  a  word,  does  not  regard  a  distinct 
kind  of  action,  but  a  distinct  kind  of  motive.     The  teacher  who 


MORAL   CONTROL. 

is  making  use  of  all  possible  methods  to  give  the 

control  of  his  physical  and  of  his  mental  activities,  and  who. 

at  the  same  time,  by  example,  by  sympathy,  by  correction,  by 

awakening  admiration  of  good  characters  and  good  acts,  and,  if 

necessary,  by  direct  precept,  is  inspiring  in  the  pupil   love  of 

the  right,  is  doing  all  that  can  be   done  to  build  up  moral 

character. 

Relation  of  motive  to  moral  action. — A  few  examples  will 
make  clear  the  relations  of  motive  to  moral  action.  Both  lying 
and  truth-telling,  considered  as  external  acts,  and  considered 
internally  with  reference  to  psychological }  rocesses  entering  into 
them,  are  the  same.  They  differ  in  the  kind  of  motive  which 
inspires  each.  The  act  of  a  surgeon  in  performing  an  operation 
that  leads  to  the  death  of  a  patient,  and  the  act  of  a  murderer 
are,  as  acts,  alike.  The  difference,  again  is  in  the  motive  that 
led  to  each  act ;  the  reason  for  which  it  was  performed.  It  is 
then  not  the  outcome,  the  result  of  an  act  that  makes  it  moral, 
but  the  motive,  the  reason  in  which  it  originates. 

Motive  and  Resp07isibility, — This  is  the  reason  why  persons 
hold  themselves,  and  are  held  byothers,  responsible  or  account- 
able for  moral  action,  and  not  for  prudential  action.  The  re- 
sult is  often,  perhaps  generally,  beyond  one's  control ;  the  motive 
never.  For  example,  a  man  wishes  to  become  rich.  His 
attaining  wealth,  while  partly  depending  upon  his  own  industry, 
foresight,  etc,  yet  depends  also  upon  forces  of  nature  and  so- 
ciety which  he  cannot  govern.  These  forces  may  defeat  his 
best  plans,  and  thus,  considered  from  the  standpoint  of  result, 
his  act  is  a  failure.  Yet  he  does  not  blame  himself  for  the 
failure,  so  far  as  it  depends  solely  upon  outside  agencies.  But 
when  one  is  untruthful,  one  recognizes  that  the  failure  lies  not 
with  outside  forces,  but  in  himself.  His  choice  or  motive  was 
wrong,  and  for  this  choice,  as  his  own  act,  he  holds  himself 
responsible. 


l$9  FORMS   OF    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

Motive  and  Character. — It  is  also  evident  that  moral  action 
forms  character  in  a  sense  in  which  other  action  does  not.  In 
prudential  and  physical  control,  only  the  processes,  not  the  re- 
sult, make  character.  In  moral  character  the  result  makes  or  is 
character.  One  touches  what  a  man  has  ;  the  other  what  he/j. 
A  man's  wealth,  health,  knowledge,  social  standing  deeply  in- 
fluence his  being  yet  they  do  not  make  it.  But  a  man's  will  is 
himself,  not  something  which  he  has.  When,  therefore,  a  man 
chooses  to  be  good,  not  merely  wishes  in  a  vague  way  that  he 
were  or  might  mysteriously  become  good,  he  is  in  so  far  g'^od. 
The  choice,  the  selection  of  the  motive  makes  him  what  he  is. 
The  set  or  bent  of  a  man's  will  constitutes  his  character,  and 
this  set  or  bent  is  constituted  by  the  ruling  motives  of  his  life. 

Character  and  the  Sense  of  Obligation. — We  have  seen  before 
that  the  relation  of  character  and  choice  is  reciprocal.  This 
holds  in  moral  action.  A  constant  choice  of  the  right 
makeSf  is,  upright  character  ;  and  this,  in  turn  leads  to  a 
strengthening  of  the  sense  of  obligation,  increasing  the  power 
of  right  motives  to  control  choice.  We  cannot  overestimate 
the  evil  of  evil  choice  in  leading  to  evil  results ;  but  more  dis- 
heartening yet  is  the  fact  that  wrong  choice  and  action  weaken 
the  sense  of  obligation,  and  thus  lessen  the  force  of  good  mo- 
tives. Almost  the  worst  thing  that  can  be  said  of  a  pupil  is,  not 
that  he  does  this  or  that  bad  thing,  but  that  he  seems  to  have 
no  idea  of  obligation — of  duty.  The  well-spring  of  moral 
action  is  dried-up,  and  good  deeds  come,  if  they  come  at  all, 
only  by  impulse  or  by  accident. 

The  Growth  of  Idea  of  Obligation. — To  a  child  the  sense 
of  obligation  can  come  only  in  connection  with  particu- 
lar acts.  This  or  that  deed  is  right  or  wrong.  And  it  comes  at 
first  negatively  rather  than  positively.  That  is,  it  comes  through 
restraint ;  the  child  is  forbidden  to  do  this  or  that  thing.  The 
impulse  is  met  by  a  restraining  power,  and  in  the  conflict  of 
natural  impulse  to  do  with  the  injunction  to  forbear  doing,  the 


MORAL  CONTROL.  153 

child  gets  his  first  moral  experiences.  Then  come  positive  in- 
junctions to  do  certain  things  which  his  impulses,  if  left  to  them- 
selves, would  not  do.  Gradually  the  experience  is  generalized. 
There  comes  the  idea  of  law^  of  something  always  obligatory 
standing  over  against  impulse  to  control  it  both  by  arresting 
and  by  guiding  it. 

The  Performance  of  Duties — While  a  large  share  of  the  moral 
education  of  a  child  consists  in  developing  his  sense  of  obligation, 
it  is,  of  course,  also  important  that  he  be  trained  to  act  upon  re- 
cognized obligation.  In  general  a  child  who  really/<?tf/j  obh'gation 
is  impelled  to  act  accordingly ;  the  obligation  becomes  a  concrete 
motive  or  moving  power.  But  there  are  other  forces  which  act 
along  with  the  force  of  obligation,  and  which  re-act  upon  it  to 
strengthen  it.  There  is,  first,  the  force  of  habit,  as  already 
mentioned.  A  right  action  often  done  tends  to  be  repeated, 
independent  of  its  rightness.  Secondly,  there  are  certain  lower 
impulses  and  motives  which  may  be  called  in  by  the  educator; 
the  desire  for  reward,  to  escape  punishment,  for  future  gratifi- 
cation, for  the  approval  of  others,  etc.,  while  not  moral  motives, 
may  be  judiciously  employed  by  the  teacher  as  forces  co-oper- 
ating in  right  doing.  A  manipulation  of  non-moral  motives 
leading  to  moral  acts  constitutes,  especially  with  younger 
children,  a  large  part  of  the  work  of  the  educator. 

And,  thirdly,  there  are  motives  which,  if  not  originally  moral^ 
become  such  with  a  very  slight  development.  These  are  es- 
pecially pity,  sympathy  and  love.  Such  feelings  tend  to  iden- 
tify the  child  with  those  about  him — first  in  the  family,  then  in 
the  school,  then  in  the  wider  relations  of  society.  This 
identification  makes  real  the  claims  that  others  have  upon  him; 
these  claims,  the  rights  of  others,  are  not  mere  abstract  obliga- 
tions, but  are  his  own  interests.  He  is  interested  in  them  as 
he  is  in  his  own  wants  and  desires.  This  identification  also 
extends  the  range  of  obligations  that  the  child  recognizes ;  what- 
ever obligations   the  one  whom  he  loves  and  admires  recog- 


154  FORMS    OF    VOLITIONAL   DEVELOPMENT. 

nizes,  he  also  feels  that  he  ought  to  recognize.  And  finally 
such  an  identification  weakens  the  motive  that  tends  most 
strongly  to  wrong  conduct,  selfishness,  namely.  It  takes  the 
child  beyond  his  own  personal  gratification  and  widens  his 
being,  his  character.  Only  that  can  satisfy  him  which  satisfies 
others.  This  feeling,  if  properly  trained,  must  finally  cause 
the  person  to  recognize,  practically  if  not  theoretically,  his 
identity  of  interests  and  purpose  with  those  of  all  other  per- 
sons, and  must  change  the  bare  feeling  of  obligation  into  a 
powerful  social  motive. 

Results  of  Moral  Control. — i.  Generic  or  Immanent 
Choice. — This  term  implies  two  things;  first,  that  the  result  of 
forming  a  moral  habit,  or  mode  of  moral  control,  forms  a 
general  motive  in  that  direction.  It  creates  a  state  of  choice. 
A  child  who  has  the  organized  habit  of  truth  telling  does  not 
have  to  exercise  specific  choice  in  each  case;  but  has  a  general 
governing  intention  or  purpose  which  controls  all  cases.  It  im- 
plies, secondly,  that  this  general  decision  continues  in  action 
even  when  there  is  no  immediate  cause  for  action.  A  temperate 
man's  temperance  does  not  cease  to  exist  when  he  is  not  satis- 
fying some  appetite.  The  choice  is  immanent  in  him ;  that  is, 
it  remains  permanently  to  direct  the  course  of  his  actions. 

2.  Automatic  and  Intuitive  Decision. — A  person  who  has  fixed 
habits  of  action  does  not  have  to  hesitate  a  long  time  before 
acting.  An  immature  character  may  have  a  long  struggle  before 
choosing,  but  a  thoroughly  good  or  a  thoroughly  bad  character 
has  no  such  struggle ;  such  a  person  chooses  automatically. 
Fixity  of  character  shows  itself  also,  in  intuitive  recognition 
of  what  is  right  and  wrong.  An  immature  character  has  often 
to  reflect  long  in  order  to  decide  what  is  good  or  bad,  but  a 
formed  character  makes  its  decision  at  once. 

3,  Regulation  of  Desires, — The  formation  of  desires  is,  if  we 
omit  moral  considerations,  as  natural  as  the  origin  of  impulses ; 
the  desires  are  the  direct  result  of  the  psychical  constitution. 


MIND  AND   BODY.  I55 

But  when  moral  motives  are  recognized,  it  is  seen  that  obli- 
gation extends  to  the  desires.  Desires,  as  well  as  acts,  may  be 
wrong,  and  need  checking.  A  settled  character  decides  what 
desires  can  be  entertained  as  well  as  what  acts  shall  be  per- 
formed. Character  thus  finally  decides  the  emotional  bent  of 
the  person. 

4.  Effective  Execution. — Character  forms  a  reservoir  of  power 
back  of  the  choice.  An  immature  character  may  desire  to  do 
a  certain  act,  may  choose  it,  and  yet  be  overcome  by  opposing 
temptations.  There  is  not  enough  force  back  of  the  choice  to 
guarantee  its  realization.  But  character  is  a  multiplied  volition 
which  guarantees  the  execution  of  the  chosen  end.  A  person 
with  fixed  character,  moreover,  takes  pleasure  in  certain  desires 
and  acts,  and  this  pleasure,  the  abiding  interest  which  he  has, 
leads  him  to  act 


CHAPTER  VIL 

MIND  AND   BODY. 


The  mind  must  be  developed  as  completely  as  possible.  The 
mind  must  also  be  able  to  use  its  developed  powers  in  an  effec- 
tive way,  so  as  to  accomplish  as  much  as  possible  with  them. 
To  reach  these  two  ends,  the  body  must  be  healthy  and  must  be 
well-trained.  The  teacher  should,  therefore,  know  something 
of  the  mutual  relations  of  mind  and  body  that  he  may  fully 
realize  the  importance  of  the  corpus  sanum  for  the  mens  sana, 
and  that  he  may  be  able  to  infer  something  as  to  methods  to  be 
employed  in  bringing  about  the  ideal  relation  between  them. 

Importance  of  Body  for  Soul.— The  soul  of  a  human 
being  is  not  pure  spirit,  but  embodied  mind.  This  one  fact 
makes  it  necessary  that  in  his  methods  the  educator  should 
always  have  reference  to  physical  and  physiological  conditions. 


156  MIND   AND    BODY. 

It  is  through  the  body  that  the  soul  is  connected  with  nature , 
with  those  vast  and  also  minute  forces  which  make  up 
this  whole  universe.  And  the  body  connects  the  soul  with 
material  universe  in  two  ways  :  on  the  one  hand,  it  makes 
the  soul  a  recipient  of  the  influences  coming  from  it ;  on  the 
other  hand,  it  makes  the  soul  an  a^ent,  a  power  capable  of 
affecting  or  influencing  nature.  All  that  comes  to  the  soul 
from  without,  comes  through  the  body ;  all  that  the  soul  can 
give  to  the  world  without,  it  gives  through  the  body. 

Relation  of  Sense- Organs^  Muscular  System  aud  Brain^  to  the 
Soul. — In  more  detail,  all  sensations  come  through  the  sense- 
organs  ;  all  activity  of  will  is  manifested  through  the  muscular- 
system  ;  all  processes  of  apperception,  and  retention,  of  memory 
and  thinking  are'^  accompanied  by  activities  in  the  brain  and 
nervous  system.  The  body  is,  therefore,  not  only  an  instrument 
of  mind,  but  its  processes  enter,  as  an  integral  factor^  into 
mental  processes  and  results.  If  a  sense-organ  is  defective  or  is 
diseased,  the  corresponding  sensation  is  absent  or  abnormal ; 
if  entirely  wanting,  one  department  of  knowledge  is  evidently  cut 
off ;  if  it  is  distorted,  resulting  knowledge  is  abnormal.  Indeed, 
the  distortion  of  the  sensation  often  leads  to  a  distortion  of  the 
mental  process  that  interprets  it.  A  person  with  abnormal 
auditory  sensations  often  comes  to  interpret  them  as  voices  of 
demons,  or  as  the  voice  of  one  commanding  him  to  do  some 
deed.  This  hallucination,  in  turn,  becomes  an  "  apperceiving 
organ,'*  that  is,  other  perceptions  and  ideas  are  assimilated  to 
it ;  it  becomes  a  centre  about  which  many  ideas  gather  and  are 
correspondingly  distorted.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the  sense- 
organ  is  well  controlled,  considered  simply  as  a  physical  instru 
ment,  perception  becomes  definite  and  accurate,  and  this  tends, 
at  least,  to  produce  correct  and  clear  habits  of  thinking. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  relation  of  the  muscular  system 
to  the  will.  The  muscular  system  is  not  only  a  necessary  means 
of  carrying  out  the  decisions  of  the  soul,  but 'its  culture  or  non- 


MIND   AND    BODY.  I57 

culture  is  directly  reflected  in  the  development  of  the  will.  Un- 
steady, vacillating,  or  irritable  physical  habits,  are  apt  to  mean 
similar  habits  of  attention  and  choice.  The  dependence  of  soul 
is  not  confined,  of  course,  to  its  relations  to  the  sense-organs 
and  muscular  system ;  the  eye,  the  hand,  are  parts  of  the  body, 
consequently  their  condition  depends  upon  the  state  of  the  and 
entire  organism.  The  circulation  of  the  blood  and  nutrition  of 
the  body  will  reflect  themselves  in  sense-organ,  in  muscle,  and 
in  the  staie  of  the  brain.  Hence,  the  culture  of  the  whole 
body  is  as  necessary  as  that  of  any  special  organ.  The  health  of 
the  body  as  a  whole  seems  to  be  intimately  connected  with  the 
emotional  condition.  The  organic  or  common  sensations  com- 
ing from  every  part  of  the  body,  form,  it  is  probable,  the 
underlying  emotional  back-ground  or  disposition,  and  every 
disturbance  of  the  health  of  the  organism  is  reflected  in  a 
disturbance  of  the  emotional  attitude.  Fresh  air,  exercise, 
repose  are,  through  their  relation  to  the  emotions,  as  much 
demands  of  moral  hygiene  as  of  physical 

Mind  and  Brain. — Less  is  known,  of  course,  of  the  direct 
relations  of  mind  and  brain  than  of  the  direct  relations  of  mind 
and  sense-organs,  and  muscular  system.  But  there  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  every  psychical  process  is  accompanied  with 
change  in  the  brain-centres,  and  leaves  behind  it  an  alteration 
of  their  condition.  Lesions  of  the  brain  are  accompanied 
with  greater  or  less  loss  of  mental  function,  and  insanity  is 
always  found  to  be  accompanied  with  some  cerebral  change. 
The  character  of  the  blood  that  goes  to  the  brain,  the  nutrition 
of  the  body  and  of  the  nerve-centres,  manifests  themselves 
in  the  mental  states.  Mental  over-work,  lack  of  change,  or 
excessive  stimulation,  are  as  disastrous  as  their  analogous  phy- 
sical disturbances.  On  the  other  hand,  statistics  show  that 
well-balanced  and  thorough  mental  activity  is  conducive  to 
good  health  and  long  life,  through  the  correct  habit  that  it 
induces  in  the  physical  organism. 


158  MIND  AND   BODY. 

Structure  of  Nervous  System  in  Man. — The  details  of  this 
belong  rather  to  anatomy  and  physiology,  but  it  may  be  well 
to  recall  some  leading  facts.  There  are  two  kinds  of  nerve- 
tissue,  the  cellular,  which  is  generally  gathered  into  ganglionic 
masses  or  nerve-centres ^  and  the  fibrous  aggregated  into 
bundles,  known  as  the  nerves.  In  man  these  are  arranged 
so  as  to  form  the  cerebro-spinal  system,  including  the 
brain,  the  spinal  cord  and  the  nerves  going  from  the  brain  and 
the  spinal-cord  to  the  various  organs  of  the  body.  These 
nerves  are  generally  classified  as  motor  or  sensory.  The  motor 
are  efferent,  that  is,  they  carry  impulses  from  the  central  organs 
to  the  muscles  and  thus  induce  movement ;  the  sensory  are 
afferent,  that  is,  they  conduct  stimuli  from  the  sense-organs  to 
the  brain-centres  and  thus  occasion  sensation.  For  example, 
light  is  reflected  upon  the  retina  of  the  eye;  the  resulting 
stimulus  is  transmitted  by  the  optic  nerve  to  the  brain ;  ner- 
vous changes  take  place  there  corresponding  to  the  assimila- 
tion of  the  sensation,  to  its  association  with  other  sensations,  and 
thus  result  in  the  formation  of  a  percept,  say  the  recognition  of 
an  orange;  other  cerebral  changes  occur  corresponding  to  a  deter- 
mination to  get  the  orange ;  an  impulse  goes  out  along  a  motor 
nerve,  the  muscles  of  the  hand  are  stimulated,  and  the  orange 
is  grasped.  The  cerebral  changes  corresponding  to  the  higher 
psychical  processes  are  generally  thought  to  occur  in  the  cortex 
of  the  brain,  a  comparatively  thin  rind  of  ganglionic  matter 
surrounding  the  fibrous  mass  of  the  hemispheres  of  the  brain. 

Elementary  Properties  of  Nerve  Structures.— 
Every  nerve  structure  is  irritable  or  excitable ;  that  is,  capable 
of  receiving  stimuli  and  of  responding  to  them  by  the  exercise 
of  energy.  Every  portion  of  the  nerve  tissue  is  also  capable 
of  conducting  these  stimuli,  or  is  capable  of  transmitting  its 
own  excitation  to  some  other  point.  The  fibres  are  much 
better  conductors  than  the  ganglia  or  nerve  centres,  and  hence 
are  sometimes,  but  incorrectly,  treated  as  the  sole  conductors. 


IfIND  AND    BODY.  1 59 

Nerve  tissue  also  has  the  power  of  summation^  that  is,  it  is 
capable  of  transforming,  or  summing-up,  a  number  of  separate, 
minute  shocks  into  one  continuous  and  more  prolonged  stimu- 
lus. It  also  has  the  powers  of  inhibition^  and  of  plasticity.  By 
inhibition  is  meant  that  the  nervous  system  is  capable  of  arrest- 
ing or  controlling  stimuli.  If  a  neural  organ  had  only  the 
property  of  excitability,  it  would  use  up  all  its  energy  in 
responding  to  every  stimulus  that  affected  it,  but  being  capable 
of  checking  the  amount  of  energy  expended  in  answer  to  a 
stimulus,  it  is  able  to  keep  a  reserve  force  constantly  on  hand. 
Indeed,  it  is  probably  this  reserve  force  that  acts  in  opposition 
to  the  stimulus  affecting  it,  and  by  antagonizing  it,  arrests  the 
outflow  of  energy. 

By  plasticity  is  meant  that  the  nerve  tissues  are  altered  in 
structure  by  every  process  that  they  undergo.  A  nerve  organ 
that  has  responded  to  a  stimulus  is  not  the  same  that  it  was 
before.  This  property  of  plasticity  is  also  termed  facilitaHon. 
A  neural  structure  that  has  acted  in  one  way  once,  acts  that 
way  more  easily  in  future ;  indeed,  it  tends  to  act  that  way  in 
future.  This  property  is  also  termed  accommodation.  This 
term  expresses  the  fact  that  a  nerve  structure  that  has  received 
similar  stimuli,  or  undergone  similar  processes  a  number  of 
times,  becomes  specially  accommodated  or  adjusted  to  that  kind 
of  stimulus  or  process.  It  is  evident  that  plasticity  and  inhib- 
ition are  closely  connected.  The  more  a  nerve  structure  tends 
to  act  in  one  way,  the  greater  resistance  it  will  offer  to  all 
stimuli  exciting  to  a  different  course  of  action. 

Psychological  Equivalents, — It  is  evident  that  sensation, 
interest,  and  impulse,  answer  in  some  way  to  the  property 
of  excitability.  They  all  stir  the  soul  to  action,  either 
intellectual  or  volitional,  or  both.  And  as  the  physiological 
stimulus  is  controlled  and  guided  by  the  inhibition  exercised  by 
the  central  organs,  so  the  psychological  excitations  are  brought 
under  the  control  of  the  less  superficial  "  apperceptive  organs." 


lOO  MIND  AND   BODY. 

That  is  to  say,  upon  both  the  physiological  and  the  psycholo- 
gical  sides,  we  have,  on  one  hand,  stimulus  to  activity,  and,  on 
the  other,  organized  capacities  or  tendencies  ("  faculties  ")  that 
respond  to  the  stimulus,  and  that,  by  the  manner  of  their  re- 
sponse, control  it.  And  it  is  only  as  the  stimulus,  whether 
physiological  or  psychological,  is  inhibited  or  regulated,  that 
it  becomes  effective  or  of  any  value  The  sensation  is  con- 
trolled by  the  intellectual  capacities  that  connect  and  interpret 
it ;  the  impulse  is  controlled  by  the  habits  of  desire  and  choice 
with  which  it  is  brought  into  relation. 

Excitation  and  Inhibition.— A  right  balance  of  the 
two  sides  of  excitation  and  inhibition  is  necessary  for  proper 
physical  or  psychical  activity.  Without  excitation  there  is 
dullness,  inertia,  laziness,  lack  of  incentive ;  without  inhib- 
ition, there  is  instability,  excessive  irritability  and  vacillation. 
There  is  no  self-control,  physical  or  mental  Every  stimulus 
excites  activity  to  a  high  degree,  and  thus  exhausts  power, 
nervous  and  psychical.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  a  fatigued 
nerve  is  relatively  more  excitable  than  a  fresh  one.  So  fatigue 
generally  shows  itself  psychically  by  inability  to  control  attention, 
and  often  by  irritation  of  temper.  The  reserve  force  of  the 
brain  centres  is  exhausted,  and  the  stimuli  are  comparatively 
stronger.  Hence  the  evil  effects,  mental  and  physical,  of  over 
work  and  over  pressure  in  school.  Some  psychologists  think  the 
different  temperaments  are  due  to  the  mutual  relations  of  the 
stimulating  and  the  inhibiting  power.  The  psychological  equi- 
valent of  plasticity  is,  of  course,  habit  and  retention.  There  is 
a  change  in  the  structure  and  function  of  the  nerves,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  nerve  centres,  at  the  basis  of  the  change  that  the 
mind  undergoes.  And  retention,  in  building  up  habit  and  char- 
acter, builds  up  future  self-control,  just  as  plasticity  and  inhi- 
bition are  connected. 

Localization  of  Function. — One  of  the  most  important  topics 
in  physiological  psychology,  as  well  as  one  of  ihe  most  import- 


MIND    AND    BODY.  .  l6l 

ant  pedagogically,  is  that  of  localization  of  functioru  To  what 
extent  do  definite  portions  of  the  brain  correspond  to  definite 
mental  functions  and  capacities  ?  The  details  of  this  question 
are  much  disputed,  but  there  seems  to  be  growing  agreement 
of  opinion  upon  the  following  points  : 

1.  There  is  original  indifference  of  function.  That  is,  prior 
to  experience,  either  of  the  individual  or  of  the  species,  there 
is  no  localization.  Every  part  of  the  nervous  structure  is 
equally  prepared  to  exercise  every  function. 

2.  As  the  result  of  use  certain  functions  become  more  or  less 
confined  to  certain  portions  of  the  brain.  This  would  be  a  ne- 
cessary result  of  the  properties  of  plasticity  and  accommodation. 
Use  depends  not  so  much  on  the  structure  of  a  part  as  upon 
its  motor,  sensory  and  cerebral  connections. 

3.  The  more  mechanical iht  function,  the  more  rea  li  y  (and 
hence  perfectly)  it  is  localized.  Thus  the  processes  ordinarily 
called  purely  mechanical,  like  breathing,  circulation,  etc,  have 
definite  local  centres.  The  spinal-cord  and  the  lower  parts  of 
the  brain,  aside  from  their  conducting  functions,  seem  to  be 
groups  of  centres  for  regulating  mechanical  functions.  Walking 
and  other  physical  habits  seem  to  have  definite  centres.  Ar- 
ticulate speech  almost  always  has  its  nerve-basis  in  the  third 
frontal  convolution  of  the  left  hemisphere. 

4.  Mental  capacities^  whether  intellectual  or  volitional,  have 
ill-defined  and  changeable  centres.  That  is  to  say,  the  capacities 
of  assimilating  and  of  recognizing  various  kinds  of  sense-impres- 
sions, and  of  co-ordinating  and  controlling  various  kinds  of 
motor  impulses,  have  centres  in  the  brain.  The  centres  have 
no  definite  outline,  however,  and  probably  overlap  one  another. 
By  calling  them  changeable  we  mean  that  if  a  centre  in  one 
hemisphere  is  destroyed,  the  function  may,  through  use,  be  as- 
sumed by  a  corresponding  centre  in  the  other  hemisphere.  If 
this  is  also  destroyed,  it  is  probable  that  other  parts  of  the  brain, 
having  proper  nerve  connections,  may  be  substituted. 

L 


1 62  .  MIND   AND    BODY. 

5.  Memory,  thinking,  choice,  etc.,  have  no  definite  local 
ization.  There  is  no  general  power  of  memory,  but  only 
retention  and  recognition  of  various  original  experiences. 
Each  idea  has  its  own  memory,  as  it  were.  Hence  the 
centre  of  memory  is  supposed  to  be  the  same  as  that  of  the 
original  idea.  In  other  words,  the  same  parts  of  the  brain  are 
active  in  remembering  that  were  active  in  the  original  percep- 
tion. The  agreement  of  this  physiological  fact  with  the  pre- 
cept laid  down  for  training  memory  will  be  noticed.  Thinking 
is  relating  various  memories,  images  and  ideas.  It  cannot  have 
any  one  centre,  therefore,  but  all  parts  of  the  brain  involved  in 
the  original  perceptions  and  in  the  images,  must  be  active  in 
thinking.  Physiologically  as  well  as  psychologically  there  is  no 
abstract  or  formal  faculty  of  memory  or  of  thought,  apart  from 
what  is  remembered,  what  is  thought  about. 

6.  Ideas  are  not  localized.  Some  have  written  as  if  each 
idea  had  a  separate  cell  in  the  brain,  and  were  then  connected 
with  other  cells,  by  fibres  corresponding  to  the  association  of 
ideas.  This  cannot  be  true,  however,  for  an  idea  is  the  result 
of  associations  and  relations.  It  is  not  an  entity  in  itself,  but 
is  a  complex  result  of  many  factors  and  processes.  The  idea 
of  a  '  dog,'  for  example,  involves  elements  coming  from  all  the 
senses ;  involves  motor  elements  used  in  speaking  or  writing  the 
word  dog;  involves,  in  an  educated  person,  words  corresponding 
to  the  same  idea  in  several  languages ;  and  involves  all  the 
manifold  knowledge  a  person  has  about  the  habits,  varieties, 
etc ,  of  dogs.  Almost  every  kind  of  idea  may  be  thus  involved 
in  an  idea,  apparently  as  simple  as  that  of  dog.  All  portions 
of  the  brain  corresponding  to  these  elements  must,  therefore,  be 
active  when  we  have  the  idea. 

Educational  Principles. — Aside  from  being  convinced 
of  the  necessity  of  thorough  culture  and  care  of  the  body  the 
teacher  may,  by  the  foregoing  brief  summary,  be  confirmed  in 
certain  educational  principles  already  laid  down.    Firsts  he  may 


SUMMARY    OF    PRINCIPLES.  1 63 

see  that  the  idea  of  organization  of  faculty,  through  retention  of 
the  result  of  every  experience,  which  has  been  so  much  empha 
sized,  has  a  physical  basis  and  efficiency.  Secondlyj  he  may 
see  that  it  is  a  physiological  impossibility  that  there  should  be 
specific  direct  training  of  any  one  faculty.  The  faculty  can  be 
trained  only  through  the  material  assimilated,  and  the  assimi- 
lation of  the  material  requires  the  activity  of  the  fundamental 
mental  processes  and  functions.  Educate  association  and  at- 
tention, educate  analysis  and  synthesis,  and  to  a  large  degree 
memory,  thinking,  etc.,  will  take  care  of  themselves.  Thirdly^ 
as  no  cell  or  fibre  has  originally  any  particular  function  in  itself, 
but  acquires  functions  only  through  its  connections,  so, 
mentally,  telations  established  by  association  and  by  attention 
are  more  important  than  the  isolated  sensation  itself. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES. 


We  shall  now  go  over  the  psychological  discussion,  select  the  principles 
of  most  importance  for  the  teacher,  and  rearrange  them  under  appropriate 
heads,  that  we  may,  as  far  as  possible,  derive  general  maxims  for  the  guid- 
ance of  the  teacher.  After  having  done  this  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to 
criticise  some  of  the  current  maxims,  recognizing  both  their  value  and  their 
limitations.  The  educational  principles  to  be  gathered  from  our  present 
knowledge  of  psychology  may  be  classified  as  follows  : 

I.  Bases  upon  which  instruction  should  rest 

II.  Ends  at  which  instruction  should  aim. 

III.  Methods  which  instruction  should  follow. 

I.  Bases  of  Instruction. 

I.  Always  base  instruction  upon  some  activity  of  the  pupiL 


164  SUMMARY   OF    PRINCIPLES. 

This  is  a  principle  which  holds  good  from  the  beginning  ;  from  the  pri. 
mary  stage  to  the  final,  or  university  stage.  Education  is  the  development 
of  the  psychical  activities,  and  must,  therefore,  begin  with  some  spontaneous 
manifestation  of  the  activity  to  be  educated.  This  activity  may  appear 
in  the  form  of  an  impulse,  an  interest,  a  habit,  an  exercise  of  effort,  an  as- 
sociating or  relating  activity,  according  to  the  degree  of  development,— but 
personal  or  self-activity  there  must  be. 

2.  Always  base  instruclion  upon  some  interest  of  the  pupil. 
This  principle,  again  is  co-extensive  with  the  whole  range  of  education. 

The  interest  may  belong  to  the  activity  put  forth,  to  the  object  upon  which 
the  activity  is  exercised,  to  some  remoter  end,  which  it  is  hoi>ed  the  activitj 
will  reach  ;  it  may  not  have  originally  belonged  to  the  activity  or  to  it» 
object,  but  may  have  been  transferred  to  it  from  something  else  interesting, 
or  it  may  be  induced  by  appealing  to  social  motives  (sympathy,  love),  or  to 
rational  motives  (desire  of  knowledge,  of  progress,  etc.) — hnt  personal  inter. 
est  there  must  be. 

3.  Always  base  instruction  upon  some  idea  already  existing  in 
the  pupil  ^s  mind. 

In  the  current  phrase,  knowledge  must  proceed  from  the  "  known  to  the 
unknown."  A  fact  or  action  absolutely  new  and  unlike  anything  in  the 
pupil's  mind,  cannot  by  any  possibility  be  lodged  in«  that  mind.  It  can 
gain  entrance  only  by  being  taken  hold  of  by  some  idea  already  there.  In- 
struction consists  in  supplying  nutriment  to  some  idea  already  in  the  mind 
so  as  to  make  it  grow  into  a  larger  and  more  accurate  idea,  rather  than  in 
forcing  or  pouring  something  into  the  mind  from  without.  There  are  two 
principles  which  we  have  repeatedly  had  occasion  to  notice  which  streng- 
then that  just  laid  down  :  one  b  that  we  always  learn  with  what  we  have 
already  learned  ;  the  other  is  that  an  idea  (however  vague)  of  what  is  to  be 
done  must  precede  any  doing. 

II.  Ends  of  Instruction. 

I.  Aim  at  making  instruction  significant.  This  includes  :  first 
make  each  subject^  as  a  whole  significant,  and  second,  make  everj 
statement  within  the  subject  significant. 

(/')  There  is  no  evil  in  education  greater  than  teaching  subjects  so  that  thei 
actual  bearing  is  lost  sight  of :  teaching  them  as  if  they  were  mere  siudie- 
instead  of  real  bodies  of  fact.  The  divorcing  of  knowledge  obtained  by  study 
in  school  from  that  obtained  spontaneously  out  of  school,  is  one  of  the 
things  the  teacher  must  be  most  constantly  on  his  guard  against.     Children 


SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES.  165 

may  study  geography  and  not  find  out  that  they  are  simply  extending  and 
classifying  the  knowledge  about  the  world  that  they  have  been  getting  ever 
since  they  were  bom  ;  they  may  study  history  without  realizing  that  they 
are  but  enlarging  their  knowledge  of  real  men  and  real  deeds  ;  they  may 
study  grammar  without  finding  out  that  they  are  simply  defining  and  ana- 
lyzing what  they  have  always  had  some  practical  knowledge  of.  All  is 
remote,  arbitrary  and  consequently  meaningless  and  burdensome.  None 
of  the  educational  reforms  of  the  last  generation  has  been  more  important 
than  that  in  primary  methods  which  has  connected  studies  with  ordinary 
ways  of  gaining  knowledge  and  with  ordinary  kinds  of  knowledge. 

(//)  Every  new  statement  of  fact  or  law  must  be  explained,  illustrated 
and  acted  upon,  so  as  to  gain  significance.  It  must  be  translated  into  old 
perceptions,  and  must  be  transformed  into  personal  actions  in  order  that  its 
meaning  may  be  fully  apprehended. 

2.  Aim  at  making  instruction  definite. 

Every  lesson  should  have  a  point,  and  every  question  upon  that  lesson 
should  have  a  point,  precise,  salient,  unambiguous.  Irrelevant  matter 
should  be  excluded  :  the  teacher  must  avoid  the  introduction  of  confusing 
examples  or  analogies.  Objects  presented  must  plainly  illustrate  just  the 
point  desired  j  if  they  do  not  in  themselves,  attention  must  be  fixed  upon 
the  relevant  points  of  the  object.  A  great  deal  of  scientific  experiment  and 
illustration  *by  the  teacher  is  practically  wasted  because  the  pupil  observes 
only  the  sensational  result,  or  because  the  experiment  illustrates  so  many 
points  beside  the  one  in  hand.  Again,  every  expression,  every  form  0/  lait' 
guage  used  by  the  pupil  must  be  definite  so  far  as  the  extent  of  knowledge 
and  the  idiosyncracies.  of  the  pupil  permit.  Finally  the  teacher  should 
remember  that  knowledge  is  naturally  anything  but  definite.  Vague  and 
cloudy  ideas  come  first,  and  they  will  in  many  minds  remain  vague  to  the 
end  unless  the  teacher  is  constantly  alive  to  the  necessity  of  arousing  mental 
activities  to  work  upon  them. 

3.  Aim  at  making  instruction  practical. 

Instruction  is  practical  when,  as  has  been  explained,  ideas  lead  to  action 
and  action  is  based  upon  ideas.  In  the  period  when  everything  that  a  child 
\f3iXXi%  counts y  and  when  he  is  learning  more  rapidly  than  at  any  other  time 
in  his  life,  namely  his  first  five  years,  there  is  no  divorce  of  knowing  from 
doing.  Every  idea  the  child  gets  is  acted  upon,  and  every  idea  is  got 
through  action.  We  shall  have  an  ideal  method  of  education  when  this 
same  connection  between  knowledge  and  action,  (though  the  activities  n«— ' 


l66  SDMMARY  OF    PRINCIPLES. 

not  be  physical)  is  continued  through  all  school  years,  md  is  joined  to  • 
regular  system  of  means  and  ends  for  securing  it. 

(i)  Instruction  is  practical  when  it  Uads  to  the  formation  of 

right  habits. 

Instruction  given  simply  for  the  sake  of  conveying  information  cannot  be 
practical.  The  information  must  be  given  for  the  sake  of  the  habits  formed^ 
the  discipline  of  intelligence,  emotion  and  will  produced.  A  right  under- 
standing of  this  principle  shows  what  is  the  true  function  of  drill  in  educa- 
tion. There  must  be  drill,  there  must  be  a  mechanical  side  to  education, 
but  it  is  all  important  that  the  mechanical  be  confined  to  its  proper  place 
— the  training  of  habits,  the  organizing  of  capacities.  Drill,  for  its  own 
sake,  apart  from  its  influence  in  building  up  right  habits  is  the  most  power- 
ful of  the  forces  at  work  in  severing  school  work  from  the  real  world,  and 
in  making  it  artificial  and  unreal.  Imagine  a  child  out  of  school  drilled 
and  redrilled  upon  some  facts  he  has  gathered  in  conversation  or  in  reading, 
as  he  too  often  is  upon  facts  learned  in  school ;  drilled  as  if  the  sole  value 
of  the  facts  consisted  in  the  extent  to  which  they  lent  themselves  to  pur- 
poses of  drill  :  would  not  the  result  be  that  these  facts  would  become  unreal 
and  distasteful ;  that  interest  would  die  out  ;  that  the  sense  of  proportion, 
of  the  difference  between  the  important  and  the  unimportant,  would  be  de- 
stroyed, and  that,  by  dwelling  on  what  is  familiar  to  the  degree  of  tedious* 
ness,  habits  of  mind-wandering  would  be  formed  ?  But  when  drill  is  used 
simply  as  means  and  as  means  to  forming  right  habits  in  the  subject  studied, 
whatever  it  be,  these  evil  results  are  avoided,  and  the  proper  union  of 
knowing  and  doing  is  systematically  secured. 

(ii)  Instruction  is  practical  when  it  leads  to  the  organization  of 

new  faculties  and  powers. 

The  subject  of  retention  has  been  so  often  alluded  to  that  there  is  no  need 
©f  dwelling  upon  this  principle  here.  It  is  evident  that  if  instruction  is 
carried  on  with  a  view  to  the  effect  which  ideas  appnhended  have  upon  the 
mind,  it  will  lead  to  the  production  of  new  capacities  and  powers  ;  that,  in- 
stead of  an  accumulation  of  isolated  and  dead  facts  in  the  mind,  there  will 
be  an  assimilation  and  digestion  of  them,  by  which  they  will  be  worked 
over  into  centres  of  new  activity  and  apprehension. 

(Hi)  Instruction  is  practical  when  it  develops  the  fundamental 
psychical  powers^  Association  and  Attention,  Apperception  e<^ 
Retention. 


SUMMARY    OF     PRINCIPLES.  1 67 

Iv  M  not  upon  the  specific  knowledge  acquired,  nor  upon  the 
specij^  habits  formed,  nor  yet  upon  the  specific  powers  gained, 
that  the  pupil  will  have  most  to  rely  after  he  leaves  school, 
and  uoon  which  his  success  in  life  will  most  depend.  It  is  the 
cultivation  of  the  mifid  in  its  fundamental  capacities,  its  powers 
of  forming  proper  connections,  of  apprehending  readily  and 
accurately,  of  retaining  firmly  and  for  long  periods,  of  concen- 
trating and  directing  attention,  that  decides  whether  or  not  the 
person  is  educated  for  life. 

Fortunately  the  four  ends  mentioned  are  all  met  by  the  same  methods 
The  best  methods  of  acquiring  knowledge  in  the  subject  of  arithmetic  are 
also  the  surest  to  develop  right  habits  of  dealing  with  arithmetical  relations, 
and  the  most  effective  in  organizing  mental  faculties.  And  the  methods 
that  form  rigflt  habits  and  organize  new  powers  are  also  the  methods  which 
are  surest  to  discipline,  cultivate  and  develop  the  fundamental  powers  of 
mind,  and  to  give  association  and  attention  ability  to  deal  with  whatever 
questions  present  themselves. 

III.  Methods  of  Instruction. 

I.   Teach  one  thing  at  a  time. 

This  does  not  mean  simply  that  geography  is  to  be  taught  at  one  time, 
history  at  another,  and  so  on.  It  means  that  every  subject  is  to  be  so  pre- 
sented that  the  mind's  activities  may  be  directed,  all  its  energies  concen- 
trated^ upon  one  point  at  a  time.  Operations  that,  to  an  adult,  have 
become  so  habitual  that  their  various  factors  are  consolidated  into  one 
simple  process  are,  to  a  beginner,  highly  complex,  and  it  is  necessary  for 
the  teacher  to  select  these  various  factors,  present  them  in  logical  order, 
and  drill  the  pupils  upon  each  one  of  them  separately.  When  the  question 
is  as  to  the  special  methods  to  be  adopted  in  teaching  some  subject,  as  read- 
ing, arithmetic,  etc. ,  the  first  step  is  to  discover  what  mental  operations  the 
mind  must  go  through  in  grasping  that  subject  ;  the  next  step  is  to  arrange 
ways  by  which  the  child's  attention  may  be  confined  successively  to  each 
one  of  these  constituent  operations,  beginning,  of  course,  with  the  simplest. 

Example. — Reading  aloud  is  to  an  educated  adult  a  comparatively  simple 
matter.  The  wrong  methods,  once  in  use,  went  upon  the  principle  that  it 
was  a  correspondingly  simple  matter  to  a  child,  and,  therefore,  endeavoured 
to  make  the  child's  mind  work  in  three  or  four  directions  at  once.     The 


t69  SUMMARY   OF    PRINCIPLES. 

resnit,  naturally,  was  that  some  of  the  aspects  of  reading  were  slighted,  and 
that  none  of  the  processes  involved  in  reading  was  efficiently  and  economi- 
cally performed.  For,  consider  how  complex  the  operation  really  is. 
First,  attention  must  be  paid  to  the  visual  sensations  in  order  to  recognize 
the  written  word  ;  then  there  must  be  the  mental  operation  of  combining 
the  letters  and  words  ;  then  of  paying  attention  to  the  ideas  symbolized  by 
the  words  ;  then,  in  order  to  pronounce  the  words  with  expression,  atten- 
tion must  be  paid  to  the  auditory  sensations  represented  by  the  words  ;  then 
to  their  association  with  the  motor  impulses  required  to  make  the  sounds  ; 
and  then  to  the  proper  inflection,  pitch,  emphasis,  etc.,  that  will  give  the 
fall  meaning  of  what  is  written.  The  analysis  could  be  carried  farther,  but 
here  we  have  six  distinct  operations,  to  each  of  which  separate  attention 
musf  be  paid  if  the  child  is  to  learn  to  read  well.  How  much  better, 
therefore,  the  methods  which  select  the  various  operations  and  train  the 
child  in  them,  one  by  one,  than  the  methods  that  present  all  in  a  mass  and 
compel  the  pupil  to  pick  out  the  processes  for  himself. 

Meaning  0f  Analytic  Methods  in  Education. — Every  right  method  is  a  way 
of  assisting  some  normal  psychical  process  (page  4),  and  this  method  of 
"  teaching  one  thing  at  a  time  "  finds  its  justification  in  its  relation  to  the 
mind's  analytic  function.  The  immature  mind  cannot  perform  the  neces- 
sary analysis  for  itself;  if  it  could  it  would  need  no  instruction.  But  it  is 
overwhelmed  by  the  mass  of  facts  confronting  it.  It  is  the  function  of  the 
teacher  so  to  subdivide  and  analyze  the  material,  that  the  pupil's  mind  shall 
work  analytically.  A  pupil  who  notices  the  sounds  that  his  teacher  is  mak- 
ing, and  then  attempts  to  reproduce  them,  is  performing  mental  analysis. 
There  is  one  thing  presented  to  him,  and  all  his  attention  is  concentrated 
upon  that  one  thing.  An  analytic  method  in  education  always  consists  in 
resolving  a  subject  into  its  component  members^  and  in  presenting  these  mem' 
bers,  one  at  a  time,  to  the  mind's  activities  to  work  upon. 

Advantages  of  Analytic  Method. — Its  main  advantage  is,  of  course,  that 
it  is  based  upon  and  aids  a  fundamental  function  of  mind,  one  which  must 
be  used  if  knowledge  is  to  be  gained.  But  there  are  minor  advantages 
which  may  be  noticed. 

(i)  It  economizes  mental  Energy. — When  the  mind  is  called  upon  to  pay 
attention  to  something  which  contains  a  number  of  unfamiliar  factors,  it  is 
really  called  upon  to  attend  to  that  number  of  subjects  at  once.  The  result 
is  that  mental  energy  is  diffused,  scattered  and  largely  wasted.  There  is 
greater  strain  upon  the  mind  than  if  one  point  were  presented  at  a  time, 
but  less  is  Mccoviplishtd, 


SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES.  169 

(ii)  It  defines  menial  Products. — A  distinct  mental  product  Is  one  which 
has  by  attention  been  differentiated  from  others  (page  59).  Paying  atten- 
tion to  one  thing  at  a  time,  therefore,  necessarily  makes  distinct  what  is  at 
tended  to.  On  the  other  hand,  when  subjects  are  presented,  en  masses  as 
it  were,  everything  is  undefined,  vague  and  blurred. 

(Hi)  It  (jcchides  irrelevant  Material. — The  tendency  of  the  mind  to  asso- 
ciate whatever  is  presented  at  the  same  time  whether  it  should  be  connected 
or  not,  has  been  noticed  (page  32).  Unless  pains  are  taken  to  select  one 
thing  and  fix  attention  upon  that,  the  mind  is  almost  sure  to  include  much 
that  should  not  be  included.  When  a  pupil  tells  a  teacher  that  "Columbus 
knew  the  earth  was  round  because  he  balanced  an  egg  on  the  table  ;"  it  is 
easy,  to  laugh  at  him  ;  but  the  probability  is  that  these  two  statements  had 
been  presented  to  him  in  such  juxtaposition  amid  a  jumble  of  facts  that  his 
mind  naturally  associated  them. 

(iv)  It  prepares  the  vjay  for  Memory. — It  has  already  been  sufficiently 
repeated  that  memory  is  not  a  general  power,  but  that  there  is  a  memory 
for  everything  learned,  depending  upon  the  vividness,  distinctness  and  con- 
nections of  the  original  apprehension.  When  one  thing  is  attended  to  at  a 
time,  the  requirements  of  correct  apprehension  are  so  well  met  that  remem- 
bering follows  naturally. 

(v)  It  forms  the  analytic  Habit. 

When  we  say  that  a  man  has  a  trained  mind,  that  he  has  his 
mental  powers  under  good  command,  we  almost  always  mean 
that  he  is  able  in  any  subject  he  tak  s  up  to  seize  upon  its  im- 
portant points,  to  distinguish  them  clearly,  and  hold  them 
firmly,  no  matter  how  complicated  and  confused  the  subject 
upon  its  surface.  This  means  that  he  has  acquired  one  of  the 
best,  if  not  the  best,  results  of  intellectual  training — an  analytic 
habit  of  mind ;  a  habit  of  grasping  and  defining  leading  facts 
and  principles.  If  educators  invariably  follow  the  principle 
here  laid  down,  the  inducement  to  form  this  habit  is  strong. 
Paying  attention  to  "  one  thing  at  a  time,"  the  mind  is  gradually 
led  to  look  for  the  "  one  thing  "  which  underlies  a  varied  mass 
of  facts ;  it  feels  irritated  and  ill  at  ease  until  this  unity  is 
discovered,  so  that  finally  the  pupil  is  able  to  dispense  with  thi 
teachers  preparatory  analysis. 


17©  SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES. 

3.   Teach  in  a  connected  Manner, 

This  principle  bears  the  same  relation  to  the  Synthetic  Function  of  mind 
that  the  one  just  given  does  to  the  analytic  function.  The  method  based 
upon  it  may  be  termed,  therefore,  the  synthetic  method.  This  method  de- 
mands that  certain  conditions  be  met  both  upon  the  side  of  the  pupil  and  of 
the  teacher. 

It  demands  of  the  teacher : 

(i)  Unity  of  aim,  or  an  Educational  Ideal. 

A  teacher  who  does  not  have,  in  every  detail  of  his  school  work,  a  pur- 
pose larger  than  that  detail,  must  not  only  fall  into  a  mechanical  way  of 
teaching,  but  must  teach  in  a  disconnected  dispersive  manner.  There  is 
no  one  end  which  runs  through  his  class-work,  his  discipline,  his  inter- 
course with  pupils,  etc.,  welding  them  into  a  unity.  But  a  teacher  possessed 
of  a  practical  ideal,  that  of  forming  good  habits  of  mind  in  his  students,  will 
by  this  ideal  connect  all  details,  no  matter  how  diverse  they  may  be  in 
themselves. 

(ii)  That  the  teacher  be  systematic. 

The  teacher  must  have  a  definite  and  comprehensive  idea  of  what  he  is 
going  to  do  in  a  given  term.  He  must  have  his  plans  laid  for  an  educa- 
tional campaign.  He  must  have  a  conception  of  what  he  is  going  to  ac- 
complish and  by  what  means. 

(Hi)  That  instruction  be  graded. 

There  must  be  gradual  advance  from  the  easy  to  the  difficult,  from  the 
simple  to  the  complex,  from  the  familiar  to  the  novel.  It  was  a  saying  of 
the  schoolmen  that  nature  never  makes  leaps.  In  this  respect,  instruction 
should  "follow  nature."  It  should  have  the  continuity,  the  silent,  imper- 
ceptible yet  inevitable  progress  that  marks  natural  growth. 

So  far  as  the  pupil  is  concerned,  the  synthetic  method  re- 
quires : 

(i)  That  knowledge  begin  with  presentation.  This  is  for  two 
reasons:  because  in  training  the  perceptive  powers  all  the  powers 
of  the  mind  are  trained^  and,  because  representative  knowledge 
must  be  capable  of  translation  into  presentative. 

That  knowledge  should  be  connected  is  our  general  principle.  It  cannot 
be  connected  if  there  are  representative  or  symbolic  ideas  incapable  of 


SUMMARY  or  PRINCIPLES.  I71 

translation  into  presentations.  Such  ideas  would  be  isolated  and  meaning- 
less. Nor  cf*.n  it  be  connected  unless  there  is  an  orderly  development  or 
unfolding  of  the  powers  involved  in  getting  knowledge.  The  necessity  of 
translating  images  and  concepts  into  percepts  has  already  been  dwelt  upon, 
and  so  v/e  shall  occupy  ourselves  here  with  the  other  part  of  ^the  maxim. 
This  is  sometimes  stated  :  Train  the  faculties  in  the  order  of  their  develop- 
ment, first,  perception,  then  memory  and  imagination,  then  reasoning.  But 
a  more  adequate  statement  would  be :  Train  perception  always^  and  in 
such  a  way  that  the  other  powers  shall  grow  from  it.  For  the  first  state- 
ment seems  merely  to  imply  that  memory,  imagination,  etc.,  come  after 
perception,  losing  sight  of  the  important  fact  that  they  come  after,  only  be- 
cause they  Qom^from  perception.  In  other  words,  all  mental  activities  are 
exercised  in  perception,  and  exercised  in  such  a  way  that  they  naturally  and 
gradually  pass  into  higher  forms. 

Activities  involved  in  Perception. — If  perception  were  the  same  as  having 
sensations,  this  principle  would  not  be  true  ;  and  any  educational  system 
which  puts  the  <->4*^emphasis  upon  the  senses,  inverts  the  true  order.  Sensa- 
tions are  necessary,  as  affording  stimuli  to  call  forth  the  mental  powers,  and 
as  affording  material  upon  which  these  powers  shall  act.  Sensations  must 
be  attended  to,  must  be  associated,  must  be  idealized  and  retained  in  order 
to  become  knowledge. 

A  right  training  of  perception  trains,  therefore,  all  the  mental  activities 
involved  in  it,  instead  of  merely  heaping  up  sensations,  or  even  training 
the  sense-organs  alone.  For  example,  take  the  intuitive  method  of  teaching 
numbers.  Here  the  child  learns,  say  that  ,  ,  and  ,  ,  .are  the  same 
as  ,  :  :  and  as  '|I :  If  the  sensations  the  child  gets  were  the  only  result 
of  the  process,  the  method  would  be  useless.  For  the  time  must  come  when 
he  will  have  to  grasp  the  relations  involved,  and  experiencing  sensations  any 
number  of  times,  would  not  give  any  preparation  for  the  apprehension  of 
relations.  But  in  reality,  the  child  relates  the  sensations  of  ,  ,  and  of 
,     ,    and  only  because  he  relates  them  does  he  perceive  anything. 

The  child  makes  or  institutes  the  relation,  and  thus  necessarily  prepares 
the  way  for  conception  or  the  consciotis  grasping  of  the  relation.  He  per- 
forms, without  recognizing  its  full  significance,  a  kind  of  relating  identical 
with  that  performed  by  the  most  advanced  mathematician  in  the  highest 
branches,  and  so  far  as  the  child  grasps  the  meaning  of  elementary  ideas 
in  any  subject,  he  is  employing,  however  unconsciously,  the  relations  whose 
conscious  apprehension  constitutes  thinking. 

The  two  Factors  in  Training  of  Perception. — In  order  to  establish  a  con 
nected  growth  from  perception,  there  are,  in  its  training,  two  points  ia 


172  SUMMARY    OF   PRINCIPLES. 

particular,  to  be  looked  after.  One  is  identifying  the  presentation  with 
what  has  already  been  presented,  recognition  ;  the  other  is  the  discovery  of 
something  implied  in  the  perception,  but  not  apparent  on  the  surface,  its 
differentiation.  The  recognition  of  the  presentation  implies,  of  course,  that 
former  knowledge,  organized  capacities,  are  brought  to  bear  ;  that  what  is 
now  perceived  is  assimilated  to  what  was  formerly  perceived.  This  en- 
sures not  only  the  recognition  of  the  new  presentation,  but  the  strengthen, 
ing  of  the  acquired  faculty  by  its  exercise.  This  recognizing  activity  is  evi- 
dently involved  in  the  simplest  perception,  as  e.  g.  that  by  which  the  child 
sees  that  c-a-t  spells  cat,  and  is  also  involved  in  that  by  which  the  older 
student  identifies  a  botanical  species,  perceives  the  principle  which  covers  a 
mathematical  problem,  or  sees  that  the  form  of  some  given  Greek  word 
illustrates  a  law  of  euphonic  change. 

But  there  should  be  in  all  perception  a  new  factor  as  well  as  an  old. 
The  child  who  sees  that  .  ,  and  ...  is  the  same  as  'jl  I  sees  it  only 
by  putting  together  the  first  two  number-forms  and  taking  apart  the  last.  He 
perceives  the  identity  by  discovering  it,  by  making  it.  So  when  a  child 
puts  the  sounds  of  the  letters  c,a,t  to  make  the  word,  he  not  only  recognizes, 
but  he  discovers.  In  higher  education  we  have  clearly  the  factor  of  dis- 
covery in  scientific  experiment,  in  the  demonstration  of  original  proposi- 
tions, in  the  analysis  of  unfamiliar  plants,  in  the  dissection  of  animals,  etc. 
But  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  experiment  and  an  element  of  original 
investigation  are  confined  to  advanced  pursuits,  or  to  natural  and  physical 
sciences.  They  are  involved  to  some  degree  in  every  act  of  perception 
which  gives  new  knowledge,  and  education  should  be  so  directed  as  to  em- 
ploy in  all  stages  this  acquisition  of  new  knowledge  by  perception.  New 
knowledge  is  obtained  only  through  an  cut  of  construction,  or  synthesis^ 
and  this  is,  in  reality,  an  act  of  discovery.  It  should  be  noticed  that  the 
new  combination  of  these  two  factors  of  recognition  and  discovery  renders 
knowledge  connected.  The  old  is  made  the  basis  of  apprehending  the  new, 
while  the  new  is  made  the  means  of  extending  or  developing  the  old. 

{ii)  The  synthetic  method  demands  that  facts  be  cqnn  cted  to- 
gether by  the  laws  of  association  and  by  the  relations  of  unity  and 
difference  so  that  they  form  centres  or  groups  of  ideas. 

An  isolated  fact  is  learned  by  the  pupil  only  through  sheer  force  of  im- 
pressing it  on  his  mind.  Both  brain  and  mind  are  plastic  in  childhood,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  child  can  store  avvay  multitudes  of  comparatively 
unconnected  facts.  But  this  method  does  rot  train  mental  power;  it  gives  no 
itrength  to  old  capacities,  and  no  aid  to  the  organization  of  new.     Further* 


SUMMARY  OF   PRINCIPLES.  173 

more,  this  method  draws  wastefully  upon  mental  energy ;  the  facts  are 
learned  by  an  expenditure  of  force,  "and  are  carried  by  expenditure  of  force  ; 
in  both  ways,  the  mind  is  burdened.  But  facts  learned  by  associations  and 
relations,  strengtnen  and  form  faculty  in  the  very  process  of  making 
the  connections,  or  appropriating  the  material.  Further,  the  mind  gains 
instead  of  losing  in  carrying  power  by  its  assimilation  of  facta  so  learned. 
These  connected  ideas  serve  as  centres  about  which  allied  ideas  gather ; 
thus  they  carry  others,  instead  of  having  to  be  carried  by  the  energy  of  the 
tfiind. 

Training  of  Connection  of  Ideas,  —It  is  impossible  here  to  lay  down  de- 
tailed rules  for  connecting  ideas  in  various  studies.  There  are,  however, 
lome  facts  bearing  upon  the  subject  which  may  be  called  to  mind.  First, 
this  connecting  activity  is  normal  to  the  mind  ;  the  mind  strives  to  connect 
whenever  it  can,  and  the  teacher  can  accomplish  much  by  presenting  ma- 
terial so  that  the  child's  mind  is  drawn  on  naturally  from  one  point  to  an- 
other. Again,  a  unity  of  feeling,  or  oi  interest,  will  connect  ideas  or  subjects 
otherwise  diverse.  ChflcTren  at  play  thus  unite  all  kinds  of  ideas.  The 
story  has  recently  been  tofd  of  children  who  began  by  building  houses  in  a 
sand  pile,  and  went  on  graAuaHy  to  the  development  of  agricultural,  manu- 
facturing, railway  and  commercial  establishments,  comprehending  in  all  a 
vast  number  of  different  activfties.  A  unity  of  interest  made  the  transi- 
tions. And  so  it  will  be  in  scfiools.  Again,  the  subjects  of  reading,  spell- 
ing, writing,  composition,  history  and  geography  may  undoubtedly  be 
better  interwoven  with  one  another  than  they  have  hitherto  been.  Indeed, 
of  all  the  branches  of  study  in  earlier  years,  arithmetic  is  the  only  one 
which  does  not  lend  itself  easily,  and  almost  inevitably,  to  union  with  other 
studies  if  the  principle  of  interconwection  is  once  grasped.  _„.«— ~™,-^ 

{Hi)  The  synthetic  method  dtmiands  that  the  groups  of  iSeds 
thus  formed  be  used  as  organs  for  acquiring  new  knowledge.  ' 

This  principle  has  two  sides.  A  pufil  who  has  learned,  for  example,  the 
simple  arithmetical  operations  must,  on  Ine  one  hand,  constantly  use  them  ; 
must  add,  subtract,  etc.;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  must  gain  new  arithmetical 
knowledge  as  an  expansion  or  development  of  these  operations.  Old 
knowledge  must  be  exercised  in  gaining  new  presentations,  and  these  must 
be  assimilated  or  appropriated  by  being  brought  into  organic  union  with 
acquired  knowledge.  Old  knowledge  identifies  or  grasps  the  new  present- 
ation, the  new  presentation  strengthens,  expands  and  organizes  old  know- 
ledge.   There  must  be  apperception  on  one  side;  retention  on  the  other. 


174  SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES. 

Applications  of  Principle. — The  principle  requires,  first,  frequent  reviews 
of  former  knowledge.  Reviews  have  as  their  purpose  not  merely  repeating 
former  knowledge,  and  thus  impressing  it  more  deeply  upon  the  mind,  but 
also  its  grouping  and  classifying.  It  is  important  that  the  pupil  should  be 
led  to  form  the  habit  of  re-arranging  what  he  has  learned  ;  of  bringing  it 
under  its  proper  heads,  and  of  placing  these  heads  in  their  proper  relations 
to  one  another.  In  reviews,  therefore,  the  serial  order  should  often  be 
changed  for  a  topical  order.  A  trained  mind,  after  having  amassed  many 
facts,  always  endeavors  to  reduce  them  to  as  few  principles  as  possible. 
This  process  not  only  assists  the  mind  in  grasping  the  real  meaning  of  the 
facts,  but  it  trains  thought  and  memory.  The  reasoning  powers  are  trained 
in  the  effort  to  discover  the  underlying  principles,  and  to  connect  the  facts 
with  them.  The  memory  is  developed  because  only  the  principles  have  to 
be  remembered  ;    the  facts  cluster  about  them  as  instances  or  illustrations. 

The  principle  requires,  secondly,  that  there  be  mental  preparation  for 
engaging  in  studying  or  in  learning.  That  is,  before  a  pupil  enters  upon 
the  study  of  a  new  subject  his  mind  must  be  prepared  for  it  :  before  he 
takes  up  a  new  topic  or  principle,  his  mind  must  be  prepared,  and 
before  he  sets  himself  to  learn  any  lessons  there  must  be  preparatory 
adjustment  of  mind.  This  preparation  consists,  partly,  in  stining  up 
ideas  already  in  the  mind,  in  re-awakening  interest  in  them,  and  in  calling 
them  into  activity ;  and,  partly,  in  forming  transitions,  in  showing  how  these 
ideas  lead  naturally  to  something  else.  Without  this  preparatory  activity 
no  attention  can  be  given  (pages  6i  and  62),  and  hence  what  is  studied 
is  not  connected  with  what  has  previously  been  learned,  and  there  is  no 
assimilation  nor  comprehension. 

This  principle  requires,  thirdly,  that  old  knowledge  be  exercised.  There 
are  two  injunctions  of  equal  importance  to  the  teacher.  One  is  that  new 
knowledge  be  not  simply  impressed  upon  the  mind  :  the  other  is  that  old 
knowledge  be  not  simply  stowd  or  passively  retained  in  the  mind.  Con- 
stantly employing  what  has  been  learned  guards  against  both  these  errors. 
To  use  grammatical  principles  in  analyzing  speech,  in  correcting  errors,  in 
constructing  new  sentences,  etc.,  enlarges  and  organizes  these  principles, 
and  at  the  same  time  causes  what  is  learned  to  gather  about  them,  and  to 
|;ain  meaning  from  them.  Old  knowledge  and  new  facts  are  thus  so  con- 
nected together  that  both  are  made  vital.  Kept  apart,  both  are  dead. 
Just  as  the  body  must  have  nourishment  in  order  to  keep  itself  living,  and 
just  as  food  by  becoming  nourishment  is  itself  transformed  from  dead  to 
living  material,  so  with  the  mind  and  its  food-studies.  Unless  the  mind 
constantly  uses  what  it  has  gained  to  gain  more,  it  loses  what  it  has  pos- 
sessed ;  and  unless  what  is  gained  is  connected  with  mental  power  already 
existing,  it  is  a  burden  rather  than  a  gain. 


SUMMARY   OF    PRINCIPLIt.  175 

Analytic  and  Sjmthetic  Methods.— We  may  sum  up 

our  discussion  of  methods  by  calling  attention  to  three  facts. 
I.  All  special  methods  are  only  applications  to  particular 
branches  of  the  analytic  and  synthetic  methods.  2.  These  two 
methods  do  not  exclude,  but  supplement,  each  other.  3.  They 
are  not  to  be  confused  with  physical  division  and  composition. 

1.  Since  the  fundamental  powers  or  functions  of  mind  are 
analysis  and  synthesis,  since  all  that  is  ever  learned  is  learned 
by  being  distinguished  from  and  connected  with  other  ideas, 
it  follows  that  all  educational  methods  must  rest  upon  these 
powers.  Any  method  in  any  subject  that  has  value,  must 
appeal,  to  some  extent,  to  the  discriminating  and  the  unifying 
functions  of  intelligence,  and  the  best  method  is  that  which 
appeals  to  them  in  the  most  systematic  way,  and  which  stimu- 
lates them  to  the  fullest  and  most  intense  activity.  In  his 
knowledge  of  these  powers  every  teacher  has  an  instrument  by 
which  he  may  test  for  himself  the  value  of  any  special  method 
which  is  proposed, 

2.  Since  mental  analysis  and  synthesis  are  not  separate, 
much  less  opposed,  functions  of  mind,  it  follows  that  analytic  and 
synthetic  educational  methods  cannot  be  opposed.  Indeed, 
we  should  rather  speak  of  the  analytic  and  synthetic  aspects  of 
an  educational  method,  than  of  an  analytic  and  a  synthetic 
method.  It  follows  that  discussions  as  to  whether  geography, 
for  example,  should  be  taught  by  an  analytic  or  a  synthetic 
method,  rest  upon  failure  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
terms  used,  and  of  the  mental  processes  involved.  Methods 
of  teaching  geography  must  possess  both  phases,  or  else  some 
necessary  mental  operation  is  left  unperformed.  What  is  usually 
presented  as  the  synthetic  method,  beginning,  namely,  with  the 
locality  familiar  to  the  pupil  and  making  divisions  of  land  and 
water  known  from  it,  is,  in  reality,  both  synthetic  and  analytic. 
It  is  synthetic,  because  it  connects  what  the  pupil  has  to  learn 


176  SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES. 

with  what  he  already  knows ;  it  begins  with  presentations  and 
translates  representative  ideas  into  them.  But  it  is  also  analytic, 
for,  by  such  operations  the  vague  outline-knowledge  of  the  world 
which  the  child  has  is  transformed  into  knowledge  of  the  defi- 
nite forms  of  land  and  water,  etc.,  that  make  the  world  what  it  is. 
When  a  child  learns  that  one  geographical  element  is  a  lake ; 
that  a  lake  has  islands,  bays,  capes,  peninsulas,  etc.,  etc.,  the 
process  must  be  an  analytic  one.  The  fact  that  the  child  may 
make  the  analysis  by  noticing  a  pond  in  his  own  dooryard,  does 
not  change  the  process  of  mind  from  an  analytic  into  a  "  syn- 
thetic" one.  And  this  illustration  is  typical.  While  in  some 
methods,  one  aspect  may  predominate  over  another,  yet  so  far 
as  the  method  is  justifiable,  it  must  be  both  analytic  and  syn- 
thetic. 

3.  The  error  of  opposing  mental  analysis  and  synthesis  gen- 
erally arises  from  the  prior  error  of  confusing  them  as  mental 
functions  with  physical  operations  having  the  same  names. 
Physical  analysis,  or  division  of  a  whole  occupying  space,  into 
smaller  parts  is  opposed  to  physical  synthesis,  or  the  composi- 
tion of  smaller  parts  into  a  larger  spatial  whole.  Thus,  in  geo- 
graphy, that  method  has  been  called  synthetic,  which  begins 
with  the  small  part  of  the  earth  known  to  the  pupil,  and  then 
advances  to  the  larger  world ;  while  the  analytic  method  is  sup- 
posed to  mean  beginning  with  information  about  the  earth  as  a 
whole,  then  taking  up  smaller  subdivisions  as  continents,  and 
gradually  coming  down  to  the  smaller  divisions  of  country,  vil- 
lage, etc.  But  this  misapprehends  the  real  meaning  of  mental 
analysis  and  synthesis.  The  terms  do  not  refer  primarily  to 
any  difference  in  the  size  or  extent  of  material  objects.  Mental 
analysis  does  not  divide  spatial  wholes,  but  renders  ideas 
definite,  that  is  clear,  both  as  a  whole,  and  in  details  ;  mental 
synthesis  does  not  join  parts  of  objects  or  of  space,  but  shows 
how  ideas  are  related  to  one  another,  how  they  have  a  common 
meaning.     Distinctness,  not  separation,  unity,  not  fusion  are  the 


SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES.  177 

purposes  of  mental  analysis  and  synthesis,  and  these  not  of  ma- 
terial objects,  but  of  knowledge.     (See  pages  58  and  59.) 

Illustration  from  Reading. — The  same  error  is  seen  in  many 
of  the  discussions  regarding  the  synthetic  method  of  teaching 
reading.  It  is  first  taken  for  granted  that  some  spatial  unit  must 
be  found  as  the  basis,  and  the  question  is  discussed  whether 
the  unit  is  the  letter,  or  the  word,  or  the  sentence.  But  in  reality, 
what  the  pupil  must  begin  with  is  the  whole  toass  of  sounds 
that  he  makes  use  of  in  pronouncing  words.  While  these  sounds 
in  themselves  are  distinct,  to  his  mind  they  have  no  such  defi- 
niteness  (see  p.  80).  Undoubtedly  the  various  sounds  y^<f/  differ- 
ent to  the  child,  but  this  difference  is  not  known  or  recognized. 
His  first  act  must,  therefore,  be  to  notice  some  of  these  sounds, 
and  through  attention  dwelling  upon  them  make  them  distinct. 
He  performs  an  act  of  analysis.  But  at  the  same  time,  he  must 
notice  how  these  sounds  go  together  10  make  words;  and 
his  attention  dwells  upon  the  relations  of  the  sounds.  Thus 
the  pupil  performs  an  act  of  synthesis^  or  combination.  By 
one  act  his  knowledge  of  the  primary  sounds  of  speech  be- 
comes definite ;  by  the  other,  his  knowledge  becomes  connected^ 
By  both  acts,  his  fundamental  mind  functions  are  trained,  and 
the  habit  of  defining  and  unifying  ideas  is  formed. 

Relations  of  Knowledge,  Feeling  and  Will— 
While  in  the  previous  chapters  knowledge,  feeling  and  will 
have  been  discussed  separately,  nothing  has  been  said  about 
their  relations  to  one  another.  This  subject  is,  however,  im- 
portanc  to  the  teacher.  Partly  from  the  necessity  of  the  case, 
partly  from  surrounding  circumstances,  and  partly  from  the  tra- 
ditional school  curriculum,  direct  mstruction  in  our  schools  is 
'confined  mainly  to  knowledge.  It  is  important  to  know  in 
what  degree  this  involves  indirect  training  of  feeling  and  will, 
and  also  in  what  degree  it  needs  supplementing. 

The  Mind  an  Organic  Unity. — The  fact  is  that  knowledge, 
fcelin<y  and  will  are  so  closely  interconnected  that  it  is  impos- 


178  SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES. 

sible  to  educate  one  without  at  once  requiring  and  securing 
training  of  the  other  two.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  appercep- 
tion  and  retention  underlie  all  these,  that  the  functions  of 
analysis  and  synthesis  enter  into  them  all,  and  that  the  main 
principles  of  development  (from  the  presentative  and  immedi- 
ate to  the  representative  and  mediate,  etc.)  are  alike  in  all, 
the  mind  is  a  unity,  and  primarily  it  is  mind  that  is  affected  by 
education  and  not  knowledge,  feeling  or  will.  There  is  but 
one  mind,  and  knowledge,  feeling  and  will  are  not  three  depart- 
ments of  mind,  but  three  phases  of  its  manifestation.  Just  as 
it  would  be  impossible  for  the  digestive  organs  to  digest  food 
without  the  aid  of  the  circulatory,  the  respiratory  and  the  nervous 
processes,  and  just  as  the  digestion  of  food  must  re-act  upon 
all  these  other  operations,  so  the  mind  cannot  know  without 
the  support  of  feeling  and  of  will,  and  without  the  re-action  of 
knowledge  upon  the  emotional  disposition  and  the  volitional 
capacities.  While  in  a  material  or  spatial  unity,  the  parts  of 
the  whole  may  exist  side  by  side  without  influencing  the  struc- 
ture of  one  another,  as  grains  of  sand  in  a  sand-pile,  in  an 
organic  unity,  like  the  mind,  each  activity  or  member,  is  what  it 
is  by  virtue  of  the  other  activities  or  members  that  influence  it. 

Dependence  of  Knowledge. — In  all  knowledge  which  is  got  by 
study  or  which  requires  voluntary  attention,  the  will  is  evidently 
at  work.  Voluntary  attention  means  attention  directed  by  the 
will ;  that  is,  attention  which  has  an  end  before  it,  and  which 
controls  all  the  processes  and  ideas  so  as  to  lead  up  to  this  end. 
Study  requires  that  there  be  control,  physical  and  prudential, 
and  generally,  in  many  pupils,  sometimes  in  all  pupils,  moral 
control  Without  the  aid  and  support  of  will,  the  obtaining  of 
knowledge  is  a  practical  impossibility.  Knowledge  is  also 
dependent  upon  feeling.  Interest  is  a  condition  of  attention, 
non-voluntary  as  well  as  voluntary.  The  mind  may  know,  after 
a  fashion,  what  does  not  arouse  emotion,  but  it  is  a  superficial 


SUMMARY   OP   PRINCIPLES.  1 79 

atid  counterfeit  knowledge.  To  realize  the  meaning  of  any- 
thing, to  be  acquainted  with  it,  means  to  see  it  in  its  bearings 
upon  the  feelings.  The  internal  appropriation  and  assimila- 
tion of  presentations  require  not  only  that  they  be  joined  to 
older  groups  of  ideas,  but  that  they  be  transformed  into  inter- 
ests and  personal  emotion :  that  they  be  known  by  the  heart 
as  well  as  by  the  head. 

Dependence  of  Feeling, — ^When  discussing  feeling  we  called 
attention  to  two  facts  :  one  that  feeling  is  an  accompaniment  of 
activity,  the  other  that  the  various  kinds  of  emotion,  intellectual, 
aesthetic  and  personal,  depend  upon  the  kinds  of  objects  or 
ideas  about  which  feelings  gather — that  the  distinction  between 
them  is  not  so  much  in  difference  in  them  as  feelings^  as  in  that 
about  which  they  cluster.  These  two  facts  mean,  in  substance, 
that  feeling  is  dependent  upon  will  and  upon  knowledge,  using 
will  in  a  broad  sense  to  include  all  psychical  activity,  and 
knowledge  as  the  presentation  of  all  sorts  of  objects  and  ideas. 
The  education  of  perception  and  of  thought,  the  training  of 
attention  and  association  must  develop  the  intellectual  emo- 
tions ;  the  growth  of  imagination  must  bring  about  a  develop- 
ment of  the  aesthetic  feelings.  Growth  in  personality,  in  re- 
cognition of  other  persons,  in  the  recognition  and  practice  of 
duty,  carries  along  with  it  growth  of  the  personal  and  moral 
feelings.  The  religious  emotions  are  not  susceptible  of  culture 
apart  from  their  relation  on  the  one  hand  to  ideas,  and  on  the 
other  hand,  to  conduct.  Indeed,  it  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general 
principle  that  emotions  may  be  cultivated  and  even  permitted  to  ex- 
ist only  as  motives  to  action  and  as  the  internal  accompaniments 
of  ideas.  Feeling  of  any  kind  that  does  not  arise  from  internal 
acquaintance  with  ideas,  from  becoming  at  home  with  them, 
and  which  does  not  induce  to  action,  results  in  unhealthy  and 
morbid  sentiment. 

Dependence  of  Will. — Will  involves,  as  its  two  essential  cova- 
ponents,  iV<fa  and  ^i5jw>(tf,  one  intellectual,  the  other  emotional 


l8o  SUMMARY   OF    PRINCIPLES. 

Without  the  desire,  the  side  of  feeling,  action  is  slow  and  inert, 
having  no  stimulus.  Without  the  idea,  the  side  of  knowledge, 
action  is  blind,  unregulated,  capricious.  Every  growth  of 
feeling  should  result  in  strengthening  some  motive  to  action 
and  in  making  action  more  energetic  ;  every  growth  of  know- 
ledge should  widen  action  by  giving  it  a  broader  end  or  ideal, 
and  should  make  it  more  deliberate  and  reflective.  The 
powers  of  will  are  trained  both  in  the  acts  by  which  knowledge 
is  acquired  and  by  the  resulting  acquisition  of  knowledge. 
Learning  must  be  based,  if  we  go  back  to  its  ultimate  founda- 
tion, upon  some  impulse ;  and,  as  learning  advances,  this  im- 
pulse is  controlled  by  being  brought  into  connection  with  ideas, 
and  by  being  subjected  to  desire  and  choice.  The  process  oi 
learning  is  a  volitional  one  from  beginning  to  end,  and  as  the 
facts  of  will  are  exercised,  will  must  be  trained.  The  knowledge 
acquired  makes  a  basis  for  new  activities  of  will ;  it  reveals  new 
possibilities,  and  gives  new  laws  by  which  to  control  conduct. 

Education  of  Feeling  and  of  Will. — It  is  evident  from  what 
has  been  said  that  the  objection  sometimes  brought  against 
present  systems  of  education  that  they  are  purely  intellectual, 
is  aside  the  mark.  Any  system  that  really  trains  intelligence 
must  train  the  emotions  and  the  will.  But  unless  the  present 
system  is  perfect,  it  is  evident  that  there  must  be  a  possibility 
of  better  training  of  feeling  and  volition  than  that  we  now  havp  ; 
and,  furthermore,  that  this  training  will  give  a  better  training 
of  intellect  than  that  now  secured.  But  this  will  not  involve 
any  departure  from  the  precepts  already  laid  down.  So  far  as 
present  methods  are  what  they  should  be,  even  as  training  the 
intellect,  they  rest  upon  the  normal  interests  and  impulses  of 
childhood,  and  train  these  by  subjecting  them  to  association 
and  attention,  analysis  and  synthesis,  thus  necessitating  emo- 
tional and  volitional  training  as  well  as  intellectual.  Further 
reforms  will  discover  more  fully  what  the  normal  interests  and 
impulses  are,  and  will  find  better  methods  for  calling  out,  ex- 


SUMMARY  OF   PRINCIPLES.  I^i 

ercising  and  developing  the  impulses,  better  methods  for  oil 
turing  and  satisfying  the  interests.  In  a  word,  education  is 
primarily  of  the  whole  personality,  and  only  secondarily  of  the 
intellect,  the  feelings,  or  the  will.* 

Criticism  of  Maxims. — Having  discovered  the  princi- 
ples that  lie  at  the  basis  of  all  educational  maxims,  we  may 
discuss  briefly  some  of  the  current  precepts. 

1.  The  Intellect  is  a  Sum  of  Different  Faculties,  each  of  which 
Requires  its  own  Kind  of  Culture. — This  principle,  while  not 
always,  or  even  often,  distinctly  formulated,  is  assumed  as 
the  basis  of  much  pedagogical  discussion.  It  violates  the 
true  pnnciple  that  intelligence  has  two  fundamental  functions 
or  powers,  analysis  and  synthesis,  both  of  which  are  forms  o^ 
relating  activity.  All  faculties  must,  therefore,  be  stages  in 
the  development  of  these  functions,  and  hence,  must  be 
trained  to  some  degree  by  the  same  kinds  of  culture.  (Pages 
84  and  90.)  Methods,  for  example,  which  attempt  to  train 
language  apart  from  thinking,  or  either  language  or  thinking 
apart  from  memory  and  perception,  or  which  train  perception 
without  reference  to  the  relations  of  thought  implied  in  the 
perceptions,  axe  inefficient,  because  opposed  to  psychological 
facts. 

2.  First  Form  Faculty,  then  Furnish  It — This  maxim  is  sus- 
ceptible of  an  interpretation  which  makes  it  substantially  conect, 
but  in  any  case  it  would  be  better  stated  thus  :  Form  faculty  by 
furnishing  it.  The  principle  is  correct  in  implying  that  the 
organization  and  training  of  mental  power  is  a  more  import- 
ant end  of  education  than  the  acquisition  of  a  certain  number 
of  facts.  It  is  incorrect,  so  far  as  it  seems  to  imply  that 
faculty  can  be  formed  apart  from  the  activity  of  the  mind 
in  acquiring  knowledge,  and  apart  from  the  reaction  of 
knowledge  upon  the  mind,     "  For  organizing  mental  faculty 

*  See  Chap,  vi.,  Training  of  Desires,   Impulses,   Character.     See  also 
Part  II,  Chapter  on  Religious  and  Moral  Cnltare. 


1 82  SUMMARY    OF    PRINCIPLES. 

there  is  no  other  means  than  organized  knowledge."  Menial 
power  and  knowledge  are  not  to  be  opposed,  or  even  separ- 
ated, for  they  are  correlative.     (See  page  70). 

3.  Learn  to  do  by  Doing. — This  precept  has  already  been 
discussed.  (See  pages  45  and  129).  The  principle  is  true, 
in  so  far  as  it  recognizes  the  fact  that  the  self-activity  of  the 
pupil  must  be  appealed  to  in  all  learning,  and  that  it  is 
through  this  activity  that  the  subject  gains  meaning,  and  is 
apprehended.  The  principle  becomes  false  when  it  loses 
sight  of  the  ideal  factor,  the  element  of  knowledge  required 
for  doing ;  and  when  it  implies  that  the  doing  should  be  merely 
habitual  or  mechanical.  It,  therefore,  requires  a  supplement  : 
Learn  to  do  by  knowing.  We  might  combine  the  maxims,  and 
say :   Learn  to  know  by  doings  and  to  do  by  knowing. 

4.  Proceed  from  the  Known  to  the  Unknown. — This  maxim, 
as  requiring  the  teacher  to  make  what  is  familiar  the  basis 
of  identifying  or  acquiring  what  is  unfamiliar,  is  in  line  with 
correct  psychology.  Some  educators  have  opposed  the  prin- 
ciple, by  saying  that  since  all  learning  involves  a  new  element, 
and  this  new  element  transforms  what  was  previously  unfamiliar 
or  vague  into  the  familiar  and  definite,  instruction  really  ad- 
vances from  the  unknown  to  the  known.  But  the  words  are 
not  used  in  the  same  sense  in  the  two  maxims.  The  maxim, 
'*  proceed  from  the  known  to  the  unknown,"  means  utilize  old 
knowledge  in  acquiring  new;"  while  the  maxim,  "from  the 
unknown  to  the  known,"  certainly  does  not  mean  "  make  the 
unknown  the  basis  of  acquiring  the  known."  It  means  that 
it  is  through  the  presentation  of  the  unknown  that  what 
was  previously  known  is  enlarged  and  strengthened,  or  that 
the  presentation  of  the  unfamiliar  is  necessary  to  the  deve- 
lopment of  the  familiar.  From  the  known  to  the  unknown 
corresponds  to  apperception.  From  the  unknown  to  the  known 
to  retention.      That  is,  one  expresses  the  action  of  the  mind 


SUMMARY  OF   PRINCIPLES.  1 83 

pon    the  presentation  ;   the  other,  the  effect  which  the  pre- 
sentation has  upon  the  mind. 

5.  Pi  oceed from  the  Concrete  to  the  Abstract. — This  precept 
also  has  been  already  referred  to.  (Page  80).  Taken  literally 
it  is  impossible,  for  there  is  no  concrete  knowledge  with 
which  to  begin.  Nor  is  it  true  as  implying  that  definite  know- 
ledge is  easier  to  get  than  general  knowledge.  It  is  just  as 
difficult,  requires  as  much  preparation,  as  much  mental  energy, 
and  as  much  maturity  of  mind,  to  make  a  clear  distinction  as  to 
make  broad  generalization.  Both  processes,  in  fact,  occur 
together  as  different  aspects  of  comparison.  To  transform 
knowledge  from  hazy  into  definite,  and  from  isolated  into  con- 
nected forms,  are  both  ends  of  instruction,  and  the  educator 
cannot  safely  assume  that  either  process  has  been  already  ac- 
complished before  his  work  begins.  Undoubtedly  many  who 
use  the  precept  have  a  correct  meaning  back  of  it,  but  this 
meaning  would  be  better  expressed:  Develop  representations 
from  presentations. 

6.  There  are  two  maxims  apparently  wholly  opposed  to  each 
other,  often  seen  in  educational  works  :  "  Follow  the  order  of  na- 
ture^ not  the  order  of  the  subject^  first  synthesis  and  then  analysis^ 
and  '-^  Proceed  from  the  whole  to  the  part"  Regarding  the  first  prin- 
ciple one  author  writes  :  "  If  in  language,  or  in  grammar  we  begin 
with  grammar  and  pass  to  its  divisions,  learn  of  what  each  treats, 
take  up  parts  of  speech,  and  the  properties  of  each,  etc,  we  teach 
by  analysis.  If  we  begin  with  words,  learn  that  they  are  of  differ- 
ent kinds,  as  names,  action-words,  quality-words,  etc.,  then  learn 
their  properties,  and  pass  gradually  up  to  the  subject,  grammar, 
we  teach  by  synthesis.  It  is  evident  tiiat  the  synthetic  method 
is  the  method  of  nature,  while  the  analytic  is  the  logical  order  of 
the  subject."  But,  what  is  really  "  evident "  is  that  the  method 
here  termed  synthetic  is  just  as  much  analytic  as  synthetic.  It 
is  synthetic,  because  it  begins  with  what  is  most  familiar  to  the 
child,  and  advances  to  that  more  remote  from  his  present  a* 


184  SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES. 

tainments ;  it  is  analytic  because  it  begins  with  the  vague  out- 
line-knowledge of  words  the  child  has,  and  fixes  his  attention 
upon  differences  of  function  and  value,  hitherto  unnoticed,  in 
words  (by  which  some  are  nouns,  others  verbs,  etc.)  and  thus 
defines  his  knowledge.  Thus  we  get  another  illustration  of  the 
fact  that  the  two  methods  cannot  be  separated.  The  other 
precept,  "  from  the  whole  to  the  part,"  is  correct,  if  it  be  clearly 
borne  in  mind  that  the  *  whole '  does  not  refer  to  the  objective 
whole,  that  is,  the  whole  as  it  exists  apart  from  the  child's 
knowledge,  but  to  the  vague  outline  existing  in  his  mind,  the 
subjective  whole.  Instruction  must  begin  with  this  and  draw  out 
and  emphasize  some  one  aspect,  or  relation  of  it,  thus  clearing 
up  knowledge.  The  two  principles,  that  of  "  whole  to  part,*' 
and  "  first  synthesis  then  analysis,'*  while  opposed  to  each  other 
if  wrongly  interpreted,  supplement  each  other  if  each  be  under 
stood  as  it  should  be. 

7.  Teach  Only  What  is  Understood. — The  maxim,  in  its 
true  meaning  is  identical  with  the  precept  already  laid  down. 
Make  instruction  significant.  It  must  be  remembered  that  a 
great  many  things  are  both  interesting  and  significant  to  a 
child  that  are  not  so  to  an  adult — for  example,  the  forms  of 
letters  and  of  words,  the  sounds  of  speech  simply  as  sounds,  etc, 

8.  "  Teach  Ideas  before  Words^  or  as  some  give  it, 
"  Teach  things  not  names."  In  its  latter  form  the  precept  is, 
taken  literally,  meaningless.  Things  cannot  be  taught  till 
they  have  been  transformed  into  meaning  and  ideas.  And 
language  is  one  of  the  chief  means  of  transformation.  In  the 
other  form  the  maxim  is  valuable  as  a  protest  against  a 
merely  verbal  instruction,  which  makes  children  glib  reciters  of 
rules,  definitions  and  textual  statements,  and  even  expert  per- 
formers of  arithmetical  operations,  or  of  grammatical  analysis, 
and  yet  leaves  them  with  no  recognition  of  the  meaning  of  the 
subjects.     But  the  maxim,  so  far  as  it  seems  to  underrate  the 


SUMMARY   OF   PRINCIPLES.  185 

ralue  of  language  in  aiding  knowledge  of  objects,  is,  as  already 
noticed  (page  io8),  wholly  erroneous.  We  may  notice  a  few 
reasons.  First,  consciousness  which  is  wholly  presentative,  that 
is,  which  does  not  contain  a  symbolic  or  representative  factor,  is 
meaningless.  (See  page  74).  Language  is  the  simplest,  easiest 
and  most  efficient  way,  upon  the  whole,  of  introducing  this 
representative  factor  into  the  mind.  -What  it  means  can  be 
seen  by  comparing  the  knowledge  of  deaf  mutes  with  that  of 
speaking  people  ;  and  by  calling  to  mind  that  the  first  step  in 
educating  deaf-mutes  is  to  give  them  some  form  of  language. 

Secondly,  words  make  knowledge  of  objects  both  general  and 
definite.  They  make  it  general  by  fixing  attention  upon  the 
class-qualities,  upon  the  generic  properties  of  the  object.  They 
make  it  definite  by  seizing  upon  some  quality  of  the  object  and 
making  that  a  handle,  as  it  were,  by  which  the  object  may 
always  be  grasped.  The  mind  is  always  restless  till  it  knows 
the  name  of  an  object;  if  there  is  no  recognized  name,  one  is 
given  as  soon  as  possible.  This  is  not  only  for  the  convenience 
of  communication,  but  for  the  purpose  of  defining  the  object 
to  one's  self.  It  fixes  the  object,  singles  it  out  of  the  mass  of 
surrounding  and  similar  objects,  and  gives  it  an  individuality  of 
its  own.  The  development  of  language  in  the  race  and  in  the 
child,  shows  clearly  that  names,  at  first,  simply  express  the  most 
salient  or  prominent  quality  of  the  object.  Indeed,  to  a  baby, 
the  name  is  the  most  definite  quality  the  object  possesses;  he 
repeats  the  name  every  time  he  sees  the  object,  not  to  call  the 
attention  of  others  to  it,  but  to  re-zzSS.  the  object  to  his  own 
mind ;  in  other  words,  to  define  it.  That  animals  do  not  have 
language  is  as  much  because  their  knowledge  is  vague  as 
Decause  it  is  not  generalized. 

Thirdly,  names  are  condensations,  concentrations  of  past 
knowledge.  They  introduce  the  immature  mind  at  once  into 
a  fullness  and  richness  of  knowledge  which  it  would  take  the 


r86  SUMMARY    OF   PRINCIPLES. 

child  years  to  learn  for  himself;  which  indeed  he  would  nevei 
learn.  It  is  a  common-place  to  say  that  a  school-child  of  to- 
day may  have  more  astronomical  knowledge  than  Sir  Isaac 
Newton  had.  The  reason  is  found  in  language.  Words  sum 
up  and  condense  into  themselves  the  science  and  civiHzation  of 
the  race.  A  right  use  of  language  in  teaching,  therefore,  is 
necessary  to  lift  the  child  from  his  individual  isolation  and 
put  him,  as  regards  knowledge  of  things,  upon  the  plane  of  his 
race.  Much  could  be  said  of  the  necessity  of  language  as  an 
instrument  of  general  culture,  but  the  three  reasons  given  are 
confined  to  the  one  point  of  the  relation  of  names  to  the  know- 
ledge of  objects. 

9.  "  Let  Education  follow  Nature^ — This  precept  is  so  vague 
that  it  might  be  dismissed  at  once.  But  in  spite  of  its  vague- 
ness it  is  sometimes  employed  so  as  to  do  much  harm.  Its  only 
true  meaning  is  that  educational  methods  should  rest  upon  psy- 
chical processes  normal  to  the  child's  mind,  and  should  stimu- 
late and  train  them.  It  is  sometimes  perverted  to  mean  that 
there  is  some  force  called  Nature  which  will  carry  on  education 
of  itself,  and  which  should  not  be  interfered  with  by  educators ; 
or,  that  Nature  lays  down  laws  so  clearly  that  the  educator 
need  not  have  special  knowledge  or  art  of  his  own ;  or  that 
Nature  provides  models  so  distinct  that  no  one  can  err  in  fol- 
lowing them,  and  so  perfect  that  the  teacher  cannot  improve 
upon  them.  All  this  is  either  mythology  robing  itself  in  the 
garb  of  science,  or  it  is  a  vague  way  of  covering  up  ignorance 
with  the  pretence  of  knowledge.  The  teacher  must,  indeed 
know  the  nature  of  his  pupil.  He  must,  like  the  Great 
Teacher,  know  what  is  in  man  in  order  that  he  may  educate 
him  for  manhood,  but,  unlike  the  Great  Teacher,  he  has  need 
of  definite  study  to  find  out  what  man  is — what  he  is  in  actu- 
ality and  in  possibility. 


MifaiUUi^    \J*    U^lti,M.*\sjsiAliUM»  IS7 


CHAPTER  IX. 

nn    METHOD  OF  interrogation:   art  of  QUESTIONIiro. 

Geii^ral  Method. — We  have  seen  (page  167,  et  se^)  that 
special  methods  of  instruction  rest  upon  Analysis  and  Synthesis, 
and  that  the  Analytic  and  Synthetic  Methods  in  education  are 
not  independent  but  complementary^  being  in  fact  but  different 
aspects  of  the  one  psychological  method  which  must  be  followed 
in  all  normal  instruction.  Without  perplexing  the  student, 
therefore,  with  a  minute  classification  of  methods,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  state  that  we  may  appeal  to  the  Analytic  and 
Synthetic  functions  of  mind  chiefly  in  two  ways,  viz. :  by  direct, 
continuous  Exposition  (the  Expository  Method)  ;  or  by  Interro- 
gation (the  Socratic  Method) ;  /.  e.^  we  may  by  Questioning, 
with  occasional  expositions  or  suggestions,  direct  the  learner  in 
the  processes  of  Recognition  and  Discovery  (page  172).  The 
method  of  Questioning  is  of  most  value  in  primary  and  inter- 
mediate education,  and  that  method  we  shall  now  study. 

Of  all  the  qualifications  that  go  to  make  the  successful 
teacher,  ability  to  question  well  is  probably  the  most  important. 
The  prime  object  of  teaching  is  to  get  the  learner  to  think  for 
himself.  This  means  that  his  mind  is  in  the  proper  attitude 
and  that  the  n)aterial  for  thought  is  properly  presented.  These 
conditions  secure  a  vital,  organic  relation  between  the  prepared 
mind  and  the  presented  material,  that  is,  the  material  really 
enters  into  the  structure  of  knowledge,  and  its  acquisition 
enlarges  the  structure  of  mind. 

Importance  of  the  Art.— To  secure  these  conditions 
and  to  test  the  value  of  the  results,  judicious  questioning  is  the 
surest  means.  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  that  the  Art  of  Ques- 
tioning is  the  Art  of  Teaching.     Whoever  can  question  well  can 


l88  METHOD    OF   INTERROGATION. 

teach  well ;  whoever  fails  in  this  point  fails  in  all.  Natural  en- 
dowments, accurate  scholarship,  professional  knowledge  and 
experience,  are  required  for  excellence  in  this  method  of  instruc- 
tion. Valuable  as  the  method  is,  no  great  prominence  has 
hitherto  been  given  to  its  study  in  institutions  for  the  tra;r.ing 
of  teachers.  It  seems  to  have  been  taken  for  granted  that  if  a 
teacher  knows  a  subject  well  he  can  question  upon  it  well ;  an 
outgrowth,  or  perhaps  a  modified  form,  of  the  long  prevalent 
error  that  knowledge  of  a  subject  is  identical  with  ability  to 
teach  it.  The  fallacy  of  this  assumption  is  now  generally  recog- 
nised. Learning,  energy,  enthusiasm,  knowledge  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  teaching,  will  prove  comparatively  ineffective 
without  this  Socratic  qualification,  ability  to  question  well,  the 
rarest  of  attainments,  the  Master  Art  of  the  teacher's  calling. 

Principles  and  Practice, — Skill  in  the  art  of  question- 
ing is  to  be  acquired  as  skill  in  any  other  art  is  acquired,  by 
long  and  patient  practice ;  one  learns  to  do  by  doing ;  one 
learns  to  question  by  questioning.  But,  in  accordance  with  what 
has  been  established  in  our  psychology,  here,  as  everywhere,  the 
co-ordinate  maxim  has  its  place  :  By  knowing,  learn  to  do. 
Mere  practice  does  not  make  experience  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word ;  it  must  be  intelligent  practice.  Rules  of  art  are  derived 
from  principles  of  science,  and  unless  the  "doer  "has  a  cleir 
knowledge  of  rules  and  of  their  underlying  principles,  he  is  not 
likely  to  acquire  artistic  skill  in  their  practical  application.  It 
is  a  common  mistake  to  assume  that  mere  lapse  of  time,  as  it 
were,  results  in  experience.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  many  a 
**  practical "  man — so  far  as  time  spent  in  "  doing  "  is  con- 
cerned— that  is  thoroughly  unpractical,  and  many  an  "  experi- 
enced "  one  quite  without  experience.  An  experience  which  is 
not  the  result  of  sound  principles  and  their  wise  application, 
gives  special  powers  and  tendencies  to  work  in  the  wi^ong  direc- 
tion, a  fatal  facility  for  leaving  undone  the  things  that  ought  to 
be  done,  and  doing  the  things  that  ought  not  to  be  done. 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  1 89 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  hear  a  teacher  boasting  of 
his  long  experience,  and  even  claiming  special  privileges  on 
account  of  it,  who  in  his  actual  school  work  violates  almost 
every  principle  of  scientific  method,  and  who,  in  consequence 
of  his  "  experience,"  is  beyond  hope  of  improvement.  It  may 
be  well,  then,  to  indicate  the  principles  on  which  the  art  of 
questioning  rests,  and  since  method  in  teaching  is  little  more 
than  method  in  questioning,  to  discuss  as  fully  as  may  be,  such 
practical  applications  as  may  help  the  young  teacher  to  begin 
right,  to  continue  right,  and  so,  with  the  least  possible  waste  of 
time  and  power,  to  attain  that  true  experience  which  comes  from 
right  doing  guided  by  right  knowing 

Division  of  the  Subject. — It  has  already  been  suggested 
that  teaching  and  learning  are  based  on  the  two  fundamental  pro- 
cesses, Apperception — the  process  of  taking  anything  into  the 
mind  ;  and  Retention — the  effect  which  the  material  when  appre- 
hended, has  upon  the  mind  itself.  These  two  processes  are,  as 
we  have  seen,  mutually  dependent ;  there  can  be  no  retention 
without  clear  apprehension ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  every 
new  apprehension  modifies  mind,  and  so  has  its  effect  in  inter- 
preting new  experiences.  The  teacher  should,  therefore,  bear  in 
mind  that  the  two  conditions  of  learning  are,  on  the  one  hand, 
proper  presentation  of  material^  and  on  the  other  hand,  proper 
preparation  of  mind.  In  the  light  of  this  principle,  we  may  con- 
sider (I)  The  Objects  of  Questioning,  or  what  may  be  accom- 
plished by  it ;  (II)  The  Qualifications  of  the  Questioner;  (III) 
The  Form  and  Matter  of  Questions;  (IV)  The  Form  and 
Matter  of  Answers.  If  the  first  topic  is  fully  discussed,  it  is 
evident  that  the  principles  of  the  other  three  may  be  easily 
deduced.  Since  the  two  processes,  apperception  and  reten- 
tion, are  reciprocal,  the  one  necessarily  implying  the  other,  it 
is  not  easy  to  classify  the  objects  of  questioning  as  belonging 
definitely  to  one  process  rather  than  to  the  other.  But  it  will 
be  convenient  to  classify  them  roughly  under  these  heads,  />., 


IpO  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

we  shall  consider  the  Objects,  or  Purposes,  of  Questioning  as 
(a)  concerned  with  the  Presentation  of  Material,  or  with  the 
Testing  of  Retention  ;  (b)  as  concerned  with  the  Preparation  of 
Mmdy  or  the  Training  of  Apperception, 

L  Objects,  or  Purposes  of  Questioning. 

Testing  Retention. — Under  (a)  we  may  consider  the  follow- 
ing important  purposes  :  i.  To  Discuss  Actual  Knowledge ; 
2.  To  Fix  Actual  Knowledge ;  3.  To  Extend,  or  Enlarge  Ac- 
tual Knowledge — the  vague  made  definite,  the  imperfect  made 
accurate,  new  knowledge  imparted ;  and  4.  To  Cultivate  Power 
of  Expression,  and  thus  aid  both  these  fundamental  Processes ; 
this  of  course,  belongs  equally  to  subdivision,  (b). 

Training  Apperception, — Under  (b)  may  be  considered  the 
following  purposes  :  i.  To  Excite  Interest ;  2.  To  Arouse 
Attention  :  3.  To  Direct  Attention ;  4.  To  Cultivate  Habit  of 
Self-Direction  of  Attention,  ?>.,  Habit  of  Self-Questioning. 

(a)  Testing  Retention :  Presentation  of  Material 

I.  To  Discover  the  Pupil's  Knowledge. — This  is  one  of  the 
first  requisites  in  preparing  to  give  a  new  lesson.  For  the  new 
lesson  must  have  some  logical  connection  with  what  was 
previously  taught ;  it  can  be  interpreted  only  by  what  has  been 
retained  from  former  lessons,  and  so  it  is  impossible  effectively 
to  aid  the  learner  to  assimilate  the  new  with  the  old,  unless  we 
know  what  the  old  is  and  how  it  stands  in  the  learner's  mind. 
If  this  is  not  known  we  may  waste  time  in  two  ways. 

Presenting  too  Easy  Stimulus.— (See  page  m.)— In 
the  first  place  :  We  may  dwell  upon  what  is  already  perfectly 
known  to  the  learner,  and  thus,  by  monotonous  repetition  of 
what  has  lost  all  charm  of  novelty,  quench  rather  than  excite 
interest.  The  tendency  of  certain  modern  methods  is  strongly 
in  this  direction.  Ingenious  minds  have  long  been  in  travail 
to  discover  a  royal  road  to  learning ;    they  have  at  last  dis- 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  I91 

covered  it  by  the  simple  expedient  of  removing  difficulties  in- 
stead of  developing  strength  to  conquer  them.  It  appears  to 
be  thought  that  the  teacher  can  take  the  place  of  the  learner 
by  properly  preparing  the  material,  that  is  by  atomizing  know- 
ledge, the  mental  aliment,  and  administering  it  in  homoeo- 
pathic doses  to  the  recipient  mind.  Or,  if  it  is  admitted  that 
the  child  must  himself  climb  the  arduous  ladder  that  leads  to 
the  high  plane  of  capacity  and  skill,  the  ladder,  it  is  thought, 
can  be  freed  from  all  its  arduousness  by  indefinitely  diminishing 
ihe  distance  between  the  rounds.  If  anyone  thinks  this  is  too 
strongly  put,  let  him  open  almost  any  educational  journal  or 
recent  educational  work,  and  he  will  find  abundant  proof  of  the 
prevalence  of  the  theory  ;  "  develop  strength  by  making  things 
easy."  Witness  the  infinitesimal  doses  prescribed  in  "model" 
number  lessons,  language  lessons,  etc.  Witness  the  "  mob  "  of 
questions  that  the  young  teacher  is  recommended  to  ask  on 
three  or  four  lines  of  a  common  reading  lesson,  a  mere  scrap 
which  can  never  enter  into  organized  knowledge  nor  have  any 
effect  in  organizing  faculty.  Witness  the  trivial  "develop- 
ment "  questions  recommended  for  the  evolution  of  ideas  which 
are  already  in  the  child's  mind,  if  he  has  a  minimum  of  brain- 
power, as  clearly  as  they  can  be  there,  in  his  presumed  stage  of 
mental  growth. 

Questions  should  Stimulate— Is  it  necessary,  is  it 
good  method,  to  give  forty  or  fifty  pages  of  questions  on  the 
numbers  from  one  to  five?  Are  from  loo  to  300  questions 
required  for  reasonable  practice  on  the  number  two  ?  as  e.g.^ 
How  many  thumbs  on  the  right  hand  ?  How  many  on  the  left  ? 
How  many  on  both  hands  ?  John  had  one  apple  and  his  sister 
gave  him  another,  how  many  had  he  then  ?  Two  birds  are 
sitting  on  a  tree,  if  one  bird  flies  away  how  many  will  be  left  ? 
How  many  eyes  has  Willie  ?  If  he  shuts  one  how  many  will 
remain  open?     And  so  on,  if  not  ad  infinitum,  certainly  <id 


192  METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION. 

nauseam,  in  the  case  of  every  child  with  a  modicum  of  brains. 
Such  questioning  at  last  loses  all  power  to  stimulatey  and  the 
answers  become  simply  an  exercise  in  "  dead  vocables."  Merely 
verbal  repetition  cannot  strengthen  intelligence,  and  so  drill— 
the  mighty  instrument  of  little  men— may  be  carried  to  a  point 
where  it  is  not  only  useless,  but  positively  pernicious. 

In  primary  schools,  perhaps  in  all  schools,  incalculable  time 
is  wasted  in  a  wearisome  monotony  of  drills,  tending  to  form 
merely  sensuous  associations,  and  continued  long  after  such 
associations  have  been  actually  formed.  Let  the  teacher  be  on 
his  guard  against  the  atomic  method  in  questioning — a  cut- 
feed  method  which  may  be,  presumably,  suited  to  the  capacity 
of  the  "  missing  link,"  but  is  a  positive  hindrance  to  an  intel- 
ligent child. 

It  is  safe  to  assume  that  where  there  is  a  healthy  brain  there 
is  mind ;  where  there  is  mind  there  is  capacity  for  attention, 
for  self-active  direction  of  normal  power,  and  that  this  self- 
activity  of  mind  works  with  effect,  because  it  works  with  interest 
when  operating  upon  material  that  challenges  effort.  There  is 
little  doubt  that  many  a  child  loses  interest  in  the  inane  things 
presented  as  mental  pabulum,  and  is  pronounced  "dull"  when 
he  is  only  disgusted  and  "  inattentive  "  when  he  is  but  attentive 
to  his  own  more  interesting  trains  of  ideas.  The  conclusion  of 
the  matter  is  :  do  not  waste  time  and  mental  force  in  asking  too 
many  questions  of  the  past — questions  which  are  below  the 
child's  actual  capacity  and  attainments,  which  begin,  continue, 
and  end  in  the  *'  concrete,"  which  destroy  interest,  and  hence 
disqualify  the  mind  rather  than  prepare  it,  for  the  reception  and 
elaboration  of  new  material. 

Teaching  too  Diflacult  Matter.— In  the  second  place : 
The  teacher  must  discover  the  child's  knowledge  in  order  to 
avoid  the  other  extreme — the  presentation  of  material,  which  is 
beyond  the  child's   power    to  assimilate.     This  error,    is  in 


METHOD    OF   INTERROGATION.  193 

Canadian  Schools,  more  common  than  that  described  in  the  fore- 
going paragraph,  and  is  perhaps  equally  harmful.  Learning  is 
a  process  of  interpretation,  that  is,  the  knowledge  acquired  yes- 
terday must  be  used  to  interpret  what  is  presented  to-day. 
There  is  learning,  therefore,  only  when  there  is  bringing  to  bear 
past  experiences  upon  the  new  material.  If  this  material  is 
*'  above  the  learner's  head,"  how  is  it  possible  that  there  can  be 
assimilation  ?  If  A,  B,  C  are  related  ideas  in  a  certain  topic,  and 
the  learner  is  in  possession  of  A  but  not  of  B,  it  is  worse  than 
useless  to  present  C  to  him  ;  his  mind  cannot  be  brought  into 
relation  with  C.  There  may  be  clear  arrangement,  fluent  ex- 
position, and  apposite  illustration,  and  yet  on  the  part  of  the 
learner  there  is  neither  knowledge-growth,  nor  mind-growth ; 
and  the  teacher  is  left  to  wonder  how  so  "  excellent  a  lesson  " 
should  be  to  the  pupil  words  and  nothing  more.  Even  gaod 
teachers  are  prone  to  this  error  of  asking  questions  of  the 
future.  A  teacher  of  zeal  and  energy  is  anxious  for  the  pro^ 
gress  of  his  pupils ;  he  is  tempted  to  forget  that  there  is  no 
possibility  of  forcing  progress — which  is  a  thing  of  growth  re- 
sulting only  from  the  self-activity  of  the  mental  organism — he 
gives  a  long  but  lucid  lesson  ;  he  has  not  time  to  test  fully  on 
retention,  but  finding  that  part  of  the  lesson  seems  to  have 
been  fairly  taken  in,  he  hastily  concludes  that  all  has  been 
appropriated,  and  so,  when  he  proceeds  to  give  a  new  lesson 
logically  depending  on  the  last,  he  finds,  after  much  waste  of 
energy  and  much  discouragement  to  the  learner,  that  he  has 
been  vainly  appealing  to  groups  of  ideas  and  to  a  power  of 
comprehension  that  as  yet  do  not  exist. 

True  Assimilation  — It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the 
apprehension — the  interpretation — of  the  new  matter  must 
occur  through  what  the  mind  has  already  within  itself ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  interpretation,  the  true  assimilation,  occurs  not 
merely  through  certain  ideas  or  groups  of  ideas  held  in  the 
mind,  but  through  an  increased  mental  power — capacity  in  a 


'94  METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION. 

given  direction,  developed  in  acquiring  such  ideas.  If,  for 
example,  a  young  pupil  has  mastered  the  number  five,  he  is 
not  only  in  possession  of  certain  ideas  concerning  the  number 
(such  as  4  and  i  are  5,  5  less  i  is  4,  etc),  but  in  getting  these 
ideas  his  mind  has  acquired  increased  capacity  for  grasping 
number-relations  in  general.  Thus,  also,  if  a  teacher  attempts 
to  teach  the  number  7  before  the  pupil  has  a  clear  apprehen- 
sion of  the  number  6,  he  is  not  only  appealing  to  ideas  not  yet 
in  the  child's  mind — for  6  is  a  thought  in  7— but  he  is  as- 
suming a  higher  power  of  grasping  relations  than  the  child  has 
yet  acquired. 

What  Is  Known  and  How.— It  is  clear,  therefore, 
that  before  beginning  a  new  lesson  the  teacher  must  find  out 
exactly  what  the  child  knows,  and  ?iow  he  knows  it,  i.e.,  how 
he  has  acquired  it;  whether  by  mere  sensuous  association 
(verbal  memory) — in  which  case  the  ideas  are  held  mechani- 
cally in  the  mind  and  have  no  interpreting  power — or  by  true 
assimilatioM,  in  which  case  not  only  are  the  ideas  there,  but 
also  the  capacity  to  use  them.  Yet,  it  is  to  be  feared,  that  with 
the  majority  of  teachers,  the  object  of  questioning  is  to  test 
what  the  child  knows,  rather  than  how  he  knows  it ;  that  is,  the 
questions  are  a  test  of  what  is  held  mechanically  in  the  mind, 
but  not  a  test  of  power  developed.  The  thoughtful  teacher  pro- 
poses to  act  on  the  maxim  :  "  From  the  Known  to  the  related 
Unknown."  What  course  does  he  pursue?  He  endeavors 
to  see  clearly  the  logical  connection  of  the  new  lesson  with  what 
is  already  in  the  learner's  mind ;  he  carefully  analyzes  it  and 
motes  the  relations  of  the  several  parts  so  as  to  present  the  new 
material  properly  arranged;  he  tests  the  "known"  in  the 
learner's  mind,  and  the  power  developed  in  acquiring  it ;  he 
stimulates  this  power,  and  brightens  up  and  brings  to  the 
front  the  ideas  involved  in  the  known ;  he  leads  the  pupil  tc 
create  for  himself  the  relations  between  the  new  and  the  old. 
Thus  there  is  real  assimilation ;   there  are  both  apperceptioh 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  I95 

and  retention  ;  there  is  growth  in  organized  power  and  in  organ- 
ized knowledge.  In  such  instruction  there  is  pleasure  to  the 
teacher  from  the  conscious  success  in  waking  up  mind,  and 
pleasure  to  the  learner  from  the  conscious  increase  in  apper- 
ceiving  power. 

2.  To  Fix  Knowledge:  Retention  by  Repetition. — The  law 
of  Retention  is  fundamental  in  all  education ;  it  operates 
in  the  acquiring  of  any  kind  of  manual  dexterity,  in  forming 
labour-saving  mental  and  physical  habits,  as  well  as  in  the 
higher  forms  of  psychical  development.  It  is  the  foundation  of 
the  Law  of  Repetition  which  is  so  important  in  the  primary 
stage  of  education,  and  so  useful  in  all  stages.  For  example  : 
A  child,  in  imitation  of  his  teacher,  tentatively  produces  a  certain 
articulate  sound;  the  approximately  correct  utterance  makes 
clearer  the  idea  of  the  sound;  frequent  repetition  gives  the  power 
to  make  the  sound  at  will;  on  still  further  repetition  there  re- 
sults ability  to  produce  the  sound  without  effort,  i.e.,  without  the 
conscious  intervention  of  the  will.  This  illustration  is  typical 
of  what  takes  place  in  all  forms  of  physical  and  mental  growth  ; 
it  shows  how  *'  doing  "  helps  knowings  how  "  knowing  "  helps 
doing,  and  how  both  aid  Retention,  the  process  by  which  the  ma- 
terial of  instruction  is  wrought  over  into  powers  and  capacities, 
tendencies  and  tastes. 
Mental  Activity  to  bo  Repeated. — The  teacher  should 

note  that  it  is  mental  activity  in  the  act  of  apprehension  that  is  to 
be  repeated,  rather  than  the  impression  on  the  mind,  which  may 
be  due  to  merely  sensuous  association,  or  rote  learning.  Even 
in  what  we  have  termed  the  mechanical  stage,  discipline  is 
to  be  the  aim,  that  is,  there  is  to  be  suitable  appeal  to  the 
opening  intelligence.  The  law  is,  in  brief,  not  impression 
and  repetition  of  impression,  but  rather  Self-activity  and 
Repetition  of  Self-activity.  Self-activity  is  to  be  awakened 
and  guided  chiefly  by  the  method  of  Interrogation.  The 
teacher  makes  a  preparatory  analysis  of  the  subject;  he  pre- 


196  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

sents  the  results  of  this  analysis  point  by  point;  by  skilful 
questioning  he  guides  the  mind  of  the  pupil  in  disci  iminaiing 
i.e.,  in  working  analytically ;  he  guides  it  in  identifying^  />., 
in  working  synthetically  ;  he  continues  this  method  of  educa- 
tion until  an  analytic  (and  synthetic)  habit  of  mind  is  formed, 
and  the  pupil  no  longer  needs  the  preparatory  analysis  and 
synthesis  which  it  is  the  business  of  the  teacher  to  supply. 

In  perception,  the  stage  of  intellectual  development  nearest 
to  sensation,  the  child  is  to  be  guided  in  the  formation  of  clear 
and  adequate  percepts  of  the  objects  presented ;  the  presenta^ 
tion  and,  therefore,  the  r(?-presentation,  becomes  clearer  with 
each  repetition,  and  the  dim  and  vague  mental  outline  with 
which  the  child  started,  grows  into  clear  and  definite  idea.  So, 
if  a  pupil  has  been  led  to  apprehend  the  relation  of  certain  facts, 
and  to  think  this  relation  again  and  again,  the  process  fixes  the 
thought  in  the  mind,  and  gives  increased  power  to  deal  with  all 
similar  relations.  Similarly  with  all  forms  of  reasoning,  or  dis- 
course. A  pupil  has  difficulty  with  an  abstract  argument,  say 
the  solution  of  a  problem ;  he  is  aided  by  judicious  questioning 
to  comprehend  the  logical  connection  of  the  several  steps  in 
the  solution ;  he  repeats  the  reasoning  for  himself,  re-thinks 
the  relations — and  at  last,  not  only  is  the  reasoned  truth  per- 
manently retained,  but  there  is  also  the  beginning  of  a  habit  of 
logical  reasoning. 

Illustration. — By  means  of  objects,  a  child  forms  a  first 
intuition  of  the  number  five ;  one  presentation  will  not  suffice, 
even  if  the  objects  are  so  arranged  as  to  facilitate  the  mental 
act.  Herein,  it  may  be  observed,  lies  the  source  of  many  a  sad 
mistake.  A  teacher  knows  that  there  must  be  **  objective 
teaching  "  in  giving  first  lessons  in  numbers,  but  falls  into  the 
common  error  of  assuming  that  because  there  are  concrete  things 
before  the  child  there  is  concrete  knowledge  in  the  child's  mind ; 
he  forgets  that  the  first  idea  is  vague,  indefinite ;  that  the  mind 


METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION.  I97 

must  ar/ on  the  material,  and  frequently  repeat  the  act;  that 
the  child  must  be  made  to  think  from  the  vague  to  the  well- 
defined — the  '  concrete  :'  and  that  the  mental  processes  ou^ht 
to  be  aided  by  proper  presentation  of  objects.  For  example, 
in  teaching  the  number  five,  we  do  not  begin  with  five  dis- 
similar and  unarranged  objects ;  this  would  be  to  commit 
two  blunders.  We  begin  with  similar  objects,  symmetrically 
arranged,  as  thus  :   "  ■  J 

But  even  with  this  symmetrical  number-form,  one  presenta- 
tion is  not  enough .  On  the  basis  of  the  several  familiar  forms, 
which  the  child  has  already  learned,  he  must  be  questioned 
through  clear  perceptions  into  clear  conctp  lions.  Every  presen- 
tation becomes  clearer  until  there  results  a  definite  idea  of  the 
number  five,  through  a  conscious  recognition  of  its  relations  to 
the  lower  numbers.  Thus,  in  the  foreo;oing  number-form, 
the  relations  5=4+1,5  —  1=  4, — i.e. ,  by  questioning,  5=4 
+  ?,  5  —  I  =?— can  be  presented  in  five  difl^erent  (though 
related)  ways.  It  seems  plain  that  if  the  child  is  led  by  clear 
intuitions  to  think  the  relations  as  presented  in  these  number- 
forms,  the  **  mental  experiences"  will  blend  into  a  lasting  con- 
ception of  the  number.  Similarly,  from  the  same  number- 
form  can  be  presented  various  intuitions  of  the  relations  5  =  3 
+2,  5— 3=2, /.(?.,  by  questioning,  5=3-!-?,  5—3=?;  5=2+3, 
5  =  2+?,  etc.,  etc.     (See  chap,  on  teaching  arithmetic.) 

Again  :  A  boy  will  not  at  first  clearly  apprehend  so  simple 
a  proposition  as  "  Things  which  are  equal  to  the  same  thing 
are  equal  to  one  another,"  much  less  will  he  draw  the  right  con- 
clusion from  its  application  in  a  given  case  ;  as  e.g..,  the  line 
AB  is  equal  to  the  line  CD,  the  line  EF  is  also  equal  to  CD, 
therefore,  the  lines  are  all  equal  to  one  aitother  ;  which  is  nol 
the  immediate  inference.  From  the  conditions  of  a  givet 
arithmetical  problem  a  pupil  may  discover  the  relations : 

The  selling  price  =  \^  of  cost  price. 

The  selling  price  =  -^^  of  cost  price  -f  $20. 


198  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

And  yet  fail  to  see  that  the  application  of  this  axiom  will  at 
once  give  the  answer.  The  pupil  must  be  plied  with  many  con- 
crete examples,  and  he  will  have  to  be  questioned  and  cross-ques- 
tioned upon  the  principle  and  its  applications,  until  he  has  ac- 
quired a  clear  apprehension  of  it,  a  working  conception,  which 
he  can  readily  bring  to  bear  in  all  cases  in  which  it  applies. 

Once  more ;  when  a  child  has  fairly  learned  the  number  six, 
he  will  not,  at  first,  solve  offhand  such,  a  question  as  :  If  2  apples 
cost  4  cents  what  will  3  apples  cost  ?  Much  less  will  he  be  able 
to  comprehend  its  solution  by  the  "  Rule  of  Three,"  since  the 
general  idea  of  ratio  and  the  complex  idea  of  the  equality  of 
ratios,  are  quite  beyond  his  grasp.  But  he  can  be  led  to  solve  the 
problem  by  taking  its  two  steps,  one  at  a  time.  By  clear  intui- 
tions, he  can  be  led  first  to  perceive^  and  then  to  conceive  that  if 
2  apples  cost  4  cents,  one  apple  will  cost  2  cents ;  and  then  by 
similar  means,  to  see  that  if  one  apple  cost  2  cents,  3  apples  will 
cost  ^  cents :  As,  e.g. 

Apple     •    j    •    •    cents 

Apple     •    !    •    •     cents 

therefore  one  apple  costs  2  cents ;  etc.  Thus  forming  clear 
perceptions  from  a  few  examples,  he  will  quickly  rise  to  a  con- 
ception of  such  relations,  and  soon  be  able  to  solve  similar 
problems  without  the  aid  of  visible  objects. 

Relating  Facts. — Not  only  is  questioning  the  sure  test  of 
how  the  child's  mind  is  dealing  with  the  material,  it  is,  as  has 
been  suggested,  the  best  way  to  guide  him  in  relating  the  facts. 
Though  it  is  chiefly  the  mechanical  aspect  of  association  that 
comes  into  play  in  the  primary  stage  of  instruction,  the  main 
object,  even  here,  is  mental  discipline,  and,  therefore  a  rational 
spirit  must  pervade  the  teaching.  There  can  be,  of  course,  no 
severe  demand  made  upon  rational  comprehension,  because  this 
is  only  in  the  beginning  of  its  development ;  bnt  facts  can  be  pre- 
sented in  their  proper  relations— things  can  be  associated  by 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  I99 

the  law  of  similiarity.  It  is  by  the  teachers  preparatory  ana- 
lysis of  the  subject  and  by  his  judicious  questioning,  that  the 
child  is  brought  to  think  implicitly^  facts  in  their  relations.  He 
does  not  grasp  explicitly  the  underlying  unity  of  the  facts ;  but 
to  some  extent,  related  facts  explain  themselves  (p.  83);  and  if 
this  rationality  of  facts  has  been  carefully  kept  in  mind  by  the 
teacher  during  his  Socratic  lesson,  there  will  be  retention  of  the 
facts  in  their  relations,  unconscious  appropriation  of  their 
rationality,  which  in  good  time  will  grow  into  conscious  recogni- 
tion of  their  logical  connection. 

Illustration. — If,  for  example,  the  facts  of  six  have  been 
presented  in  clear  intuitions  J  J  J  there  will  be  a  gradual,  but 
sure  growth  of  clear  perceptions  into  a  conscious  thinking 
of  the  relations  between  i  and  6,  2  and  6,  etc;  6  is  6  times  i,  i 
is  one-sixth  of  6  ;  6  is  three  times  2  ;  2  is  one-third  of  6,  etc. 
Having  learned  thus  much,  he  passes, easily  (first  by  intuition, 
of  course)  to  the  new  facts  :  6  -»-  2  =  8  =  4  times  2,  2  is  one- 
fourth  of  8,  and  so  on,  to  5  times  2,  6  times  2,  etc  So,  too,  6 
=  two  times  3  ;  9  =  6  +  3  =  three  times  3,3  =  one-third  of  9, 
and  so  on.  That  is,  from  the  right  presentation  of  objects, 
the  child  forms  clear  perceptions  which  almost  unconsciously 
grow  into  a  firm  grasp  of  the  relations  of  numbers  in  the  Multi- 
plication Table  ;  and  thus,  learning  how  to  construct  the  table 
for  himself,  he  is  not  left  to  memorize  it  by  merely  mechan- 
ical associations.  There  must  be  repetition,  of  course;  the 
table  must  be  so  thoroughly  memorized  that  any  pair  of  factors 
instantly  suggests  the  right  product  But,  if  there  are  a  few 
repetitions  of  the  acts  of  apprehension  by  which  the  several  pro- 
ducts are  formed,  the  task  of  mastering  the  table  will  be  im- 
mensely lighter  than  if  left  to  the  symbol-memory  alone. 

Use  and  Abuse  of  Drill. — It  is  clear  from  the  foregoing 
considerations  that  Repetition^  Drill,  is  necessary,  for  there  is  and 
must  be  a  mechanical  side  to  education.     Drill  is  necessary  for 


goo  METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION. 

the  formation  of  right  habits,  for  the  acquisition  of  skill  in  certain 
work  in  the  primary  stage  of  instruction,  for  the  accumulation  of 
the  right  experiences  and  the  consequent  development  of  mental 
and  moral  power  in  all  stages  ;  but  there  is  a  point  at  which 
drill — repetition,  ceases  to  be  of  any  value  for  the  growth  of 
knowledge,  or  skill,  or  capacity,  and  becomes  positively  harm- 
ful. Unintelligent  repetition  cannot  strengthen  intelligence, 
ceaseless  questioning  on  unimportant  details,  monotonous  re- 
callings  of  mere  sensuous  associations,  "  thorough  grinds  "  on 
what  is  already  well  known — destroy  interest,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  essential  to  attention^  and  so  induces  a  habit  of  mind- 
wandering,  the  greatest  foe  that  the  educator  has  to  confront. 
In  primary  schools,  perhaps  in  all  grades  of  schools,  incal- 
culable time  is  wasted  in  a  repulsive  monotony  of  drills.  Dealing 
with  the  concrete  as  if  the  concrete  were  all  in  all — as  if  "  from 
the  concrete  to  the  abstract  "  means  to  begin,  continue  and  end 
with  the  concrete,  is  to  ignore  the  fact  that  abstract  thinking 
is  the  only  true  thinking,  that  the  concrete  is  only  means  to 
end,  and  that  so  far  as  it  delays  the  power  to  grasp  the  abstract, 
it  defeats  its  end,  hinders  rather  than  helps  psychical  develop- 
ment. 

The  re-action  against  an  imperfect  method  of  instruction  has 
led  to  the  other  extreme  which  is  equally  imperfect  Formerly 
children  were  rarely  allowed  to  begin  with  the  concrete.  Now, 
the  tendency  is  to  keep  them  from  rising  higher  than  the  con- 
crete. It  is,  possibly,  owing  to  this  reign  of  the  visible  and 
tangible  that  so  many  teachers  are  deficient  in  power  of  abstrac- 
tion and  analysis.  The  trained  mind  of  a  trainer  of  minds 
surely  ought  to  be  able  to  see  the  fallacy  in  the  inference,  507ne 
As  are  not  B's^  therefore,  some  H's  are  not  A's,  \/ithout  the 
necessity  of  resorting  to  a  concrete  case,  as,  e.g.,  some  living 
things  are  not  men,  therefore,  some  men  are  not  living  things. 

More  than  once  we  have  found  the  majority  of  a  large  class 
hesitate  to  answer   the  question,    IVkat   is   the  A  of  the  £ 


METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION.  201 

whose  A  is  Ct  Before  answering,  most  of  them  had  to  think 
of  a  particular  case,  as,  e.g.,  what  is  the  length  of  a  pole  whose 
length  is  ten  feet  ?  The  power  of  abstract  thinking  may  be  taken 
as  th:  measure  of  intellectual  dez'elopment. 

It  ought  perhaps  to  be  mentioned  that  there  is  not  unfre- 
quently,  excessive  drill  through  a  teacher's  ability  "to  inter- 
est his  class."  But  the  thing  is,  not  simply  are  the  pupils  inter- 
ested, but  are  they  interested  in  the  main  thought  of  the  lesson  ? 
When  pupils  have  been  drilled  on  a  lesson  to  the  fatigue-point, 
or  to  the  monotony-point,  the  teacher  arouses  the  flagging  atten- 
tion by  introducing  an  interesting  "  story,"  or  illustration,  in 
which  the  thought  of  the  lesson  is  supposed  to  be  repeated, 
and  thus  "  more  drill "  secured.  But  the  real  interest  is  in 
the  illustration  and  not  in  the  thought  it  is  supposed  to  illus- 
trate. Children  have  been  "  drilled,"  say  on  the  number  two, 
ringing  changes  on  one  and  one?  nothing  and  two?  two  less  one? 
two  less  two  ?  till  under  the  monotonous  repetition  interest  and 
attention  die  out ;  but  the  teacher  is  for  more  drill,  and  so 
interesting  stories,  of  which  the  heroes  are  two  mice,  or  two 
cats,  or  two  dogs,  or  two  elephants,  or  two  deinotheria.  Un- 
doubtedly there  is  interest^  but  it  is  not  in  the  two  ;  it  is  in  the 
mice,  or  the  cats,  or  the  elephants,  or  the  deinotheria,  and  so 
there  is  no  attention  to  the  thought  of  the  lesson,  but  amuse- 
ment or  excitement  in  the  story.  That  sort  of  spurious 
attention  is  often  seen  even  in  advanced  classes.  College 
students  sometimes  miss  the  chief  points  of  a  lesson  in  chem- 
istry through  the  brilliancy  and  variety  of  the  experiments.  It 
is  possible  to  tak  interestingly  to  a  class  without  either  con- 
veying much  information  or  developing  much  power — ^just  as 
"  A.  Ward,  the  American  humorist,"  interested  many  an  intel- 
ligent audience  by  his  lecture  on  The  Babes  in  the  Wood, 
while  giving  but  little  information  about  the  "  Babes." 

Sense  of  Proportion.— In  the  right  use  of  drill,  there- 
fore, the  teacher  should  arrange  his  questions  so  as  to  have 


aOl  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

and  to  give  due  Sense  of  Proportion,  i.e.,  so  as  to  repeat  the 
great  principles,  leading  thoughts,  rather  than  subordinate  de- 
tails. By  the  majority  of  teachers  this  important  point  is  lost 
sight  of.  In  questioning,  they  make  no  distinction  between  the 
important  and  the  unimportant,  between  the  trivial  points  and 
prominent  facts  and  their  relations.  Lessons  in  reading,  geo- 
graphy, history,  are  treated  as  if  their  value  depended  on  the 
number  of  questions  that  can  be  asked  upon  them.  The 
child  is  questioned  and  re-questioned  and  cross-questioned, 
drilled  and  re-drilled  to  the  very  extreme  of  tediousness,  some- 
times on  a  lesson  that  is  of  little  value  as  a  whole,  and  some- 
times on  the  equally  unimportant  details  of  a  lesson  in  itself  of 
value.  Take  the  following  interesting  lesson  :  "  The  rat  sat  on 
a  mat,  the  cat  ran  to  the  mat,  the  rat  ran  into  the  box."  What 
are  we  to  think  of  the  model  lesson  that  gives  twenty-five  or 
thirty  questions  on  such  stuff?  Or,  of  the  mental  condition  of 
the  "six  years  darling  of  a  pygmy  size"  that  is  ruthlessly  sub- 
jected to  such  an  ordeal  ?  What  are  we  to  think  of  a  model 
lesson  that  gives  three  and  a  half  pages  of  questions  on  seven 
and  a  half  lines  of  an  ordinary  reading  lesson  ?  Suppose  a 
child  were  to  be  subjected  to  such  a  "  drill  "  on  every  fairy  talc 
he  reads,  or  every  interesting  story  or  biography,  how  long 
before  fairy  tale  and  story  would  become  an  utter  abomination 
to  him  ?  Consider  how  a  history  lesson  is  ordinarily  given  j 
note  the  infinitude  of  questions  asked  upon  it,  in  utter  dis- 
regard of  the  due  proportion  between  the  essential  and  the 
non-essential.  The  inevitable  result  is  that  interest  dies  out, 
attention  flags,  and  instead  of  assimilated  knowledge  and 
strengthened  faculty,  there  is  left  a  medley  of  vague  notions 
and  disconnected  facts,  whose  only  end  is  to  be  speedily  for- 
gotten, or  to  be  reproduced  in  preposterous  answers  to  (per- 
haps) equally  preposterous  examination  questions.  By  such 
excessive  drill,  the  teacher  makes  himself  a  mere  machine,  and 
turns  out  mechanisms  after  his  own  likeness. 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  aoj 

3.  To  Extend^  or  Enlarge  Knowledge. — By  questioning, 
vague  ideas  may  be  made  definite,  misapprehensions  removed, 
and  new  knowledge  imparted.  It  is  a  common  maxim  that 
nothing  is  to  be  told  the  learner  that  he  is  able  to  make  out  for 
himself.  What  he  acquires  by  the  exercise  of  his  own  powers 
will  remain  with  him  in  more  enlarged  or  more  accurate 
knowledge,  or  at  least  in  increased  power  of  apperception.  Of 
course,  Telling,  Explanation^  and  clear  Exposition,  are  often 
needed.  For,  while  it  may  be  true  that  it  is  not  so  much  what 
goes  into  a  boy  as  what  comes  out  of  him  that  educates,  it  is 
equally  true  that  nothing  can  be  got  out  of  him  unless  some- 
thing is  first  put  into  him.  It  is  almost  a  common-place  that* 
"  Telling  is  not  teaching."  The  truth  of  this  depends  on  the 
mental  attitude  of  the  taught,  and  this  again,  depends  chiefly 
on  the  kind  of  telling  and  the  spirit  and  ability  of  the  teller. 

Telliug;  Questioning. — Telling  the  right  thing  at  the 
right  time  and  in  the  right  way,  is  teaching.  Very  often  time 
is  worse  than  wasted  in  a  futile  attempt  to  question  out  of  a 
pupil  what  has  never  been  questioned  into  him,  and  what  he 
cannot  by  any  possibility  evolve  from  his  "  inner  consciousness." 
It  is  one  of  the  best  characteristics  of  a  good  teacher  that  he 
knows  exactly  when  and  what  to  telly  as  well  as  when  and  what 
to  impart  or  to  elicit  by  questioning.  The  *'  telling  not  teach- 
ing" maxim  is  thoroughly  sound  as  a  protest  against  the  method 
of  continuous  lecturing.  It  is  easy  to  lecture ;  it  is  difficult  to 
teach;  thus,  many  instructors  are  good  lecturers  but  not  good 
teachers.  With  clearness  of  thought  and  fluency  of  speech,  they 
seem  to  expect  that  lucid  exposition  on  the  part  of  the  teacher 
will  prove  an  effective  substitute  for  attention  and  self-activity  on 
the  part  of  the  pupil.  The  lecturing  method,  the  pouring  in 
process,  may  have  its  place  in  the  college  lecture-room — though 
even  there  a  little  Socratic  questioning  now  and  then  seems 
desirable — but  the  method  is  nearly  worthless  in  the  primary 
and  the  secondary  school     The  object  lesson,  the  exposition, 


£04  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION, 

the  demonstration,  can  be  interpreted  and  assimilated  only  by 
what  is  already  within  the  mind.  This  assimilating  process — it 
cannot  be  too  often  repeated — is  solely  the  learner's  act  and  can 
never  be  dispensed  with  by  even  the  most  logical  arrangement 
and  lucid  exposition  on  the  part  of  teacher  or  text-book.  But, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  teacher  may  aid  the  learner's  effort  by  pres- 
enting the  new  matter  in  its  proper  relations,  and  may  lead  him 
by  questioning  to  see  the  old  knowledge  in  clearer  light,  and  to 
make  for  himself  the  mental  connection  between  the  new  and 
the  old. 

Vague  made  Definite.— It  has  been  said  that  the  first  ideas  got 
by  a  child — no  matter  by  what  process  of  instruction — are  neces- 
sarily hazy  j  his  mental  growth  is  from  the  vague  to  the  definite 
by  analysis  and  synthesis,  either  conscious  or  unconscious. 
And  as  these  mental  functions  are  undeveloped  in  the  young 
learner,  it  is  the  business  of  the  teacher  to  guide  the  learner's 
mind  into  analytic  and  synthetic  working.  Thus  the  vague  is 
made  definite,  misapprehensions  are  corrected,  and  old  know- 
ledge is  both  clarified  and  enlarged  by  new  growths  of  material 
with  which  it  is  rationally  connected.  If  a  pupil,  by  an  erro- 
neous answer,  shows  that  he  has  not  clearly  grasped  a  thought, 
we  do  not  forthwith  tell  him  the  correct  answer.  Guided  by  a 
few  thoughtful  questions  he  is  made  to  discover  the  error  and 
to  think  out  the  correct  answer  for  himself. 

Socratic  Questioning. — The  truth  of  his  wrong  answer 
assumed,  he  is  led  by  Socratic  questioning  to  a  reductio 
ad  absurdum ;  he  then  re-examines  the  argument ;  he  dis- 
covers where  the  fallacy  lies,  whether  in  the  premises,  or  in 
the  conclusion  ;  he  makes  the  needed  corrections ;  and  thus, 
as  an  active  co-worker  in  the  process,  he  is  sure  to  retain 
somewhat  of  real  value,  both  in  knowledge  and  mental  dis- 
cipline. The  teacher  must  guard  against  the  mistake  of  think- 
ing that  because  he  is  using  objects  in  teaching,  the  child's 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  205 

ideas  cannot  be  hazy,  and  that  clear  talking  will  suffice.  No 
matter  how  well  a  lesson  may  be  given,  no  matter  how  skil- 
fully the  maxim  "  from  concrete  to  abstract  "  may  be  applied, 
the  careful  teacher  well  knows  that  there  are  some  points 
which  are  not  clear  to  the  learner ;  that,  though  there  is  a  con- 
crete object  before  the  mind  there  is  not  concrete  knowledge  in  the 
mind,  and  he  will  endeavour,  by  well  prepared  and  connected 
questions,  to  make  the  knowledge  broader  and  more  definite. 

Illustrations. — A  pupil  may  have  learned  the  definition 
of  a  straight  line,  for  example,  and  repeate  1  it  again  and  again, 
and  yet  have  a  very  inadequate  idea  of  it.  He  has  been  told 
that  a  line  has  not  breadth  but  "  position  only,"  yet  he  will  re- 
tain a  lurking  suspicion  that  a  thing  which  he  has  drawn  from 
A  to  B,  which  he  sees  before  his  eyes,  which  he  can  blot 
out  and  replace,  etc.,  must  have  some  breadth.  Besides,  is  he 
not  distinctly  told  in  Euclid  I,  ix,  to  describe  an  equilateral 
triangle  on  the  side  of  DE  (a  line)  '•'■remote  from  A?"  If  he 
thinks  at  all,  he  is  somewhat  perplexed  by  this  "  remote  "  side. 

An  examiner  testing  a  class  on  this  proposition  and  suspecting  that  some 
of  the  class  had  but  crude  ideas  of  "straight  line;"  '*  remote  side,"  etc., 
put  a  few  questions :  Has  DE,  then,  two  sides  ?  //  has.  On  which  side  is 
the  equilateral  triangle  to  be  described  ?  It  is  to  be  described  on  the  side  re- 
viote  from  A,  If  one  side  of  DE  is  remote  from  A,  what  may  you  say  about 
the  other -side?  //  is  near  or  next  to  A.  Then,  how  much  further  from 
A  is  the  remote  %\^t,  than  the  near  side?  //  depends  on  the  width  of  the  line  I 
This  was  the  answer  of  an  eager  but  perfectly  sincere  member  of  the  class, 
and  two  or  three  others  were  quite  ready  to  agree  with  him.  It  is  not  im- 
probable that  scores  of  pupils  who  have  crossed  the  *'  Pons"  in  triumph, 
have  very  misty  notions  concerning  the  meaning  and  reason  of  construction 
in  this  proposition. 

It  is  not,  then,  the  mark  of  a  cautious  teacher  to  assume  that 
even  axioms  and  definitions  are  on  their  first  presentation,  clear 
to  the  minds  of  beginners.  By  examination  and  cross-examina- 
tion they  are  to  be  guided  in  thinking  till  their  vague  outlines 
become  clear  and  adequate  conceptions.     Many  a  beginner  in 


206  METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION. 

geometry  has  very  vague  notions  of  the  definitions  and  axioms 
that  fall  so  glibly  from  his  lips.  Some  have  been  known  to 
affirm  that  when  three  lines  AD,  BD,  CD  meet  in  D,  only  two 
angles  are  formed ;  others  have  stoutly  maintained  that  if  the 
angle  A  D  B  be  taken  away,  only  the  line  CD  will  remain.  'Not 
a  few  imagine  for  a  long  time  that  the  base  of  a  triangle  is 
necessarily  the  horizontal  side, — the  side  parallel  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  page — ,  and  are  not  a  little  perplexed  on  finding  that 
another  side  (any  side)  may  be  the  base,  as  in  e.  g.  the  figure 
of  Euclid  I,  vi.  A  little  thoughtful  questioning  would  give 
pupils  clearer  ideas  of  triangle,  base,  vertical  angle,  "  the  other 
two  sides,"  etc.  The  teacher  cannot  be  too  often  reminded  that 
the  object  before  the  mind  does  not  ensure  concrete  knowledge ; 
that  first  ideas  are  necessarily  vague,  that  objects  are  used  to 
aid  teacher  and  pupil  in  making  knowledge  concrete. 

Further  Illustrations. — It  may,  therefore,  be  laid  down 
as  a  safe  rule  that  all  imperfect  mental  products  should  be  cor- 
rected by  the  pupil  himself  with  a  minimum  of  help  from  the 
teacher.  Ideas  obscure  at  first,  remain  obscure  unless 
there  is  a  growth  into  clearness  by  exercise  of  the  mental 
functions  by  which  they  were  apprehended,  and  by  which  they 
may  be  at  once  extended  and  defined.  A  pupil  may  have  been 
taught  the  parts  of  speech,  and  the  doctrine  of  grammatical 
equivalency ;  he  will  have  to  apply  his  knowledge  many  times 
before  he  apprehends  it  in  its  fullness.  He  must  himself  cor- 
rect his  imperfect  thinkings  on  a  given  topic  till  he  reaches 
perfect  thought.  Take  the  sentence  "  The  charge  is  too  trifling 
to  be  confuted,  and  deserves  to  be  mentioned  only  that  it  may 
be  despised : " 

A  pupil  may  have  had  a  good  deal  of  drilling  on  the  parts  of 
speech,  and  yet  fail  to  see  the  force  of  "  only  "  in  this  sentence. 
He  will  probably  parse  it  as  an  "  adverb "  modifying  men^^ 
Honed,  because  that  is  the  nearest  verb.  He  should  be  led  by 
questioning  to  correct  his  thinking  till  he  reaches  the  truth  : 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  ao^ 

What  is  only  ?  If  is  an  adverb  modifying  mentioned.  What  does  only 
mean?  It  means  this  one  thing  and  nothing  more.  Hut  doiS  the  speaker 
mean  that  the  charge  deserves  to  be  only  mentioned,  i.e.,  that  the  bare  men- 
tion of  it  would  lead  to  its  being  despised  ?  No,  that  is  not  the  meaning. 
If  that  were  the  meaning  where  should  only  be  placed  ?  //  should  be  placed 
bifore  the  verb  mentioned.  Well,  what  is  only  ?  It  is  an  adverb  modifying 
despised.  Is  the  meaning,  then,  that  the  charge  should  be  despised  and 
nothing  more  ?  That  is  not  the  meaning.  Omitting  only,  what  have  we  ? 
The  charge  deserves  to  be  mentioned  that  it  may  be  despised.  Does  the  charge 
deserve  to  be  mentioned  ?  //  does.  For  what  reason,  or  purpose  ?  That  it 
may  he  despised.  Is  there  any  other  reason  ?  There  is  no  other  reason. 
How  do  you  learn  that  ?  From  the  word  '*  only.**  Then  what  is  the  part 
of  only  in  the  sentence  ?  It  affects  the  meaning  of  the  clause^  **  That  it  may 
be  despised.** 

Again,  a  pupil  is  asked  to  parse  but  in  the  line  :  "  The 
paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave."  Reflecting  for  a  moment, 
he  concludes  that  but  here  is  equivalant  to  only,  and  is  probably 
an  adverb,  that  adverbs  modify  verbs,  and  but,  therefore, 
modifies  the  verb  lead.  Now,  the  careless  teacher  will  pro- 
nounce the  answer  wrong,  give  the  correction,  and  pass  on 
without  further  concern,  and  his  "  teaching,"  for  any  lasting 
effect  it  can  have  on  the  minds  of  the  learners,  might  as  well  be 
addressed  to  the  idle  winds.  But  a  few  questions  will  enable 
the  pupil  to  correct  his  own  errors,  and  not  only  does  he  firmly 
hold  what  he  has  thought  out  for  himself,  he  has  also  increased 
mental  power  in  the  act  of  thinking. 

For  example  :  "  But  means  only,  and  is  an  adverb  modifying /«k/." 
Well,  what  does  only  mean  ?  It  mtans  this  one  thing,  and  no  other.  Does 
the  poet  mean,  then,  that  the  paths  lead  and  oiily,  that  is,  do  nothing 
more  than   lead  to   the   grave?     That  is  not  his  meaning.      Well,   leave 

out  but,  and  what  results.      The  paths lead  whither  f     The  paths 

of  glory  lead  to  the  grave.  Consider  whether  there  is  any  other  term- 
ination ?  There  is  no  other  destination.  How  do  you  gather  this  from  the 
line  ?  We  gather  it  from  the  word  *^  but,"  Then,  what  word  or  words  does 
but  affect  ?  //  affects  the  meaning  of  the  words,  **  to  the  grave.**  And, 
grammatically,  what  is  the  phrase  to  the  grave  ?  It  is  an  adverbictl  phroH 
modifying  lecuU  ;  etc. 


^  OK    THK  '^ 


2o8  METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION. 

An  Example  from  Arithmetic— Owing  to  imperfect 
teaching  many  pupils  who  have  "  gone  over  "  square  measure 
have  but  misty  notions  of  what  is  really  done  in  finding  the 
area  of  a  rectangle.  Propose  to  a  class  e.  g.,  to  find  the  area  of 
a  rectangle  5  ft  long  by  3  ft.  wide,  and  ask  a  few  questions  on 
the  work  and  its  result : 

What  answer  have  you  goti  Fifteen  fed.  Does  that  answer 
need  any  correction?  Yes^  it  should  be  fifteen  square  feet. 
How  has  the  answer  been  obtained  ?  By  multipcying  5  feet^ 
the  length,  by  j,  the  breadth.  What  quantity  does  5  represent? 
//  represents  5  linear  feet.  Many  of  the  class  will  give  this  an- 
swer, for  the  word  length  is  prominent  in  the  "  rule,"  and  by  repe- 
tition of  the  rule,  their  minds  have  become  possessed  by  the  idea 
of  length.  Now,  the  thoughtless  teacher,  on  getting  such  an 
answer,  will  simply  give  the  correct  answer  and  pass  on  to 
something  else,  and  so  the  pupils  who  gave  the  wrong  answer 
have  done  no  thinking  in  this  correction  of  errors  -have  apper- 
ceived  noi^vcig — and  of  course  will  retain  nothing.  The  care- 
ful teacher,  by  a  few  Socratic  questions,  will  lead  the  erring 
minds  to  make  the  corrections  for  themselves.  He  gets  them 
to  recall  the  ideas  that  multiplication  is  only  a  short  way  of 
doing  addition  where  all  the  addends  are  equal,  that  the  multi- 
plier as  representing  simply  how  many  addends  there  are,  is  an 
"abstract**  number,  etc.  He  draws  a  figure  on  the  board 
representing  the  rectangle  whose  area  is  to  be  found,  performs 
the  usual  operation  using  say  5  for  multiplicand,  and  3  for 
multiplier.     Then : 

What  quantity  does  this  5  represent  1  Five  linear  feet.  What 
has  been  done  with  this  ?  //  has  been  multiplied  by  three.  What 
is  the  result  ?  Fifteen  "  linear  "  feet,  say  some.  JVb,  fifteen 
square  feet,  say  others  who  having  the  trusty  eye  on  the 
15  square  feet  are  determined  to  stick  to  the  right  conclusion 
in  spite  of  their  false  premises.  The  teacher  shows  these  close 
observers  that    it    is  not  permitted    to  play   such    fantastics 


METHOD    or   INTERROGATION.  209 

tricks  with  quantities-  -that  having  started  with  linear  feet  in  the 
operation,  with  linear  feet  they  must  end.  What  have  we 
done  ?  Multiplied  S  linear  Jeet  by  j,  l/ius,  5x3  =  15-  Can  the 
result  be  got  in  another  way  ?  Yes,  by  addition,  taking  5  thne 
times  as  an  addend,  thus  5ft.  +^ft.  +  j[//.  =  ij//.  Does  this  oper- 
ation work  any  change  on  the  quantity  which  5  represents  ?  It 
makes  no  change.  Then  what  is  the  sum  of  5cts  +  cts  +  5cts  1 
Fifteen  cents.  And  of  5  linear  ft.  +  5  linear  ft.  +  5  linear  ft. 
Fifteen  linear  feet.  But  what  is  the  area  ?  Fifteen  square  feet. 
And  so,  by  a  few  similar  questions,  they  are  led  to  see  that  the 
5  of  the  multiplicand  represents  not  5  linear  units  making  up 
the  line  A  B,  say,  but  the  five  square  feet  making  up  the  first 
of  the  three  equal  rectangles  which  form  the  given  rectangle. 

Imparting  new  Knowledge. — By  questioning  not  only  is 
the  vague  made  definite  and  misconceptions  corrected,  but  also 
new  knowledge  is  acquired  and  assimilated  with  the  old.  By  the 
principles  of  the  synthetic  method  {p.  173)  ideas  are  connected 
into  groups,  and  these  groups  are  used  to  interpret  and  assimi- 
late new  groups.  Old  knowledge  is  to  be  brought  into  vital 
connection  with  new  facts  \  and  this  vital  union  at  the  same 
time  gives  meaning  to  the  new  and  strengthens  and  enlarges 
the  old.  To  this  end  the  analytic-synthetic  method  is  employed 
under  the  form  of  interrogation ;  in  all  stages  of  learning  the 
pupil  should  be  trained  in  self-activity,  /.«.,  in  self-education. 
Even  in  primary  reading,  for  example,  he  has  to  do  something 
for  himself.  Given  the  sounds  of  a  few  letters  to  start  with,  the 
pupil  can  almost  independently  discover  the  sounds  of  many 
others. 

Havmg  been  taught  to  give  sounds  of  &  and  /,  and  to  form  the 
word  at,  he  may  discover  the  sounds  of  b,  c,  f,  h,  etc.  For  in- 
stance, the  picture  of  a  cat  is  before  him  and  he  pronounces  the 
word  cat ;  the  word  is  then  written  on  the  board  ;  the  pupil 
recognizes  the  familiar  part  at,  and  recalls  its  sound ;  he  dis- 
criminates the  forms  of  at  and  cat^  and  their  sounds^  and 
o 


aiO  METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION. 

thus,  with  a  few  repetitions,  gains  a  definite  idea  of  th*  ioat-vi 
of  r,  as  well  as  power  to  produce  it ;  and  so  on,  with  other 
letters,  ^,  f,  h,  m,  etc.,  as  illustrated  in  the  chapter  on  phonic 
reading.  When  he  has  learned  to  pronounce  the  three-letter 
words,  of  which  at  forms  a  part,  he  will  quickly  learn  to  pro- 
nounce when  written,  and  to  write  when  pronounced,  all  the  new 
words  which  can  be  formed  with  the  letters  now  familiar  to 
him ;  as,  e.g.^  pronounce  cab,  can,  etc.,  and  he  will  write  them, 
or  point  them  ol^  on  chart,  etc.;  or  write  sap,  man,  etc,  and  he 
will  pronounce  them.  In  all  this,  questioning  directs  him  in 
identifying  and  discovering. 

Even  in  the  simple  matter  of  naming  numbers,  the  pupil's  self- 
activity  may  be  engaged ;  for  example,  he  is  taught  that  the 
number  made  up  of  3  and  10  (3  +  10)  is  named  thirteen  (three- 
teen),  and  of  4  and  i^n,  fourteen.  Then,  name  the  number  com- 
posed of  5  and  10  ?  6  and  10  ?  etc.  What  then,  does  teen  mean  ? 
And,  similarly,  a  number  composed  of  two  tens  is  named 
twenty  (twain-ty  =  two-ty),  of  three  tens,  thirty  (  =  three-ty)  : 
name,  then,  the  number  made  up  of  4  tens  ?  of  5  tens  ? 
etc.  What  then  does  ty  mean  ?  So,  in  notation,  when  a  pupil 
has  learned  through  intuitive  teaching,  the  relation  between  the 
tens  and  the  units,  and  also  the  significance  of  the  symbols  o,  i,  2, 
3,  etc.,  it  is  only  necessary  to  tell  him  that  one  ten  and  no  units 
is  represented  by  10,  to  enable  him  to  infer  the  notation  of  (a) 
two  tens  and  no  units,  three  tens  and  no  units,  eta;  (b)  one  ten 
and  one  unit,  one  ten  and  two  units,  etc.;  (c)  two  tens  and  one 
unit,  two  tens  and  two  units,  etc  (See  chapter  on  Teaching 
Arithmetic.) 

Illustrations. — (i)  We  give  a  few  examples  from  actual 
work  in  the  school-room. 

When  taught  prhnary  arithmetic  by  the  intuitive  method — 
especially  from  the  graphic  number-forms—  the  child,  very  early 
in  his  course,  gains  the  idea  of  division  of  a  number  into  equal 


METHOD   OF  INTERROGATION.  Ill 

parts,  which  is,  of  course,  the  fundamental  idea  of  fractions. 
And  by  first  using  whole  numbers  in  applying  this  idea,  he  will 
have  no  great  difficulty  in  mastering  the  principles  and  rules  of 
the  Arithmetic  of  Fractions     For  example : 
Divide  2,  4,    6,    8,  etc.,  by  2  ? 

««        3,  6,    9,  12.  etc.,  by  3? 

*•        4,  8,  12,  16,  etc.,  by  4? 
etc,  etc. 
Now  take  the  half    of  2,  4,    6,  etc.  ? 

«*         "     third   of  3,  6,    9,  etc.  ? 

"  "  fourth  of  4,  8,  12,  etc  ? 
Here,  to  enable  him  to  pass  from  the  old  to  the  new,  it  will 
be  only  necessary  to  tell  him  that  to  divide  a  number  by  2,  is  to 
take  the  half  of  it ;  to  divide  a  number  by  3,  is  to  take  the 
third  of  it,  etc,  i.e.,  that  there  is  a  change  of  language  but  no 
change  of  idea.  It  may  not,  indeed,  be  always  necessary  to 
make  even  this  explanation.     For  instance  : 

An  inspector  was  giving  a  lesson  introductory  to  fractions, 
according  to  the  foregoing  plan.  He  found,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  lesson,  that  the  children  did  not  know  how  to  take  the 
half,  the  third,  etc,  of  a  number.  He  put  a  series  of  questions 
in  division,  which  all  were  able  to  answer :  Divide  6  by  3  ? 
9  by  3?  12  by  3?  etc.  And  then,  without  any  explanation^ 
asked  a  bright  little  fellow:  what  is  the  third  of  6?  After  a 
moment's  thought  the  child  replied  two;  and  then  answered 
without  the  slightest  hesitation,  the  questions  :  one-third  of  9  ? 
one-third  of  12?  etc.,  and  one-fourth  of  4?  of  8?  of  12?  etc 
The  other  members  of  the  class  soon  caught  the  clew,  and  an- 
swered similar  questions  with  equal  readiness.  The  inspector 
then  asked  the  leader  in  this  process  of  discovery  and  identifi- 
cation :  How  did  you  find  out  what  I  meant  by  the  question, 
what  is  one-third  of  6  ?  He  replied,  "  There  are  three  twds  in 
fix,  and  I  thought  you  meant  one  of  them.^' 

At  the  end  of  the  lesson,  the  class  were  able  to  answer  such 
questions  as  these  :   How  do  you  find  the  half  of  a  number  ? 


211  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

The  third  ?     The  fourth  ? The  «-th  ?     How  many  halvei 

has  a  number  ?    How  many  thirds  ?  How  many  fourths 

how  many  «-ths  ?  What  is  one-third  of  6  ?  /zw-thirds  ?  three- 
thirds  ?  What  is  ^//^-fourth  of  8  ?  two-iownhs  ?  Mr^^-fourths  ? 
four-fo\ix\hs  ?  One-ihixd  of  a  number  is  4,  what  is  the  number  ? 
One-iourth  of  a  number  is  5,  what  is  the  number?  etc.,  etc. 
And  the  brighter  ones  of  the  class  answered  such  questions  as 
the  following  :  Two-\h\xds  of  a  number  is  6,  v/hat  is  the  num- 
ber ?    7%r^^-fourths  of  a  number  is  9,  what  is  the  number  ?  etc. 

(2.)  Solution  of  Problems.-  An  army  loses  10  per  cent,  of  its  num- 
bers in  its  first  battle,  and  10  per  cent,  of  the  remainder  in  the  second  battle, 
and  then  had  16,200  men  left ;  how  many  men  composed  the  army  at  first  ? 

What  part  of  a  number  is  10  per  cent  of  it  ?  One-tenth. 
One-tenth  of  the  army  is  lost,  what  part  remains  ?  Nine- tenths 
of  it.  One-tenth  of  this  remainder  is  lost  what  part  of  it  re- 
mains? Nine-tenths  of  it.  What  part  of  the  whole  army  now 
remains  ? 

A  of  T%  or  ^, 

If  81  hundredths  of  the  army  =  16,200  men,  what  is  one- 
hundredth  ?     200  men. 

Then  what  number  in  the  entire  army  ? 

100  times  200  men  /.  e.,  20,000  men. 

I  sold  a  horse  so  as  to  gain  10  per  cent.;  had  the  horse  cost  $36  more, 
there  would  have  been,  at  the  same  selling  price,  a  loss  of  10  per  cent. 
Find  the  actual  cost  of  the  horse. 

How  many  cost  prices  are  mentioned  ? 
TwOy  the  actual  cost  price^  and  a  supposed  cost. 
What  is  the  difference  between  these  ?    $36. 
How  many  selling  prices  ?     One  selling  price. 
What  part  of  a  number  is  10  per  cent,  of  it  ?     One-tenth. 
What  relation  between  the  selling  price  and  the  actual  cost  ? 
Selling  price  =  H  cutual  cost. 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  »fj 

And  also  between  selling  price  and  supposed  cost  ? 

Selling  price  =  -^  supposed  cost. 
What  inference  from  these  relations  ?    Ni?  answer. 

^^^j"'f^  =  ^}  What  inference? 

AnsweTy  B  =  C. 

State  the  axiom  by  which  this  is  inferred  ? 
Things  which  are  equal  to  the  same  thing  are  equal  to  each  other. 
Then,  what  inference  from  the  relations  between  the    two 
cost  prices  ? 

^  of  supposed  cost  =  ^  actual  cost 
Therefore  ? 

Supposed  cost  =^  .^  ^^  =  y  =  if  of  actual  cost. 
From  this,  what  is  the  difference  between  the  two  costs  ? 

The  difference  is  f  of  actual  cost 
Complete  the  solution  ? 
The  difference  is  given  =  $36. 

.  • .  f  actual  cost  =  $36,  ^  =  $18,  and  entire  cost  $162. 
(3.)  Algebraic  Example,  Socratic  Questioning— In  the  expression 

aH"^  +  3V  +  c^a^.  What  letters  are  involved  ?  a,b,€.  How  are  they 
involved  ?  They  are  involved  symmetrically.  Taking  the  square  root  of 
each  term  separately,  what  do  you  get?  ab  +  bf^ca.  Is  this  result  the 
square  root  of  the  given  expression  ?  It  is  not.  If  for  <j!,3,r,  I  substitute  re- 
spectively dygf/,  or p,q,r,  or  x,y,z,  etc.,  will  it  make  any  difference  in  your 
argument?  It  vjill  make  no  difference.  If  for  a,^,r,  there  be  substituted 
a  +  by  b  +  c,  c  +  a^  or  p-q,  r-s,  t-u,  will  your  answer  still  be  valid?  // 
will.  When  any  quantities  are  substituted  for  a,b,Cf  does  your  argument 
still  hold  ?    //  does.     Is  the  expression  : 

{X  -.v)»  (y  -  z)^  +  (y  -  «)« («  -  X)*  +  {z-  x)*  {x  -y)\ 
similar  to  the  given  expression  ?     It  is  ;  for  a,b,c  have  been  substituted  rt» 
spectively  x-y,  y-*t  z-x.     Now,  taking  the  square  root  of  each  term 
separately,  what  do  you  get  ? 

(x-y)  (y-2)  +  (y-*)  {z - x) -{■  {z - x)  {x-f). 
Compare  the  result  with  cU>-\-hc  +  ca,     They  are^  ofcourscy  similarly  forvud. 
Is  ab-\-bc-{-ea  the  square  root  of  a'^'  +  etc?    It  is  not.     Then  is  (-     -) 
(y  -  2)  +  etc.  the  square  root  of  (x  -y)*  (y  -  2)'  +  etc.?    //  is  not. 

But,  said  the  teacher,  It  is  the  sQuare  root  of  it. 


214  METHOD   or   INTERROGATION. 

At  this  declaration  the  class  were  gjreatly  astonished.  What  was  wrong 
in  the  reasoning?  Their  curiosity  was  thoroughly  aroused.  They  ex- 
amined the  reasoning  again  and  again  ;  there  was  a  general  marshalling  of 
all  the  ideas  bearing  on  the  matter,  there  was  in  a  word,  some  close  thinking 
done,  before  the  fallacy  was  discovered.  It  would  have  been  hard  to  con- 
vince that  class,  that  Mathematical  reasoning  '*  condemns  to  a  minimum  of 
thought ;  "  that  it  is  impossible  to  err  in  mathematical  reasoning  *'  because 
mathematical  principles  are  self-evident,  and  the  successive  steps  of  the 
reasoning  are  equally  self-evident." 

(4.)  Socratic  Questioning,  Positive — The  following  is  an  example  of 
the  positive  extension  of  knowledge  by  questioning.  A  class  had  been  led 
eo  discover  the  two  rational  factors  of 

and  were  now  to  apply  the  result  to  the  resolution  of  certain  similar  forms, 
rhe  teacher  told  nothing. 

What  about  the  symmetry  of  this  question  1  It  is  symmeiricalin  -ha,  +^. 
+<■.    What  is  its  linear  factor  ?    a  +  3  +  r .     Its  quadratic  factor  ? 

cfl-\-b^-\-c'^ -ab-bc—ca^ 
«rhich  can  be  put  into  the  form  ^  [{a  -  *)*  +  (^  -  f )'  +  (f  -  df\.      Now  let  us 
consider  the  expression : 

a^^lfi-(*\-^abc (I). 

With  respect  to  what  quantities  is  this  symmetrical  T  No  correct  answer. 
How  may  this  be  derived  from  the  expression  already  factored  ?  No  correct 
answer.  The  teacher  then  proceeded  to  give  a  few  questions  leading  up  to 
the  unanswered  question. 

How  may  a-\-c  be  got   from  a-^-bl 

A  few  answer  correctly,  others  incorrectly. 

What  shall  we  do  with  a-\-b  'va   order  to  get  a? 

Takeaway  ■\-b. 

What  shall  we  do  with  a  to  get  a -I- tf? 

Add  +r. 

Then  how  is  a  +  *  changed  into  a-^-cl 

By  taking  away  -^b  and  adding  +c,  that  is  by  substitutit^  -^c  for  +&, 

How  shall  a  +  bhe  changed  into  a-bl 

By  substituting  -bfor  +b. 

How  shall  a»-h^  be  changed  into  a»  -  ^  ? 

By  substituting  -b  for  +b. 

Now  what  is  the  relation  of  form  (i)  to  the  primitive  form  i 

It  is  derived  from  the  primitive  by  substituting  -  <  for^t. 

State,  then,  how  form  (l)  differs  from  the  primitive? 

//  differs  only  in  having  —c  for    +c. 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  21$ 

Well,  we  proved  certain  facts  in  the  primitive  form,  what  can  you  infer 
AS  to  the  corresponding  facts  in  form  (i)? 

They  can  be  got  from  the  facts  of  the  primitive  by  substituting  -€  for  +6 

Then  what  is  the  linear  factor  in  form  (i)  t 

a^b-c. 

The  quadratic  factor  ? 

a^->fb^\^-ab-{-bc->tca,  etc. 

How  may  other  forms  similar  to  form  (i)  be  derived  from  the  primitive? 

By  substituting  -  b  for  +^  we  get  a  second  form,  and  by  substituting  -  m 
for  +a  we  get  a  third  form. 

Give  the  factors  of  these  two  forms? 

For  the  first  case  we  have  : 

a-b\c  and  a'+  ^'  +  r'  4-  <z^  +  ^— ea. 

And  for  the  second  case  : 

-a-\-b-irc  zsAa'^-{-b'^-Vc^-\-ab-bc-\-ca, 

Can  you  suggest  how  other  forms  may  be  derived  from  the  primitive  ? 

For  •\-b  and  +^,  substitute  -b  and  -c  respectively. 

What  is  the  result? 

a* -  fi - (* - yibc.    The  factors?    a-b-c9L\i6.  a-\rb^+(^-\-ab-be-^M. 

May  other  forms  like  this  be  derived  from  the  primitive  ? 

YeSt  by  substituting  for  ^r  c  +a,  and  again  for  ^-a  +  b. 

And  so  at  the  conclusion  of  the  lesson — which  lasted  about  2o  minutes 
— the  class  were  able,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  to  write  down  the 
six  derived  forms  and  their  pairs  of  factors. 

4.  To  Cultivate  Power  of  Expression  ;  Effect  on  Apperception 
and  Retention. — As  intimated,  this  purpose  of  questioning  per- 
tains equally  to  the  Testing  of  Retention  and  the  Training  o( 
Apperception.  In  fact,  it  is  on  account  of  the  powerful  effect 
which  the  cultivation  of  expression  has  upon  the  funda- 
mental processes  of  mind,  that  it  is  given  a  separate  place 
among  our  Purposes  of  Questioning.  The  thought  is :  because 
words  and  the  riglit  use  of  words  are  necessary  to  both  Apper- 
ception and  Retention,  therefore,  the  training  of  the  language- 
power  ought  to  be  a  prominent  aim  in  all  instruction. 

Belittling  Words. — In  the  re-action  against  mere  rote^ 
learning,  there  is  a  strong  tendency  to  belittle  words.  "  Words, 
words,  empty  words,  teach  things  not  words,"  is  the  cry.  Doubt- 
less the  old  plan  was  wrong,  the  plan  of  filling  the  memory  with 


«l6  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

tvords  and  making  little  or  no  appeal  to  the  intelligence.  The 
plan  is  very  old,  as  old  as  education  itself;  for  it  is  an  easy  plan, 
easy  for  the  pupil,  easy  for  the  teacher.  The  mind  of  childhood 
as  we  have  seen,  is  exceedingly  open  to  sensuous  associations  ;  it 
can  memorize  words  by  connecting  their  successive  sounds,  with 
but  little  attention  to  their  meaning.  But  it  is  the  work  of  the 
txracher  to  check,  or  to  rather  properly  direct  this  tendency. 
He  must  see,  indeed,  that  the  child  does  not  simply  form  a 
series  of  auditory  sensations  \  but  equally  it  is  his  duty  to  see  that 
this  ready  receptivity  of  the  senses  shall  be  employed  in  form- 
ing connections  of  ideas.  How  is  this  to  be  done  ?  Not  by 
teaching  words  alone,  nor  things  alone,  but  by  teaching 
words  and  things,  by  making  ideas  of  things  clear  and  definite 
and  this  by  fixing  and  defining  them  in  words.  While,  therefore, 
the  teacher  must  be  on  his  guard  against  teaching  empty  words, 
he  must  be  equally  on  his  guard  against  imparting  empty  ideas  ; 
for  if  the  word  without  the  idea  is  empty,  the  idea  without  the 
word  is  little  better  than  an  airy  nothing  without  a  local  habi- 
tation and  a  name. 

Relation  of  Words  and  Ideas  to  Knowledge.— 
"  The  learner's  knowledge,"  says  an  English  writer,  "  consists 
in  ideas  gained  from  objects  and  facts  by  his  own  powers,  and 
consciously  possessed — not  in  words.  The  words  without  the 
ideas  are  not  knowledge  to  him."  This  is  but  a  partial  truth. 
The  learner's  knowledge,  if  it  is  worthy  of  the  name,  if  it  is  part 
of  an  organized  structure,  if  its  up-building  has  had  any  effect  in 
organizing  faculty,  does  not  consist  only  in  such  ideas.  It  con- 
sists in  such  ideas  made  clearer^  made  more  definite,  made  more 
comprehensive,  z.w6.  finally  made  incarnate  in  words.  It  is  quite 
true  that  if  a  child  were  to  memorize  a  series  of  words  by 
merely  connecting  their  sound-sensations,  making  the  connec- 
tions absolutely  without  reference  to  meaning,  the  words  would 
not  be  knowledge  to  him.  But  it  is  equally  certain  that  with- 
ou*  urords,  or  symbols  of  some  sort,  he  would  not  be  able  to 


IIEIHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  217 

f/eld  his  sense-impressions  into  definite  and  permanent  forms, 
and  that  such  wordless  mental  experiences  would  not  be 
knowledge  in  any  true  sense  of  the  word.  The  truth  appears 
to  be  that  neither  ideas  alone  (if  there  are  such  things  that  are 
of  any  worth)  nor  words  alone,  constitute  knowledge,  but  ideas 
embodied  in  words  ;  and  that  this  act  of  embodiment  is  a  factor 
in  the  finished  thought,  and  is  an  essential  part  of  the  process  of 
organizing  mental  faculty  by  organizing  knowledge.  Let  the 
teacher  remember  that,  even  in  the  primary  stage,  "  to  learri 
the  name  of  a  thing,  and  to  learn  how  to  use  this  name,  in- 
volves much  more  mental  action  than  is  required  in  forming 
sense-peceptions  about  it.** 

Words  and  Clear  Thinking.— Words,  then,  are  not 
only  the  instruments  for  the  expression  of  thought,  they  are  also 
the  instruments  of  the  thinking  process  itself,  Human  speech 
is  the  complement  of  human  reason,  the  gift  without  which 
reason  would  not  be,  and  could  not  be  what  it  is.  Words 
are  at  once  the  test  and  the  condition  of  the  cultivation  of  rea- 
son, that  is,  there  can  be  no  thinking — deserving  of  the  name — 
without  words,  and  no  explicit  proof  that  the  thinking  process 
is  going  on,  unless  its  products  are  objectified  in  words.  For  the 
teacher,  at  least,  the  only  proof  of  thinking  oh  the  part  of  the  pu- 
pil, is  expression,  oral  and  written;  and  of  clear  thinking,  is  cleai 
expression,  oral  and  written.  Definite  thought  means  definite 
expression.  Vague  expression  means  equally  vague  thought. 
No  act  of  thinking  is  complete  till  its  products 
have  been  set  forth  in  words.  And  the  manner  in  which 
this  is  done  marks  the  character  of  the  thinking  and  the  eflfeo- 
tiveness  of  the  teaching. 

Thought  Lessons  are  Language  Lessons.--It  fol- 
lows that  every  lesson  should  be  a  lesson  in  language.  It 
should  be  a  lesson  in  language  because  it  is  a  lesson  in  thought, 
and   only  so  far  as   it  is  a  language  lesson  is  it  an  effective 


2l8  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

thought  lesson.  Every  lesson,  in  all  stages  of  learning,  is  given 
to  awaken  the  self-activity  of  the  child,  to  cause  thinking.  It  is 
only  by  questioning  that  we  can  determine  the  matter  and  manner 
of  his  thinking ;  it  is  only  by  questioning  that  we  can  determine 
whether  the  final  step  in  the  thinking  process  has  been  taken, 
since  this  step  is  the  act  of  expression  itself.  If  we  are  giving 
a  simple  object-lesson  for  the  exercise  of  perception,  we  know 
that  the  child  has  got  the  idea,  and  completed  his  act  of  think- 
ing, when  he  has  the  right  word  for  the  idea,  and  can  use  it 
properly  and  promptly.  If  we  give  a  lesson  which  demands  the 
thinking  of  relations  we  know  that  the  act  of  thought  has  been 
performed  when  it  is  expressed  in  definite  propositions.  So, 
in  all  the  stages  of  intellectual  development,  the  character  of  the 
mental  product  is  shown  in  the  character  of  the  expression 
which  we  are  able  to  elicit  by  the  Socratic  art. 

We  have  already  seen  that  clear  Apprehension  is  necessary  to 
Retention,  and  that  clear  expression  is  necessary  to  clear  appre- 
hension. The  teacher  must  insist  on  ready  and  accurate  utter- 
ance of  the  thoughts  the  lesson  is  intended  to  convey.  If  a  pupil 
is  unable  to  express  the  results  of  his  thinking  in  any  lesson,  the 
teacher  may  be  sure  that  they  have  not  taken  definite  shape  in 
his  mind.  The  teacher  must  not  be  deceived  by  the  earnest 
plea,  "  I  know,  but  I  cannot  tell."  This  means  nothing  except, 
perhaps,  that  the  mind  is  vaguely  conscious  of  working  towards 
more  clearly  defined  thoughts.  The  thought-elements,  mental 
nebulae,  are  there,  but  the  unifying  and  discriminating  laws  of 
Intelligence  are  to  act  still  further,  before  distinct  and  finished 
forms  appear.  Let  the  thing  be  clearly  seen,  says  Horace,  and 
the  willing  words  will  foi cow. 

Interaction  between  Thought  and  Expression.— 

From  the  relation  between  thought  and  language  it  may  be  laid 
down  as  a  sound  principle  that  direct  and  clear  expression  is 
preceded  by  clear  thmking,  and  that  the  effort  to  speak  with  di- 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  SI 9 

rectness  and  precision  reacts  on  the  thinking  process  and  con- 
tributes to  clearness  of  thought.  A  maxim  akin  to  that  con- 
cerning Doing  and  Knowing  finds  place  here.  As  knowing 
aids  doing  (page  182)  and  doing  re-acts  on  knowing,  so  think- 
ing aids  speaking,  and  speaking  re-acts  on  thinking.  A  man — 
much  less  a  child  hardly  knows  what  his  thought  really  is,  till 
he  has  given  form  to  it,  1.^.,  till  he  has  clothed  it  in  spoken 
or  in  written  words.  Everyone  knows  how  thought  grows  in 
clearness  with  each  attempt  to  clothe  it  in  words. 

The  trained  master  of  thought  and  speech  clothes  his 
thoughts  at  once  in  perfect  language ;  the  word-embodied 
thought  is  a  pure  mental  product,  and  it  comes  forth,  whether 
in  oral  or  in  written  speech,  a  thing  of  strength  and  beauty. 
But  the  immature  mind  of  the  learner  is  far  below  such  power 
of  thought  and  speech.  A  thought,  as  it  first  appears  in  his 
mind,  is  vague,  and,  in  its  expressed  form,  it  bears  the  marks  of 
this  vagueness.  But  it  is  now  before  him  in  audible  and  in 
visible  form ;  this  objectified  thought  is  something  that  he  can, 
as  it  were,  study  as  an  object.  Guided  by  the  judicious  ques- 
tioning of  his  teacher,  and  aided  by  the  visible  (or  audible) 
form  before  him,  he  turns  the  thought  over  and  over  in  his 
mind,  each  successive  mental  act  being  aided  by  the  verbal  ex- 
pression of  the  preceding  one — till  at  last  the  thought,  as  well 
as  the  expression  of  it,  is  as  perfect  as  he  can  make  it.  The 
undoubted  educational  procedure,  therefore,  is :  First  the 
Thought,  then  the  Oral  Expression  of  the  thought, 
then  the  Written  Expression  of  it.  Thus  the  inter- 
action between  thought  and  expression  will  finally  result  in  the 
best  expression  of  the  best  thought  possible  to  the  mind  in  its 
presumed  stage  of  growth. 

Questioning  Best  for  Language. — From  what  has 

been  said,  the  value  of  Interrogation  as  compared  with  continu- 
ous Explanation  is  manifest     A  prevailing  fault  in  primary  and 


220  METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION. 

secondary  schools  is  that  the  teacher  talks  too  much  and  the 
pupil  too  little.  It  is  easier  for  the  teacher  to  think  and  talk 
than  to  get  his  pupils  to  think  and  talk.  And  it  is  a  common 
error  to  suppose  that  clear  thinking  and  expression  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher,  ensure  clear  thought  and  ability  to  express 
the  thought,  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  But  only  the  pupil's 
self-activity  educates,  and  speech,  oral  and  written,  is  a  neces- 
sary condition  of  self-activity.  The  value  of  any  lesson  may 
be  determined,  therefore,  by  the  amount  of  correct  expression 
that  it  has  called  forth,  and  by  this  alone.  A  lesson  in  which 
the  teacher  has  done  all  the  talking  is  nearly  worthless.  A  les- 
son during  which  the  class  have-  been  questioned  into  clear  and 
direct  expression,  and  which  ends  with  reducing  to  written 
forms  the  best  that  has  been  thought  and  said,  is  of  permanent 
value,  because  it  enlarges  knowledge  and  strengthens  and  de- 
velops faculty. 

Course  to  be  followed. — What  course,  then,  does  the 
wise  teacher  follow  ?  As  far  as  possible,  in  all  stages  of  learn- 
ing, he  makes  every  lesson  a  lesson  in  correct  expression.  By 
clear  and  correct  language  in  his  explanations  and  suggestions, 
and  by  clearly  and  definitely  expressed  questions,  he  stimulates 
the  pupil  to  a  similar  clearness  and  distinctness  of  thought  and 
speech.  At  the  beginning  of  the  lesson  he  has  the  pupils  cor- 
rectly express  the  groups  of  ideas  bearing  upon  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  new  lesson.  In  every  imperfect  sentence  he  sees 
the  outward  form  of  imperfect  thought,  and  with  an  apt  sug- 
gestion or  a  brief  but  lucid  explanation,  he  questions  the  class 
into  clear  and  well-defined  thought  clothed  in  chosen  words. 
He  detects  at  once  where  mere  verbal  memory  is  at  work  in 
rule  or  formula,  or  reproduced  expression,  and  questions  and 
cross-questions  the  reciter  till  his  empty  words  are  filled  with 
solid  and  connected  thoughts.  Point  by  point  he  presents  his 
matter  logically  arranged  to  suit  the  pupil's  stage  of  develop- 
ment, and  questions  into  a  clear  comprehension  and  a  clear 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATlbllCi^/  ,  Of-         ^-T^tft^ 

expression  of  the  several  parts.  Concluding  the  lessSnTlJc 
insists  on  a  connected  summary,  and  what  was  grasped  and 
expressed  in  isolated  sentences,  is  now  reproduced  in  connected 
form ;  the  ease  and  accuracy  with  which  this  is  done  being  the 
test  and  measure  of  the  thoroughness  of  the  instruction  and  of 
its  value  in  discipline.  Finally,  since  it  is  impossible  with  large 
classes  to  give  the  necessary  time  to  each  member  for  the 
training  of  expression,  he  finds  occasion  as  soon  as  possible  after 
the  lesson,  for  the  written  reproduction  in  improved  form  of 
all  that  had  been  thought  and  said. 

If  such  a  course  as  this  is  followed — and  it  can  be  followed 
in  all  stages,  from  the  primary  class  that  studies  a  lesson  in  a 
mere  picture,  to  the  advanced  class  that  studies  an  im- 
portant point  in  the  philosophy  of  history,  there  will  not  be 
much  need  of  desultory  language  lessons,  and  there  will  be  un- 
doubted growth  of  organized  capacities  and  of  organized 
knowledge. 

Illustrations. — The  rule  to  be  followed  is :  in  a//  classes, 
from  the  lowest  primary  to  thehighest  class,  no  thought  without 
expression.  If  a  child  has  had  a  lesson  in  which  an  idea  has 
been  developed,  as  that  of  an  angle,  or  of  the  color  violet,  or 
of  weight,  the  idea  has  not  been  clearly  grasped,  the  lesson  is 
incomplete,  unless  the  word  and  the  idea  are  so  closely  asso- 
ciated that  the  one  instantly  recalls  the  other.  If  an  easy 
thought  has  been  acquired,  as  that  a  cube  has  six  faces,  the 
prompt  oral  and  written  expression  of  the  thought  is  the  proof 
of  the  value  of  the  lesson.  If  by  the  use  of  objects  and  practice  1 
examples,  the  facts  about  the  number /our  have  been  taught  and 
learned,  there  must  be  facility  in  expressing  the  facts,  and  ability 
to  use  them  in  making  and  rightly  expressing  applied  exam- 
ples ;  as  e.  g,  three  and  one  are  four,  four  less  one  is  three, 
etc;  Charlie  has  four  cents,  if  he  gives  Susie  one,  and  spends 
one  for  a  pencil,  how  many  has  he  left  ?  Suppose  a  lesson  on 
the  text, 


223  METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION. 

Politeness  is  to  do  and  say 
The  kindest  thing  in  the  kindest  way  : 
The  children  are  led  to  a  fair  appreciation  of  this  by  an  appeal 
to  experiences,  perhaps  incidents  of  the  school-room  or  of  the 
play-ground ;  the  kind  thing  done  in  the  kind  way,  the  kind 
thing  said  in  the  kind  way,  are  illustrated  in  the  concrete — the 
value  of  the  lesson  depends  on  the  exact  oral  or  written  expres- 
sion of  what  has  been  developed.  A  class  has  been  led  to 
discover  certain  facts  about  water ;  water  is  a  fluid,  presses 
equally  in  all  directions,  expands  under  certain  circumstanees, 
etc ;  the  lesson  is  not  complete  till  the  fragmentary  thoughts 
and  expressions  have  been  woven  into  connected  oral  and 
written  form. 

From  a  primary  lesson  given  on  an  angle,  to  a  lesson  on  an 
ode  of  Horace  or  a  chorus  of  Aeschylus — ^wherever  any  in- 
struction is  given  to  strengthen  the  intellect  or  touch  the  heart, 
the  end  is  truly  reached  only  when  all  that  can  be  expressed  is 
reproduced  in  strong  and  beautiful  speech. 

More  than  half  the  value  of  classical  study  in  the  schools  is 
lost  through  inattention  to  this  imperative  law :  Train  power 
and  skill  through  proper  expression.  Too  often  teachers  are 
satisfied  with  the  crude  fragments  of  speech  -  disjecta  membra — 
which  are  the  product  of  the  baldest  construing.  We  have 
known  students  to  express  surprise  that  Demosthenes  is  consid- 
ered the  greatest  of  orators ;  they  had  done  much  construing, 
had  done  much  of  the  author's  work  into  a  kind  of  English ;  his 
thoughts  but  dimly  seen,  were  hustled  mto  the  first  clumsy  garb 
that  offered  from  their  meagre  vocabulary;  they  had  never 
rendered  a  solitary  paragraph  from  the  majestic  Greek  into 
the  equally  majestic  English.  What  is  the  worth  of  such  train- 
ing either  for  enlarging  knowledge  or  developing  power? 

Thus,  too,  many  a  student  has  read  Horace,  if  we  may  be 
pardoned  the  perversion  of  language,  without  ever  having 
caught  a  note  of  his  lyric  music    To  such  unfortunates,  even  if 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.      *  27^ 

the  intellect  fairly  grasped  the  meaning  of  what  they  had  read, 
the  words  of  Byron  may  well  be  applied : 

It  is  a  curse 
To  understand,  not  feel,  his  lyric  flow, 
To  comprehend,  yet  never  love,  his  verse. 

Of  course  there  must  be  grammatical  construing ;  by  fragments 
of  thought  and  language,  students  must  be  questioned  till  the 
meaning  is  fairly  apprehended;  but  we  need  not  begin,  continue 
and  end  in  vague  thoughts,  and  scrappy  sentences.  Take  the 
lines  of  Horace 

Nequicquam  deus  ahscidit 
Prudens  Oceano  dissociabili 

Terras,  etc. 

The  thought  is  clear,  the  grammar  is  simple ;  there  could  not  well 
be  an  easier  piece  of  construing.  Where  then  is  the  value  of  the 
lesson?  It  consists  in  rendering  the  thought  into  the  best  Eng- 
lish possible  by  the  combined  efforts  of  teacher  and  learner.  If, 
patching  together  the  fragments  with  which  he  began,  the  stu- 
dent ends  with  "  the  prudent  god  has  cut  off  lands  in  vain  by 
the  unsociable  sea,''  the  lesson  is  all  but  worthless.  But  the 
work  may  be  made  of  lasting  value,  if  he  be  questioned  and 
cross-questioned,  on  the  poetic  adequacy  of  different  words,  till 
by  the  united  effort  of  master  and  scholar,  something  approacJi- 
ing  Conington's  fine  lines  is  reached  : 

Heaven's  high  providence  in  vain 
Has  severed  countries  with  the  estranging 


224  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

CHAPTER    X. 

Method  of  Interrogation. — Continued, 

Having  studied  the  purposes  of  Questioning  as  concerned 
with  the  Testing  of  Retention,  we  shall  now  consider  such 
purposes  as  more  immediately  relate  to  the  Training  of  Ap- 
perception. 

(b)  Training  of  Apperception:  Preparation  of 
Mind. 

Since  the  two  processes  are  correlative,  much  of  what  has 
been  said,  under  the  first  division  of  the  subject,  applies  with 
equal  force  to  the  training  of  apperception,  which  we  shall,  there- 
fore, study  more  briefly.  The  purposes  to  be  studied  under  this 
head  are:  (i)  To  Excite  Interest;  (2)  To  Arouse  Attention ; 
(3)  To  Direct  Attention  ;  (4)  To  Cultivate  the  Habit  of  Self- 
Questioning. 

I.  To  Excite  Interest. — ^We  have  seen  (page  164)  that  in- 
struction must  be  based  on  the  interest  of  the  pupil.  This  prin- 
ciple is  co-extensive  with  the  whole  of  education.  What  the 
miud  is  interested  in  it  will  attend  to,  i.e.y  it  will  exercise 
its  activity  upon  it ;  what  the  mind  is  not  interested  in,  has  for 
it  practically  no  existence.  There  may  be  interest  in  the  men- 
tal activity  itseit,  in  the  object  upon  which  it  works,  in 
the  end  which  it  is  desired  to  reach,  and  interest  may  be  ex- 
cited through  personal  or  rational  motives.  All  instruction 
is  an  appeal  to  some  activity,  and  if  this  activity  is  free  and 
unimpeded,  it  is  naturally  pleasureable.  In  the  child,  mental 
movement  is  as  spontaneous  as  piiysicai  movement,  and  under 
right  conditions,  both  ought  to  be  equally  a  source  of  delight. 
It  is  the  function  of  the  teacher  to  appeal  to  these  spontaneous 
activities  so  as  to  increase  rather  than  diminish  the  pleasure 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  925 

naturally  arising  from  them.     We  may  briefly  consider  how  thii 
free  activity  may  be  properly  controlled  and  stimulated. 

Clear  Presentation,  and  Interest. — In  the  first  place:  by 
well-arranged  and  connected  questions  the  matter  may  be  pre- 
sented to  the  pupil's  mind  in  a  way  best  suited  to  his  capacities 
and  attainments.  In  the  course  of  questioning,  the  teacher  is 
in  continuous  contact  with  the  child's  mind,  and,  therefore,  he  is 
less  likely  to  present  either  too  difficult  or  too  easy  stimulus. 
Questioned  on  properly  arranged  matter,  the  learner  is  led  to 
make  acquisitions  for  himself  His  progress  is  one  of  invention 
and  discovery ;  his  curiosity  is  kept  on  the  alert ;  he  unexpect- 
edly perceives  the  old  in  the  new,  he  identifies  ; — what  was  dim 
and  obscure  to  him  he  gradually  works  into  a  luminous  thought, 
he  discriminates ;  he  pursues,  in  short,  a  method  of  investig- 
ation differing  only  in  degree  from  that  of  the  greatest  thinkers 
and  discoverers  in  philosophy  and  science,  and  feels  the  tonic 
thrill  of  healthful  menial  life.  Thus,  there  is  produced  the 
self-activity  which  disposes  to  more  strenuous  effort,  and  de- 
velops self-reliance  and  a  spirit  of  investigation. 

The  Clear  Teacher. — On  the  importance  of  clear  teaching  we 
may  quote  from  Arthur  Sedgwick's  admirable  lecture  on 
*'  Stimulus :  *' 

For  making  boys  think  as  opposed  to  merely  cramming  them,  though 
there  may  be  higher  qualities,  there  are  few  more  important  than  clearness. 
It  may  seem  at  first  sight  as  if  it  was  easy  to  be  dear  in  teaching  ;  in  fact 
there  are  few  things  that  want  more  constant  attention,  and  even  prepara- 
tion. To  make  his  own  words  precise  and  clear-cut ;  to  put  complicated 
things  in  lucid  order  and  simple  language  :  to  search  out  for  the  point  and 
emphasize  that  duly :  to  avoid  formulae  as  much  as  may  be,  and  constantly 
to  formulate  afresh  when  the  boys  begin  to  use  words  by  rote  ;  when  there 
are  difficulties,  to  shew  exactly  where  the  difficulties  are  :  to  lead  on  con- 
fused answers  till  the  confusion,  and  the  exact  point  of  the  confusion,  be- 
come apparent  :  to  cross-question  neatly  and  succintly  half  knowledge,  so 
as  at  once  to  expose  its  incompleteness  and  supply  the  deficiency  ;  to  define 
exactly  in  a  muddled  head  what  is  the  particular  tangle  that  has  caused  the 
P 


226  METHOD  OF  INTERROGATION. 

muddle :  these  are  some  of  the  marks  of  the  really  clear  teacher,  and  such 
clearness  is  excessively  stimulating. 

Sense  of  Power,  and  Interest. — In  the  second  place  :  The 
clear  presentation  of  material  properly  arranged  for  the  learner's 
stage  of  intellectual  growth,  helps  to  develop  this  sense  of  powers 
of  ability  to  grapple  with  difficulties  which  is  one  of  the  most 
potent  allies  of  the  teacher  (p.  1 16).  In  this  consists  one  of  the 
Lest  results  ot  the  Socratic  art.  Where  there  is  much  lecturing 
by  the  teacher,  there  is  little  real  thinking  by  the  pupil.  He 
comes  to  feel  that  he  is  a  mere  spectator  in  a  work  in  which 
the  lecturer  is  the  all-important  factor.  But,  attacking  difficult- 
ies as  presented  in  thoughtful  questions,  he  masters  them  one 
by  one,  and  each  successful  effort  brings  a  glow  of  satisfaction 
and  a  sense  of  growing  pow^r.  Inspire  a  boy  with  confidence 
in  his  ability  to  do  a  thing,  and  the  thing  is  already  half  done  ; 
all  his  energies  will  be  aroused  to  action ;  all  his  ideas  bearing 
on  the  subject  will  be  brought  to  the  front,  and  used  by  the 
quickened  mind  in  assimilating  the  new  material.  To  know 
when  to  tell,  and  when  not  to  tell,  to  evoke  the  maximum  of 
energy  with  the  minimum  of  telling,  is  the  mark  of  a  teacher  as 
compared  with  a  mere  expositor. .  There  is,  in  general,  too  much 
talkmg  by  the  teacher,  and  too  little  talking  and  thinking  by  the 
learner.  This  isf  no  doubt,  partly  due  to  defective  teaching ; 
many  teachers  have  neither  the  literary  nor  professional  training 
to  enable  them  to  make  the  best  of  very  imperfect  conditions. 
But,  it  is  also  partly  due  to  popular  ignorance  of  the  nature  of 
education,  which  demands  of  the  teacher  more  than  he  can 
possibly  accomplish,  and  almost  forces  him  to  follow  the  exposi- 
tory method  in  the  vain  hope  that  what  is  clearly  explained 
will  be  learned  with  the  best  educative  results. 

Time  a  Factor  in  Culture. — It  is  foi^otten  that  time  is  a  necessary 
fiictor  in  education  which  b  an  organic  growth,  the  growing  organism  being 
a  living  soul  in  union  with  a  growing  body.  And  so,  from  a  spirit  of  false 
economy,  a  double  burden  is  imposed  on  the  teacher.     In  proof  of  this,  con- 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  227 

sider  the  number  of  pupils  a  single  teacher  is  expected  to  "  educate  ;'*  the 
number  of  branches,  disciplinary  and  practical,  he  is  supposed  to  handle  as 
educating  instruments  ;  the  high  ideal  he  is  expected  to  keep  before  him, 
and  the  short  time  allotted  him  to  achieve  his  great  work.  Consider  the 
swarms  of  little  children  that  are  usually  found  in  "Primary  Divisions," 
where,  if  our  psychology  is  correct,  is  required  to  be  done  the  most 
important  part  of  the  great  work  of  education,  the  part  that  will  tell 
with  greatest  effect  on  the  welfare  of  the  community.  It  is  no  won- 
der that  even  the  earnest  and  able  teacher,  in  presence  of  such  a  task 
and  such  conditions,  is  almost  driven  to  substitute  his  own  self-activity 
for  that  of  the  pupil,  to  do  the  thinking  and  talking  that  ought  to  be  done 
by  the  pupil  himself  in  the  process  of  self-education.  It  is,  perhaps,  vain 
to  hope  that  the  multitudinous  writers  and  speakers  who  are  so  ready  with 
their  nostrums  for  the  "  improvement  of  the  teachers  and  the  schools,"  may 
devote  a  portion  of  their  energies  to  the  removing  of  certain  disabilities 
which  make  impossible  the  task  now  assigned  to  the  teacher.  And  the 
watch-word  of  the  first  campaign  in  behalf  of  needed  reforms,  might  well 
be  :  for  the  primary  divisions,  double  the  time  and  half  the  numbers.  For 
the  higher  grades,  double  the  time  or  half  the  snbjects^—ox  better  still,  double 
the  time  AND  half  the  subjects. 

Law  of  Self-Education.— The  teacher,  then,  is  to  use 
only  needed  explanation,  and  to  have  the  pupil  do  as  much  as 
possible  for  himself.  He  is  not  to  be  too  ready  with  his  aid  ; 
he  is  to  develop  the  sense  of  power  which  contributes  so  much 
to  awaken  interest.  Happily  this  source  of  interest  can  be 
drawn  upon  in  all  stages  of  instruction.  Every  teacher  has  seen 
the  flush  of  pleasure  on  the  face  of  the  little  child  who  has  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  what  had  threatened  to  baffle  him.  It  may  be 
the  articulation  of  a  single  sound,  or  the  mak.ng  of  a  letter,  or 
the  drawing  of  a  straight  line ;  it  may  be  the  combination  of 
known  letters  into  a  new  word,  or  the  production  of  the  written 
form  of  a  spoken  word,  or  the  discovery  that  nine  is  three 
times  three ;  in  every  case  there  is  a  challenge  to  effort,  and  in 
every  success,  the  thrill  of  conscious  power.  With  but  little 
telling,  and  much  wise  questioning,  a  class  can  be  led  to  a  fair 
mastery  of  the  fundamental  rules  of  arithmetic,  and,  then  with 
less  telling,  and  less  questioning,  they  will  master  for  them- 


228  METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION. 

selves,  fractions  and  all  the  so-called  rules  of  that  much-abused 
science.  And  this  is  true  of  all  the  rational  subjects  of  the 
school  curricula.  A  teacher  who  explains  much,  who  antici- 
pates every  difficulty,  and  trusts  nothing  to  the  learner's  in. 
dependent  investigation,  is  shorn  ot  more  than  half  his  power. 
This  is  the  tendency  of  things  today.  There  is  too  much 
coddHng  demanded  by  indulgent  parents;  the  teacher  is  ex- 
pected to  do  everything  for  the  pupil,  who  is  to  do  little  or 
nothing  for  himself  Against  this  tendency,  the  able  and 
faithful  teacher  must  be  on  his  guard ;  he  must  arouse  and 
deepen  interest  by  developing  conscious  power.  Tfu  boy  must 
educate  himself. 

Sjnupathy,  and  Interest. — In  the  third  place :  It  has 
been  seen  again  and  again  that  sympathy  (pp.  113,  120)  and 
interest  are  great  mental  forces  in  the  work  of  educating.  Where 
there  is  sympathy  there  is  interest,  with  all  that  flows  from  it. 
Sympathy  is  the  most  potent  force  in  the  moral  world.  Sym- 
pathy is  in  the  world  of  mind  what  gravitation  is  in  the  world  of 
matter ;  by  the  one  is  maintained  unity  among  the  systems  of 
worlds,  by  the  other  is  secured  the  spiritual  unity  of  humanity. 
In  the  school-room  it  is  the  greatest  of  forces.  To  teach  well, 
the  teacher  must  get  very  near  to  the  child  ;  the  strong  must 
put  itself  into  vital  contact  with  the  weak;  "  to  become  a 
teacher  of  children  you  must  become  a  child."  This  relation 
between  teacher  and  taught,  can  be  created  by  sympathy, 
and  by  sympathy  alone.  For,  it  is  impossible  to  get  near 
a  child,  to  win  his  affection  and  his  confidence,  without  know- 
ing him,  without  a  clear  insight  into  the  workings  of  his  mind 
and  heart.  And  this  is  the  gift  of  sympathy.  The  seventh 
beatitude  of  the  Divine  Teacher  is  as  sound  in  philosphy  as  it 
is  deep  in  spiritual  significance :  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  Heart 
for  they  shall  see  God  ; "  that  is.  Blessed  are  the  loving,  the 
syjnpathetic  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  things  unseen  by  other 
eya. 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATIOW.  fl29 

A  man  that  has  but  little  sympathy  can  never  be  a  teacher  in 
the  best  sense  of  the  word ;  lacking  the  gift  of  insight,  he  is 
but  a  blind  guide ;  he  may  be  a  hearer  of  recitations,  an  ex- 
positor of  subjects,  a  martinet  of  discipline,  an  enforcer  of 
spurious  attention,  a  prince  of  rule  and  routine,  but  he  has  no 
power  to  touch  the  heart,  and  through  the  heart,  to  fashion  mind 
into  a  form  of  blended  strength  and  beauty.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  not  a  more  beautiful  sight  than  strong  brain  and 
kindly  heart  working  on  the  plastic  mind  of  childhood.  It  is  hard 
to  get  implicit  trust  from  children,  but  it  is  won  through  sym- 
pathy. In  the  general  management  of  the  school  its  presence 
is  felt;  but  especially  in  lesson-giving,  by  the  mterrogative 
method,  does  the  master's  sympathy  reveal  itself  and  win  the 
interest  of  his  pupils.  He  feels  with  them,  he  knows  that 
such  feelings  are  theirs \  for  he  projects  his  mind  into  theirs; 
he  is  interested  in  the  subject  of  instruction  for  their  sakes; 
and  they  become  interested  in  it  for  his  sake  \  he  questions 
their  minds  into  a  communion  with  his,  till  the  strong  "sympa- 
thy of  love  unites  their  thoughts." 

Mind  to  Mind. — The  true  teacher  always  knows  when  his 
mind  is  out  of  contact  with  the  minds  of  his  children  ;  he  has  at 
first,  perhaps,  pitched  his  questions  too  high  or  too  low ;  he  has 
failed  to  excite  interest  because  he  has  failed  to  create  the  neces- 
sary relation  between  their  old  mental  experience  and  the  new. 
But  he  soon  corrects  his  error  ;  the  sympathetic  mind  is  keen  to 
perceive  and  fertile  in  resources  :  he  quickly  touches  the  respon- 
sive chord,  and  he  feels,  and  the  children  feel,  that  teacher  and 
taught  are  one  in  thought  and  aim.  There  is  perhaps  no  greater 
blessedness  than  such  an  experience  ;  the  te£»  her  knows  that 
the  bond  of  sympathy  has  been  formed  through  which  alone 
true  educating  power  can  pass.  Through  it,  he  becomes  a 
child  in  heart  without  losing — rather  increasing — his  manly 
strength  of  intellect.  He  moves  down  from  his  superior  plane 
pf  learning  and  power ;  step  by  step  he  comes,  till  he  reaches 


230  METHOD    OF   INTERROGATION. 

the  lowly  plane  where  children  stand,  and  with  a  portion  of  that 
divine  enthusiasm  for  child-humanity  which  marked  the  Divine 
Man,  he  draws  them  into  a  vital  union  with  his  strong  heart 
and  intellect.  It  is  not  irreverence  to  say  that  in  the  presence  of 
such  a  teacher,  the  little  ones  press  forward  to  touch  the  hem  of 
his  garment,  and  that  with  every  touch  there  goes  forth  a  quick- 
ening  and  transforming  virtue  of  which  the  effects  are  as  lasting 
as  the  soul  itself. 

Now,  while  the  entire  atmosphere  of  the  school  is  one  of  sym- 
pathy, and  thus  influences  the  general  school  life,  it  is  in  actual 
teaching,  especially  by  the  Method  of  Interrogation^  that  it  works 
with  personal  power.  There  is  a  focussing,  so  to  speak,  of  the 
forces  of  sympathy,  just  as  there  is  a  concentration  of  the  inel 
lectual  activity  in  attention ;  in  fact,  the  latter  depends,  in  no 
small  degree,  upon  the  former.  Under  this  condition  effective 
teaching  is  possible.  The  teacher  has  an  insight  into  every 
mind  ;  he  adapts  his  questioning  to  its  needs,  and  arouses  it  to 
normal  action  ;  and  breathless  interest  and  brightening  e}  e, 
prove  that  his  labour  is  not  in  vain. 

Arousing  the  Dull. — The  questioning  by  which  the 
teacher  reveals  himself  to  his  pupils,  and  by  which  he  forms  and 
maintains  a  strong  bond  of  sympathy  with  them,  has  the  effect 
of  animating  even  the  dull  members  of  the  class  into  some  sem- 
blance of  life.  This  interest  begins  through  class  sympathy — 
sympathy  of  numbers,  and  is  deepened  by  the  teacher's  interest 
mall.  (Page  120).  The  teacher  possessed  of  genuine  sympathy, 
feels  a  special  interest  in  those  who  learn  with  difficulty  ;  it  is  the 
heavy-laden  ones  whom  he  likes  to  encourage  and  to  strengthen 
for  the  burden.  The  measure  of  the  teacher's  power  is  his 
ability  to  arouse  the  dull.  Clever  pupils  will  learn,  even  if  the 
matter  is  imperfectly  presented,  and  the  teacher  shows  but  little 
enthusiasm,  but  those  of  average  ability,  and  especially  the  "  slow 
of  heart,*'  can  be  aroused  only  by  the  touch  of  a  master  hand 
to  the  highest  mental  activity  of  which  they  are  capable.    Now, 


METHOD   OF    I RTER ROGATION.  33 1 

by  the  animated  and  judicious  questions  of  the  teacher,  the 
interest  of  the  whole  class  is  deepened.  The  bright  pupils  are 
full  of  enthusiasm,  those  of  moderate  ability  are  on  the  alert,  and 
•^ne  slow  cannot  escape  the  quickening  influence.  Mind  acts 
on  mind,  enthusiasm  begets  enthusiasm,  interest  is  bom  ot 
interest,  until  the  weakest  members  of  the  class  share  in  a  cer- 
tain newness  of  life. 

Nor  does  the  teacher  in  his  questioning  fail  to  put  questions 
suitable  to  the  dull  boys  ;  there  is  something  within  tMr  grasp, 
and  he  leads  them  to  feel  this,  and  under  the  vitalizing  impulse, 
even  the  dullest  put  forth  unwonted  energy,  and  the  teacher 
has  the  surest  proof  of  his  success  in  the  progress  of  those  whom 
he  had  perhaps  deemed  incapable  of  learning.  It  often  happens, 
ndeed,  that  a  child  that  had  been  all  but  stupid  in  one  branch 
of  study,  develops  a  remarkable  aptitude  in  another ;  as  when 
a  student  who  has  not  taste  or  ability  for  science,  discloses 
special  aptitude  for  language,  and  vice  versa  ;  or,  occasionally 
one  who  is  non-mathematical,  shows  a  talent  for  literature. 

Personality,  and  interest — In  the  fourth  place :  Sym- 
pathy, we  have  seen,  reveals  itself  and  calls  forth  the  sympathy 
of  pupils,  through  questioning.  The  lecturer ^tdiVi^?,  afar  off;  he 
may  excite  admiration,  but  he  cannot  create  the  strong  bond  of 
sympathy  which  is  the  work  of  admiration  and  gratitude,  and 
which  is  esttntial  in  all  true  education.  But  the  sympathetic 
questioner  works  his  way  into  the  hearts  of  children.  He  i? 
able  to  descend  from  his  superior  heights.  With  the  clearei 
insight  that  comes  from  human  sympathy,  he  has  constantly 
before  him  the  intricate  points  with  which  the  child  is 
wrestling,  and  affectionately  aids  the  struggling  mind  into 
clearer  light.  And  so,  the  child  feeling  again  and  again,  the 
thrill  that  comes  from  conquest  of  difficulty,  turns  with  blended 
feelings  of  gratitude  and  reverence  to  his  inspiring  leader.  In 
this  way  is  created  a  vital  relation  between  the  learner  and  the 
teacher,  and  everything  that  the  one  shows  a  deep  interest  in, 
becomes  a  source  of  interest  to  the  other. 


9^  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

Sympathy  united  with  enthusiasm  constitutes  a  powerful 
personality.  More  than  anything  else,  it  is  this  personality 
that  makes  the  successful  teacher.  Learning  and  method  will 
be  of  little  worth  unless  there  is  interest,  enthusiasm  in  the 
work,  for  this  alone  can  arouse  the  interest  and  stimulate  the 
powers  of  the  child.  The  fundamental  principle  is  that  person- 
ality communicates  itself,  that  there  is  developed  in  the  pupil 
the  same  state  of  intellectual  and  moral  consciousness  that 
marks  the  teacher.  If  a  subject  has  no  interest  for  a  teacher^ 
it  can  have  no  interest  for  the  tauglit;  but  sympathy, 
strengthened  by  enthusiasm  will  make  the  irksome,  or  even  the 
repellant,  attractive.  Such  a  teacher,  pursuing  his  calling  under 
favourable  circumstances,  posseses  all  but  unlimited  power  in  the 
great  work  of  mental  and  moral  development.  He  takes  the 
boys  captive  at  his  will ;  he  makes  an  attractive  subject  still 
more  attractive ;  he  invests  the  indifferent  with  newly  discov- 
ered charms  ;  he  reveals  an  element  of  beauty  even  in  what  was 
dry  and  harsh ;  in  a  word,  he  makes  the  pupil  love  what  he 
himself  loves,  and  hate  what  he  hates ;  for  a  part  of  his  own 
brain-power  and  heart-power,  goes  out  in  every  lesson.  He 
organizes  faculty,  capacity,  tendency,  almost  at  his  discretion 
The  despiser  of  classics  becomes  an  enthusiastic  student  of 
Homer  and  Virgil;  the  hater  of  mathematics  takes  to  geometry 
and  the  calculus ;  and  the  unimaginative  plodder  becomes 
saturated  with  love  for  the  beauty  and  strength  of  Milton  and 
Shakespeare. 

Method  of  Personality.— No  mechanical  methods  can 
possibly  be  a  substitute  for  this  personality.  It  is  the  power 
that  ensures  clearness,  force,  and  permanent  effect  to  all  les  on- 
giving;  and  especially  is  it  this  that  moulds  the  character  of 
the  pupil.  More  than  knowledge,  it  imparts  lo /e  of  knowledge 
and  ability  to  acquire  it ;  more  than  mere  information  about 
right  and  wrong,  it  forms  character^  which  shows  itself  in  a  spon- 
taneous and  unswerving  loyalty  to  conscience  (page  154), 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  §33 

In  the  interminable  discussions  about  "methods,"  therefore,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  the  true  method  for  the  Educator, 
is  not  to  be  found  among  the  scores  of  ways,  plans,  devices, 
methods,  that  are  so  often  enumerated  :  it  is  the  Method  of  Per- 
sonality. Erudition,  knowledge  of  mind  and  normal  method, 
have  their  place,  a  high  place.  But  the  highest  place  must  be 
given  to  Personality,  It  is  almost  impossible  to  over-rate  the  in- 
fluence of  a  strong  personality.  The  most  permanent  influences 
history  has  known,  or  perhaps  will  know,  may  be  traced  to  its 
forming  and  transforming  power.  It  operates  in  the  schoolroom, 
with  far-reaching  influence,  because  the  teacher  loves  and  re- 
spects infinitely  the  nature  of  the  child,  and  comprehends  the  laws 
of  its  development.  Too  much  reliance  on  methods  as  methods, 
makes  education  mechanical — dull,  deadening,  benumbmg, 
destructive  of  vitality  in  both  teacher  and  pupil.  This  is  due 
largely  to  an  immense  exaggeration  of  the  mechanical  power  of 
the  teacher  and  its  substitution  for  vital  power.  Give  the 
pupirs  mind  a  chance—  do  not  destroy  or  enfeeble  it  by  putting 
in  place  of  it  a  machine  which  you  yourself  have  modelled. 
Personality,  not  method,  is  the  only  power  to  produce  per- 
sonality; method  based  on  recognition  of  personality — both 
formally  and  m  its  contents, — gives  the  mesmeric  energy  of 
the  true  teacher.  In  this  informing  spirit,  sympathy  united  with 
enthusiasm,  is  the  greatest  factor.  Great  thoughts  come  from 
the  heart  \  and,  says  John  Morley,  this  is  the  truth  that  shines 
out  as  we  watch  the  voyagings  of  humanity  from  the  "  wide, 
grey,  lampless  depths  "  of  time.  Those  have  been  greatest  in 
thought  who  have  been  best  endowed  with  faith,  hope,  sym- 
pathy, and  the  spirit  of  effort 

2.  To  Arouse  Attention. — The  value  of  questioning  in  securing 
attention — />.,  the  exercise  of  mind-power — has  been  already 
r«^ferred  to  (page  37).  A  question  is  a  challenge  to  attention  ; 
a  series  of  logical  questions  secures  continuity  of  attention  and 
consequent  unity  of  thought     If  there  is  to  be  any  true  learn- 


234  METHOD   or   INTERROGATION. 

ing — any  true  relation— between  the  mind  and  the  object-mai 
ter,  there  must  be  attention— not  counterfeit  attention,  but  the 
positive  exercise  of  mental  energy.  Questioning  is  the  only 
means  by  which  we  can  know  that  such  attention  is  maintained. 
For  what  is  this  effective  activity  of  attention,  or  what  does  it 
imply?  It  implies  (page  6i)  the  existence  in  the  mind  of 
ideas  and  groups  of  ideas  essentially  related  to  the  new  presen 
tations  ;  it  implies  that  these  groups — forming  an  app^jrceiving 
capacity  in  the  learner's  mind— shall  be  brought  to  the  front, 
made  fresh  and  active,  full  of  vitality,  in  order  that  the  new 
and  related  groups  may  be  so  grafted  upon  them  that  an 
organic  growth  takes  place. 

In  the  early  stages  of  learning  this  can  be  secured  by 
questioning  and  by  questioning  alone.  If  the  teacher  simply 
explains,  he  is  in  the  dark  as  to  how  the  mind  of  the  pupil  is 
dealing  witii  the  explanations.  There  is  no  real  attention,  no 
creating  of  relations  between  connected  points,  unless  the  mind 
collects  its  forces  in  order  to  move  from  point  to  point  in 
discovering  relations.  The  teacher,  then,  having  first  clearly 
thought  out  what  previous  knowledge  is  necessary  to  enable 
the  child  to  understand  the  lesson,  calls  up  that  knowledge 
by  judicious  questioning,  gives  it  unity,  freshness,  vividness ; 
in  a  word,  puts  the  studeat's  mind  in  a  comprehending,  attitude 
and  then,  by  a  similar  course  of  judicious  interrogation,  assists 
it  in  forming  the  inner  relations  between  the  matter  of  the  new 
lesson  and  the  freshened  knowledge  of  the  old. 

Illustration. — If,  for  example,  a  master  is  going  to  give  a 
first  lesson  on  compound  addition,  he  asks  himself  what  is  the 
relation  between  the  new  rule  and  the  rules  the  pupil  has  al- 
ready learned  ?  What  ideas  must  be  clear  and  fresh  in  the  child's 
mind  that  he  may  firmly  grasp  the  connection,  />.,  recognize  in 
the  (apparently)  new  the  familar  features  of  the  old  ?  What  are 
the  resemblances,  what  the  differences  ?   The  only  difference  of 


METHOD   UF    INTERROGATION.  335 

course,  is  in  the  mode  of  notation —  a  yfjc^^  ratio  in  the  simple, 
a  varying  ratio  in  the  compound  rule.  He  calls  up  in  the 
learner's  mind  the  old  ideas  that  are  related  to  the  new  rule,  e.g,^ 
that :  (i)  ten  units  make  one  ten,  ten  tens  make  one  hundred, 
etc.;  (2)  in  adding  a  column  of  units  the  tens  of  the  aggregate 
are  carried  to  the  tens'  column,  and  the  units  are  placed  under 
the  units'  column  ;  (3)  in  doing  this  we  in  effect  divide  the  sum 
of  the  units  by  ten  in  order  to  find  the  number  of  tens  to  be 
carried ;  as,  e.g.^  when  the  aggregate  of  the  units'  column  is  57, 
and  we  consider  this  as  5  tens  and  7  units^  we  really  divide  57 
by  10 ;  etc  Thus,  by  recalling  vividly  to  the  learner's  mind 
all  the  facts  which  are  common  to  the  two  rules,  the  points  of 
difference  are  seen  to  involve  no  new  principle  and  are  easily 
apprehended — the  new  is  recognized  as  simply  a  modified  form 
of  the  old. 

So,  in  beginning  fractions,  a  child  is  led  to  group  certain  ideas  about  the 
idea  of  division  of  a  whole  number  into  equal  parts^  e.g.^  that  a  number  has 
two  halves,  three  thirds,  four  fourths,  etc.  ;  that  one  of  its  halves  b  equal 
to  two  of  its  fourths,  equal  to  four  of  its  eighths,  etc. ;  that  three  of  a 
number's  fourths  is  equal  to  one-fourth  of  three  times  the  number,  etc 

This  grouping  of  ideas  of  interpretation  is  a  necessity  in  all 
learning;  It  is  the  application  of  the  old  maxim,  Pass  from 
the  known  to  the  unknown.  There  must  be  preparatory  mental 
adjustment,  the  known  must  be  revivified,  must  be  made  ready, 
then  there  follows  the  process  of  attention,  of  making  right  con- 
nections, till  the  goal  of  the  unknown  is  reached  and  found  to 
be  the  known  made  larger  and  clearer. 

In  an  ordinary  reading  lesson,  for  example,  the  child  usually  first  reads 
over  the  lesson  to  get  a  "general  idea"  of  its  meaning.  This  serves  as  a 
centre  of  gravitation,  it  may  be  said,  around  which  gather  other  ideas 
that  come  from  further  study  and  teaching.  In  other  words,  though  this 
general  idea  may  be  vague,  it  is  his  starting  point,  it  is  what  he  will  use 
when  he  goes  over  the  lessen  again,  in  acquiring  a  clearer  idea  of  the  whole 
by  getting  clearer  ideas  of  its  parts.  And  thus  the  process  goes  on  till  th« 
whole  is  thoroughly  assimilated* 


236  METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION. 

3.  To  Direct  Attention. — Concentration  of  mind  upon  an) 
subject  implies  not  only  preparatory  adjustment  of  attention^ 
but  also  a  movement  in  discovering  relations  of  identity  and 
difference  (pp.  63,  et  seq.)  After  the  initial  act  of  attention, 
the  stretching  out  of  the  mind  with  its  prepared  groups  of  ideas 
towards  new  matter,  what  follows  ?  There  begins  the  movement 
towards  a  definite  end,  a  process  of  defining  and  enlarging, 
discriminating  and  unifying.  In  the  exercise  of  these  essential 
functions  of  mind,  the  learner  must  be  directed  by  questioning. 
His  untrained  mind  cannot  make  the  right  preparatory  adjust- 
ment of  ideas,  much  less  can  it  seize  upon  resemblances,  notice 
differences  and  discover  the  law  of  connection  which  compre- 
hends variety  in  unity.  He  is  overwhelmed  by  the  mass  of 
materials  that  confront  him.  No  matter  how  well  the  topic  may 
be  presented  by  text-book  or  lecturer,  his  immature  powers 
cannot  make  the  needed  analysis,  exclude  the  irrelevant,  seize 
upon  the  salient  points,  and  form  the  right  connections.  Thus, 
the  teacher  must  make  the  required  analysis,  logically  arrange 
the  material,  and  skilfully  question  the  learner  in  the  line  of 
related  ideas  till  he  has  clearly  discerned  the  relations.  This 
work  goes  on  from  day  to  day,  gradually  forming  a  habit  of 
noticing  identities  and  differences,  of  forming  essential  con- 
nections, and  ultimately  developing  a  power  of  analysis  and 
synthesis  which  leaves  the  learner  largely  independent  of  the 
teacher. 

Whatever  may  be  the  subject  matter  of  a  lesson,  there  is  an 
orderly  way  of  presenting  it,  which  tends  to  form  the  habit  of 
concentrated  attention,  of  clear  and  consecutive  thought 

Illustrations. — If  a  lesson  is  to  be  given  in  arithmetic,  say 
on  the  Least  Common  Multiple,  the  teacher  will  keep  clearly 
before  him  the  central  truths,  that  the  Least  Common  Multiple 
of  several  numbers  must  contain  all  the  different  (diCioxs  found  in 
the  several  numbers,  and  each  of  these  in  the  highest  power  in 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  237 

which  it  occurs.  He  will  not  at  first,  of  course,  state  the  facts 
in  this  abstract  form ;  but  they  will  guide  him  in  questioning 
the  class  through  concrete  examples  up  to  a  clear  conception  of 
the  principle.  For  the  Least  Common  Multiple  of  6  and  8,  e.g., 
he  proceeds  somewhat  as  follows  : 

The  factors  oi  6  ?    2  and  3. 

What,  then,  must  any  muliple  of  6  contain  ? 

All  the  factors  oj  6  viz.  2  and  3,  ».^.,  3  •  2 (l). 

The  factors  of  8? 

Three  two' s^  f>.,  3  •  2  •  2. 

What  therefore  must  any  multiple  of  8  contain  ? 

All  the  factors  of  8,  viz.^  2  •  2  •  2 (2). 

What  then  must  a  common  multiple  of  6  and  8  contain  ? 

//  must  contain  the  factors  (i)  and  (2). 

Will  not  taking  the  factors  (2)  suffice  ? 

No,  because  a  product  of  two's  cannot  contain  3,  which  is  a  factor  in  (l). 

Well,  taking  the  factors  (2)  and  the  factor  3,  what  results  ? 

The  result  is  2  •  2  •  2  •  3 (3). 

Is  it  not  necessary  to  take  also  the  other  factor  of  6,  viz.  2  ? 
No,  for  2  is  contained  in  the  Jactort  already  used. 

A  different  series  of  questions  may,  of  course,  be  asked  ;  the  foregoing 
simply  illustrates  the  principle  under  consideration,  viz.,  that  attention  must 
be  directed  by  a  series  of  connected  questions  starting  from  some  basic 
principle. 

Again :  Take  the  famous  fifth  proposition  of  Euclid,  I.,  (the 
Pons) :  if  a  boy  of  common  ability  fails  to  master  this  proposi- 
tion, it  is  because  of  poor  teaching.  As  every  one  knows,  the 
fourth  proposition  is  really  the  essential  part  of  the  "  Bridge," 
and  if  this  is  thoroughly  mastered,  whence  should  difficulty 
arise  ?  Question  the  boy  into  a  thorough  understanding  of  the 
fourth  proposition,  and  the  key  of  Euclid  is  in  his  hands.  He 
will  hardly  stumble,  much  less  fail,  when  he  attacks  the  fifth. 

In  teaching  the  Pons^  then,  there  is  first  of  all,  preparatory  adjusting 
of  attention:  the  boy  is  tested  upon  his  knowledge  ot  the  fourth  pro- 
position ;  his  knowledge  must  be  practical,  ».r.,  capable  of  ready  applica- 
tion to  easy  cases  ;  a  few  easy  exercises  leading  up  to  the  pons,  are  given, 
etc    Then  there  is  a  directing  of  attention  :  there  is  first  of  all  attention  to 


238  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

the  enunciation,  general  and  particular ;  next,  to  the  construction  j  then  to 
the  demonstration  in  three  parts,  viz. : — part  firsts  in  which  the  equality 
of  the  two  "larger"  triangles  is  proved;  then  part  second,  in  which  the 
equality  of  the  two  triangles  on  the  base  is  proved  ;  lastly,  part  thirds  in 
which  the  results  of  the  first  and  second  parts  are  used,  and  the  conclusion 
formally  inferred.  Thdt  is,  the  whole  argument  is  sub.livided,  analyzed, 
and  clearly  presented  in  its  several  stages.  With  such  a  direction  of 
attention  by  means  of  the  well  arranged  questions,  the  boy's  mastery  oi 
this  famous  proposition  is  assured. 

This  Directing  Attention  is  of  universal  application.  In  a 
common  reading  lesson,  in  a  simple  poem,  in  a  gem  of  litera- 
ture, in  a  chapter  of  history,  etc.,  there  must  be  some  unity,  a 
grouping  of  ideas  upon  some  principle,  movement  towards  some 
end.  And  this  unity  must  be  apprehended  and  presented  in 
the  true  spririt  of  the  Socratic  Art.* 

4.  To  Cultivate  Habits  of  Self-  Questioning— Tht  goal  of 
attention  is  ability  to  grasp  large  wholes  in  one  act,  and  to  give 
at  the  same  time,  distinctness  to  the  parts.  This  goal  is  reached 
through  systematic  exercise  of  the  related  processes  of  identi- 
fying and  discriminating,  that  is,  by  the  exercise  of  the  mind's 
analytic  and  synthetic  functions,  which  are  best  trained  through 
the  Method  of  Interrogation.  The  questioning  which  con- 
stantly appeals  to  the  mind's  native  tendency  to  notice  differ- 
ences and  to  detect  resemblances,  must  cultivate  the  habit  of 
self-questioning,  which  may  be  considered  the  test  of  the 
development  of  attention.  It  is  plain  that  every  series  of  such 
questions  as  have  been  described,  goes  to  form  or  strengthen 
this  habit.  This  thing  that  I  perceive,  what  is  it  ?  What  are  the 
^)oints  which  connect  it  with  anything  I  have  hitherto  perceived  ? 
Wherein  is  it  like,  yet  different  from,  other  things  that  I  have 
known  ?  These  facts  that  are  before  me — what  relation  have 
they?  These  relations — are  they  comprehended  in  a  wider 
law  ?  In  this  problem — what  are  the  facts  or  conditions  given  ? 
What  is  the  thing  sought  ?     Are  any  of  these  conditions  irrel^- 

*  For  cjcamplei  in  Literature  etc.,  see  Vol.  00  Detailed  Methods  of  Teaching. 


METHOD   OF   INTERUOGATION.  139 

rant?  What  relations  are  explicitly  given,  what  impHctly  ? 
Such  a  spirit  of  enquiry  calls  into  exercise  all  the  activities  of 
attention,  its  adjusting,  selecting,  and  relating  powers — ^and 
ultimately  brings  the  highest  degree  of  intellectual  energy  which 
the  student  can  attain. 

Clearly,  this  intellectual  habit  can  be  formed  by  logical  questioning  and  by 
this  alone.  The  pouring  out  processes  whether  by  text-books,  that  copiously 
explain  the  easy  and  are  silent  on  the  difficult,  or  by  teachers  who  with  a 
fatal  flow  of  words  explain  everything,  works  against  independent  investi- 
gation and  the  growth  of  power.  The  wordy  teacher  has  been  referred  to ;  the 
wordy  annotator  deserves  a  passing  notice.  He  is  more  to  be  dreaded  than 
the  wordy  teacher.  The  young  learner  will  sometimes  venture  to  question 
the  scientific  or  literary  accuracy  of  the  oral  instructor ;  but  he  receives 
with  unquestioning  reverence  the  printed  statements  of  the  annotator. 

In  the  course  of  a  long  experience,  we  have  rarely  found  a 
young  student  bold  enough  to  question  a  statement  made  by 
an  editor  of  an  English  or  a  Classical  author.     In  the  lines  : 

**  Yet  e'en  these  bones  from  insult  to  protect, 
Some  frail  memorial  still  erected  nigh. 
With  uncouth  rhymes  and  shapeless  sculpture  decked 
Implores,  the  passing  tribute  of  a  sigh." 

Scores  of  students  have  been  known  to  declare  that  ^^yet  is 
an  adverb  modifying  implores,"  because  some  of  the  editors  had 
so  disposed  of  it,  and  both  teachers  and  learners  had  accepted 
this  "note  "  on  the  meaning  of  yet.  Evidc  itly,  the  famous  Elegy 
had  not  been  considered  in  its  unity,  nor  had  there  been  any 
"  directing  of  attention  "  to  its  related  parts. 

Take  the  well  known  lines  of  Horace  : 

*•  Hunc,  si,  mobilium  turba  Quiritium,* 
Certat  tergeminis  tollere  honoribus  ;" 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  during  the  long  reign  of  Anthon.  ^ou- 
sa^^ds  of  students  regarded  konoribus  as  "  a  dative,  a  Graecism 

••*  This  joys,  if  rabbles  fickle  as  t^e  wind 

Through  triple  grade  of  honours  bid  him  rise." 


240  METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION. 

for  ad  honores.'"  They  had  never  once  ventured  to  ask  whethei 
honoribus  might  be  the  other  case,  and  the  Graecism,  a  fiction. 
We  rci-nember  the  amazement  of  a  certain  class  and  the  indig- 
nant protest  of  their  master,  at  the  bare  suggestion  that  there 
might  be  no  **  Graecism  "  after  all.  The  habit  of  self-question- 
ing, of  independent  thought,  is  not  likely  to  be  formed  either 
by  garrulous  teachers,  or  verbose  commentators.  Study  the 
author^  shelve  the  anndtator. 

II.  Qualifications  of  the  Questioner. 

We  may  roughly  classify  these  under  two  heads,  {a)  Ao 
quired  Qualifications,  and  (b)  Natural  Endowments.  Under 
(a)  we  shall  consider  a  few  of  the  qualifications  that  are  indis- 
pensable in  all  good  teaching  : 

(i)  Thorough  Knowledge. — Clear  teaching  is  necessary  and 
to  this,  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject  of  instruction  is 
essential.  What  a  teacher  does  not  know  he  cannot  teach; 
what  he  does  not  know  well,  he  cannot  teach  well.  To  know 
a  subject  well,  it  must  be  known  in  its  relations  to  kindred 
subjects.  A  single,  isolated  fact,  or  principle,  as  we  have  seen, 
is  not  knowledge ;  to  become  knowledge,  to  have  any  effect  on 
intelligence,  it  must  be  grasped  in  its  relations.  It  follows,  then, 
that  an  instructor  must  know  of  a  subject  far  more  then  he  in- 
tends to  teach.  If,  in  mathematics,  for  example,  he  is  ignorant 
of  Algebra,  he  cannot  teach  Arithmetic  so  well  as  if  he  were  a 
skilled  Algebraist.  If  he  knows  only  the  four  fundamental 
rules  of  Arithmetic,  his  teaching  of  these  will  not  deserve  the 
name  of  teaching.  Indeed,  since  all  knowledge  is  one,  it  may 
be  truly  said  that  the  broader  and  more  thorough  a  teacher's 
scholarship  is,  the  better  he  will  teach  even  the  elements  of 
knowledge.  He  will  know  his  topic  better,  for  he  will  see  it  in 
iti  relations ;  he  will  know  its  several  parts  better ;  he  will  be 
more  fertile  in  illustration  and  all  skilled  divices  of  the  teacher's 
art ;  he  will  impart  some  educative  value   even  lo  the  simplest 


METHOD   OF    IRTERROGATION.  24 1 

lessons.  They  are  clearly  wrong,  therefore,  who  take  the  ground 
that  the  primary  teacher  need  "  know  "  only  what  he  is  going 
to  teach.  The  primary  teacher,  it  is  sometimes  argued,  is  to 
give  the  elements  of  reading,  writing  and  numbers ;  if  he  can 
read,  write  and  cipher,  he  is  qualified  as  an  educator;  the 
minimum  of  knowledge  to  be  imparted  fixes  the  maximum 
of  knowledge  for  the  teacher.  If  this  view  were  acted  upon, 
primary  instruction  would  be  of  the  most  mechanical  kind. 
7'he  teacher  is  himself  without  interest  in  the  subject  which  he 
feebly  comprehends ;  his  own  powers  having  never  been  called 
into  vigorous  action,  how  can  he  awaken  interest  and  incite  to 
vigorous  effort  ?  The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  that  just  because 
the  primary  subjects  have  in  themselves  but  little  culture-value, 
it  is  the  more  necessary  that  the  teacher  should  have  a  liberal 
culture,  as  well  as  the  power  of  insight  into  human  nature. 
For,  in  this  stage  of  development,  above  all  others,  it  is  the 
method  rather  than  the  matter,  that  is  of  greatest  value. 

The  beginnings  of  knowledge  which  we  have  studied  in  our 
psychology,  are  the  beginnings  of  moral  and  intellectual  life. 
*'  The  child  is  to  be  trained  towards  the  perfection  of  manhood 
his  nature  brought  into  fullest  activity  on  all  sides,  and  his 
powers  developed  in  harmonius  completeness,  so  far  as  time 
and  circumstances  permit.*'  This  view  of  primary  work  is  not 
an  ideal  one  which  we  may  imagine  but  never  hope  to  realize. 
The  standard  aimed  at  is  easily  within  the  reach  of  the  earnest 
cultivated  teacher ;  it  is  far  beyond  the  crude  empiric  whose  fit- 
ness for  the  teacher's  high  vocation  is  an  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  mechanical  trivium,  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic. 

In  the  more  advanced  work,  it  is  a  truism  that  good  knowledge 
is  necessary  to  good  teaching.  The  teacher  must  command 
the  confidence  of  his  class  j  they  must  have  respect  for  his 
character  and  admiration  for  his  attainments.  Thoroughly 
master  of  his  subject,  he  moves  along  with  conscious,  yet  un- 
pretentious power,  and  his  boys  look  up  to  him  as  soldiers  to 


242  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

an  able  leader.  Briefly,  in  all  grades  of  teaching  from  the  Kin 
dergarten  to  the  University,  wherever  there  is  to  be  true 
teaching,  wherever  power  is  to  be  developed  and  charactei 
formed,  there  ought  to  be  broad  and  accurate  knowledge  and 
a  good  degree  of  general  culture.  Faculty  is  to  be  organized  by 
dear  presentation  of  organized  knoivledge,  and,  therefore,  the  im- 
perative condition  is :  To  organize  faculty,  the  teacher 
must  have  organized  knowledga 

(2)  preparation  of  Lessons. — It  follows  that  every  lesson 
should  be  thoroughly  prepared.  However  conversant  a  teachei 
may  be  with  the  subject-matter  of  a  lesson,  he  will  know  ii 
better  for  teaching  purposes,  if  he  makes  special  preparation. 
He  may  have  gone  over  the  thing  again  and  again,  but  if  he 
is  about  to  teach  it  to  a  new  class,  it  will  have  a  fresh  interest 
for  him.  A  strong  mind  never  moves  twice  in  exactly  the  same 
groove  ;  and,  therefore,  the  trite  subjects  as  they  are  reviewed, 
will  be  broadened  and  freshened  by  increasing  knowledge, 
while  interest  is  still  further  deepened  by  the  power  of  sym- 
pathy. Every  teacher  has  felt  the  thrill  that  comes  in  teaching 
even  a  familiar  topic,  when  he  realizes  that  the  humble  ele- 
ments he  is  presenting  have  been  seized  by  the  mind  of  the  child 
to  the  awakening  of  new  life  and  strength.  The  teacher  is 
before  his  pupils  as  the  dispenser  of  wonderful  revelations,  and 
what  to  him  is  but  the  A,  B,  C,  of  knowledge,  brings  to  them 
the  joy  of  discovery,  and  the  sense  of  growing  power.  On  the 
other  hand,  most  teachers  have  had  the  disagreeable  feeling 
that  comes  from  half  knowledge  of  a  subject,  or  imperfect 
preparation  of  a  lesson.  A  master  imparts  with  lasting  effect 
what  he  has  thoroughly  prepared ;  what,  from  want  of  prepara 
tion  is  only  half  knowledge,  leads  to  feeble  teaching.  Instead 
of  moving  in  conscious  strength,  he  sees  dimly,  his  step  is 
feebly  wavering,  and  keen  eyes  are  quick  to  see  that  he  is  in  a 
maze  without  a  clue.  To  be  ready  in  resource,  to  have  fresh- 
ness of  mind,  to  possess  and  to  inspire  confidence,  to  arouse 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  843 

and  develop  mind,  the  golden  rule  to  be  followed  in  all 
teaching,  from  a  lesson  on  the  cube  to  one  on  Differential 
Equations,  is :  Make  Thorough  Preparation  of  the 
Lesson. 

(3)  Analytic  Power. — The  questioner  must  have  a  trained  in- 
tellect ;  he  should  possess  analytic  power.  **  Present  one  thing 
at  a  time,"  is  one  of  the  soundest  of  maxims.  This  implies 
that  the  object  matter  has  been  analyzed,  the  connection  of 
the  several  parts  observed,  and  that  the  one  thing  is  presented 
at  the  right  time,  and  at  the  right  place  in  the  series.  If  the 
teacher  is  not  guided  by  the  unity  of  the  topic,  if  his  questions 
have  no  thread  of  connection,  how  can  his  pupils  apprehend 
even  the  '*  one  thing  at  a  time  ?  *'  Once  more,  the  one  thing, 
in  order  to  have  any  meaning,  must  have  a  logical  connection 
with  something  else.  Disconnected  questions  are  the  product 
of  a  muddled  brain.  And  if  that  is  the  state  of  things  with 
the  teacher,  it  is  with  the  pupil  confusion  worse  confounded. 
Teach  one  thing  at  a  time,  but  teach  it  in  its  right  connection, 
so  that  the  pupil  re-thinking  the  related  things,  in  the  end  re- 
constructs the  whole  with  which  analysis  began.  Thus  he  will 
be  gradually  trained  to  the  exercise  of  the  highest  functions  of 
the  intellect.  The  analytic  habit  of  mind  is,  perhaps,  three- 
fourths  of  the  intellectual  qualifications  pf  the  successful  ques- 
tioner. A  fruitful  source  of  failure  is  the  lack  of  logical  method 
in  teaching.  Speaking  generally,  the  untrained  mind  cannot  be 
logical ;  and  the  illogical  mind  cannot  teach.  The  mechanical 
observance  of  mechanical  methods  cannot  make  him  a  teacher. 
His  habits  of  confused  explanation  and  jumbled  questioning 
are  incurable.  Therefore,  cultivate  the  Analytic  and 
Synthetic  habit  of  Mind. 

(4)  Knowledge  of  Mind. — All  our  previous  study  goes  to 
show  that  a  knowledge  of  psychology  is  indispensable  to  the 
true  educator.  It  is  with  the  workings  of  a  mind  that  the 
teacher  has  constantly  to  do.     His  method  is  good,  his  skill  is 


244  METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION. 

great,  only  so  far  as  they  intelligently  appeal  to  these  mental 
processes  and  contribute  to  their  highest  results.  He  may  have 
been  crammed  with  pedagogical  formulae,  rules  and  devicesi 
and  methods  and  maxims,  about  **  how  to  teach  and  how  not 
to  teach,"  but  if  he  knows  little  or  nothing  of  the  laws, 
principles,  and  results  of  mental  activity,  his  methods  and 
his  devices  are  likely  to  be  only  crude  experiments,  know- 
ing no  law,  or  unity,  or  definite  aim.  The  teacher,  then,  should 
know  the  laws  of  mind,  and  make  all  his  expositions,  all  his 
questioning,  tributary  to  its  spontaneous  activities ;  he  should 
ever  realize  that  he  is  questioning  a  mind.  The  empiric  is 
saturated  with  the  idea  that  his  great  aim  is  to  question  about 
a  subject ;  for  him,  the  mind  exists  for  the  "  subject,"  not  the 
subject  for  the  mind.  But  the  Artist^  knowing  the  material  he 
has  to  work  upon,  and  familiar  with  the  marvellous  processes 
by  which  it  grows  and  develops  into  the  noblest  thing  on  earth, 
subordinates  method  and  all  its  instruments,  to  mind  and  its 
development.  Let  the  teacher  remember  that  in  the  exercise 
of  his  highest  function  he  is  a  Questioner  of  Mind. 

(5)  Practice  in  Questioning.  —  The  reciprocal  action  be- 
tween knowi?7g  and  doing  has  been  frequently  pointed  out.  Long 
and  intelligent  practice  is  necessary  to  skill  in  any  art.  Let  the 
young  teacher  aim  frdm  the  very  beginning,  at  excellence  in  the 
Art  of  Questioning.  In  seeking  the  way  to  excellence  let  him 
remember :  By  doing  alone,  the  way  is  endless :  by  knowing 
alone,  the  way  is  long;  by  Knowing  and  Doing  the 
way  is  short  and  sure. 

(6)  Personal  Endowments. — Under  this  head  but  little  need 
be  added  to  what  has  already  been  advanced.  It  has  been  seen 
that  personality  is  the  vital  element  in  the  qualifications  of  the 
teacher.  Energy,  enthusiasm,  decision  of  character,  sympathy 
and  the  insight  which  comes  from  it,  are  the  chief  elements  in  a 
strong  personality,  and   for  this,  no   method,  mechanical    or 


METHOD   OP    INTERROGATION.  145 

rational,  can  be  a  substitute  For,  such  a  teacher,  in  no  slight 
degree  communicates  himself.  The  mere  tradesman,  follow- 
ing with  numb  rigidity  pedagogical  rules  whose  meanmg  he  has 
never  grasped,  drags  his  pupils  through  a  dull  and  dreary  rou- 
tine of  unprofitable  facts,  touching  the  intellectual  and  moral 
nature  only  to  their  lasting  injury.  But  the  strong-brained,  and 
strong-hearted  teacher,  who  also  is  impressed  with  the  worth  of 
the  human  spirit,  will,  while  developing  the  intelligence  of  his 
pupils,  plant  in  them  moral  feeling,  and  the  sense  of  a  univer- 
sal love  of  man.  Strong  through  patience,  and  hope,  and  faith, 
and  sympathy,  and  the  spirit  of  effort,  he  touches  the  intellect 
indeed,  but  touches  also  the  moral  and  religious  nature,  inspires 
a  reverence  for  the  divine  spirit  of  the  Gospel,  "  which  is 
operating  with  ever  widening,  humanizing,  and  enlightening 
influence  on  the  destinies  of  mankind." 

He  who  would  attain  the  transforming  power  of  the  ideal 
teacher  may  well  keep  in  mind  the  decree  which  Frederick  the 
Great,  with  all  his  un-orthodoxy,  thought  it  wise  to  issue  to  his 
Prussian  teachers :  *'As  far  as  the  work  of  the  school  is  concerned, 
school-masters  are  earnestly  reminded  above  everything  to  pre- 
pare themselves  for  teaching  by  heartfelt  prayer  for  themselves, 
and  ask  from  the  Giver  of  all  good  gifts,  wisdom,  and  patience, 
that  their  exertions  and  labors  may  be  blessed.  In  particular 
they  are  to  pray  that  the  Lord  would  grant  them  a  heart  pater- 
naly  inclined,  and  tempered  with  love  and  seriousness  towards 
the  children  entrusted  to  them,  that  they  may  discharge  the 
duties  lying  on  them  as  teachers,  willingly  and  without  grudge, 
remembering  that  they  can  accomplish  nothing,  not  even  gain 
the  hearts  of  the  children,  without  the  divine  aid  and  Spirit  of 
Jesus,  the  friend  of  children." 

III.  Matter  and  Form  of  Questions, 

What  is  to  be  said  under  this  head,  also,  follows  necessarily 
from  the  purposes  of  questioning,  and  hence  it  will  suffice  to 


246  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

give  a  short  summary  of  the  characteristics  of  questioning  as  to 
Matter,  Form  and  Mode. 

{a)  As  to  the  matter  of  Questions.— (i)  We  may 
notice  the  following  characteristics  : 

(i.)  Z>e^mteness.  — Questions  should  be  perfectly  definite,  i.e. 
unambiguous,  precise,  and  corresponding  to  some  assigned  pan 
of  the  subject.  Some  teachers  ask  unanswerable  questions,  i.e., 
questions  which  it  is  impossible  to  answer,  or  which  could  be 
answered  in  half  a  dozen  ways.  (page  167.)  A  definite 
question  is  given  upon  a  definite  portion  of  the  subject  matter, 
and  in  clear,  terse  and  precise  language.  Both  of  these  rules 
are  too  frequently  violated.  A  few  illustrations  from  "real  life," 
may  be  given  : 

Qlustration. — "What  occurred  in  Palestine  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  ?  "  To  answer  that  question  would  require  on  the  part  of  the 
student  an  extraordinary  gift  of  mind-reading.  **If  you  ip\a.ce  a  over  b 
what  does  it  mean  ?  "  The  teacher  had  in  mind  a  way  of  representing 
division  ;  but,  a  boy  would  have  been  quite  right  in  respectfully  asking  for 
the  meaning  of  **  over,"  and  **  it."  **  What  influence  do  you  draw  from  the 
fact  that  water,  in  freezing,  contracts  till  a  certain  temperature  is  reached, 
and  then  begins  to  expand?"  "  What  sort  of  quantity  is  a'  +  a^-r6'?" 
"In  this  poem,  explain  the  devices  of  contrast  and  contiguity."    And  so  on. 

A  teacher  in  training  was  giving  a  twenty-minute  trial  lesson  on  "Part- 
nership." In  starting  to  "develop"  the  idea  of  Partnership,  he  pro- 
ceeded as  follows :  . 

"  A  man  comes  to  the  city  to  begin  a  certain  business  and  finds  that  it  will 
take  $2,000  to  start  the  business,  but  he  has  only  $1,000,  what  will  he  do  ?  " 
No  answer  being  given,  the  teacher  said  '*  surely  some  of  you  can  answer," 
and  repeated  the  question,  stating  the  supposition  and  ending  with  "  Wnat 
will  he  do?  "  After  another  solemn  pause,  one  boy  said  :  **  Please,  sir,  he 
would  borrow  a  thousand  dollars."  This  was  a  very  good  answer,  but  not 
the  required  answer.  The  teacher  was  plainly  taken  aback,  but  said :  "No, 
the  man  wa«  a  stranger  in  the  city,  and  could  not  borrow  a  thousand  dollars. 
What  would  he  do,  think  a  moment?"  "After  another  pause,  a  thoughtful 
boy — who  was  perfectly  sincere — said  :  Please,  sir,  if  a  man  had  a  thousand 
dollais  of  his  own,  and  had  a  good  character,  couldn't  he  borrow  another 


METHOD   UF    INTERROGATION.  247 

thousand?"  Which  was  a  perfectly  correct  and  business-like  view  of  the 
case,  showing  considerable  thought  on  the  part  of  the  answerer.  The 
teacher  was  now  driven  to  answer  his  own  vague  questions  ;  in  other 
words,  at  the  end  of  the  lesson,  the  boys  had  learned  that,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  teacher,  the  man  with  **  the  one  thousand  dollars  would  try  to  find 
another  man  with  a  thousand,  etc."  That  was  the  result  of  a  twenty 
minute  effort  to  "develop  "  the  idea  of  partnership. 

Vague  questions  have  an  exceedingly  mischievous  tendency. 
The  thoughtful  boy  honestiy  endeavouring  *'  to  pay  attention," 
is  bewildered,  and  is  likely  to  become  inattentive  to  what  he 
cannot  understand.  To  the  less  conscientious  boys,  such 
questions  are  a  premium  on  "  guessing ; "  they  often  hit  upcn^^ 
the  answers  expected  by  the  teacher,  and  so  gain  so6e  <9feSS^  iig^^ 
through  dishonesty.  -^^^^t? 

(2)  Logical  Sequence. — In  the  Second  Place  :  Froril  Sdl^j^Qg^ 
has  been  already  said  upon  the  necessity  of  presenting  facts  in  ~^-; — ^ 
their  relations,  it  follows  that  questions  should  be  connected, 
should  proceed  from  one  point,  or  topic,  to  another,  with  due 
regard  to  the  unity  of  the  subject.  Even  in  elementary  teach- 
ing, some  order  should  be  observed  in  questioning;  for,  as 
already  said,  if  facts  are  presented  in  their  natural  connection, 
there  will  be  growth  in  the  learner's  mind  into  a  conscious 
thinking  of  the  relations.  It  may  be  stated  once  more  that,  in 
all  grades  of  instruction,  there  can  be  clear  thinking,  and  actual 
assimilation  on  the  part  of  the  learner,  only  when  there  are 
clear  thinking  (analysis  and  synthesis)  and  connected  instruc- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  The  most  fruitful  source  of 
weak  and  ineffectual  teaching  to-day  is,  without  doubt,  the  lack 
of  logical  power,  and,  therefore,  of  ability  in  clear  instruction. 
Teachers  are  not,  of  course,  responsible  for  all  the  preposterous 
answers  which  are  given  at  examinations,  and  which  are  made 
to  do  duty  in  exposing  the  weakness  of  educational  work.  But 
there  is  no  doubt  that  dispersive  and  discursive  teaching  and 
questioning  are  partly  responsible.     It  seems  impossible  th9^ 


248  METHOD    OF    INTERROGATION. 

all  the  absurd  answers  are  due  to  hasty  preparation,  or  sheer 
stupidity.  The  candidates  must,  in  some  instances,  have 
suffered  from  immethodical  teachmg  and  "  discontinuous  " 
questioning.  Of  such  teaching,  the  candidate  who  gave  the 
following  answer  was  doubtless  a  victim  :  What  are  the  char 
acteristics  of  Goldsmith's  poetical  and  prose  works  ?  Ife  wrote 
both  poetry  and  prose  beautifully^  his  poetry  being  in  general  very 
lamentable  and  explanatory ^  and  being  five  feet  in  length. 

Of  course  some  license  may  be  allowed  in  questioning  on  a 
familiar  topic  In  review-questions,  a  little  **  skipping  round  " 
may  be  permitted  for  practice  in  rapid  grouping  of  ideas.  In 
fact  the  serial  order  should  give  place  to  the  topical  (page  174) 
in  all  reviews  for  testing  the  thorough  mastery  of  the  work. 
When  a  teacher  has  presented  a  subject  rationally,  questioned 
the  pupil  into  a  perception  of  the  meaning  of  the  several  parts, 
assisted  them  into  thinking  the  proper  relations,  correct  method 
demands  that  the  pupil  should  now  be  able  to  analyze  his  mass 
of  facts,  properly  group  the  elements,  in  a  word,  exercise  inde- 
pendently the  functions  of  analysis  and  synthesis.     To  lead  to 

the  habit  of  connected  thinking^  Questions  should  have 
Continuity.    (Page  170.) 

(2)  Adapted  to  Capacity. — In  order  to  stimulate,  questions 
must  be  skillfully  adapted  to  the  capacity  and  attainments  of 
the  pupils,  that  is,  they  must  not  be  too  easy  or  too  difficult. 
In  either  case,  there  can  be  no  interest,  and  mind-wandering  is 
sure  to  follow  (page  192,  et  seq.)  As  a  general  rule,  properly 
adapted  and  definite  questions  will  not  {a)  include  the  answer, 
or  {b)  suggest  the  answer,  or  {c)  be  answerable  by  a  single  word, 
or  (d)  be  unanswerable,  or  (e)  be  answerable  by  all.  In  the 
case  of  one-word  answers  there  are  many  exceptions,  especially 
in  rapid  review-lessons.  But  the  safe,  guiding  principle  is  ; 
(onneeted  speech  means  connected  thought  (see  page  220,  et  seg.) 


METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION.  349 

(4)  Due  Proportum, — Questions  should  repeat  the  mportant 
facts  or  principles  of  a  subject  rather  than  unimportant  details. 
As  the  result  of  the  analysis  the  central  thought  stands  out 
prominently  in  the  teacher's  mind,  the  minor  thoughts  are 
arranged  in  proper  relation  according  to  their  value,  and  all 
irrelevant  matter  is  excluded.  Questioning  ought  to  result  in  a 
similar  harmonious  grouping  of  ideas  in  the  minds  of  the  learn- 
ers. Question  upon  the  points  of  the  lesson  ac- 
cording to  their  importance,    (page  202.) 

{b)  As  to  the  Form  of  Questions. — What  has  been 
said  on  the  matter  of  questions  will  suggest  the  chief  points 
as  to  their  form.     A  few  of  these  may  be  noticed. 

(i)  Good  Language. — To  secure  definiteness,  the  language  of 
questions  must  be  concise,  clear,  and  correct ;  wordy,  obscure, 
and  incorrect  questions  imply  vague  ideas,  and  lead  to  the 
vagueness  that  it  is  the  purpose  of  teaching  to  correct.  Com- 
paratively few  teachers  seem  able  to  put  questions  in  perfectly 
definite  language.  Even  those  who  are  fairly  successful  teachers 
would  be  astonished  if  their  questions  were  reproduced  verbatim 
in  written  form.  They  would  indignantly  challenge  the  accur- 
racy  of  the  **  report."  We  have  known  questioners  to  change 
the  form  of  a  question  three  or  four  times  before  its  final 
delivery,  thus  causing  the  class  endless  perplexity.  Muddled 
speech  means  muddled  thought. 

(2)  Varied. — Questions  should  be  varied  inform  (i)  to  avoid 
monotony,  and  (2)  to  suit  the  subject  matter  of  the  lesson. 
Some  teachers  are  the  slaves  of  a  changeless  type  of  questions; 
they  follow  with  fatal  fidelity  the  same  forms,  in  fact-subjects, 
( Elementary  Geography,  e.  g.,)  in  thought-subjects  (Grammar, 
e.  g),  and  in  action-subjects  (Drawing,  etc).  Monotony  destroys 
Interest. 

(3)  Questioner's  own  Words. — In  general,  questions  should 
be  given  in  the  teacher's  own  words.     This  demands  thinkings 


250  METHOD   OF   INTERROGATION. 

and  freshness  of  thought  awakens  interest.  Do  not  be  the 
servile  repeater  of  the  set  questions  of  secular  text-book,  or 
Sunday-school  Guide.  It  may  be  remarked  that,  in  the  case  ol 
words  as  well  as  of  thought,  the  teacher  is  not  to  be  a  blind 
follower  of  the  limited  rule  "  teach  only  what  the  child  under- 
stands." If  the  subject  is  within  his  reach,  occasional  "  strange 
words  "  may  be  wisely  used.  They  are  a  stimulus.  They  are 
explained  by  their  connection  with  known  words.  We  "  ex- 
plain words  before  using  them ; "  but,  also,  we  explain  words  by 
using  them. 

(4)  Elliptical  Questions. — This  is  the  worst  of  all  possible 
forms,  and  should  be  rarely  used. 

(5)  Topical  and  Serial. — It  has  already  been  pointed  out 
(page  220)  that  the  serial  order  of  questions  should  be  followed 
by  the  topical  method. 

Mode  of  Questioning.— A  few  words  may  be  added  on 

the  mode  of  putting  questions,  (i)  Effective  class  questioning  is 
the  result  of  a  judicious  use  of  the  individual  and  the  class 
methods,  (2)  In  general,  the  questions  should  be  addressed  to 
the  clasSy  the  answers  given  by  the  individual.  (3)  Unless  the 
teacher  is  at  fault,  a  question  is  not  to  be  repeated;  pupils  must 
attend  \  repetition  of  questions  favours  inattention.  (4)  As  to 
rapidity  :  At  the  beginning  of  the  lesson,  questions  for  the 
grouping  of  ideas,  for  the  adjusting  of  attention,  may  rapidly 
follow  one  another.  During  the  course  of  the  lesson,  while  the 
pupil  is  forming  relations,  /.  e.s  thinkitig  to  the  best  of  his  ability, 
reasonable  time  should  be  allowed  for  the  answer.  Finally,  in 
a  review  of  the  lesson,  and  in  general  reviews,  question  and 
answer  should  follow  in  quick  succession.  (5)  Mutual  question- 
ing is  an  excellent  test  and  stimulu?,.  To  put  a  good  question 
upon  a  subject,  one  must  know  it  well  A  pupil,  knowing  he 
will  be  called  on  to  put  a  question,  is  kept  on  the  alert,  he  is 
attentive;  and  practice  in  questioning  others  helps  to  form  the 


METHOD   OF    INTERROGATION.  2$\ 

habit  of  self-questioning,  the  attitude  of  the  thinking  mind 
(page  238).  (6)  IVritten  Answers.  There  should  be  frequent 
written  examinations.  From  what  has  been  said  upon  the  rela- 
tion of  thought  and  language,  it  follows  that  written  examina- 
tions are  an  essential  factor  in  the  process  of  mind  training. 

IV.  Matter  and  Form  of  Answers. 

Under  this  head  there  is  little  to  be  said  that  is  not  given 
almost  expressly  in  our  preceding  studies  upon  questioning ;  a 
brief  summary  will  suffice,  (i)  Good  questioning  secures  good 
answering,  or,  in  other  words,  good  teaching  secures  good 
results.  Thoughtful  questions  lead  to  definite  thinking  and 
expression.  The  general  characteristic  of  good  answering  is, 
thererore,  that  it  is  the  pupiFs  best  thinking  expressed  in  the 
pupil* s  best  words.  (2)  Hence,  individual  answering  is  the  rule, 
class  (or  sumultaneous)  answering,  the  exception.  Class- 
answering  may  sometimes  be  permitted  in  repetition,  and  in 
reviews  of  familiar  subjects;  it  may,  at  times,  be  useful  in 
encouraging  the  timid  and  animating  the  dull.  But,  for  other 
purposes,  the  method  is  misleading,  and  it  extensively  used, 
exceedingly  harmful.  "It  is  astonishing,"  says  Gladman, 
"  with  what  readiness  boys  can  take  their  cue  from  one  another, 
so  as  to  produce  the  appearance  of  unanimity,  of  a  common 
knowledge.  The  wise  teacher,  however,  knows  that  such 
apparently  wide-spread  skill  is  fallacious,  and  he  will  rarely 
employ  a  method  in  his  teaching  which  admits  of  such  misinter- 
pretation." (3)  If  an  answer  is  wholly  wrong,  it  is  proof  oi 
imperfect  teaching,  and  the  wise  teacher  will  not  hastily  decide 
that  an  answer  is  wholly  wrong.  In  some  subjects  there  is  but 
little  room  for  difference  of  opinion,  in  others  there  is  great 
room.  Consider  a  question  as  to  the  force  of  a  word  in  a  given 
sentence,  etc  The  teacher  who  has  his  stereotyped  answer,  to 
which  all  other  answers  must  conform,  represses,  rather  than  pro 
motes,  the  pupil's  self-activity.    I'he  pupil  is  fallible ;  the  teacher 


252  KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

is  not  infallible.  (4)  If  an  answer  is  partly  right,  and  partly 
wrong,  it  shows  that  the  pupil  is  thinking,  and  the  teacher,  by 
kind  encouragement,  and  perhaps  a  judicious  question  or  two, 
is  to  guide  the  pupil  into  clearer  light  (5)  Random  answers 
should  have  no  place.  If  the  teacher  is  master  of  his  business, 
tliey  will  never  find  place.  Almost  as  rare  will  be  the  "Know — 
but  cannot  tell "  answer.  The  rule  is  :  "  Cannot  tell," 
does  not  know.  (6)  written  answers  are  of  the  highest 
value.  Oral  examination  is  not  enough ;  for  the  best  results 
there  must  be  frequent  written  examinations,  (page  220). 
They  are  an  indispensable  element  in  training.  Not  that 
which  goes  into  the  eyes  and  ears  of  a  student  educates,  but 
that  which  comes  out  of  him  in  oral  and  especially  in  written 
form.  No  student  can  be  certain  that  he  has  mastered  a  sub- 
ject till  he  has  reproduced  it.  This  reproduction  is  the  test  of 
knowledge,  and  of  the  power  which  comes  from  the  acquisition 
of  knowledge. 

Written  examinations  give  a  thorough  mastery  of  the  subiect, 
demand  activity  rather  than  passivity  of  the  mind,  and  train  to 
the  lucid  expression  of  vigorous  thought.  "  They  are,"  said 
Professor  Jevons,  "  the  most  powerful  means  of  training  the  in- 
tellect."   Examination  is  Education. 


CHAPTER  XL 


KINDERGARTEN  WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION 
IN   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS. 

Grounds  for  Establishing  Kindergarten  Exer- 
cises. 

When  properly  carried  out,  the  Kindergarten  receives  the  child 
at  the  age  of  three  years,  and  applies  the  most  efficient  means 
known,  to  secure  an  all-sided  development.  Wherever  it  is 
practicable,  therefore,  school  authorities  should  establish  Kin- 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION.  253 

dergartens  in  connection  with  the  public  schools.  We  have 
seen,  in  our  psychology,  that  the  soul  is  an  organic  unity — that 
there  are  not  independent— much  less  antagonistic — "  faculties/* 
but  thai  all  the  so-called  faculties  are  only  dififerent  stages  of 
psychical  development.  It  follows,  therfore,  that  there  is  but 
one  science  of  education.  There  is  not  one  set  of  prin- 
ciples for  the  Kindergarten,  another  set  for  the  Primary 
schools,  etc.  The  principles  of  the  Kindergarten  are  thoroughly 
sound ;  they  are  in  the  line  of  true  psychology.  But  they  are 
distinctive  only  in  their  application^  under  specially  favourable 
circumstances,  to  a  certain  stage  of  human  development.  In  an 
ideal  system  of  education,  there  would  be  a  Kindergarten  de- 
partment in  every  school.  It  is  likely,  however,  that  the 
expense  of  establishing  and  keeping  in  operation  fully  equip- 
ped Kindergartens,  will  operate  for  a  time  against  their  intro- 
duction except  in  cities  and  towns.  But  cannot  some  of  the 
Kindergarten  exercises,  or  at  least  exercises  embodying  Kinder- 
garten principles,  be  imported  into  the  public  schools  as  at 
present  constituted  ?  May  not  all  the  children  of  the  country 
have  a  taste  of  what  is  calculated  to  make  their  early  school 
days  happy,  as  well  as  give  them  a  better  education  and  at  least 
a  touch  of  culture  ? 

Can  provision  be  made  in  Public  Schools  for  the 
working  of  Kindergarten  Principles  and  Methods  ? 

In  order  to  answer  this  question,  we  must  ascertain  upon 
what  distinctive  methods  the  Kindergarten  mainly  depends  to 
secure  the  aims  of  education  in  its  three  great 'departments, 
Physical,  Moral  and  Intellectual.  We  may  then  judge  of  the 
adaptability  of  such  methods  and  ppinciples  to  the  altered  con- 
ditions presented  by  the  Public  Schools. 

1.  Physical  Education. — In  the  department  of  Physical 
Education,  the  Kindergarten,  recognizing  the  law  that  the  mind 
must  be  drawn  away  from  the  mere  exercise  as  such,  makes, 


254  KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

elaborate  provision  under  the  disguise  of  plays  of  various 
kinds,  for  securing  strength  of  body,  beauty  of  form  and  grace- 
fulness of  bearing.  In  addition  to  this,  the  constant  handling  of 
material,  and  the  various  occupations  of  building,  folding, 
weaving,  etc.,  give  delicacy  of  touch,  quietness  of  movement, 
and  deftness  of  hand. 

The  public  schools,  as  at  present  constituted,  have  not  the  separate  room 
required  for  this  training,  nor  has  the  teacher  the  necessary  time  at  his  dis- 
posal. Excepting,  then,  the  manual  dexterity  secured  to  the  pupil  by  the 
exercises  designed  for  intellectual  development,  it  is  doubtful  whether  much 
more  can  be  done  for  physical  training,  than  to  Jply  the  calisthenics  at 
present  common  in  the  best  Public  Schools.  In  cities  and  towns,  however, 
by  adopting  the  "  Half-Time  "  system,  time  may  be  had  for  all  the  most 
valuable  Kindergarten  methods  for  physical  education. 

2.  Moral  Education. — In  the  department  of  Moral  Edu- 
cation, it  can  scarcely  be  said  that  the  Kindergarten  furnishes 
any  method  different  from  that  of  the  schools.  It  has,  how- 
ever, many  marked  advantages,  as,  e.  g, :  {a)  Before  evil  habits 
have  become  fixed,  the  child  comes  under  the  influence  of  a 
society  whose  moral  code  ismoulded  and  guided  by  a  teacher 
familiar  with  all  the  ascertained  laws  of  moral  development.  All 
psychology  and  all  experience  show  how  important  is  this  early 
training,  (p.  72).  {jb)  Much  more  time  can  be  spared  for  devel- 
oping sympathy  which  not  only  goes  out  in  kindly  acts  towards 
others,  but  is  also  the  real  basis  of  the  moral  feelings,  (p.  121). 
{c)  The  will  power  is  greatly  strengthened  by  the  constant  em- 
ployment of  hand  and  brain  in  accomplishing  the  various  kinds 
of  work  proposed  for  intellectual  development.  The  import- 
ance of  this  hand  training  in  educating  the  will,  is  very  great. 
For,  the  child,  in  controlling  hand-movements,  in  fact  all  bodily 
movements,  is  exercising  the  elements  that  enter  into  the 
highest  kind  of  self-control.  Train  eye,  ear,  hand,  tongue,  and 
in  the  process  the  doing  not  only  reacts  on  thinking — the 
development  of  intelligence — it  also  contributes,  in  no  slight 
degree,  to  moral  culture  (p.  145).     {d)  The  pupil  is  inspired  by 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION.  9$^ 

a  spirit  of  order ;  patience  is  cultivated,  habits  of  persistence 
are  acquired  ;  he  learns  to  be  "  diligent  in  business/'  gentle  in 
manner,  and  mindful  of  the  rights  of  others.  He  is  all  the 
while  gaining  power  to  apprehend  and  appreciate  the  true,  the 
beautiful  and  the  good. 

With  the  exception  of  this  strengthening  of  the  will-power 
and  general  development  of  the  ethical  nature  by  the  employ- 
ment of  hand  and  brain  — an  advantage  peculiar  to  the  ex- 
ercises for  intellectual  development,  it  will  be  seen  that  in  the 
department  of  moral  education,  the  superiority  of  the  Kinder- 
garten over  the  school  is  due  rather  to  oportunity,  than  to  any 
peculiarity  of  method.  We  should  keep  in  mind,  however, 
that  the  moral  training  resulting  from  Kindergarten  exercises 
for  intellectual  development,  will  be  so  much  gain  to  moral 
culture  in  the  Public  Schools.  In  fact,  at  this  stage  of  develop- 
ment, intellectual,  moral,  and  physical  culture,  may  be  almost 
considered  as  one. 

3.  Intellectual  Education.— In  the  intellectual  field,  as- 
suming development  of  power  to  be  the  chief  work  of  the  Kin- 
dergarten, what  is  really  the  principle,  which  working  by  means 
of  the  various  exercises,  draws  forth  and  cultivates  the  mental 
powers?  On  reflection,  it  will  be  found  that  it  is  the  close 
attention  which  the  child  is  obliged  to  give  in 
order  to  perform  the  necessary  movements  in 
various  pleasing  constructive  employments,  that 
sets  the  mechanism  of  the  senses  in  motion  and 
thus  secures  the  development  of  power.  The  at- 
tempt to  do  under  such  circumstances  that  each  forward  step 
furnishes  the  necessary  pleasurable  stimulus  for  deeper  attention 
and  further  effort,  will  be  found  to  be  the  source  of  most  of  the 
good  which  characterizes  the  Kindergarten.  The  operation  of 
the  same  principle,  secures  skill,  itself  one  of  the  ends  of  edu- 
cation, since  it  is  a  product  of  intelligence.  Once  more,  the 
pupil  learns  to  know  by  doing,  and  to  do  by  knowing. 


f5*  KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

Kindergarten,  RationaL — From  our  psychology  it  seems 
plain  that,  in  true  Kindergarten  work,  the  laws  of  early  psychical 
development  are  closely  followed.  Instruction  is  based  upon 
the  impulses ;  the  hunger  of  the  senses  is  gratified  ;  the  correla- 
tive laws  of  knowing  and  doing  are  in  continuous  operation ; 
there  is  interest,  natural  and  acquired,  which  secures  non-vol- 
untary attention  ;  the  law  of  association  works  with  effect,  and 
good  habits  result ;  the  constant  working  for  some  end  develops 
voluntary  attention,  the  power  of  concentration  ;  from  the  very 
beginning,  in  the  actions  with  things,  there  are  partitions  and 
constructions  and  designings  and  modellings,  in  a  word,  phys- 
ical processes,  which  lead  gradually  to  the  conscious  exercise 
and  development  of  the  essential  functions  of  mind,  analysis 
and  synthesis ;  in  brief,  since  there  is,  under  assumed  favourable 
conditions,  the  best  possible  means  for  the  training  of  Sensa- 
tion, Interest,  Impulse,  and  of  the  mental  Processes,  there  is  in 
that  very  fact,  the  best  possible  preparation  for  securing  the 
highest  results  in  the  development  of  perception,  memory,  im- 
agination and  thought,  as  well  as  of  the  Emotions  and  the  Will 

The  Beginning  of  Wisdom.—^//  t/ie  faculties,  includ- 
ing reasoning,  are  the  natural  outgrowth  of  perception,or  intuition^ 
(page  171). — Train  the  observing  powers,  it  is  urged,  because 
perceived  objects  are  simpler  than  laws  and  absti-act  relations, 
and  prior  to  them.  But  also,  and  especially,  train  perception, 
because  this  training  so  touches  all  the  mental  powers,  including 
remembering  and  thinking,  that  they  will  afterwards  appear  as 
naturally  as  blossom  from  plant  and  fruit  from  blossom. 
"  Teach  a  child  to  understand ; "  teach  a  child  to  see,  and  he 
will  understand  in  due  season.  To  the  efficient,  though  perhaps 
unconscious,  carrying  out  of  this  principle,  is  due  the  success 
of  true  Kindergarten  instruction  in  developing  the  nature  of  the 
child.  It  follows,  too,  that  the  efficiency  of  a  system  of  education 
depends  on  the  efficiency  of  its  primary  education.  A  system  wh  ich 
is  weak  in  this,  is  weak  in  all.     Clearly,  then,  if  the  principles 


KINDERGARTEN  WORK   AND   SEI.F-INSTRUCTION.  157 

and  methods  of  the  Kindergarten  are  based  on  true  psychology, 
they  should  be  introduced  as  far  as  possible  into  every  Puklic 
School.  Training  perception  is  training  aH  the  mental  powers ; 
therefore,  let  ample  provision  be  made  for  the  best  possible 
primary  education,  this  is  the  Beginning  of  Wisdom 
in  every  System  of  Education.    (Page  130.) 

Happily,  many  of  the  Kindergarten  exercises  which  are 
designed  for  the  development  of  intellectual  power  and  of  skill, 
and  which  incidentally,  yet  powerfully,  aid  in  moral  culture, 
(page  145)  readily  lend  themselves  to  the  modifications  neces- 
lary  to  their  introduction  into  Public  Schools. 

The  expense  attending  their  introduction  will  be  light — ^insig- 
nificant compared  with  the  good  that  is  sure  to  follow.  The  time 
taken  for  direct  instruction  need  not  exceed  half  an  hour  a  day 
for  first  and  second  classes,  and  about  three  half-hour  lessons  a 
week  for  the  other  classes.  There  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the 
common  branches  will  be  learned  with  greater  facility,  and  will 
have  a  far  higher  educative  value.  Lastly,  if  a  teacher  has  had 
no  special  training  for  this  work,  he  can  easily  qualify  himself 
with  the  help  of  a  good  Kindergarten  guide. 

The  modified  forms  of  Kindergarten  work  now  to  be  describ- 
ed, have  been  found  to  work  welL  Under  the  altered  circum- 
stances, the  teacher  need  not  trouble  himself  much  about  the 
particular  order  of  presenting  the  exercises.  The  important 
consideration  is  to  keep  up  the  interest,  and  for  this  purpose  it 
is  best  to  have  variety  (page  no).  In  dealing  with  those 
employments  requiring  considerable  manual  dexterity,  such  as 
siat-work,  paper-foldings  and  matweavingy  the  teacher  is  at  first 
apt  to  select  too  dfficult  work.  This  will,  however,  be  speedily 
corrected  by  experience. 

I.  Blocks  and  Building. 
In  dealing  with  the  blocks,  prepare  for  each  pupil  two  boxes 
of  thin  material  one  9^  x  4^  inches,  the  other  d]^  x  4^  inches^ 


•5^  KINDERGARTEN   WORK    AND    SELF-INSTRUCTIOir. 

inside  measurement  Into  the  shorter  box  which  we  shall  desig- 
nate (a),  put  24  bricks,  16  squares,  and  8  pillars. 

Into  the  longer  box  which  we  shall  designate  (^),  put  24 
cubes,  12  half  cubes  and  24  quarter  cubes.* 

It  is  found  that  the  various  kinds  of  blocks  here  mentioned  can  be  fur- 
nished by  an  ordinary  cabinet«maker  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  cents  per 
hundred,  and  the  boxes  at  the  rate  of  five  cents  each.  Expense  of  material, 
therefore,  is  not,  as  generally  supposed,  a  very  important  consideration. 

Ordinary  Object  Lessons.— Although  it  is  the  close 
observation  required  to  perform  the  synthetic,  or  constructive 
exercises,  that  furnishes  the  peculiar  power  of  the  Kindergar- 
ten, it  is  well  to  do  somg  work  of  the  ordinary  "  object-lesson  " 
type.  For  example,  having  put  into  the  hands  of  each  pupil 
box  {d)  let  the  teacher  select  eight  cubes  from  his  own  box, 
and  form  them  into  a  large  cube.  At  a  signal  from  the 
teacher  the  pupils  do  the  same.  This  is  the  T/iird  Gift  of 
the  Kindergarten. 

By  questioning  the  pupils,  lead  them  to  observe  the  number  of 
faces,  the  number  of  corners,  the  number  of  edges,  in  a  cube. 
The  terms  right-angle,  square,  face,  surface,  parallel,  etc.,  may, 
also,  be  learned  in  this  connection. 

Having  examined  the  cube  as  a  whole,  divide  it  into  two 
equal  parts,  the  pupils  doing  the  same.  By  questions,  the 
pupils  should  be  led  to  observe  carefully  the  resulting  regular 
solids.  Divide  each  of  these  halves  again,  and  proceed  as 
before. 

Make  another  division,  and  thus  reduce  the  large  cube  to  its 
elements. 

The  object-lessons  with  the  cube  may  now  be  applied  to 
give  the  pupils  clear  conceptions  of  the  terms  *  half,'  *  quarter,* 

•  A  brick  !s  a  block  2  X  i  X  J^  inch.  The  half  Cube  is  formed  by  dividing  a  cube 

A  square  is  a  block  i  X  i  X  J^  indk  diagonally.    The  quarter-cube  by  dividinjf 

A  pillar  is  a  block  2  X  J^  X  Ji  inck.  the  half-cube    into  two    equal    triangular 

A  cube  is  a  block  x  X  i  X  z.  pieces.     IST  Illustration,  page  a6a 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND    SELF  INSTRUCTION.  259 

eighth,  and  to  make  the  pupils  familiar  with  such  useful  facts 
as  the  following  : 

(a)  The  whole  equals  two  halves. 
(3)  The  whole  equals  four  quarters. 
(<r)  The  whole  equals  eight  eighths, 

(d)  A  half  equals  two  quarters. 

(e)  A  half  equals  four  eighths. 

{(/)  A  quarter  equals  two  eighths,  eta 

Illustration. 

1^  ^^ 


Again,  having  placed  box  * « '  in  the  hands 
of  the  pupils,  select  from  the  one  in  your  own 
possession  eight  bricks,  and  form  a  cube. 
This  is  the  Fourth  Gift  of  the  Kindergarten- 

By  questions,  lead  the  pupils  to  examine  this  closely,  to 
compare  it  with  the  cube  formerly  dealt  with  (Third  Gift).  Lead 
them  to  compare  the  bricks  of  which  it  is  composed,  with  the 
cubes  of  the  Third  Gift.     How  many  faces  has  each  brick  ? 


26o 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


How  many  edges  ?     Each  face  is  an  oblong.     Each  face  is  a 
parallelogram,  etc.,  etc. 


Again,  having  placed  box  '^'  in  the 
hands  of  each  pupil,  let  the  teacher 
select  from  the  one  in  his  own  hands, 
twenty-one  whole  cubes,  six  half-cubes, 
and  nine  quarter  cubes.  Now  form  these 
into  a  cube  thus  : 


This  is  the  Fifth  Gift  of  the  Kinder- 
garten.    As  in  other  cases,  the  pupils  should  be  led  by  ques- 
tioning, to  make  the  same  close  observation  upon  this  form, 
and  upon  the  blocks  of  which  it  is  composed. 

• 
Again,  having  placed  box  ' « '  in  the 
hands  of  each  pupil,  select  from  the  one 
in  your  own  possession  eighteen  bricks, 
six  pillars  and  twelve  squares.  Now  form 
these  into  a  cube  thus  : 

This  forms  the  Sixth  Gift  of  the 
Kindergarten.  Examine  this  form  and 
the  blocks  of  which  it  is  composed  in  the  manner  already  indi- 
cated. 

Value  of  the  Object  Lesson  Phase  of  Kindergarte?t  Work. — 
These  object-lessons  on  the  material,  are  not  very  interesting. 
If  the  lessons  be  made  long,  or  given  very  frequently,  they  may 
become  irksome.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  give  a  long 
course  of  such  lessons  before  entering  upon  the  constructive 
exercises.  Short  lessons,  however,  given  occasionally  will  be 
uesful  for  the  following  reasons  : 

(a)  They  cultivate  close  observation. 

ip)  They  make  the  pupils  familiar  with  the  material  with 
which  they  are  working. 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION.  26  r 

(^)  They  lead  to  a  practical  acquaintance  with  a  large 
number  of  geometrical  forms  and  terms^ 

(d)  They  enlarge  and  enrich  the  pupil's  vocabulary. 

{e)  They  are  a  most  valuable  means  of  improving  the 
language  of  the  pupils. 

Constructive  Exercises  with  Blocks. — ^Without  per- 
mittmg  the  pupils  to  see  how  he  does  it,  let  the  teacher  build 
upon  the  table  some  such  object  as  this,  representing  a  bed- 
stead :     See  figure  page  265. 

Keeping  the  form  screened  from  view  by  a  map  or  other 
means,  arouse  the  curiosity  of  the  little  ones,  to  see  the  object 
behind  the  screen.  Their  attention  will  be  still  further  deep- 
ened by  informing  them  that  after  looking  at  the  object  a 
very  short  time,  they  will  have  to  make  it  (page  no.)  When 
the  teacher  has  by  some  such  means  as  this,  excited  a  deep 
desire  to  see  the  object,  and  when  he  knows  their  fingers  are 
itching  to  begin  work,  let  the  screen  be  suddenly  removed. 
For  a  short  time  the  object  is  contemplated  in  perfect  silence. 
Knowing  that  they  are  about  to  be  called  upon  to  form  the 
same  object,  their  observation  is  keenly  on  the  alert.  The  mind 
swiftly  compares  the  length  with  the  breadth,  notes  the  num- 
ber and  the  kind  of  blocks  used  for  the  head  and  for  the  foot, 
marks  the  kind  of  divided  blocks  used,  etc.  After  the  expira- 
tion of  a  short  time,  sharply  give  the  command  "  Work,"  at 
the  same  time  replacing  the  screen. 

If  the  teacher  has  successfully  conducted  the  work  up  to 
this  point,  it  will  be  with  a  thrill  of  delight  that  the  pupils 
proceed  to  carry  out  this  command.  After  a  reasonable  time 
has  been  spent  in  attempting  to  form  the  object,  the  teacher 
should  give  the  signal  to  "  Stop  work.  While  the  pupils  are 
"  in  position,"  the  teacher  should  pass  along  and  examine  the 
work.  It  will  probably  be  found  that  a  considerable  number 
have  failed.     These  are  thus  taught  by  experience  that  their 


262  KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

observations  were,  after  all,  too  careless,  and  that  closer 
attention  umst  be  given. 

Those  who  have  failed  should  have  an  opportunity  to  re-ex- 
amine the  object ;  but  the  time  given  for  this  purpose  should  be 
shorter  than  before.  Having  a  keen  sense  of  their  former 
failure,  the  pupils,  as  soon  as  the  screen  is  raised,  will  make  the 
best  possible  use  of  their  time.  In  a  moment,  attention  will  be 
adjusted^  (pa-ge  53)  the  defects  which  caused  their  former  failure, 
will  b3  remedied.  All  will  wait  impatiently  for  the  occasion 
to  shew  that  they  are  now  able  to  do  the  proposed  work. 
The  teacher  gives  the  command  "Work,"  at  the  same  time 
replacing  the  screen.  This  time  they  do  not  fail.  It  is  obvious 
that  exercises  of  this  nature,  repeated  from  day  to  day  with 
various  kinds  of  material,  must  cultivate  some  of  the  most 
important  of  the  intellectual  faculties. 

In  dealing  with  the  more  difficult  forms,  the  teacher  should 
direct  (page  236)  the  observations  of  the  pupils  and  lake  them 
over  the  work  by  successive  stages,  as  follows  : 

Placing  the  object  before  the  class,  the  teacher  proceeds  to 
question  : 

How  many  blocks  form  the  width  of  the 

seat? 
How  many  the  length  of  the  seat  ? 
The  seat  is  how  many  blocks  high  ? 
The  back  is  how  many  blocks  high  ? 
What  kind  of  blocks  are  used  foi.-  the 

foot  rests? 
What  kind  of  blocks  are  used  for  the 
arms? 

After  the  object  has  been  thoroughly  examined  as  a  whole,  it 
should  be  reduced  to  its  constituent  blocks,  and  then  rebuilt  by 
the  teacher  and  pupils,  in  successive  stages  thus : 


KINDERGARTEN   WORK  AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION.  263 

'ITie  pupils  being  "  in  position,"  the  teacher,  in  view  of  the 

whole  class,  places  in  proper  form,  the  eighteen  whole  blocks 
for  the  seat  Then  on  the  command,  "  Work,"  the  pupils  take 
the  same  step.  The  pupils  resume  position,  and  observe  the 
teacher  take  the  next  step.  This  may  consist  in  forkning  the 
back.  On  the  command  "  Work,"  the  pupils  carry  the  work 
through  the  same  stage.  The  pupils  again  come  to  position 
and  observe  the  teacher  take  the  next  step,  which  may  be  placing 
the  arms.  At  the  command  "  Work,"  the  pupils  take  the  same 
step,  etc.  etc 

It  is  obvious,  tfiat  the  work  of  placing  the  material  in  position  will  be 
facilitated  by  marking  off  the  tops  of  the  pupils*  desks,  into  inch  squares. 
This  is  most  readily  done  by  means  of  a  little  toothed  wheel  fixed  in  a 
handle.     It  can  be  made  by  any  blacksmith,  and  will  cost  but  a  few  cants. 

Language  Training. — After  the  pupils  can  readily  construct  the  given 
form,  it  should  be  employed  as  a  means  of  still  further  cultivating  the 
imagination,  and  of  training  in  the  use  of  language.  For  this  purpose, 
the  teacher  should  tell  the  pupils  a  story,  in  which  the  object  just  built, 
is  made  to  play  an  important  part.  The  imagined  incidents  should, 
of  course,  be  made  as  interesting  as  possible.  When  all  know  the  incidents, 
pupils  should  be  successively  called  upon  to  relate  the  story.  This  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  pupil  at  once  lays  bare  the  defects  in  his  language.  A 
very  gentle  criticism  by  the  teacher  should  be  followed  by  a  renewed  effort, 
and  so  on. 

After  the  pupils  can  tell  the  given  story  fairly  well,  they  should  be 
encouraged  to  "make  up  "  stories  in  connection  with  the  object  under  con- 
sideration. Attempts  of  this  nature  have  an  educative  value  distinct  from 
those  just  described.  They  appeal  directly  and  powerfully  to  the  creative 
imagination.  Of  course,  the  circumstance  that  the  story  is  the  product  of 
the  pupil's  imagination,  does  not  reduce  its  value  as  a  means  of  training  in 
language. 

Desk  Work,  or  Self-ins;bruotion  for  the  Little 
Ones. — While  the  teacher  is  employed  with  other  classes,  the 
little  children  may  be  usefully  employed  as  follows : — 

(a)  They  may  repeat  the  forms  already  taught 

(b)  They  may  imitate  forms  placed  upon  the  table  in  full  view. 


264 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


(c)  They  may  build  from  a  diagram  placed  upon  the  boai,  -,, 
or  printed  on  a  large  sheet. 

(d)  They  may  be  left  entirely  to  the  dictates  of  their  own 
fancy  as  to  forms. 

(e)  They  may  write  some  of  the  stories  which  have  been 
told  in  connection  with  the  forms. 

(f)  They  may  invent  stories. 

It  will  be  found,  that  the  self-instruction  here  and  elsewhere  indicated 
in  these  pages,  will  simplify  the  difficulty  of  keeping  order.  The  pupils 
become  too  deeply  absorbed  in  these  pleasant  occupations,  to  give  trouble ; 
and  thus,  much  of  the  school-room  worry  disappears. 

The  number  of  forms  that  may  be  thus  treated  is  unlimited. 
Teachers  should  examine  the  illustrations  given  in  "  The  Kin- 
dergarten Guide "  No.  2  by  Maria  Kraus-Boelte  and  John 
Kraus.  The  forms  on  pages  265-6  are  given  by  way  of  sug- 
gestion : 

Forms  of  Beauty  with  Blocks.— After  the  pupils 
have  been  led  to  understand  the  simple  underlying  principle 
of  the  balance  of  parts^  they  may  in  a  great  measure  be  left  to 
themselves  in  this  part  of  the  work. 


They    may    be   led    to   apprehend    the 
balance  of  parts,  thus  : 

What  form  is  this  ?      I  shall  now  place  a 
brick  here  (placing  it  at  the  top)  : 


We  now  have  this  form  : 

Where  should  we  place  another  brick  to 
balance  the  form?  The  pupils  will  suggest 
that  there  must  be  one  placed  at  the  bottom. 

The  teacher  may  now  say  "  I  shall  place 
a   brick   in    the   middle  on   the   right    side ; 


where  should  another  go  to  balance  the  figure  ?  "  etc.  etc. 


KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND    SELF- INSTRUCTION.  265 


^ 


^ 


266  KINDERGARTEN  WORK  AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


267 


When  the  teacher  has  thus  created,  at  the  dictation  of  the 
pupils,  a  number  of  forms  such  as  the  following,  it  will  be  found 


u 


r 


1 


J I 


J:hat  the  pupils  will  of  their  own  accord  apply  the  principle 
of  balance  of  parts.  They  will  now  amuse  themselves  in  mak- 
ing: sym metrical  figures  with  the  blocks. 

By  way  of  suggestion,  however,  the  teacher  should  occasion- 
ally place  a  new  design  before  them  for  imitation.  Thus,  it 
will  be  found,  that  forms  such  as  some  of  those  on  pages  272-3, 
(See  also  Kindergarten  Guide)  thrown  in  by  the  teacher,  will 
^rove  very  stimulating : 

Value  of  Exercises. — (i)  They  greatly  strengthen  the 
power  of  attention. 


268  KINDERGARTEN   WORK  AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

(2)  They  are  peculiarly  fitted  to  impart  energy  and  quickness 

to  the  powers  oi  observation, 

(3)  They  are  a  powerful  means  of  strengthening  the  memory. 

(4)  The  very  imperfections  of  the  forms  develop  constructive 

imagination.  The  imagination  corrects  all  defects  in 
the  rude  representation. 

(5)  *  The  constant  attempt  to  express  in  material  forms  the 

conceptions  of  the  mind,  strengthens  the  will- 
power. 

(6)  *  The  attempt  to  do  while  the  mind  is  stimulated  on  so 

many  sides,  imparts  skill  or  manual  dexterity, 

(7)  The  practice  of  connecting  the  object  built,  with  interest- 

ing stories,  can  be  made  the  means  of  cultivating 
both  the  constructive  and  the  creative  phase  of  ima- 
gination. 

(8)  The  telling  of  the  stories  mentioned  in  (7)  under  the 

guidance  of  the  teacher;  improves  the  pupils  in  oral 
composition. 

(9)  The  Fom     of  Beauty  furnish  a  powerful  instrument  0/ 

aesthetic  culture. 

IL  The  Tablets. 
The  Tablets  should  be  formed  of  thin  pieces  of  wood  well 
seasoned.     They  should  be  of  the  following  forms: 
(i)  The  square,  one  inch  to  the  side. 

(2)  The  equilateral  triangle,  one  inch  to  a  side. 

(3)  The  right  angled  isosceles  triangle,  each  of  the  sides  coii- 
taining  the  right  angle  being  one  inch. 

(4)  The  right  angle  scalene  triangle,  one  of  the  sides  con- 
taining the  right  angle  being  two  inches  and  the  other  one  inch 
long. 

"  The  benefit  claimed  in  Nos.  .5  and  6  will  be  evident  upon  si  slight  examination  of 
those  kinds  of  work  more  especially  designed  for  hand-training  as  Slat-WOrlC,  VQSAr 

weaving,  papcr-rclJllij,  etc. 


OF  TH 


r^'jps 


KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND    SELF-INSTRUCTIONr^s^^^gaOFORHV^, 

(5)  The  obtuse  angled  isosceles  triangle,  the  side  opposite 
the  obtuse  angle  being  two  inches  long. 

The  following  has  been  found  to  be  a  good  arrangement  of 
colours. 

(i)  The  squares  red  on  one  side,  and  white  on  the  other. 

(2)  The  equilateral  triangles,  yellow  on  one  side  and  purple 
on  the  other. 

(3)  The  right  angled  issoceles  triangle,  red  on  one  side  and 
green  on  the  other. 

{4)  The  right  angled  scalene  triangle,  one  side  orange  and 
the  other  blue. 

(5)  The  obtuse  angled  isosceles  triangle,  one.  side  black  the 
other  indigo. 

Remark. — It  is  found  that  all  kinds  of  tablets  can  be  supplied  by  a  good 
cabinet-maker  at  the  rate  of  sixteen  cents  per  hundred.  For  Public  School 
purposes,  it  is  recommended  that  a  sufficient  number  be  procured  to  furnish 
each  pupil  with  about  40  of  each  kind.  A  little  paste-board  box  is  all  that 
is  required  to  hold  the  tablets  used  by  each  pupil. 

Object  Lessons  on  the  Tablets. — As  in  the  case  of 
the  blocks,  before  the  constructive  exercises  with  any  particular 
tablet  are  entered  upon,  the  tablet  should  be  made  the  basis  of 
an  object  lesson. 

Thus,  by  means  of  questions,  the  pupils  should  be  led  to 
count  the  sides  and  compare  their  lengths.  The  ideas  repre- 
sented by  the  words,  parallel,  perpendicular,  oblique,  etc.,  should 
be  elicited.  The  different  kinds  of  angles  should  be  con- 
sidered, etc. 

Just  as  time  permits,  these  object  lessons  should  be  extended 
beyond  the  particular  tablet  to  the  geometrical  forms  that  can 
be  made  with  it. 

Thus,  supposing  the  pupils  to  have  mastered  the 
equilateral  triangle,  the  rhombus  may  be  considered, 
and  the  pupils  called  upon  to  form  this  figure  with  two  equi- 
lateral triangles. 


270  KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

The  trapezoid  may  be-  considered 
and  the  pupils  called  upon  to  form 
this  figure  with  three  triangles.     The 
rhomboid  with  four,  etc.,  etc. 

Again  supposing  the  right  angled  scalene  triangle  to 
have  been  carefully  considered,  the  pupils  may  be 
called  upon  to  form  an  oblong  with  two  of  these  tri- 
angles. 

A  large  obtuse  angled  triangled  with  two. 


A  rhomboid  with  two. 
A  trapezum  with  two. 

A  rhomboid  with  four. 

A  trapezoid  with  four. 

After  the  obtuse  angled  triangle  has  been  discussed  : 

An  equilateral  triangle  with  three. 
A  trapezium  with  three. 


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KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION.  27 1 


A  trapezoid  with  tliree. 
A  rhomboid  with  four. 

A  large  obtuse-angled  triangle  with  four. 
A  hexagon  with  six,  etc.  etc : 


^ 


It  is  evident  that  work  of  this  kind  will  make  the  pupils  very  familiar 
with  the  forms  dealt  with  in  elementary  geometry.  The  teacher  must  not  for- 
get, however,  that  the  chief  value  of  Kindergarten  work  centres  in  the 
constructive  exercises. 

Constructive  Exercises  with  Tablets. — The  mode 
of  dealing  with  the  tablets  will  naturally  follow  the  same  general 
lines  as  that  with  the  blocks. 

As  the  forms  made  with  the  tablets  represent  the  pictures  of 
things  rather  than  the  things  themselves,  they  can  be  exhibited 
to  the  pupils  upon  a  vertical  surface  better  than  upon  a 
horizontal  one,  such  as  a  table.  The  following  simple  method 
is  found  to  answer  the  purpose  remarkably  well : 

(i)  Hang  against  the  wall  a  board  2)%  ft.  x  2.%  ft.,  painted  of  a  light 
drab  color,  and  ruled  or  pricked  into  inch  squares  like  the  tops  of  the  pupils' 
desks. 


2  72  KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

(2)  Let  the  teacher  set  aside  fifty  or  sixty  of  each  kind  of  tablet  for  his 
own  use,  and  have  these  furnished  with  little  brads.  The  brads  should  pro- 
ject from  the  centre  of  each  tablet  about  an  eighth  of  an  inch.  In  order  to 
make  provision  for  the  different  colors,  half  of  each  kind  of  tablet  should 
have  the  brad  on  one  side,  and  half  on  the  other. 

The  teacher  can  now  with  the  utmost  ease  present  any  desired  form. 

Self-Instruction  with  the  Tablets. 

(a)  The  children  may  repeat  with  the  tablets  any  form  already 
taught,  and  then  draw  the  same  upon  their  slates,  or  in  their 
Kindergarten  drawing  books.  This  change  of  work,  without 
the  intervention  of  the  teacher, — is  found  most  valuable  in 
securing  long  continued  attention. 

(d)  They  may  produce  new  forms^  either  exhibited  by  the 
teacher,  or  dictated  by  their  own  fancy.  When  such  forms 
have  been  completed  with  the  tablets,  they  should  be  drawn^  as 
mentioned  in  the  foregoing  paragraph. 

Rem  xRK. — Of  course  this  kind  of  desk  work,  answers  equally  well  for 
the  work  with  the  sticks,  to  be  described  hereafter. 

The  forms  that  may  be  thus  treated,  are  inexhaustible.  The 
teacher  should  examine  "  The  Kindergarten  Guide  "  No.  3,  by 
Maria  Kraus-Boelte,  and  John  Kraus.  Those  given  on  page 
273  are  suggestive. 

In  dealing  with  the  Forms  of  Beauty,  those  on  page  274  are 
given  by  way  of  suggestion  : 

III  The  Sticks. 

Each  child  should  be  supplied  with  a  number  of  square 
sticks  such  as  are  used  in  the  Kindergarten.  Some  of  these 
should  be  one  inch  long,  some  two  inches,  some  three,  some 
four,  and  some  five.  They  will  be  much  more  interesting  to  the 
pupils,  if  colored.  Such  sticks  are  very  inexpensive,  and  may  be 
obtained  from  any  dealer  in  Kindergarten  material. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  how  the  blocks  and  the 
tablets  may  be  used,  as  the  means  of  making  the  pupils  familiar 


KINDERGARTLN    WORK    A.NU   SJiLF-INSTRUCTION.  .  /, 


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with  geometrical  forms.  The  sticks  furnish  peculiar  facilities 
for  repeating  and  extending  such  instruction. 

Thus,  the  little  ones  may  be  called  upon  to  form  with  sticks 
right  angles,  obtuse  angles,  acute  angles,  polygons,  heptagons, 
hexagons,  etc.,  etc 

The  teacher  must,  however,  as  in  the  case  of  the  blocks,  or 
the  tablets,  exercise  the  same  care  to  prevent  such  lessons 
becoming  irksome. 

The  sticks  also  furnish  excellent  material  for  the  study  of 
numbers,  each  pupil  performing  the  fundamental  arithmetical 
operations  for  himself.  It  cannot  be  claimed,  however,  that 
this  method  is  peculiar  to  the  Kindergarten,  or  that  the  sticks 
are  superior  to  other  counters. 

Constructive  Exercises  with  the  Sticks.— In  order 
to  represent  the  forms  to  the  class,  the  teacher  should  have  a 
portion  of  the  blackboard,  ruled  into  two-inch  squares,  the 
lines  being  formed  with  white  paint,  and  as  thin  as  can  be 
seen  by  all  the  pupils.  Upon  these  lines,  the  teacher  may 
easily  exhibit  by  means  of  the  ordinary  blackboard  crayon,  any 
form  which  he  desires  the  pupils  to  produce  by  means  of  sticks 
upon  the  lines  forming  the  checkered  surface  of  their  desks. 

The  following  forms  are  suggestive :  See  page  276.  Teachers 
should  examine  "  The  Kindergarten  Guide,*'  No.  4,  by  Maria 
Kraus-Boelte  and  John  Kraus. 

Kindergarten  Drawing. 
It  is  obvious  that  the  sticks  are  merely  embodied  lines.    The 
mode  of  dealing  with  part  of  the  work,  therefore,  needs  no  ex- 
planation.   The  following  forms  are  suggestive :   See  page  277. 

IV.  Exercises  for  Hand  Training. 
For  Public  School  purposes,  perhaps  the  most  valuable  em- 
ployments are  Slat  Interlacing,  Paper  Folding,  and  Mat  Weav- 
ing.    These  furnish  an  almost  endless  variety  of  choicest  exer- 


276  KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


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KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND    SELF  INSTRUCTION.  277 


a;8  KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

cises  for  training  the  hand.  They  are,  at  the  same  time,  fully 
equal  to  any  of  the  other  employments  as  a  means  of  mental 
training.     Therefore,  their  value  can  scarcely  be  overestimated. 

Slat  Interlacing. — Slat  interlacing  consists  in  making 
forms  by  means  of  interlacing  thin  elastic  wooden  slats.  For 
the  purpose  here  contemplated,  those  ten  inches  long  and  two- 
fifths  of  an  inch  wide,  are  best.  A  number  sufficient  to  supply 
each  pupil  with  about  sixteen,  should  be  provided.  They  are 
inexpensive  and  may  be  obtained  from  any  dealer  in  Kinder- 
garten material.  These  slats  are  well  adapted  to  give  instruc- 
tion in  geometrical  forms,  but  as  these  have  received  sufficient 
consideration  in  dealing  with  other  material,  it  is  best  to  proceed 
at  once  with  the  exercises  for  hand-training.  In  dealing  with 
the  simpler  forms,  the  following  method  is  found  to  work  well : 

The  teacher,  having  made  with  the  slats  set  apart  for  his  own 
use,  a  number  of  patterns  of  the  particular  form  he  requires 
to  have  imitated,  distributes  them  among  the  pupils  for  in- 
spection. After  the  lapse  of  a  short  time,  these  should  be  col- 
lected, and  the  command  given  "  to  work."  Those  who  fail 
should  have  another  opportunity,  but  the  time  allowed  for  ex- 
amination should  be  shortened,  etc. 

For  the  more  difficult  forms,  the  work  should  be  divided  into 
a  number  of  stages,  as  in  the  case  of  dealing  with  blocks. 

The  teacher  will  be  in  a  much  better  position  to  give  in- 
struction in  this  department  of  work,  (in  fact,  in  all  depart- 
ments) if  he  will  take  the  trouble  to  read  some  of  the  little 
Kindergarten  works  on  Slat  Interlacing  (Number  4  of  the 
"  Kindergarten  Guide  "  by  M.  Kraus-Bolte  and  J.  Kraus  will 
give  all  that  is  required.) 

The  following  forms  are  offered  by  way  of  suggestion.* 
See  page  279. 

*  Slat  Interlacing  furnishes  one  of  the  best  forms  of  "  desk  work"  for  the  pupils  while  the 
teacher  is  engaged  with  other  classes.  It  should  consist  in  imitating  forms  distributed  by 
the  teacher.  Since  in  this  case  they  are  at  liberty  to  look  at  the  specimens  as  often  as 
ihcy  please,  the  format  may  be  somewhat  difficult. 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION.  279 


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250 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


Paper  Folding. — For  the  older  First  Book  pupils,  the 
employments  of  Slat  Interlacing,  Paper  Folding,  and  Mat 
Weaving  are  peculiarly  appropriate.  They  make  a  greater 
demand  upon  the  powers  of  observation  and  reflection,  than  do 
the  exercises  with  the  blocks  and  tablets,  while  they  give 
a  most  excellent  hand-training.  The  peculiar  value  of  the 
occupations  just  named  for  securing  manual  dexterity  depends 
in  a  considerable  measure  upon  the  circumstance,  that  the  ex- 
ercises permit  of  any  desired  gradation  in  point  of  difficulty. 
Thus,  some  of  the  simpler  work,  may  be  performed  by  a  child 
of  five  years,  while  the  more  dificult  forms  fairly  tax  the  powers 
of  pupils  of  eight  or  ten. 

For  Paper  Folding,  the  teacher  should  provide  sheets  of  paper  four  inches 
square.  Manilla  paper  which  is  tough  and  of  various  colors  is  best  for  the 
purpose.  Any  dealer  in  stationary  can  supply  the  large  sheets  of  Manilla 
paper.     The  cutting  of  these  to  the  proper  size  presents  but  little  difficulty. 

The  forms  here  given  will  suggest  much  useful  work,  but  teachers  desir- 
ing to  introduce  this  admirable  occupation  should  procure  "  Steiger's 
Designs  for  Paper  Folding." 

PAPER-FOLDING. 

Having  placed  in  the  hands  of  each  child  one  of  the  small  folding-sheets, 
the  teacher  takes  a  sheet  of  the  same  form,  but  so  large  that  its  foldings 
may  be  readily  seen  by  all  the  pupils  (say  8  inches  square. )  Having  secured 
close  attention  to  her  movements,  the  teacher  brings  two  of  the  opposite 
sides  together  and  smooths  the  paper.  At  the  command  "work"  the 
pupils  take  the  same  step.  The  teacher  now  brings  the  opposite  sides 
together,  smoothing  the  paper  as  before.  At  the  command  **  work,"  the 
pupils  carry  the  work  through  the  same  stage. 

When  opened,  the  sheet  presents  this  appearance : 


mr^- — 


Eig.  I. 


KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


281 


Now,  bringing  the  opposite  comers  over  each  other  and  smoothing,  the 
sheet  presents  this  appearance  : 


^;  ■■•■ 

■  / 

/ 

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Fig.  2. 

The  pupils  should  not  be  permitted  to  advance  to  the  construction 
exercises  in  Paper- Folding,  till  they  can  neatly  and  quickly  secure  the 
creases  shown  in  Fig.  2. 

First  Basis. — The  teacher  having  ascertained  that  all  the  pupils  have 
creased  their  papers,  she  takes  her  large  sheet  creased  in  the  same  way, 
turns  the  comers  upon  the  centre,  and  smooths  the  paper.  At  the  com- 
mand "work,"  the  pupils  do  the  same  with  their  sheets.  All,  now,  have 
in  their  hands,  this  form ; 


Fig*  3.  (First  Basis.) 


iTom  this  lorm,  other  forms  are  made  in  endless  variety.  A  form  from 
which  others  are  made  is  called  a  basis.  Fig.  3,  shows  the  First  Basis  in 
Paper-Folding. 

Derived  form.  No.  i. — Let  the  teacher  see  that  all  the  pupils  have  Basis 
No  I  in  their  hands.     Now,  taking  the  same  form,  (large)  she  turns  the 


282 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


comers  back  on  the  middle  of  the  four  sides  of  square  and  smooths  the 
paper.  At  the  command  "work,"  the  pupils  do  the  same.  This  gives  us 
the  following  form  • 


Fig.  4,  (Derived  Form,  No.  i.) 


Derived  Form,  No.  2. — Let  the  teacher  see  that  all  the  pupils  have 
"Derived  Form  No.  i"  in  their  hands.  Now,  taking  the  same  form, 
(large)  she  simply  bends  in  the  comers.  At  the  command  "work,"  "he 
pupils  do  the  same.     This  gives  us  the  following  form  : 


Fig.  5,  (Derived  Form  No.  2. ) 


Forms,  Endless  in  Variety. — This  system  or"  producing  new  forms  by 
slightly  modifying  old  forms,  may  be  carried  on  indefinitely.  As  other 
bases  may  be  assumed  each  as  prolific  as  the  one  we  have  denominated 
First  Basis,  it  is  obvious  that  Paper- Folding  is  as  rich  in  the  matte»-  of 
iorms  as  any  of  the  other  Kindergarten  occupations. 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND    SELF-INSTRUCTION. 


283 


Forms  Suggested. — The  following  forms  produced  from  First  Basb  are 
given  by  way  ol  suggestion  : 


Harmonious  Blending  of  Colors. — After  the  pupils  have  had  some  praC» 
tice  in  producing  forms  from  a  single  sheet,  they  should  be  directed  to  take 
two  or  more  sheets  of  different,  but  harmonious  colors,  and  laying  them 
over  each  other  fold  as  if  one  sheet.  This  blending  of  colors  adds,  wonder- 
fully, to  the  beauty  of  the  forms  and  th  erefore  to  the  interest  in  the  exercises. 

Paper- Folding  as  Desk-Work. — Paper- Folding  opens  up  a  magnificent 
field  for  Self-instruction. 

(1)  Pupils  may  be  permitted  to  reproduce  at  pleasure  forms  already 
taught. 

(2)  They  may  be  allowed  to  invent  new  forms. 

(3)  They  may  produce  particular  forms  demanded  by  the  teacher.  For 
this  purpose  the  teacher  should  make  the  required  forms,  with  large  sheets, 
and  so  place  them  that  they  may  be  readily  seen  by  all  the  pupils. 

Note. — Permissions  to  blend  colors,  should  always  be  granted  the 
pupils  when  engaged  in  Desk-work. 

Mat-Weaving. — This  occupation  so  interesting  and  use- 
ful to  children,  consists  of  weaving  strips  of  colored  paper  into 
a  leaf  of  paper  differently  colored.  For  this  purpose  the  leaf, ' 
with  the  exception  of  a  margin,  is  cut  into  strips,  and  the 
weaving  is  performed  by  means  of  needles  of  peculiar  construc- 
tion. A  glance  at  the  diagrams  given  below  will  clearly  indicate 
the  nature  of  the  employment.  The  teacher's  power  of  apply- 
ing this  admirable  means  of  training  will  be  greatly  increased  by 
examining  "  Steiger's  Designs  for  Mat-Weaving. 


284  KINDERGARTEN   WORK    AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

Mat- Weaving  furnishes  an  occupation  for  Seat  Work  unsur- 
passed m  excellence,  by  any  of  the  other  departments  of  work. 

The  following  diagrams  are  given  by  way  of  suggestion :  See 
page  285. 

The   "Modified   Forms"  Under  More  Favorable 
Conditions. 

For  Public  School  purposes,  it  is  believed  that  the  exercises  already 
outlined,  are  sufficiently  varied.  Without  any  change  whatever  in  the 
present  school  arrangements  at  least  some  of  them  may  be  introduced. 
Where  the  teacher  is  much  pressed  for  time,  they  will  still  be  found  of  great 
utility  as  "Desk  Work."  It  is  found,  however,  that  in  large  graded 
schools  a  much  better  plan  is  tO  make  room  for  them  by  adopting  the 
Half-Time  System.  By  this  system,  the  pupils  in  the  First  Book 
take  only  part  of  each  half-day  for  the  regular  work  laid  down  in  the 
Public  School  programme,  leaving  the  remaining  part  for  other  exercises. 
To  illustrate  how  the  arrangement  affords  the  necessary  tinu  for  Kinder- 
garten work  in  large  Schools,  let  us  suppose  that  there  are  two  separate  de- 
partments doing  First  Book  work,  each  department  provided  with  a  teacher 
employed  solely  upon  the  regular  work  of  the  programme.  Now,  for  the 
pupils  of  these  two  departments,  let  us  suppose  a  Kindergarten  room  with 
a  teacher  capable  of  doing  Kindergarten  work.  Let  us  suppose  the  pupils 
of  the  two  departments  first  mentioned  divided  into  two  sections,  a  junior 
and  a  senior  section. 

In  the  morning,  the  juniors  of  both  rooms  pass  into  the  Kindergarten 
department,  and  the  seniors  into  the  rooms  for  ordinary  work.  After 
intermission,  a  change  takes  place,  the  seniors  passing  into  the  Kinder- 
garten room,  and  the  juniors  into  the  room  for  ordinary  work. 

It  is  found  that  this  arrangemen'  gives  time,  not  only  for  the  employ- 
ments described  in  the  foregoing  pages,  but  for  those  Kinrlergarten  exercises 
designed  for  physical  and  moral  training.  The  teacher  of  the  Kindergarten 
department,  not  being  held  responsible  for  the  pupils'  ability  to  pass  the 
promotion  examination,  turns  kindly  to  those  subjects  on  the  Public 
School  programme  which  are  too  often  neglected.  Thus  the  culiivation  of 
the  voice  by  simple  songs,  object  lessons,  and  oral  composition  receive 
due  attention. 


KINDERGARTEN    WORK   AND    SELF-INsTRUCTION.  285 


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286  KINDERGARTEN    WORK    AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION. 

Results  Manifested. 

In  schools  in  which  these  modified  forms  of  Kindergarten 
work  have  been  adopted,  the  following  results  have  been  clearly- 
manifest  : 

{a)  The  pupils  have  a  much  higher  degree  of  general  intelli- 
gence. 

(b)  They  have  a  greater  power  of  concentration. 

{c)  They  have  a  much  better  command  of  language. 

(d)  They  do  better  in  arithmetic,  getting  the  first  ideas  more 
readily,  and  also  conceptions  of  fractions- 

{e)  They  learn  more  easily  the  forms  of  letters  and  words, 
and  hence  reading  comes  easier. 

(/)  The  exercises  have  completely  dispkced  the  inveterate 
idea  that  school  is  a  pleasant  place  to  go  from. 

{£)  The  little  ones  being  delighted  with  the  school,  the 
interest  of  parents  is  awakened  ;  and  the  interest  n(  the  parents 
helps  "  the  teacher  to  make  the  school." 

Self-Instruction  in  Common  Work. 

Reproduction. — With  the  kindergarten  exercises  maybe  wtroduced 
much  desk-work  in  connection  with  the  ordinary  lessons.  The  importance 
of  "  doing  "  in  primary  education  has  been  often  pointed  out.  Reproduc- 
tion is  the  test  of  self-activity.  And  hence  every  lesson  should  be 
made,  as  far  as  possible,  the  occasion  of  self-instruction.  It  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  during  working  hours,  all  the  classes  akould  be  always  at 
definite  work.  In  a  properly  managed  rural  school,  as  good  results  can  be 
produced  as  in  any  graded  school  :  because^,  from  the  force  of  circum- 
stances, the  law  of  self-education  has  a  chance  to  operate  ;  pupils  must  help 
themselves,  and  self-reliance  must,  to  some  extent,  be  cultivated.  In  a 
graded  school,  where  each  teacher  has  but  one  class,  there  is,  in  general,  too 
much  teaching  and  too  little  independent  work.  The  teacher  is  most  of 
the  time  teaching  and  the  pupils  are  most  of  the  time  trusting  :  with  the 
ever-present  help  of  the  teacher  they  lose,  or  never  fully  acquire,  the  spirit 
of  self-help.  But  in  rural  schools  much  time  must  either  be  given  to  self- 
instruction,  or  wasted  in  idleness.  Let  every  teacher  ot  a  country  school 
make  provision  for  having  all  his  pupils  always  at  work,  and.  in  real  educa- 
tional  results,  he  may  challenge  comparison  with  the  best  graded  schools 


KINDERGARTEN   WORK     AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION.  287 

Preparation  of  Lesson   Provides  for  Self-Instruction.— The 

advanced  classes  can  easily  be  kept  employed.  But  for  all  classes,  sclf-in- 
straction  work  should  be  carefully  considered  and  properly  prescribed. 
Hap-hazard  suggestions  given  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  are  all  but  use- 
less. Definite  work  should  be  assigned  for  a  definite  purpose.  Work  given 
merely  as  "  busy  "  work,  from  a  vague  idea  that  youthful  hands  ought  to  be 
doing  **  something,"  is  the  futile  expedient  of  a  feeble  teacher.  But  work 
prescribed  for  a  definite  result  in  self-instruction  is  of  the  highest  value.  In 
educative  results  it  is  the  most  profitable  work  done  in  the  school.  There- 
fore, an  important  part  of  the  honest  teacher's  preparation  for  every  lesson 
will  be  to  determine  the  amount^  the  purpose^  and  the  plan  of  the  neeessary 
self-instruction  exercises. 

The  teacher  will  have  but  little  difficulty  in  assigning  such  work  on  the 
ordinary  lessons  of  the  day,  and  so  interspersing  them  with  the  kindergar- 
ten exercises  which  have  been  described  that  they  will  not  fail  to  be  inter- 
esting, and,  therefore,  profitable. 

1.  Writing  and  Drawing. — Children  should  begin  writing  and  drawing 
as  soon  as  they  enter  school.  Kindergarten  drawing,  the  exercises  accom- 
panying the  primary  readers,  and  easy  sketches  of  familiar  things,  will 
supply  much  desk-work.  The  sooner  a  child  acquires  some  facility  in  writ- 
ing the  sooner  he  is  ready  to  reap  all  the  benefits  of  self-instruction. 

2.  Reading. — In  learning  to  associate  the  sound  and  form  of  a  letter,  the 
child  should  make  the  letter,  and  should  write  the  word  when  the  letters  of 
it  have  been  learned.  He  learns  the  sounds,  e.g.^  of  d,  r,  /,  and  fixes  their 
forms  in  his  mind  by  writing  them  separately  and  together  in  the  word  cai. 
Even  ability  to  rule  his  slate  or  paper  neatly  requires  much  attentive  practice. 

3.  When  a  pupil  has  become  familiar  with  some  of  the  letters  and  theii 
powers,  he  may  be  set  to  select  the  letters  which  form  the  names  of  objects 
presented  in  pictures.  For  example,  from  the  picture  of  a  pan,  he  may 
be  asked  to  select  the  letters  and  write  as  neatly  as  he  can  the  word,  pan. 

4.  The  child  should  write  all  the  new  words  of  a  lesson,  and,  as  soon  as 
possible,  should  have  practice  in  forming  easy  sentences  from  given  words. 

5.  He  should  copy  short  sentences,  especially  proverbs,  gems  of  poetry, 
etc.,  upon  which  interesting  lessons  have  been  given,  and  which  it  is  wise 
to  have  committed  to  memory, 

6.  After  a  few  exercises  in  telling  stories  from  pictures — under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  teacher — ^it  affords  good  practice  to  leave  the  pupil  entirely  to 
his  own  perception  and  imagination  in  interpreting  suitable  pictures. 


288  KINDERGARTEN   WORK   AND   SELF-INSTRUCTION 

7.  Children  are  always  interested  in  stories  told  by  the  teacher,  and  the 
reproduction  of  such  stories  is  a  valuable  exercise. 

Arithmttic. — From  the  beginning,  arithmetic  should  supply  useful  exam< 
pies  for  desk-work.     For  example : 

1.  There  may  be  practice  in  making  and  varying  the  number-forms  with 
blocks,  or  other  counters,  and  on  slates,  e.g.^  different  forms  for  five, 
sixy  etc. 

2.  There  may  be  practice  in  writing  down  the  sums  of  pairs  of  numbers 
and  the  differences  of  pairs,  first  in  words,  then  in  figures  ; .  e.g.,  X  X  '>  \ 
four  and  two  are  six.  Then  4  +  2  =  6,  6-2=4,  ^^c.  Also  in  forma\ 
additions,  of  numbers,  by  means  of  figures,  e.g.^  2+1+3  =  6,  the  addenda 
Deing  arranged  as  in  common  addition. 

3.  After  numerous  problems  have  been  solved  by  means  of  number- 
forms,  there  may  be  practice  in  making  up  easy  problems,  such  as  the 
teacher  has  given  ;  for  example :  Charlie  has  6  cents  and  he  pays  2  cents  for 
a  pencil  for  his  sister,  how  much  has  he  left  ?  Willie  has  six  turkeys  and 
sells  two  of  them  for  three  dollars,  and  the  rest  at  a  dollar  a  pair,  how 
much  money  does  he  receive  altogether?  Several  columns  of  numbers 
may  be  given,  the  sum  of  no  column  exceeding  6  :  e.g.. 


I 

2 

5 

2 

I 

3 

0 

2  tens  =  20 

2 

2 

I 

I 

2 

I 

2 

3  tens   =   30 

3 

I 

2 

3 

3 

I 

4 

I  tens   =   10 

6  tens  =  60 

4.  Similarly,  pupils  maybe  asked  to  tell  all  they  can  about  e.g.,  the  num- 
ber six  :  five  and  one  are  six,  (5  +  1=6);  two  and  four  are  sue  (2  +  4  =  6), 
etc.  There  are  three  twos  in  six  ;  there  are  two  threes  in  six,  etc.  And  so 
on  with  the  pictures  for  larger  numbers  ;   as,  e.g.,  twenty  represented   by 

four        ♦        How  many  fives  ?  How  many  fours  ?  How  many  twos,  etc. 
♦    ♦ 

5.  In  a  similar  way,  such  practice  may  lead  to  the  mastery  of  the  mul- 
tiplication table:  e.g.x 

♦    ♦    ♦    Once  3  is  3. 
^44    Twice  3  is  6,  etc.,  etc. 
The  foregoing  are  simply  thrown  out  as  suggestions.     The  thoughtfu. 
teacher,  who  prepares  his  lessons,  will  be  able  to  present  an  endless  varietj 
of  interesting  self-instruction  work.     The  rule  is  :   All  at  WOrk,  and  al- 
ways at  work. 

Note.— The  Kinder-Garten  Guide  (which  has  been  referred  to)  ought  to 
be  in  every  teacher's  hands;  Published  by  E.  Steiger  &  Co.,  from  whom  all 
sorts  of  Kinder-garten  material  can  be  had  at  reasonable  rates. 


OUTLINE   METHODS   IN   SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  289 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

OUTLINE  METHODS  IN   SPECIAL  SUBJECTS. 

L  Geography. 

1.  Objects  of  the  Study. — Apart  from  its  practical  utility  Geography 
when  properly  taught,  affords  an  excellent  means  of  mental  discipline  and 
general  culture.  It  appeals  to  the  imagination,  strengthens  the  memory, 
and  stimulates  the  reasoning  powers  by  inducing  the  habit  of  discriminating 
facts  and  forming  real  relations.  It  supplies  invaluable  information  about 
innumerable  familiar  objects  and  aspects  of  nature,  and  excites  an  interest 
in  these  that  gives  a  new  charm  to  every  country  walk. 

2.  Preparatory  Object  Lessons— Object  Lessons  on  plants,  ani- 
mals and  minerals,  should  be  begun  as  soon  as  the  pupil  enters  school,  and 
may  be  continued  throughout  the  whole  course.  An  object  lesson  for  geo- 
graphical purposes  may  have  more  of  the  character  of  an  information  lesson 
(imparting  fact-lore).  Such  lessons  should  include  the  geographical  classi- 
fication of  animals  and  plants,  as  for  example  those  of  the  Hot  Region, 
those  of  the  Temperate  Region  and  those  of  the  Cold  Region.  Those 
animals  and  plants  which  do  not  come  under  the  observation  of  the  chil- 
dren, should  receive  most  attention. 

3.  Cardinal  Points  of  Compass. — (i)  Sun  at  Noon. — Draw  atten- 
tion to  the  position  of  the  sun  at  noon  and  inform  the  pupils  that  when  we 
face  the  sun  at  that  hour,  we  look  toward  the  South,  and  that  our  backs,  are 
to  the  Norths  the  left  hand  to  the  East  and  the  right  hand  to  the  West, 

(2)  Sun  at  Rising  and  Setting. — Inform  the  pupils  that  the  sun  rises 
in  the  East  and  sets  in  the  West. 

(3)  Shadow  of  Stick. — Set  up  a  stick  about  four  feet  long  in  a  vertical 
position  in  the  yard.     At  noon  the  shadow  points  North  a.nd  South. 

(4)  Diagram  upon  Floor. — Draw  upon  the  floor  a  long  line  pointing 
North  and  South.  Bisect  this  by  another  of  the  same  length,  pointing  East 
and  West.  Causing  a  pupil  to  take  the  centre,  give  directions  "Go  North," 
"Go  South,"  "Go  East,"  in  quick  succession.  Now,  put  in  lines  for  the 
ii^ermediate  directions  and  proceed  as  before.  Again — Place  a  map 
directly  over  the  diagram  with  the  top  to  the  North.  Now,  after  resting 
an  instant  the  end  of  the  pointer  upon  the  central  part  of  the  map,  move  it 
towards  the  sides,  the  pupils  describing  the  movement  as  N,  S,  E,  &c. ,  &c. 
Inform  the  pupils  that  it  is  for  convenience  we  hang  the  map  against  the  walL 


290  OUTLINE   METHODS    IN    SPECIAL    SUBJECTS. 

4.  Developing  Idea  of  Map. — (l)  Boundaries. — Let  the  teacher 
secure  the  assistance  of  the  class  in  drawing  a  plan  of  the  school-room  floor, 
marking  the  place  of  the  doors,  windows,  etc.  This  plan  may  be  drawn  first 
upon  the  floor,  then  the  pupils  should  draw  it  upon  their  slates.  Deal  with 
I  he  school  yard  in  the  same  manner. 

(3)  Scale  in  Maps. — The  teacher  draws  a  horizontal  line  about  two  feet 
long  upon  the  board,  and  sajrs  "  Let  us  call  tins  the  North  side  of  the  room." 
"  Who  will  come  to  the  board  and  draw  lines  for  the  other  sides  ?  "  The 
sides  being  drawn,  the  teacher  calls  upon  others  to  mark  the  places  for  the 
doors,  windows,  desks,  etc.  The  teacher  then  draws  a  horizontal  line  one 
foot  long  and  says,  "  Let  us  call  this  the  North  side  of  the  room  ;  "  **  Who 
will  come  to  the  board  and  put  in  the  other  sides  ?  "  Proceeds  as  before. 
Next  a  liae /our  inches  long  is  drawn  and  the  teacher  calls  this  the  North 
side  and  proceeds  as  in  ike  other  case.  The  pupils  thus  see  that  the  school 
room  can  be  represented  by  pictures  of  different  sizes. 

(3)  The  teacher  hands  a  boy  a  foot  rule  and  asks  him  to  measure  the 
North  side  and  the  East  side  of  the  room.  Supposing  it  is  found  that  the 
measurements  are  20  feet  and  24  feet,  the  teacher  says  "  If  I  call  every  foot 
one  inch,  how  many  inches  long  will  be  the  lines  to  represent  those  sides  ?  " 
Let  these  be  drawn  upon  the  board,  etc.  Now  let  another  pupil  take  the 
foot  rule  and  find  the  length  of  the  teacher's  desk.  Supposing  it  proves 
to  be  5  feet,  get  the  pupils  to  decide  that  it  will  take  a  line  5  inches  long  to 
represent  it  in  the  plan.  The  school  yard  may  now  be  represented,  taking 
one  inch  to  represent  a  yard.  (These  processes  employ  child's  own 
activity,  pp.  129,  seq.  ;  they  define  fundamental  ideas,  pp.  80-81  ;  they 
base  representation  on  presentation,  pp.  93-94  :  they  connect  the  new  with 
the  old,  p.  171.) 

6.  Definitions  of  Natural  Divisions  of  Land  and  Water.— 

(l)  Pupils  to  form  Definitions. — Be  careful  that  the  things  defined  are 
thoroughly  understood,  and  that  the  pupils  as  far  as  possible  form  the  defini- 
tions for  themselves.     (Page  49. ) 

(2)  Presentativt  to  Representative. — From  adjacent  hill  lead  the  pupil  to 
the  conception  of  a  mountain.  From  well  known  creek,  to  the  idea  ex- 
pressed by  **  river."     (Page  74.) 

(3)  Moulding-Board  Representations, — Letting  the  blue  surface  of  the 
moulding-board  represent  the  sea,  form  islands,  capes,  peninsulas,  etc., 
with  river  sand. 

(4)  Pictorial  Representations. — Lead  the  pupils  to  examine  pictorial  re- 
presentation of  islands,  bays,  capes,  etc. 


OUTLINE   METHODS   IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  29 1 

6.  Map  Notation. — The  pupils  should  be  taught  to  read  the  map  as 
one  does  the  newspaper.  Many  of  the  facts  given  in  most  so-called  des- 
criptive parts  of  geographical  text-books,  are  clearly  stated  upon  the  map 
and  do  not  need  further  expression.  In  order  that  the  pupils  may  feel  at 
home  with  a  map,  they  must  be  familiar  with  the  manner  of  representing 
not  only  capes,  bays,  peninsulas,  towns,  etc.,  but  plateaus,  lowlands,  eta 

The  pupils  should  be  led  to  discover  for  themselves  the  important  physi- 
cal features  of  each  country.  This  will  compel  him  to  think  while  studying 
the  map,  and  lead  to  self-activity  and  independence  of  research.  (Pages  92 
and  105.) 

7.  Developing  Ideas  of  the  Earth's  Shape  and  Size.— (i)  Shape. 

of  the  Earth. — Let  the  teacher  provide  peas,  marbles,  oranges,  or  other 
spherical  bodies.  Holding  the  marble  and  the  pea  up  to  view,  "In  what 
respect  do  they  resemble  each  other?  "  (Shape).  "  In  what  respect  do  the 
orange  and  the  ball  resemble  each  other  ?  "  The  marble  and  the  orange  ? 
So,  too,  this  globe  (school-globe)  resembles  the  world  in  shape.  (Page  58.) 

(2)  Sitt  of  the  Earth. — How  long  would  it  take  a  man  to  walk  around 
it?  How  long  would  it  take  a  train  running  forty-five  miles  an  hour  to 
run  around  it,  etc.  ? 

8.  Basic  Ideas  in  Mathematical  Geography.— (i)  Poles,  Axis, 

Equator,  Latitude,  etc. — Causing  an  ordinary  black  globe  to  spin,  call  on 
pupils  to  draw  a  line  through  those  points  upon  the  surface  which  move 
most  quickly.  The  line  drawn  through  those  points  represents  the  equator. 
"  What  points  move  most  slowly  ? "  These  two  points  are  the  poles. 
The  straight  line  joining  these  is  called  the  axis.  All  points  between  the 
equator  and  the  North  Pole  are  said  to  be  in  North  Latitude.  All  points 
between  the  equator  and  the  South  Pole  are  said  to  be  in  South  Latitude. 
Lead  the  pupils  to  see  the  necessity  of  lines  of  latitude  and  lines  of  longi- 
tude, by  asking  them  to  describe  the  position  of  points  made  with  the  crayon 
upon  the  surface  of  the  black  globe. 

(2)  Hot  Region,  Cold  Region,  Temperate  Region. — Show  the  pupils  the 
location  of  those  regions.  **  Why  does  the  belt  around  the  middle  of  the 
earth  become  so  hot,  and  why  does  the  temperature  become  lower  as  we 
move  towards  the  poles  ?  " 

9.  A  Map  as  an  Enlarged  Picture  of  a  Portion  of  the  Globe.— 

Map  and  Globe  taught  together. — The  teacher  says  "On  this  map  of  the 
world,  I  see  two  large  portions  of  land,  joined  by  a  narrow  neck.  (Hsra 
point  to  map  of  North  and  South  America).  **  Who  will  come  to  the  globe 
and  find  the  same?"    Again — "  On  this  map  of  the  world  you  perceive 


292  OUTLINE   METHODS   IN   SPECIAL   SUBJECTS. 

this  large  island  (Australia)."    Will  you  find    the  same  island  on  the 
globe?   etc.  etc. 

10.  Interest  in  Map  Work. — Connection  between  Places  and  Charac- 
teristic Animals  and  Plants. — In  dealing  with  a  map  of  the  world,  the 
grand  divisions  should  be  connected  with  such  people  and  with  such  pro- 
ductions as  may  be  characteristic.  The  teacher  should  make  the  dead  mat- 
ter of  maps  fairly  glow  with  interest. 

Pointing  to  a  map  the  teacher  says  '*  Here  is  the  home  of  the  Negro." 
A  few  words  upon  the  customs  of  the  n^roes  in  Africa  will  secure  the 
closest  attention.  When  the  attention  is  rivetted,  the  teacher  says  '*  This 
country  is  called ; "  here  write  the  word  Africa  upon  the  board  ;  do  not 
pronounce  it  till  all  have  looked  at  it.  If  pronounced  at  first,  the  pupils 
will  not  care  to  examine  the  spelling.  Pupils  then  called  upon  to  pro- 
nounce and  spell  the  word.  The  teacher  may  now  throw  in — *'  It  is  also 
the  h9me  of  the  hippopotamus  and  the  giraffe."  "  Who  will  find  the  home 
of  the  Negro  on  the  globe.'"    Other  regions  dealt  with  in  a  similar  manner. 

11.  Causes  Affecting  Climate. — Distance  from  the  Equator,  Height 
above  the  Sea-level. — Before  entering  upon  the  continents  the  pupils  should 
be  made  familiar  with  the  principal  causes  determming  the  climate  of  a 
place. 

(a)  The  distance  from  the  equator. 

(b)  The  height  above  the  sea-level. 

{e)  The  nature  of  the  winds  sweeping  over  it 

(d)  Slopes  towards  or  away  from  the  equator. 

(e)  The  nature  of  the  currents  (warm  or  cold)  washing  its  shores. 

12.  The  Continents.— ( I)  Topical  Method.— {a)  The  Topical  Method 
should  be  followed.  (Analytic  Method,  p.  167.)  Teacher  and  pupils  enter 
upon  the  study  of  the  different  topics.  This  method  properly  carriefl  out, ' 
requires  wide  reading  on  the  part  of  teacher  and  pupils.  The  pupils  must 
have  access  to  the  best  books  of  reference  and  also  to  the  best  books  of 
recent  travel.  The  books  of  reference  will  be  especially  useful  as  giving 
information  for  the  ordinary  recitation  in  geography  ;  and  an  hour  should 
be  set  apart  each  week  for  the  reading  by  the  pupils  of  interesting  items 
found  in  the  books  of  travel 

(b)  The  desire  of  the  class  to  enter  upon  the  study  of  any  prarticular 
division  or  country,  may  be  aroused  to  a  state  of  enthusiasm  by  exhibiting 
pictures  of  its  striking  characteristics,  as  regards  scenery,  great  works  of 
art,  people,  animals,  plants,  etc.  The  solar  camera,  of  course,  surpasses 
all  other  apparatus  for  this  purpose.     Specimens  of  productions  will  also 


OUTLINE   METHODS    IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  293 

prove  very  useful.     Specimens  and  pictures  Mrill  be  gladly  collected  by  the 
pupils.     (Page  76.) 

(r)  Since  Political  Geography  rests  upon  and  is  largely  determined  by 
physical  conditions,  it  follows  that  physical  Geography  should  be  first 
learned.  The  natural  order  of  topics  would  be  (i)  Outline  and  coast  fea- 
tures, (2)  Surface,  including  the  great  highland  regions,  slopes,  moun- 
tains, rivers,  lakes.  {3)  Climate  and  productions.  (4)  People. 

(2)  Map-work  in  Oejteral. — The  most  effective  means  of  making  the 
pupils  familiar  with  part  of  a  map,  is  to  practise  them  ia  drawing  the  part 
from  memory.  (Page  91.)  Map-drawing  should,  however,  be  regarded  as  a 
means  not  as  an  end.  It  is  not  necessary,  then,  that  the  maps  of  the 
pupils  should  be  very  accurate.  The  energies  of  the  pupils  should  not  be 
wasted  in  learning  any  of  the  so-called  systems  of  map-drawing  by  ctn- 
struclien  lines. 

Although  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  maps  drawn  by  the  pupils  be 
absolutely  correct,  the  maps  from  which  the  pupils  learn  geography  should 
be  accurate.  An  outline  rapidly  drawn  upon  the  board  by  the  teacher  is 
almost  certain  to  give  erroneous  ideas  of  relative  position  and  of  proportion. 
A  true  outline  painted  in  some  bright  color  upon  the  ordinary  blackboard, 
or  better  still,  upon  a  movable  blackboard  of  slate-cloth,  is  almost  indis- 
pensable in  teaching  maps.  For  a  similar  reason  the  pupils  should  use 
pasteboard  outlines  of  the  continents.  The  true  form  of  the  boundary 
being  thus  retained,  the  pupils  are  not  ^likely  to  go  far  astray  in  putting  in 
the  other  map- work. 

Whenever  possible  life  should  be  thrown  into  the  dead  matter  of  maps, 
by  connecting  the  places  with  something  of  permanent  interest,  as  for 
example  :  Trafalgar,  with  the  naval  engagement — The  Bay  of  Fundy,  with 
its  wonderful  tides,  etc.  '  Maps  should  be  so  taught  as  tc  enkindle  the  ima- 
gination and  stir  the  feelings.     (Transference  of  Interest,  page  113.) 

(3)  Map-Drawing  as  Desk  Work. — Map-drawing  furnishes  one  of  the 
most  useful  forms  of  Desk  work.  This  arises  from  the  following  considera- 
tions : 

(a)  It  keeps  the  hands  employed. 

{h)  The  work  done  by  the  pupils  in  a  given  time  may,  by  changing 

slates,  be  brought  to  a  speedy  test. 
(r)  By  this  means  the  teacher,  while  employed  with  other  classes,  can 
cause  the  pupils  constantly  to  review  maps,  thus  keeping  map- 
work  already  taught,  fresh  in  the  memory. 
^  Map- Drawing  as  a  means  of  Education  in  Geography. — Map-drawiog 
M  one  of  the  most  speedy  and  effective  means  of  examinigg  the  pupils  either 


294  OUTLINE    METHODS    IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS. 

for  the  purpose  of  promotion,  or  for  the  purpose  of  testing  home  work. 
When  used  as  an  instrument  of  examination,  map-drawing  should  not  be 
confined  to  mere  physical  features  and  political  matters  :  the  animals, 
plants,  minerals,  &c.  of  a  region,  may  be  as  readily  indicated  on  the  map, 
as  can  be  gulfs,  capes,  islands,  countries,  towns,  &c. 

(5)  Coast  Features. — As  in  the  work  of  drawing  the  outline,  the  pupils 
have  already  drawn  the  coast-features,  it  follows,  that  these  should  be 
learned  in  this  connection.  Capes,  islands,  peninsulas,  bays,  gulfs,  etc.,  are 
a  part  of  the  coast -line  and  should  be  learned  when  this  element  is  dealt 
with. 

(6)  Surface. — It  is  impossible  to  give  a  clear  conception  of  the  structure 
of  the  surface  of  a  country  by  mere  description,  or  even  by  pictures.  For 
this  part  of  the  work  we  require  raised  mz.'^'s,.  The  raised  maps  offered  for 
sale  are  rather  expensive ;  but  by  means  of  the  ordinary  moulding  board* 
such  maps  may  be  easily  made  by  teacher  and  pupils.  In  the  work  of  form- 
ing the  sand-maps  on  the  moulding  board,  the  teacher  would  be  greatly 
assisted  by  having  on  his  desk  the  "  Royal  Relief  Atlas,"  published  by 
Messrs.  Sonnenschein  and  Allen,  LonJon. 

While  looking  at  the  sand-map,  the  pupils  should  be  required  to  des- 
cribe the  position  of  the  great  highland  regions,  give  the  boundaries  of 
the  great  slopes,  etc.  In  other  words,  the  pupils  should  be  led  as  far  as 
possible  to  discover  the  facts  for  themselves,  by  examining  the  map.  This 
is  true  of  all  map-work,  and  leads  to  independent  habits  of  investigation. 
The  best  way  of  fixing  these  divisions  of  the  surface  in  the  memory,  is 
to  have  the  pupils  construct  them.  (Pages  95  and  129.  Doing  defines 
Ideas.)  For  this  purpose,  each  should  be  supplied  with  a  pan  and  a  small 
quantity  of  putty.  A  few  minutes  should  be  given  for  examining  the  large 
map,  and  then  the  work  should  be  done  entirely  from  memory. 

The  description  of  a  Highland  Region  should  include  an  enumeration  of 
its  mountain  chains,  rivers,  and  lakes  ;  and  the  description  of  a  Lowland 
Region  should  include  an  enumeration  of  its  rivers  and  lakes.  Now  this  is 
the  connection  in  which  the  names  of  the  mountains,  rivers,  and  lakes 
should  be  taught,  that  is,  their  position  should  be  described  with  reference 
to  natural  divisions  of  the  surface,  not  (at  first  at  least)  to  the  artificial 
divisions  of  political  geography. 

(7)  Climate  and  Productions. — The  Climate  and  Productions  naturally 
follow  the  surface.  General  views  should  first  be  given.  (See  Guyot'a 
Common  School  Geography). 

*A  board  4  x  3  f t.  painted  blue  and  swung  between  two  upright  pieces  will  answer 
vrvery  purpose.  The  front  edge  should  be  provided  with  a  hinged  leg  so  that  the  hoard 
loay  be  presented  at  any  angle  to  the  pupils. 


OXJTLINE   METHODS   IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  295 

(t)  Political  Divisions. — As  in  the  case  of  other  map-work,  the  political 
divisions  should  be  fixed  in  the  memory  by  drawing  them. 

(9)  Great  Towns. — When  the  greatness  of  a  city  is  the  outcome  of  some 
obvious  natural  cause,  the  attention  of  the  pupils  should  be  directed  to  the 
fact  by  qtiestionSf  For  example,  the  city  of  Para  is  likely  to  flourish,  as  it 
is  the  sea-port  for  the  produce  of  the  Amazon  Basin.  Towns  should  be 
grouped  upon  their  respective  rivers  and  coasts.  Coupling  what  a  town  is 
noted  for  with  its  name,  makes  the  work  more  interesting  and  useful. 

13.  Political  Geography.-  (i)  Interest;  how  aroused.— The  desire  of 
the  class  to  enter  upon  the  study  of  any  particular  country,  should  be  aroused 
by  exhibiting  pictures  of  its  striking  characteristics,  as  regards  scenery, 
people,  animals,  plants,  great  works  of  art,  etc.,  also  by  exhibiting  speci- 
mens of  its  productions.  The  Solar  Camera  is  of  great  value  to  excite  in- 
terest in  the  study  of  a  country.  (Secures  unity  of  interest  and  prepar- 
atory adjustment,  pp.  60-61.) 

A  few  words  as  to  the  history  of  the  people,  citing  especially  any  great 
historical  events  will  prove  interesting. 

(2)  Surface. — The  nature  of  the  surface  of  the  country  should,  as  far  as 
possible,  be  elicited  from  the  pupils.  This  eliciting  is  now  perfectly 
reasonable,  because  the  pupils  have  only  to  remember  what  general  division 
of  the  surface  the  country  is  a  part  of.  The  teacher  supplements  at  his 
discretion  what  can  be  drawn  from  the  pupils. 

(3)  Climate  and  Productions. — In  a  similar  manner,  the  climate  and 
productions  of  the  country  should  be  elicited.  A  little  information  by  way 
of  supplement,  is  all  that  is  required. 

(4)  Occupation  of  the  People. — The  occupation  of  the  people  should  be 
derived,  as  far  as  possible,  from  a  consideration  of  the  natural  productions, 
etc. 

(5)  Commerce;  Great  Cities. — Foreign  or  Domestic  Exports,  Imports, 
Commercial  Towns — Routes  of  Commerce.  In  learning  about  the  great 
cities,  good  pictures  will  be  helpful  in  many  ways. 

(6)  Journeys. — These  should  be  made  very  interesting  by  pictures. — 
Solar  Camera  of  great  value. 

(7)  Comparison. — Comparison  should  be  carried  out  in  every  subject 
The  continents  drawn  on  the  same  scale  should  be  always  before  the  pupils. 
The  pupils  should  be  constantly  exercised  upon  these,  and  also  upon  the 
chart,  showing  the  comparative  volume  of  trade  of  different  countries,  the 
comparative  wealth,  the  comparative  population,  military  strength,  etc 
The  teacher  can  easily  form  such  charts  by  enlarging  the  diagrams  given  ia 


296  OUTLINE   METHODS   IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS. 

some  family  atlas  of  recent  date.     (Composes  the  most  perfect  form  •i 
attention,  pages  58  and  59.) 

Note. — ^The  following  books  are  recommended  for  teachers  : — Geikie's 
Teaching  of  Geography,  MacMillan  &  Co.;  Dr.  King's,  Aids  and  Methods 
in  Geography,  Lee  and  Sheppard,  Boston. 

n.  Arithmetic. 

Retnarks  on  Gtneral  Principles  of  the  Method. — It  is  strictly  in  line  with 
psychology  : 

1.  It  begins  with  the  presentatvoe  and  advances  to  the  representative. 
Number  is,  of  course,  pure  abstraction ;  in  the  method  here  outlined,  the 
pupil  begins  not  only  with  concretes,  but  with  intuitions  that  make  them 
concrete.  That  is,  the  arrangement  of  each  number- form  is  an  analyzed  one 
which  makes  relations  distinct.  Present  seven  things  in  a  row,  say,  and 
the  resulting  idea  is  vague  ;  it  will  have  to  be  made  definite  by  analysis  and 
synthesis.  Symmetrical  arrangement,  with  different  intuitions  of  the  same 
form,  leads  to  clear  perception^  and  so  aids  the  higher  mental  processes. 

2.  It  follows,  that  this  actual  partition  and  re- combination  of  things  call 
out  gradually  the  analytic  and  synthetic  functions  of  mind. 

3.  Si«ce  nHmber  is  not  so  much  a  relation  as  a  relating,  the  method  gives 
the  pupil  a  clear  idea  of  number — an  idea  which  in  the  highest  mathematics 
is  not  to  be  corrected,  but  only  to  be  made  explicit. 

4.  The  varying  forms  give  both  novelty  and  distinctness.  The  child 
sees  that  the  relation  is  the  same  although  the  form  is  different.  He  is 
abstracting,  and  abstracting  in  the  natural  psychological  way,  simply  and 
unconsciously.     He  is  learning  to  thit^  relations  from  seeing  them. 

5.  Giving  the  symbol  as  soon  as  the  idea  is  mastered,  is  justified  by 
common  sense  as  well  as  by  psychology.  There  is  variety  and  therefore 
interest ;  dealing  with  the  objects  too  long,  becomes  monotonous  ; 
symbols  open  up  a  new  field.  There  comes  also  a  feeling  oi  power,  of 
advance,  etc.  There  is  economy  of  time  and  power  for  both  teacher  and 
pupil  It  affords  means  oi  self -instruction.  In  short,  the  justification  is  on 
the  same  ground  for  the  child  as  for  the  race.  The  human  mind  always 
economizes  by  means  of  some  condensed  symbol  as  soon  as  the  idea  is 
familiar.  It  is  worse  than  useless  to  be  always  going  back  to  beginnings  ; 
this  would  render  progress  extremely  slow. 


•UTLINE   METHODS   IN    SPECIAI.  SUBJECTS.  297 

GENERAL  SUGGESTIONS. 

1.  Arithmetic  is  taught  for  the  sake  of  (a)  its  ralue  in  discipline,  (t)  its 
value  as  knowledge,  i.e,,  its  utility  in  the  affairs  of  life. 

2.  Fo  secure  these  values  as  thoroughly  as  possible,  all  arithmetical 
study  is  to  be  a  training  in  thinking  ;  all  merely  mechanical  work  is  to  be 
banished.  There  must  indeed  be  mechanical  drill,  but  this  must  be  founded 
%n  miuitions. 

3.  For  this  training  in  thinking,  as  well  as  for  acquiring  skill,  systematic 
training  in  Mental  Arithmetic,  from  first  to  last,  is  absolutely  indispensable. 
Indeed,  so  far  as  Arithmetic  is  concerned,  the  principal  work  of  the  teachei 
in  the  Public  School  is  to  practise  the  children  in  Mental  Arithmetic. 

4.  At  each  and  every  stage  Mental  Arithmetic  must  precede,  and  lead 
op  to  Written  Arithmetic.  As  compared  with  the  effectiveness  of  written 
Aritmetic  alone,  it  may  be  fairly  said  that  with  the  systematic  teaching  */ 

Mental  Arithmetic,  twice  the  Knowledge  and  twice  the  Power  will 
be  acquired  in  a  given  time. 

5.  In  mental  work,  rapidity,  correct  language,  and  logical  order  ol 
thought  and  statement  must  be  constantly  aimed  at. 

6.  In  mental  Arithmetic  it  is  desirable  that  the  teacher  should  follow  the 
sequence  of  some  book.  Otherwise  the  "  course  "  is  likely  to  be  without  logi- 
cal method  ;  disconnected  problems  are  of  but  little  use  in  mental  training. 
At  the  outset,  children  need  no  book  ;  when  they  have  advanced  to  division, 
and  its  applications,  they  may  prepare  assigned  lessons  in  some  text -book. 
But  a  book  supplies  only  type-questions  ;  many  similar  questions  should  be 
framed  by  teacher  and  pupils. 

7.  In  Mental  Arithmetic  there  should  be  frequent  written-examinations, 

8.  Grood  counters  are  cubes  (black  and  white)  with  faces  a  centimetre 
(about  \  inch)  square  j  ten  of  them  are  represented  by  a  rectangular  prism 
(units,  black  and  white  alternately, )  which  makes  a  convenient  ten-unit. 
For  making  the  number-forms,  a  blackboard  may  be  used  having  holes 
bored  two  inches  apart  in  horizontal  and  vertical  lines.  With  this  are  roo 
white  (wood  or  bone)  buttons  with  short  stems  for  inserting  in  the  holes. 
The  number  forms  can  be  built  up,  for  teaching,  or  copying  by  the  pupils. 

A,,— First  Stagc—Th^Numbtrs  One  to  Five, 

I.  The  numbers  i  to  5,  inclusive,  taught  intuitively  by  Number-Forms 
and  by  counting — these  "forms"  being  presented  through  (a)   dots  or 


298  OUTLINE   METHODS   IN   SPECIAL  SUBJECTS. 

points  on  blackboard,  slate,  etc.,  (t)  arrangement  of  balls  of  abacas,  (e) 
arrangement  of  cu3fs,  etc.,  used  as  counters.  Number-forms  are  to  be 
used  because  the  intuition  of  a  number  of  objects  in  a  g^oup  is  clear  and 
comparatively  easy  if  there  is  a  symmetrical  arrangement ;  e.g.^  the  per- 
ception and  ultimate  conception  of  five  are  easier  from  this  arrangement 

•  • 

•        than  from  this   •     •     •     •     • 

•  • 

2.  It  will  be  found  useful  to  run  over  the  number  forms  from  one  to 
eight,  or  even  ten,  to  give  a  general  idea  of  the  numbers  represented  ;  then 
begin  to  make  these  ideas  definite  making  i — 5  the  first  stage.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  spend  time,  first  of  all,  in  learning  to  count.  That  5,  e.g., 
follows  4,  and  precedes  6,  is  seen  from  the  intuitions,  and  but  little,  if  any 
formal  drill  in  counting  is  necessary. 

3.  From  principles  which  have  already  been  set  forth,  it  will  be  well,  after 
reasonable  drill  on  one  form,  to  make  other  presentations  of  a 

•  •     •         • .         • 

Number  Form,  ^^.,  of  /hv ;— •  •  •  •  •  I        •  • 

4.  Practice  is  to  be  had  in  all  ihe  combinations  of  the  several  numbers 
(see  table  btlow),  first,  the  additions,  then  the  subtractions,  etc.  ;  and  every 
number  is  to  be  mastered  before  the  next  number  is  taketi  up.  This  means 
(a)  the  addition  of  pairs  of  numbers,  by  Number  Forms  in  various  ways 
(see  above),  e.g.^  (b)  subtraction  or  the  resolution  of  numbers  into  pairs  by 
similar  means,  (c)  the  multiplication  and  division  (exact)  of  pairs,  as  e.g., 
three  times  two  are  six  ;    the  twos  in  six  are  three. 

Note. — {c)  May  be  left  till  the  combinations  from  i  to  10  are  learned. 
Practice  in  counting  backward  and  forward. 

5.  Of  course,  this  includes  practice  in  number-forms,  on  board,  slate,  etc 

•    •  *       I  *  *    *    I 

For  example : —    •       "       •  "  •  etc 

6.  Give  the  figure  (symbol)  as  soon  as  an  idea  of  a  number  is  clearly 
grasped. 

7.  When  sufficient  practice  has  been  had  with  blocks,  dots,  etc,  give 
practical  problems,  for  example  :  Charlie  paid  one  cent  for  a  pencil,  and 
four  cents  for  an  orange,  how  much  did  he  spend  ?  etc,  etc.  When  drilling 
on  addition,  let  the  practical  problems  be  in  addition  ;  when  in  sub- 
tnutitm,  let  the  practical  problems  illustrate  subtraction.     Then,  problems 


OUTLINE   METHODS    IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  299 

illustrating  lx)th   operations.      So   with   multiplication  and  division.     B) 
using  the  number-forms  the  operation  can  be  seen,  and  thb  leads  to  undei  ■ 

sfanJing. 

8.  There  should  be  exercises  in  rapid  mental  work,  e.g.,  5-1+2-1+3 
-  2,  etc. 

9.  Have  practice  in  the  corresponding  written  (word  and  symbol)  exer- 
cises as  soon  as  the  children  have  mastered  the  mental  process. 

•   I       •    I    •    • 
For  example  : —         *  •    *•  in  words,  two  and  three  are  five  ;  in 


•    • 


symbols,    2  +   3    =      5. 

B,^Se£ond  Stage.— Numbers  Six  to  Ten. 

The  numbers  6  to  10,  inclusive,  to  be  taught  intuitively,  all  the  steps 
given  in  the  first  stage  being  followed.     This  includes  especially 

(1)  Practice  in  the  addition  of  two  numbers  whose  sum  is  not  greater  than 
ten ;  see  table  given  below.     Practical  problems  as  before. 

(2)  Subtraction.     Practical  problems. 

(3)  The  multiplication  and  division  of  numbers  within  the  above-named 
limits.     This  practice  means 

(a)  The  multiplication  table  of  numbers  from  i  to  10 ;  this  supposes  (as 
before)  much  "drill,"  but  drill  grounded  on  intuitions. 

{b)  Division  of  the  products  obtained  in  (a)  by  an  abstract  divisor  ;  (b) 
division  in  the  sense  of  distribution,  the  converse  of  the  operation  in  (a)  :  in 
(a)  the  factors  are  given  and  the  product  is  to  be  found  ;  in  (b)  the  product 
is  given  and  the  factors  are  to  bt  found.  It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated 
that  these  processes  are  to  be  rendered  visible — there  must  be  intuitions 
through  number-pictures. 

{c)  Measurement  of  the  products  of  the  multiplication  table^  i.e.^  division 
in  the  sense  of  being  contained  in  ;  e.g.,  2  is  contained  in  4,  6,  8,  etc. 

(4)  Practice  in  the  corresponding  written  exercises  as  soon  as  the  children 
have  mastered  the  processes  mentally.  Practice,  also,  in  solving  and  in 
constructing  practical  problems. 

(5)  After  ten  has  been  learned,  the  tens  may  be  run  over  :  twen-ty, 
thir-ty,  for-ty,  etc.    Then,  5  tens=4  tens+  i  ten,=:3  tens-h2  tens,  etc.,  etc. 

The  following  table,  which  exhibits  all  combinations  of  number  from  i 
to  20,  shews  substantially  the  work  to  be  done  in  these  two  stages,  and  is 
the  basis  of  all  combinations. 


300 


OUTLINE   METHODS   IN   SPECIAL   SUBJECTS. 


C — Third  Stage.— Numbers  from  One  to  Twenty. 
I.  Table  op  Combinations  on  Numbers  from  i  to  20. 


1 

% 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

I 

l+l 

2+1 

3+1 

4  +  1 

S  +  i 

6+1 

7  +  1 

8  +  1 

\\\ 

2+2 

3  +  2 

4+2 

5  +  2 

6  +  2 

7  +  2 

11 

1  +  2 

3  +  3 

4+3 

5  +  3 

6  +  3 

7  +  3 

\% 

1  +  3 

2  +  3 

4+4 

5  +  4 

6  +  4 

lO+I 

13 

1+4 

2  +  4 

3  +  4 

5  +  5 

9  +  2 

10  +  2 

14 

1  +  5 

2  +  5 

3  +  5 

4  +  5 

8  +  3 

9+3 

10  +  3 

15 

1  +  6 

2  +  6 

3  +  6 

4+6 

7  +  4 

8  +  4 

9  +  4 

10+4 

16 

1  +  7 

2  +  7 

3  +  7 

6  +  5 

7  +  5 

8  +  5 

9  +  5 

10+5 

IT 

1+8 

2  +  8 

6  +  6 

7  +  6 

84-6 

9  +  6 

10+6 

18 

1+9 

5  +  6 

7  +  7 

8  +  7 

9  +  7 

10  +  7 

19 

4+7 

5  +  7 

6  +  7 

8  +  8 

9+8 

10  +  8 

^0 

3-r8 

4+8 

5  +  8 

6  +  8 

7  +  8 

9  +  9 

10+9 

2  +  9 

3  +  9 

4+9 

5  +  9 

6  +  9 

7  +  9 

8  +  9 

I +  10 

2+10 

3  +  10 

4+10 

5  +  10 

6+10 

7+10 

8+10 

9  +  10 

10+10 

2.  The  upper  part  of  the  table  gives  the  combinations  of  the  numbers  to 
ten  iuclusive  ;  the  lower  part,  the  combiriAtions  of  the  numbers  from  ii  to 
20  inclusive.  The  ways  of  forming  five  are: — 4  and  I,  3  and  2,  besides  the 
related  forms,  2  and  3,  and  I  and  4.  In  all,  there  are  55  different  combin- 
ations, and  no  more.  The  other  combinations,  forty-five  in  all,  are  simply 
different  ways  of  expressing  some  of  these  as  e.g.y  3  and  2  are  5,  may  be  also 
expressed  by  2  and  3  are  5.  In  the  table,  the  equivalent  forms  are  separated 
from  the  fundamental  forms  by  wider  spacing,  e.g.^  i  +  2,  so  separated 
from  2+1. 

The  plan  to  be  followpd  b  the  same  as  that  of  the  preceding  stages. 
Number  forms  of  all  the  numbers  from  1 1  to  20  are  to  be  given  by  means  of 
balls  on  Frame,  dots,  etc. ;  and  by  means  of  these  the  partitions  and  recom- 
binations are  to  be  shown.  Take,  e.g.^  the  number  eleven.  From  the 
table,  the  different  combinations  for  eleven  are  lo  and  i,  9  and  2,  8  and  3. 
7  and  4,  6  and  5.  Then  with  the  following  number-form  for  eleven,  all  th» 
unit-forms  of  which  are  now  familiar  to  the  child,  we  have  : 


♦  ♦  ♦♦♦ 

♦  ♦  ♦♦♦ 

♦  ♦ 
-    ♦ 

♦  ♦ 

♦  ""♦♦♦♦♦     ^  ♦^    ♦    ♦ 

104-1  =  11 

9 

« 

h2  =          8       +3     =          7+4 

♦♦♦    ♦    ♦ 
♦♦♦    ♦    ♦ 

-        6+5 


OUTLINE  METHODS  IW   SPECIAL  SUBJECTS.  301 

All  these  forms  may  be  made  upon  the  ball  form,  by  simply  moving 
^«ne  of  the  balls  of  the  original  figure,  so  that,  as  in  all  the  preceding  forms, 
pupils  see  that  these  five  forms  are  identical.  And  similarly  with  the  other 
forms  up  to  20.  Making  these  partitions  and  combinations,  and  expressing 
the  process  in  words  and  figures,  afiford  good  self-instruction  work, 

3.  (a)  This  table  includes  the  usual  forms  :— i  plus  2,  3,  4,  etc.  ;  2  plus 
I,  2,  3,  etc.  ;  3  plus  I,  2,  3,  etc.  If  thoroughly  learned  from  intuitive- 
teaching,  it  will  prove  a  solid  foundation  for  all  primary  work. 

{6)  It  is  applicable  to  the  higher  combinations  of  numbers,  e.^,,  take 
those  of  5;  4+1  leads  to  14+1,24+1,  34+1.  etc;  2+3  leads  to  21+3, 
2  +  23,  23  +  3,  24 -r  3,  etc 

T>,^Fourth  Stage. 

1.  The  genesis  of  numbers  from  I  to  100,  inclusive— the  method  of  intui- 
tion being  followed  as  in  the  preceding  stages. 

2.  Make  the  pupil  familiar  with  combinations  oitens  as  units ;  e.g.,  as  in 
the  combination  of  five,  4+ 1  =  5,  so,  4  tens+ 1  ten  =  5  tens  ;  this  by  visible 
and  tangible  objects.  Call  attention  to  the  fact  that  thirty  =  three- ty,  is  3 
tens  ;  forty  is  four-ty,  i.e.,  4  tens,  etc.  In  fact,  practice  on  the  tens  (using 
intuitions)  may  be  had  as  soon  as  ten  is  learned. 

3.  Teach  the  intermediate  numbers,  e.g.^2i—2  tens+  I  ;  22  =  2  tens +  2, 
etc.;  31  =  3  tens  + 1,  32=3  tens +2.  Give  practice  in  counting  backwards 
and  forwards  by  2's,  by  3's,  etc.  :  2,  4,  6,  etc.  ;  3,  6,  9,  etc.  Give  notation 
and  numeration  to  100,  inclusive.  Throughout,  keep  prominent  the  com- 
posite character  of  the  numbers,  viz.  tens  and  units ;  e.g.,  35  =  3  tens 
and  5  units. 

4.  Give  practice  in  the  addition  of  a  number  of  one  digit  to  one  of  two 
digits  ;  the  higher  number  to  be  exhibited  as  so  many  tejis  and  units.  Form 
series  of  numbers,  e.g.,  give  two  or  three  terms,  and  have  the  children  con- 
tinue the  series,  12,  14,  16,  etc.  ;  9,  12,  15,  etc.  ;  21,  25,  29,  etc. 

5.  Practice  in  the  subtraction  of  a  number  of  one  digit  from  one  of  tivo 
digits.  As  in  the  preceding  exercises,  intuition  is  necessary,  especially  in 
such  cases  as  43  +  7,  62  +  9,  etc. 

6.  Practice  the  multiplication  table  till  the  pupils  have  obtained  a  ready 
knowledge  of  it,  but,  in  every  instance  give  by  intuition  a  clear  insight  into 
the  meaning  of  each  combination  ;  e.g.,  the  meaning  of  4  times  7  is  28,  must 

NoTK.— Call  attenrion  to  the  &ct  that  thirteen  is  three-teen,  ut.,  3  and  ten. ;  fourteen, 
4  and  ten  etc  The  pupil  may  run  over  the  numbers  from  xi  to  30,  to  get  a  general  idea 
of  them,  before  proceeding  to  a  definite  knowledfa  of  them  by  analysts  and  synthesis. 


302  OUTLINE   METHODS    IN   SPECIAL   SUBJECTS. 

be  made  perfectly  clear  by  means  of  the  "  ball-frame,"  etc.  But  this  clear 
insight  being  had,  drill  till  the  children  can  give  the  combination  with 
scarcely  an  efforf  of  thought.  The  pupil  may  be  taught  to  construct  and 
practice  the  table  for  himself,  by  means  of  the  balls,  the  counters,  dots, 
etc  :  /^., 

•  •    •        one  3 

•  •    •        two  yt 

•  •     •         three         3's 
etc.,  etc 

In  written  work  the  order  should  be  (a)  multiplication  by  a  number  of 
one  digit  ;  {b)  do,,  by  lo ;  (<•)  do.,  by  a  multiple  of  lo  (</)  do.,  by  a  number 
formed  of  units  and  tens. 

7.  Give  practice  in  the  division  of  the  products  of  the  multiplication  (as 
in  Stage  B,  i  b),  {a),  by  an  abstract  divisor,  i.e.^  division  in  the  sense  of 
distribution  ;  and  (b),  measurement  of  the  products,  i.e.y  division  in  the 
sense  of  bein^  contained  in.  In  written  work  the  order  will  be  (a),  division 
by  a  number  of  one  digit ;  (b)  by  10 ;  (f ),  by  a  multiple  of  10 ;  {d),  by  a 
number  consisting  of  tens  and  units. 

8.  The  children  are  now  prepared  to  deal  formally  with  (a),  the  factors 
of  a  number ;  {b),  the  factors  common  to  two  or  more  numbers  ;  {c),  the 
G.  C.  F.,  of  do.  ;  and  (a)  with  the  multiples  of  a  number  ;  {b),  a  multiple 
of  two  or  more  numbers,  and  (f ),  the  L.  C.  M.  of  two  or  more  numbers. 

The  course  of  work  above  exhibited  shews,  in  the  main,  the  whole  course 
of  instruction  in  elementary  arithmetic,  and  constitutes  the  basis  of  all 
subsequent  work.  Unless,  therefore,  the  work  outlined  has  been  thoroughly 
mastered,  subsequent  progress  will  be  uncertain  and  unsatisfactory. 

'K.^Fi/th  Stage. 

This  stage  is  mainly  a  continuation  of  the  preceding  stages,  which  cover 
the  ground  of  the  first  seven  sections  of  Mental  Arithmetic,  Pt.  I.  Details, 
therefore,  are  not  necessary.     A  few  hints  may  be  noted. 

I.  Children  must  understand  the  value  of  numbers  before  they  use  them. 
This  is  the  fundamental  principle  in  the  preceding  stages,  in  which  intuition 
has  the  first  place.  In  Stage  D,  when  intuition  is  no  longer  expedient,  the 
number  should  be  clearly  analyzed  into  hundreds,  tens  and  units,  etc 

a.  In  written  work  with  large  numbers — i.e.^  numbers  too  large  for 
mental  operations,  note  the  following  points  : — 

NoTK.-  If  the  intuition-method  has  been  intelligently  followed,  most  children  will 
understand  the  reason  of  "  borrowing  and  carrying ;  "  but  time  need  not  be  wasted  and 
tke  brighter  pupils  kept  back  till  the  "  dull  "  members  of  the  class  master  the  rationmlt. 


OUTLINE   METHODS   IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  303 

(a)  Avoid  working  with  very  large  numbers.  Do  not  waste  nervous  force 
in  drudgery.  Long  mechanical  operations,  especially  of  multiplication 
with  large  factors ^  have  little  practical  value.  Who  needs  to  multiply 
millions  by  millions,  or  hundreds  of  thousands  by  hundreds  of  thousands? 
Instead  of  questions  involving  hosts  of  figures,  give  many  questions  of 
moderate  length,  and  aim  at  accuracy  and  rapidity. 

{b)  To  prevent  mere  mechanical  drudgery,  and  to  awaken  the  interest 
which  grows  out  of  intelligence,  every  process  must  be  thoroughly  explained. 

{c)  As  already  implied,  in  mental  work,  insist  on  good  language  and 
logical  and  concise  order  of  statement  ;  in  written  work  aim  at  neatness, 
accuracy,  rapidity. 

(d)  Some  of  the  tables  of  weights,  measures  and  money,  will  oi  coarse  be 
mastered,  and  use  made  of  them  in  "  Practical  Problems." 

F. — Sixth  Stage. — Fractional  Arithmetic, 
I.  Vulgar ;  II.  Decimal. 

1.  Begin  with  the  now  familiar  idea  of  the  division  of  a  NUMBER  intu 
equal  parts,  the  underlying  principal  in  all  teaching  of  fractions.  Show, 
eg.,  that  to  divide  6  by  3  is  to  obtain  one  of  the  3  equal  parts  (2)  that  com- 
pose 6.  Show  that  **  to  take  one-third  of  6  "  is  the  same  as  "  to  divide  6 
by  three  ; "  there  is  a  change  of  name,  but  no  change  of  idea  or  of  opera- 
tion.   Give  practice  incfinding  \,  \,  \,  \,  etc.,  of  a  number.    (See  page  211). 

2.  Lead  to  the  facts  that  a  number  has  two  halves,  three  thirds,  four 
fourths,  etc 

3.  The  children  have  already  learned  that  twice  one  unit  of  any  kind,  is 
two  units  of  the  same  kind ;  three  times  one  unit  of  any  kind  is  three  units 
of  the  same  kind,  etc.  They  are,  therefore,  now  prepared  to  find  |,  \,  ^, 
etc,  of  a  number  ;  e.g.,  they  find  one-\.h\vd  or  6  to  be  2,  and  therefore  two- 
thirds  of  6  to  be  4. 

4.  Lead  to  the  fact  that  thus  to  take  [e.g. )  |  of  a  number  is  the  same  as  to 
take  one-quarter  of  three  times  the  number,  i.e.,  to  divide  3  times  the  num- 
ber by  4.  Lead  to  the  facts  3  lbs.  divided  by  4  is  12  ounces,  $3-1-4=75 
cents,  etc. 

5.  Show  that  ^  of  a  number  =  f  of  it  =  |  of  it ;  that  |  of  a  number  =  | 
of  it,  etc.  ;  and  that  |^  of  a  number  =  J  of  it,  etc.,  e.g.,  |  of  24  =  12  =  |  of 
24  =  I  of24^ 

NoTB. — Vulgar  fractions  form  a  principal  subject  in  Mentol  Arithmetic.  Both  from 
common  experience  and  from  operations  in  the  preceding  stages,  the  children  have 
become  familiar  with  some  of  the  ideas  and  nomenclature  of  Fractional  Arithmetic.  The 
formal  and  systematic  instruction  is  now  to  begin.  Give  the  notation  as  soon  as  the  con- 
ceptions are  clearly  gained. 


304  OUTLINE   METHODS   IN   SPECIAL   SUBJECTS. 

6.  Now  proceed  to  show  that  not  only  a  number  of  things,  but  also  a 
single  thing  may  be  divided  into  equal  parts.  Base  the  instruction  on 
intuitions,  by  a  divided  h'ne,  rectangle,  or  other  concrete  object.  Apply 
the  ideas  developed  in  2,  3,  4,  5,  above. 

7.  Show  {a)  how  to  change  a  whole  number  into  the  form  of  a 
fraction ;  {b)  how  inexact  division  gives  rise  to  a  mixed  number  ;  and  {c) 
conversely  how  a  mixed  number  may  be  changed  into  an  indicated  division, 
i.e.y  an  *'  improper  fraction  ; "  (d)  how  the  quotient  of  one  number  divided 
by  another  equals  the  sum  of  the  quotients  of  the  parts  of  the  dividend  by 

the  divisor,  as  ^.^.,  ?f  =   \ — 1 —    =  i_  +  _    etc.,  and  conversely. 
4  4  4         4, 

8.  Use  ideas  of  5,  above,  to  show  how  to  change  fractions  with  different 
denominators  into  fractions  having  a  *'  common  denominator." 

9.  Addition  and  subtraction. 

10.  Multiplication  and  division. 

For  methods  and  tyPe-questUnt,  tet  chapter  on  /rmeH*Ht  in  McLollarCi  Public 
School  Mental  Arithmetic. 

II. — Decimal  Fractions- 

The  Teaching  in  Decimal  Fractions  follows  the  order  observed  in  vulgar 
fractions,  so  that  every  **  rule  "  in  decimals  finds  its  explanation  and  demon- 
stration in  the  corresponding  rule  in  vulgar  fractions.  Guard  again&t  rule- 
of-thumb  work  ;  explain  every  process. 

G. — Seventh   Stage. 
Application  of  the  foregoing  to  analysis  and  to  **  Commercial  Arithmetic.'* 
The  unitary  method,  which  has  been  followed  in  the  simple  analysis  <A 
the  previous  stages,  is  to  be  followed  here.     It  is  to  be  applied  to 

1.  Solution  of  "  Rule  of  Three,"  problems. 

2.  **  Simple  Interest. 

3.  "  Profit  and  loss  in  all  its  "cases." 

4.  Other  Percentage  Problems. 

6.  Proportional  parts  and  Partnership; 

Note.— While  special  stress  has  been  laid  on  the  necessity  of  beginning  with  intuitions 
for  the  acquisition  and  development  of  the  first  conceptions  in  the  several  stages,  it  is  very 
desirable  that  the  pupils  should  pass  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  abstract  and  the  general. 

For  method  and  type-questions  under  these  heads  see  McLellan's  Higher  Mental 
/Arithmetic 

Note. — In  thi;.  stage  the  fundamental  principles  of  rati*  and  proportion,  with  applica* 
tions,  may  be  given. 


OUTLINE   METHODS   IN   SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  305 

nX  PRIMARY  READING. 

Methods. — The  problem  of  teaching  to  read  is  doubtless  a  difficult  one  ; 
but  some  writers  greatly  exaggerate  the  difficulty.  It  requires  no  great  learn- 
ing or  skill  to  frame  a  strong  *'  indictment"  against  the  English  alphabet. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  actual  difficulty  is  inversely  as  the  strength  of  the 
indictment.  It  is  usual  to  name  four  methods  of  teaching  primary  reading, 
viz.:  the  alphabetic ^  ^t  phonetic ^  the  word^  and  the  phonic.  As  the  alpha- 
betic method  is  now  but  little  used  and  the  phonetic  requires  a  special  alpha- 
bet, we  may  confine  our  notes  to  the  word  and  the  phonic  methods. 

Word  method- — The  method,  as  practised,  begins  with  teaching  words 
as  wholes  :  it  connects  familiar  spoken  words  with  their  written  or  printed 
forms,  and  passes  sooner  or  later — generally  not  soon  enough — to  phonic 
analysis  ;  that  is,  the  spoken  word  is  resolved  into  its  separate  sounds,  and 
these  are  associated  with  the  letters  which  represent  them  in  the  written  or 
printed  word.  The  so-called  word-method  is,  therefore,  a  combmation  of 
the  word  method  and  the  phonic  method. 

1.  It  claims  to  be  analytic,  proceeding  from  **  whole  to  part."  It  is  un- 
doubtedly analytic  when  it  introduces  phonic  analysis  of  words,  and  con- 
nects the  sound-elements  with  the  letters  which  represent  them.  As  pure 
word-method  it  is  analytic — ^proceeding  from  whole  to  part,— only  in  the 
fact  that  the  child's  vague  idea  of  sound  is  made  definite  by  calling  his  at* 
tention  /*  the  sound  of  the  word.  The  whole  that  the  child  starts  from  is  the 
vague  idea  of  sound  ;  the  "part "  is  the  articulate,  i.e.,  the  definite  sound. 

2.  It  claims  to  proceed  from  the  "  known  to  the  unknown,"  i.e.^  from 
the  known  sound-word  (word  as  spoken)  to  the  unknown  form-word — ^word 
as  written  or  printed.  But  the  word,  as  a  word,  is  an  arbitrary  symbol 
having  no  significance  of  its  own.  How  can  an  idea  of  sound  be  used  to 
assimilate  an  unassociated  idea  oi  form  ?  The  best  that  can  be  said  is  that 
the  »ethod  awakens  some  interest  by  showing  the  child  that  written  words, 
like  spoken,  are  means  of  expressing  his  ideas  of  things.  It  is  pure  assump- 
tion that  because  the  form-word  is  before  the  child  he  knows  the  word.  He 
no  more  knows  the  word  till  he  has  made  his  vague  idea  definite  by  analysis, 
than  he  knows  the  number  ten  before  lie  has  made  his  vague  idea  definite  by 
partitions  and  recombinations  of  the  objects  before  him.  He  knows  the 
word  only  through  analysis  into  its  element. 

3.  The  method — as  word-method — ^is  mechanical ;  there  must  be  a  vast 
amount  of  telling,  and  a  vast  amount  of  guessing.  For  vague  perceptions 
lead  to  feeble  memory.  The  mind  is,  therefore,  driven  to  form  merely  sen- 
nous  associations.     And  thus,  when  the  word>method,  as  such,  is  too  faith- 

U 


30t»  OUTLINE   METHODS    IN    SPECIAL    SUBJECTS. 

fully  followed,  the  child  memorizes  whole  pages  of  the  "  readers"  and  sim- 
ply recites  when  he  seems  to  be  reading. 

4,  This  perpetual  telling  tends  to  produce  a  mere  passive  as  opposed  to 
an  active  and  energetic  habit  of  mind.  He  is  not  taught  to  use  the  know- 
ledge acquired  yesterday  to  gain  new  knowledge  to-day  ;  he  does  not  learn 
with  what  he  has  learned  ;  e.g.^  yesterday  he  was  told  about  the  word  cat, 
to-day  he  is  told  about  tlie  word  mat :  yesterday's  lesson  does  not  help  him 
with  to-day's.  Is  not  this  a  waste  of  power,  a  direct  violation  of  "learn 
with  what  you  have  learned." 

$.  Before  the  child  can  gain  power  to  recognize  or  form  new  words  he 
must  unconsciously  follow  the  phonic  method.  When  he  comes  to  a  new 
word,  it  is  not  a  question  of  using  the  phonic  method,  or  not  using  it.  He 
cannot  form  or  recognize  the  new  word  unless  he  has  learned  the  sounds  of 
its  letters  from  unconscious  phonic  analysis. 

6.  It  is  only  a  question,  then,  whether  the  child  is  to  be  taught  the  phonic 
method,  and  so  get  all  the  benefits,  practical  and  disciplinary,  that  flow 
from  it  ;  or  whetlier  he  shall  be  left  to  discover  the  method  for  himself. 
If  he  is  left  to  himself,  there  must  be  a  great  waste  of  experiences,  endless 
corrections  of  hasty  inductions,  etc.,  in  order  to  acquire  even  moderate 
power  of  word-recognition,  i,e.^  in  order  to  learn  even  the  mechanical  part 
of  the  art  of  reading. 

7.  In  reading,  as  in  all  primary  work,  the  child  should  not  be  left  to  his 
own  weak  powers  of  analysis  and  synthesis.  There  must  be  exercise  of  both 
these  mental  functions  before  the  power  of  word-recognition  is  gained,  and 
here,  as  everywhere,  it  is  the  business  of  the  teacher  to  direct  the  mental 
activity  so  that  the  desired  results  may  be  reached  with  the  least  waste  of 
power. 

The  Phonic  Method. — 'Y\i^  phonic  method  begins  with  elements^  that 
is,  the  sounds^  or  powers  of  the  letters,  and  then  combines  them  into  words. 
It  is,  therefore,  commonly  called  a  "  synthetic  "  method. 

I.  It  is,  in  fact,  both  analytic  and  synthetic,  and  may,  therefore,  be 
rightly  called  the  analytic-synthetic  metho  1.  The  recognition  of  the  sound 
a,  or  a,  is  an  analytic  act.  In  making  the  exact  sound  &,  the  pupil's  atten- 
tion is  called  to  what  he  has  for  a  long  time  been  doing,  and  like  all  atten» 
tion,  analyzes  ;  the  result  is  the  definite  idea  of  the  sound  5.  It  is  here,  as 
elsewhere,  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  because  the  sounds  are  definite  in 
themselves,  they  are  definite  to  the  child.  The  vague  "whole"  in  this 
case  is  the  undifferentiated  mass  of  sound  and  corresponding  undifferentiate*.! 
ideas  of  sound — those  which  he  has  made  led  by  impulse  or  imitation,  aad 


OUTLINE   METHODS   IN   SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  307 

the  process  of  making  one  out  of  this  mass  definite^  is  one  of  analysis.  There 
is  also  synthesis  in  combining  the  several  definite  elements  into  a  significant 
word. 

3.  The  phonic  (analytic-synthetic)  method  best  obeys  the  law  of  unity  of 
attention,  "one  thing  at  a  time."  The  child's  attention  is  fixed  first  upon 
one  kind  of  sensations,  the  auditory ^  and  then  upon  the  corresponding  visual 
sensations.  In  the  word  method,  attention  is  divided  between  the  look,  the 
sound  and  the  meaning  of  the  word,  and  in  some  cases  the  distraction  is 
increased  from  the  attempt  to  associate  the  form  of  the  word  immediately  with 
the  "object,"  (See  page  168.) 

3.  It  has  been  said  that  this  method  is  without  interest  because  the  iso- 
lated sounds  have  no  meaning.  This  is  pure  theory,  l^t  forms  of  letters 
are  interesting  to  children,  then  why  not  sounds  ?  Besides,  there  is  (a)  in- 
terest in  the  teacher's  uttering  of  the  sounds,  (b)  interest  in  the  pupil's  own 
activity  in  making  the  sounds  ;  in  elementary  education  it  is  scarcely  possi- 
ble to  over-estimate  the  interest  of  the  child  in  what  he  himself  does,  (c) 
Intellectual  interest  arising  from  the  exercise  of  the  analytic  function,  (d) 
Interest  from  the  sense  of  new  power,  or  capacity,  and  this  is  of  the 
highest  value.  Left  to  his  own  hap-hazard  inductions  from  the  word- 
method,  the  pupil  must  spend  a  long  time  before  gaining  the  power  and 
sense  of  power,  to  recognize  new  words,  (e)  It  ought  to  be  remarked  that 
the  child  is  not  kept  dwelling  on  the  isolated  sounds  till  all  are  learned  ;  as 
soon  as  he  has  mastered  a  few  sounds,  and  the  letters  which  represent  them, 
he  is  set  to  work  to  use  his  knowledge.  In  the  very  first  lesson  he  learns 
df  and  /,  and  r,  and  experiences  the  thrill  of  discovery  when,  combining 
these,  he  recognizes  the  sound  cat^  with  which  he  has  long  been  familiar. 

4.  The  objection  has  been  made  to  this  method  that  it  is  impossible  to 
isolate  the  sounds  of  the  consonants  ;  that  in  the  attempt  to  do  so  they  are 
partially  vocalized,  and  so  mislead  the  children  ;  cg,^  in  isolating  the  sound 
of  c  in  caty  it  becomes  ki.  To  this  objection  the  answer  is  :  (a)  In  the  case 
of  a  final  consonant  there  is  a  slight  vocalization,  e.g.^  the  /  in  cat.  In  the 
case  of  an  initial  consonant  the  thing  is  to  get  the  pupil  to  place  his  vocaj 
organs  in  proper  position  for  articulating  the  consonant-sound.  This  is 
secured  even  if  there  is  a  slight  vowel-element.  Besides  (b)  It  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  isolate  the  initial  consonants  ;  with  right  teaching,  the  child  is 
led  to  get  for  himself  the  idea  of  the  sound,  and  the  power  to  form  it 

5.  The  difficulty  arising  from  the  same  letter  standing  for  several  sounds 
is  much  magnified.  Besides,  this  is  not  peculiar  to  the  phonic  method.  The 
word  method /nv«A^  to  analysis,  and,  therefore,  has  to  face  the  difficulty. 


308  OUTLINE   METHODS   IN   SPECIAL   SUBJECTS. 

The  word  method  assumes  that  the  child  will  get  the  sounds  of  the  letters  by 
unconscious  inductions  ;  well,  learning  the  different  circumstances  imder 
which  the  same  letter  stands  for  different  sounds,  is  not  nearly  so  difficult ; 
e.g.t  the  child  has  learned,  say,  the  "  hard"  sound  of  c  (as  in  cat)^  has  he  to 
make  a  very  wide  induction  in  order  to  know  where  it  has  the  "  soft  "  sound? 
Again,  his  experience  is  available  for  many  cases.  Suppose  he  has  learned 
the  siblant  j,  and  comes  to  the  sentence,  **  the  cat  is  on  the  mat,"  he  is  not 
likely  to  pronounce  is  **iss  ;"  if  he  does  so  at  first,  he  speedily  corrects  him- 
self :  nor  does  he  trouble  himself  about  the  **  inconsistency  "  over  which 
the  philosopher  grows  so  eloquent. 

6.  The  analytic-synthetic  (phonic)  method  is,  therefore,  psycholc^cally 
justifiable.  Indeed,  it  stands  to  reason  that  any  method  which  quickly  puts 
into  the  hands  of  the  child  the  pcnver  of  recognizing  and  constructing  new 
words,  is  better  than  one  that  leaves  him  wholly  dependent  on  memory  and 
vague  inductions  from  past  experiences. 

7.  Finally,  the  method  has  stood  the  test  of  experience.  It  has  been  used 
with  excellent  results  in  the  Ontario  Normal  Schools.  It  is  used  in  the 
Toronto  schools  where  the  results  may  challenge  comparison  with  those  of 
any  other  schools  or  any  other  methods. 

Suggestions. 

1.  The  teacher  should  remember  that  much  drill  \&  necessary,  no  matter 
which  method  of  teaching  reading  may  be  used.  The  aim  is  to  gain  ability 
to  recognize  and  pronounce  words  without  conscious  mental  effort.  When 
a  child  has  mastered  the  multiplication  table  the  symbols  6x8  suggest  the 
result  without  mental  effort ;  so,  in  primary  reading,  the  association  of 
sounds  and  symbols  must  h^ perfect.  There  must  be  no  stopping  to  think,  e.g., 
what  sound  any  letter  in  band  stands  for,  or  what  sound  they  all  together 
represent.  So  long  as  any  such  thinking  has  to  be  done,  there  cannot  be 
good  reading ;  the  mechanical  association  between  sign  and  sound  is  not 
complete,  and  the  reader  has  to  take  time  and  expend  energy  in  re-making 
such  association.  So  long  as  this  is  the  case  there  cannot  be  expressive 
reading. 

2.  From  the  banning,  writing  is  to  go  with  reading.  Imitating  the 
teacher,  the  pupils  utter  the  short  sound  of  a  (as  in  cat)  j  the  teacher  makes 
the  letter  and  drills  to  associate  sound  with  sign  ;  the  pupils  then  write  the 
letter  on  blackboard,  etc 

3.  The  names  and  sounds  of  the  letters  are  not  to  be  given  together.  One 
thing  at  a  time  is  again  the  order.  Indeed,  it  will  not,  in  general,  be  neces* 
sary  to  give  formal  lessons  on  the  names.     These  are  learned  incidental^  • 


OUTLINE    METHODS  IN   SPECIAL  SUBJECTS.  309 

■nd  it  will  be  found  that  by  the  time  the  Second  Part  of  First  Book  (On- 
tario  Readers)  is  reached,  the  pupils  know  the  names  0/  the  Utters. 

4.  Transition  from  script  to  print  will  be  made  with  little  effort.  If  the 
blackboard  and  tablets  (or  primers)  are  used  together  from  the  start  the 
print-form  will  come  with  the  script-form.  When  a  word  is  written  on  the 
blackboard,  have  children  point  it  out  on  the  tablet.  Show  the  word  on 
tablet  and  have  children  write  it,  etc. 

5.  Pupils  must  be  taught,  from  the  first,  to  read  every  sentence  with  ex- 
pression. As  already  intimated,  perfect  familiarity  with  the  words  of  the 
sentence  is  necessary.  There  should  be  many  exercises  involving  questions 
and  answers.  With  simple  devices  the  thoughtful  teacher  will  lead  the 
children  to  read  every  sentence  with  the  right  expression. 

6.  Instead  of  using  only  ready-made  pictures  (in  tablets,  etc),  the 
teacher  should,  as  far  as  possible,  make  blackboard  drawings  of  objects. 
This  increases  interest  of  class. 

7.  Diacritical  works  are  not  necessary  ;  the  different  sounds  of  a  letter 
are  learned  from  comparison  of  different  forms,  e.g.^  cap,  cape  ;  mat,  mate  ; 
fat,  fate,  etc.  Of  course,  there  are  some  words  that  must  be  taught  as 
wholes. 

8.  It  is  unnecessary — rather  it  is  unwise — to  associate  objects  with  written 
words.  The  order  is  :  the  idea,  the  spoken  word,  the  written  word.  That 
is,  perfect  association  is  formed  between  the  idea  and  its  spoken  word,  then 
perfect  association  between  the  spoken  word  and  its  written  form.  To  at- 
tempt to  form  a  new  and  direct  association  between  the  idea  (object)  and 
the  form  is  to  violate  the  law  of  unity  of  attention. 

Practical  Suggestions — The  following  suggestions  may  be  useful  to 
the  young  teacher : 

1.  Choose  some  element,  say  at,  as  starting  point.  Give  sound  of  a  in 
rt/,  and  have  children  repeat  the  sound  individually  and  collectively.  Make 
the  letter  on  blackboard  and  have  children  make  it  on  slates,  etc.,  helping 
them  to  easiest  way  of  doing  this.  Drill  to  associate  sound  and  sign  : 
Make  letter  and  call  for  sound,  make  sound  and  call  for  letter.  Proceed 
similarly  with  the  letter  /.  Then  sound  elements  a,  /,  at  first  slowly,  then 
more  rapidly,  till  the  word  at  is  produced.  Illustrate  meaning  of  at  (at  the 
door,  etc.)     Have  pupils  write  word. 

2.  Show  picture  of  a  cat.  Children  pronounce  the  word  cat ;  then  slowly 
so  as  to  separate  into  two  sound-elements  (a  known  and  an  unknown)  repre- 
sented by  c-at.  Write  word  cat  on  blackboard.  Call  attention  to  the  parts  : 
Sound  a/?    (or  what  does  a/ say,  etc.)    Sound  the  whole  word?    Then 


3IO  OUTLINE   METHODS   IN    SPECIAL  SUBJECTS 

sound  the  part  c  ?  (or  sound  the  letter  that  makes  at  into  cat  ?)  Have  chil- 
dren make  the  letter.  Drill  to  associate  form  and  sound.  For  desk-work 
have  the  children  write  the  several  letters  and  the  word^  on  properly  ruled 
slates  or  paper,  giving  directions  as  to  how  the  letters  can  be  best  formed. 
In  a  similar  way,  proceed  with  the  words  bat,  cat,  fat,  hat,  mat,  nat,  pat, 
rat,  sat,  vat. 

3.  Cqnstant  exercise  in  using  acquired  knowledge  to  gain  new  words, 
which  are  significant,  or  which  can  easily  be  made  significant,  to  the  child. 
For  example :  (l)  the  teacher  writes  the  word  pan,  and  asks  the  pupil  to 
pronounce  it.  (2)  He  pronounces  the  wordyaw  (or  gives  picture  of  the  thing) 
and  has  them  wr/Z^the  word.  (3)  He  leaves  them  to  discover  new  words, 
e.g.y  cap.  In  such  way  may  be  treated  such  words  as  tan,  tap,  cab,  can, 
cap,  fan,  has,  ham,  man,  map,  nap,  ran,  ram,  rap,  sam,  sap,  van,  trap, 
strap,  bran,  ant,  pant,  grant,  span. 

4.  Similarly,  the  short  sounds  of  the  other  vowels  can  be  taught :  bit,  fit, 
hit,  mit,  pit,  sit,  9r  in,  bin,  fin,  pin,  sin,  tin,  spin  ;  cot,  hot,  not,  pot,  *r 
fop,  hop,  lop,  mop,  sop,  top  ;  bet,  met,  net,  pet,  set,  or  hen,  men,  ten,  pen  ; 
but,  cut,  hut,  nut,  rut,  or  bun,  fiin,  son,  run,  etc.,  etc 

5.  The  other  consonants  may  be  taught  as  in  (2)  and  (3) — ^ba-d,  ha-d, 
pa-d,  po-d,  ho-d,  so-d,  bi-d,  hi-d,  di-d,  d-in,  din-ner,  etc.,  ba-g,  na-g,  ra-g, 
bo-g,  fo-g,  do-g,  g-ad,  g-ap,  g-un,  big,  pig,  gig,  etc.;  1-ad,  b-ag,  1-ap,  let, 
let-ter,  etc. ;  and,  sand,  band,  land,  stand,  etc  Of  course  the  teacher  will 
not  confine  himself  to  monosyllables.  He  will  introduce  into  his  simple 
•entences  and  "stories"  longer  significant  words,  *.^.,  dinner,  dippar,  dig- 
ger, dimmer,  dagger,  sadder,  sinner,  summer,  softer,  butter,  bitter,  better, 
pepper,  supper,  rub-ber,  rob-ber,  red-der,  lad-der,  man-net,  ban-ner,  pic- 
nic, sis-ter,  riv-er,  nev-er,  cutter  butter,  etc 

6.  As  already  intimated  the  long  vowels  can  be  taught  inductively ;  the 
pupils  will  soon  see  that  the  final  e  b  silent  and  makes  the  medial  vowel 
long :  bat,  bate ;  mat,  mate,  etc. ;  bate,  fate,  mate,  pate,  rate,  date,  gate, 
hate,  late,  grate,  skate,  slate,  grated,  plated ;  cane,  lane,  mane,  sane,  vane  ; 
fade,  jade,  made,  glade,  blade ;  came,  same,  tame,  lame,  name,  blame, 
fame,  dame,  game,  flame,  etc  Fin,  fine  ;  din,  dine,  etc. ;  fine,  line,  mine, 
■ine,  pine,  vine,  wine  ;  time,  grime,  lime,  crime,  clime ;  hide,  ride,  tide, 
side,  glide,  pride,  etc  Mole,  stole,  dole,  bole,  sole,  poke,  woke,  broke, 
yoke,  spoke ;  bone,  tone,  lone,  alone,  crone,  drone,  cone  Met, 
mete ;  pet,  pete ;  cede,  re-cede,  im-pede.  Tun,  tune,  cub,  cube,  etc ; 
mute,  lute,  fume,  tune,  clue,  blue ;  latest,  plated,  skating,  etc ;  biting, 
fUded,  etc.;  con-sume,  vol-ume ;  mop-ing,  grop-ing,  sloped,  com-plete, 
severe  ;  strong,  long,  etc,  etc 


OUTLINE   METHODS    IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  3II 

7.  It  will  be  convenient  to  have  for  use  a  large  number  of  words,  classi- 
fied according  to  similarity  of  vowel  sounds.  For  example,  other  ways  of 
representing  long  vowel  sounds  : 

Long  a — <ii,  ^  :  siil)  bail,  fail,  jail,  mail,  nail,  pail,  rail,  sail,  wail,  fail, 
frail,  snail,  trail,  etc.;  aim,  air,  hair,  chair,  pair,  lair,  re-pair,  rain,  pain, 
gain,  plain,  grain,  ex- plain,  etc. 

Ay— As  :  bay,  day,  gay,  hay,  jay,  lay,  may,  nay,  pay,  play,  ray,  say, 
way,  pray,  dray,  gfray,  a-way,  de-lay,  pray-er,  Sun-day.  Also  a  few  in 
ey :  prey,  they,  obey,  con-vey,  etc. 

Long  e — fy  doubled  (e  e),  as  :  bee,  fee,  lee,  see,  thee,  flee,  free,  tree, 
three,  feed,  deed,  need,  seed,  deem,  seem,  queen,  seen,  be-tween,  six-teen, 
etc.,  etc. 

In  the  combination  a>,  as  :  lea,  pea,  sea,  tea,  flea,  plea,  leaf,  sheaf,  mead, 
read,  beak,  leak,  heap,  leap,  each,  peach,  teach,  reach,  etc.,  etc. 

Long  0 — <nOt  as  :  bow,  low,  mow,  sow,  tow,  blow,  flow,  glow,  grow,  etc. 

Oa^  as  :  oats,  oak,  oar,  roar,  soar,  foal,  goal,  shoal,  foam,  roam,  loam, 
loan,  moan,  groan,  hoarse,  ap-proach,  etc. 

The  Oi  sounds  as  :  oil,  boil,  coil^  foil,  soil,  toil,  broil,  spoil,  noise,  voice, 
con-join,  appoint,  etc  Sonu  in  oy^  as :  boy,  coy,  joy,  toy,  annoy,  destroy, 
oyster. 

And  so  proceed  with  other  analogous  sounds.* 

The  teacher  should  keep  in  mind  that  in  teaching  primary  reading  he  is 
to  put  his  pupils  as  quickly  as  possible  in  possession  of  the  power  of  word- 
recognition,  ability  to  pronounce  words  without  a  conscious  effort  of 
thought  so  that  the  pupils  may  quickly  pass  to  interesting  reading  matter. 
But  of  course  he  is  not  to  drill  simply  on  isolated  words  till  the  forty  sounds 
and  their  representatives  are  learned.  He  should  have  the  vstords  as  fast  as 
learned  used  in  sentences  and  easy  stories.  It  requires  skill  to  form 
these  properly.  No  lesson  requires  more  careful  preparation  by  the  teacher 
than  the  primary  reading  lesson. 

Let  no  teacher  follow  any  plan  which  takes  from  four  to  eight  months 
to  learn  by  the  "  word-method,"  **  some  two  hundred  words."  The  school 
life  of  the  child  b  too  short  and  too  precious  to  be  thus  frittered  away.  By 
follffwing  the  analytic-synthetic  (phonic)  method  his  pupils  in  *^  from  four 
to  eight  months**  will  have  acquired  the  ability  to  pronounce  at  once  any  or- 
dinary English  word,  that  is.  The  main  difficulty  in  primary  reading 
will  have  been  mastered. 

*  To  help  in  sentence  and  story  reading,  the  teacher  should  have  different  primary 
readers. 


$    J  OUTLINE    METHODS    IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS. 

IV.— TRAINING  OF  LANGUAGE  POWER. 

I.  General  Principles.— Importance  of  language  has  been  dwdt  on 
pp.  107,  184,  215. 

1.  The  instrument  for  expression  of  thought. 

2.  The  instrument  of  thinking  process. 

(a)  It  records  thoughts.  {6)  It  shortens  the  thinking  process,  {c)  It 
analyzes  thought,     {d)  It  reacts  on  thinking. 

3.  Language,  is,  therefore,  the  complement  of  reason — that  without 
which  reason  would  not  and  could  not  be  what  it  is.  Progress  in  thought, 
therefore  universal  progress,  depends  upon  language. 

4.  It  follows  that  language  is  the  /■«/  and  the  condition  of  the  cultivation 
of  reason : 

{a)  In  perception,  there  must  be  for  the  percepts,  words-y  {b)  In  judg- 
ment (the  thinking  of  relations),  there  must  be  propositions,  {c)  In  relat- 
ing judgments  (reasoning,  etc. )  there  must  be  connected  propositions,  or 
discourse. 

5.  Hence  every  lesson  should  be  a  lesson  in  language.    («) 

Power  ot  expression  is  test  of  thinking ;  clear  expression  means  clear 
thought,  (b)  Disconnected  (occasional)  "language  lessons"  are  useful  but 
not  sufficient,  {c)  Reproduction  in  oral  and  written  language  indispensable. 
(d^  Hence  mistake  of  having  large  classes  especially  in  primary  work. 

n.  Method  in  Outline.— There  may  be  considered  :  l.  Indirect  Influ- 
ences ;  2.   Reproduction  ;  3.  Original  Work. 

1.  Indirect  Influences. — The  teacher  should : 

(1)  Use  Correct  Forms  of  Speech.  Child,  a  creature  of  imitation.  Gut- 
side  influences  form  habits  of  incorrect  speech  :  school-room  influences 
should  correct  bad  habits  of  speech,  and  form  good  habits.  In  all  ques- 
tioning, exposition,  stories,  narratives  by  the  teacher,  there  should  be  (a) 
good  grammar,  {b)  correct  pronunciation,  {c)  educated  accent,  or  cadences 
of  voice,  which  are  "the  commentary  of  the  emotions  on  the  propositions 
of  the  intellect" 

(2)  Insist  on  Correct  Forms.  No  imperfect  answer  to  be  accepted.  Blun- 
ders in  grammar,  slovenly  ennunciation,  fragmentary  speech,  not  to  be  tol- 
erated in  either  teacher  or  pupil. 

(3)  Study  Correct  Forms,  Teachers  should  study  con  amore  the  best 
writers.  Pupils  should  have  abundant  reading  of  such  authors  ;  the  scrappy 
lessons  of  the  ordinary  reading  book  are  totally  insufficient.  To  become 
good  readers,  and  good  users  of  English  speech  and  lovers  of  English  lit- 


\ 


OUTLINE   METHODS   IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  313 

erature,  they  must  read  and  study  good  literature.  There  ou^ht  to  be 
much  supplementary  reading  in  every  school.  There  is  not  half  enough 
pi-actice  in  reading  in  any  school  class,  and  the  power  to  read  well  and  love 
for  good  literature  will  not  be  developed  without  libraries  of  choice  liter- 
ature. 

(4)  Exercise  in  Correcting  Faculty  Forms.  There  should  be  practice  in 
correcting  prevailing  errors  of  speech.  Pay  no  attention  to  the  nonsense 
poured  out  against  the  practice  of  correcting  **  false  syntax."  There  is  no 
need,  however,  to  imagine  incorrect  forms.  There  is  plenty  of  false  syntax 
in  every-day  speech  and  writing,  and  habits  of  right  speaking  must  come 
from  correcting  opposite  habits. 

(5)  In  this  connection,  grammatical  analysis  may  be  mentioned  as  a  valu- 
able means  of  language  training.  It  is  necessary  also  to  intelligent  reading, 
because  it  is  necessary  to  the  clear  apprehension  of  thought. 

2.  Reproduction.— The  importance  of  this  has  been  emphasixed. 

(1)  All  lessons  supply  material  for  such  exercises.  The  primary  pupil  is 
to  (tf)  write  new  words  and  sentences  he  has  been  taught.  (^)  Make  new 
sentences  in  which  given  words  are  to  occur,  such  as  new  words,  irregular 
verbs  (go,  went,  etc.)  on  which  lessons  have  been  given,  {c)  Copy  maxims 
and  proverbs  which  are  worth  remembering.  (</)  Give  substance  of  what 
has  been  said  in  lessons  on  such  proverbs  and  maxims,  {e)  Give  Sen- 
tences expressing  observed  facts. 

(2)  Silent  Reading,  This  should  be  practiced  from  the  beginning. 
Give  a  reasonable  time  for  class  to  read  over  silently  a  few  sentences,  a  short 
narrative,  etc,  and  then  have  them  close  books  and  reproduce  the  thought. 
Capital  exercise  for  all  classes.     Power  of  concentration  cultivated,  etc. 

(3)  Stories,  From  pictures,  and  reproduction  of  stories  told  by  teacher. 
Train  children  to  "  translate  "  pictures  (orally)  as  well  as  they  can,  to  tell 
the  story  as  well  as  they  can,  and  finally  to  write  out  the  thought  as  well  as 
they  can.  Advanced  classes  should  give  abstracts,  narratives,  paraphrases, 
etc. 

(4)  Object  lessons,     {a)  Perceptive ;  {b)  Reflective. 

(m)  Perceptive. — Have  object  lessons  on  size,  weight,  form,  etc.,  and  com- 
mon objects,  etc.;  and  make  every  such  lesson  a  language  lesson.  Learning 
the  facts  about  a  cube — fiices,  comer,  edges,  etc.,  these  must  be  properly  ex* 


314  OUTLINE    METHODS    IN    S]^ECIAL   SUBJECTS. 

pressed.  Lesson  on  table,  e.g.,  the  factf  tnught  about  top,frame^  legs^  uses^ 
material,  etc.,  must  be  properly  expresj^ed  orally  and  in  writing.  If  a  les- 
son, e.g. ,  (by  means  of  pieces  of  wood,  stone,  wool,  etc. )  has  been  given  to 
develop  ideas  of  hardness  and  sofitess^  the  results  should  be  expressed  in 
such  language  as  :  "  Because  ^  rtone  does  not  yield  easily  to  the  touch,  it 
is  said  to  be  hard,  to  have  (or  possess)  the  quality  of  hanijtess  ;"  similar 
sentences  about  the  wood,  &i ;  then  expression  of  the  generalization,  {b) 
Reflective. — Lessons  on  txu^hfulness,  justice,  charity,  industry,  patriotism, 
etc.  Such  lessons  may  P^rily  be  called  (subjective)  **  object"  lessons  because 
they  appeal  directly  to  Vhe  child's  experience.  Wisdom  and  goodness  em- 
bodied in  maxims,  p'overbs,  literary,  gems,  etc.,  to  be  the  subject-matter  of 
lessons.  Such  lessons  can  be  made  more  interesting  than  external  object 
lessons,  »nd  are  *if  the  highest  value  in  education.  For  example,  lessons 
•r  «*ich  Wa^ti^ns  as  the  following  : 

"  A  soft  answer  tumeth  away  wrath,  etc," 
**  Kind  hearts  are  the  gardens. 
Kind  thoughts  are  the  roots, 
Kind  words  are  the  blossoms. 
Kind  deeds  are  the  fruits.** 
"  All  things  that  you  do,  do  with  your  might, 
Things  done  by  halves  are  never  done  right** 

**  Dare  to  be  true,  nothing  can  need  a  lie.* 

•*  Be  good  dear  child,  and  let  who  will  be  clever. 
Do  noble  deeds,  not  dream  them  all  day  long. 
And  so  make  life,  death,  and  the  vast  forever. 
One  grand  sweet  song." 
**  Politeness,  like  great  thoughts,  comes  from  the  heart  J*— 
**  What  is  it  to  be  a  gentleman  ?    It  is  to  be  honest,  to  be  gentle,  to 
be  generous,  to  be  brave,  to  be  wise,  and,    possessing  all  these  qualities, 
to  exercise  them  in  the  most  graceful  manner." 

"Define  a  gentleman  you  say? 

Well,  yes,  I  think  I  can !" 
"  He  is  as  gentle  as  a  woman. 
And  as  manly  as  a  man."  etc.,  etc 
(5)  Memorizing. — Selections  in    Poetry  and    Prose.     The    Intelligent 
learning  by  heart  of  masterpieces  of  our  literature  is  a    most  effective 
means  of  education;    now  greatly  neg'ected   owing  to  re-action  against 
mere  r^/<f-leaming.     Should  be  in  every  school ;  part  of  the  work  oj  every 
(kus. 


OUTLINE    METHODS   IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  315 

(«)  It  trains  the  language  faculty  and  the  memory. 

'■*)  It  stores  the  mind  with  good  and  beautiful  thoughts  which  will  tell 
powerfully  on  character,  (c)  It  helps  towards  expressive  reading,  (d)  It 
tends  to  develop  a  taste  for  good  literature,  one  of  the  highest  results  the 
teacher  can  aim  at. 

Something  in  this  line  should  be  done  every  day  ;  and  every  week 
part  of  a  day  should  be  specially  devoted  to  readings,  recitations,  etc 

3.  Original  Work. — The  work  being  graded  according  to  the  stage  of 
advancement  of  class,  there  should  be  :  (l)  Letters  and  Business  Forms. 

(2)  Narratives  of   personal    experiences,   descriptions   of    journeys,    etc. 

(3)  Biographical  sketches  and  historical  narratives.  (4)  Accounts  of  cur- 
rent events.     (5)  Criticisms  of  well  studied  selections.     (6)  Formal  Essays. 

V.  GRAMMAR. 
(General  Remarks. — Grammar  is  one  of  the  tkought'subjeets  of  the 

school  course.  It  has,  perhaps,  stronger  claims  than  Arithmetic  to  be 
called  '*  the  logic  of  the  common  schools."  But  beside  its  disciplinary 
value,  it  has  great  practical  value.  The  science  of  the  sentence  (the  unit 
of  thought),  its  study  helps  to  make  the  student  a  good  reader,  and  a  good 
speaker  and  writer.  The  teacher  should  be  on  his  guard  against  the  pre- 
vailing attempts  to  belittle  the  study  of  Grammar  and  Analysis. 

General  Method. — Begin  with  the  bare  sentence,  the  two-word  sentence, 
subject  and  predicate.  Then,  as  Prof.  Whitney  says,  "  Having  the  nucleus 
of  the  sentence  well  understood,  it  is  easy  to  go  on  and  teach  the  other 
parts  of  speech  and  their  offices  ;  the  substitute  for  the  noun  (pronoun) 
the  two  kinds  of  qualifying  words  (adverb  and  adjective)  and  the  two  con- 
necting words  (preposition  and  conjunction),  and  with  such  clearness  as 
to  be  thoroughly  comprehended.  Dealing  as  we  do  with  a  known  and 
familiar  language,  we  can  accomplish  all  this  before  we  proceed  to  take  up 
the  several  parts  of  speech  themselves  for  a  more  detailed  treatment."  This 
is  the  true  method,  and  the  preliminary  work  indicated  can  be  done  in 
almost  the  lowest  classes.  The  child  begins  to  form  judgments  before  he  is 
two  years  old,  and  to  express  them  (in  propositions)  before  he  is  three.  Be- 
fore a  sentence  can  be  properly  read,  it  must  be  understood,  i.e.,  there  must 
be  analysis  of  it,  conscious  or  unconscious.  Begin  then  with  the  sentence, 
and  let  the  process  be  one  of  analysis  and  synthesis. 

For  public  school  work  the  following  points  should  be  kept  ia  view : 
/.  Classification  of  Words  (Parts  of  Speech)  — Word-functions  : 

1.  Something  thought  (and  talked)  about Subject  or  noun. 

S.  Somewhat  thought  (and  said)  about  this Predicate  or  verb. 


3l6  OUTLINE   METHODS    IN    SPECIAL  SUBJECTS 

3.  Noun -substitute Pronoun. 

4.  The  Subject-qualifier Adjective. 

5.  The  Predicate-modifier Adverb. 

6.  The  Noun-connector Preposition, 

7.  The  Sentence-connector Conjunction. 

8.  The  Emotion-word    Interjection. 

Tn  this  is  indicated  the  essential  fiinction  of  each  part  of  speech,  that 
\Ahich  is  necessary  to  its  definition.  The  noun,  e.g.,  may  be  object  of  a  verb, 
or  with  a  preposition  may  make  a  **  modifier ;  "  but  its  distinguishing  char- 
acter is  to  name  the  thing  thought  of.  After  abundant  examples  of  the  uses, 
Jie  definitions  should  be  given.  The  examples,  in  fact,  lead  up  to  accurate 
definition  ;  this  is  essential  to  accurate  thought. 

Examples- — Plants  grow.     Flowers  fade.     Flowers  bloom. 
[a)  Leaves  fall — flutter — rustle.     Birds  sing,  fly,  chirp.     Boys  play,  run, 
jump,  learn.     Grass  grows.     Time  flies,  etc.,  etc. 

{b)  Little  birds  sing,  pretty  flowerB  fade,  all  men  die,  gocd  boys  obey, 
iead  leaves  fall,  etc 

{c)  Birds  sing  sweetly,  boys  run  fast,  roses  fade  quickly,  etc 
(d)  The  little  child  weeps  bitterly,  the  sun  shines  brightly,  etc 
{e)  The  yellow  bird  sings  in  the  tree,  the  boy  writes  with  a  poor  pen,  etc. 
(/ )  The  girl  sings  because  she  is  happy,  the  sun  rose  and  the  clouds  dis- 
persed, etc. 

By  inductive  teaching  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  getting  even  pnpil9  in 
"  Second  Reader  "  to  learn  the  "  parts  of  speech." 

II.  Keep  prominently  in  view  the  fact  that  the  use  of  a  word  in  a  sen- 
tence determines  what  part  of  speech  it  is.  Walking  is  a  healthful  exercise, 
hand  me  my  walking  stick.  There  is  rest  for  the  weary,  they  rest  from 
their  labours,  etc. 

III.  Grammatical  Equivalency — make  this  also  prominent.  For  ex- 
ample : 

{a)  An  adjective,  or  an  adverb,  or  an  infinitive,  or  a  prepositional  phrase, 
or  sentence  (as  quotation)  or  dependent  proposition  may  fill  the  office  of  a 
noun  ;  e.g..  That  you  have  wronged  me  doth  appear  in  this  :  From  fame  to 
infamy  is  a  beaten  track,  etc.,  etc 

{b)  The  office  of  adverb  may  be  filled  by  a  single  word,  or  a  preposH 
tional  phrase,  or  a  noun,  or  an  infinitive  phrase,  etc 


OUTLINE   Mi^THODS    IN    SPECIAL   SUBJECTS.  317 

{c)  The  "  adjective  "  may  be  a  single  word,  or  a  noun  in  the  possessive 
«ase,  or  a  prepositional  phrase,  or  a  "participle  phrase,"  era  dependent 
preposition,  etc. 

Inflexions,  Number^  Gender^  etc, — A  good  many  inflexions  will  be 
Teamed  incidentally,  but  there  should  be  many  lessons  and  copious  exer- 
OK«es   on  the  subject. 

Ol&SSification  of  the  different  kinds  of  nouns,  verbs,  adjectives,  etc. 

There  should  be  much  analysis,  but  eschew  "diagramatic"  analysis  as 
an  invention  of  the  deviceful  empjric.  This  "diagramming"  is  supposed 
to  help  the  pupil  to  apprehend  at  a  glance  the  relations  of  words,  clauses, 
etc.,  as  if  these  relations  had  not  to  be  apprehended  bejore  the  disjecta 
membra  could  be  placed  in  the  right  "compartments,"  etc.  There  ought 
to  be  occasional  exercises  in  written,  but  much  practice  in  oral,  analysis. 
Analysis  trains  to  power  of  rapid  apprehension,  of  expressive  reading,  and 
of  clear  and  concise  expression  of  thought 


14  DAY  USE 

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