GORDY'S NEW PSYCHOLOGY.

LESSON I.

THE BENEFITS OF PSYCHOLOGY TO THE TEACHER.

WE all believe that it is worth while to study a great many things of which we do not expect to make any practical use. You believe, for example, that it is a good thing to study algebra and geometry, not because you think the knowledge of them is likely to be useful to you — unless you should be called upon to teach them - but because you think the study of them will develop your mind.

Reasons for Studying Psychology. — Probably that is one of the reasons why you wish to study Psychology. And it certainly is a good reason for studying it. Few subjects are better calculated to develop the power of thinking than Psychology. You know that the way to develop any power of the mind is to use it, and it is quite impossible to make any headway in studying Psychology without thinking. That is the reason why it is so hard.

Develops Power of Thought. When any one makes an assertion about your mind - and that is what human

Psychology consists of, assertions about your mind and the minds of all human beings - it is often, indeed generally, impossible to realize what it means without thinking. Thus, suppose I say that a mental fact is known directly to but one person, and that one the person experiencing it. In order to realize what that means, you have to look into your own mind for an example of a mental fact. You recall the oft-repeated assertion, no one knows what any one thinks but himself, and you realize that a thought is a mental fact known to but one person directly, and that one the person experiencing it. But in order to know what other facts are mental facts, you must think long and carefully, until you have made up your mind just what facts are known to but one person directly, and that one the person experiencing them.

Even when you can understand an assertion that any one makes about your mind without looking into your own mind, it is generally necessary for you to do so before you can decide intelligently whether or not it is true. If any one says that you can not get the continuous attention of your pupils without asking questions, or without giving them some other motive for attending besides interest, that statement can be understood without special effort. But in order to determine whether or not it is true, you must look into your own mind. You must ask yourself whether any one can keep your attention for a half or three-quarters of an hour simply by being interesting. If you set about answering it in the right way, you will think until you recall some speaker who never asked you questions, or did anything except try to interest you to keep your attention, but who was interesting; then I am sure you will remember that when he was speaking your mind

PRACTICAL REASONS.

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wandered much more than it would have done if you had known that, when he had finished, he would question you about what he was saying. You will remember that you often allowed your mind to dwell on interesting points that he raised, to the exclusion of what he said directly after. For these two reasons (1) because you can not understand most of the assertions in Psychology without thinking; and (2) because, even when you understand them, you can not tell without thinking whether or not they are true I know of no subject better calculated to make a pupil think, and therefore better fitted to develop the power of thinking, than Psychology.

Practical Reasons. But apart from this, you wish to study Psychology for quite practical reasons. As a man who intends to be a surveyor studies trigonometry, not merely because it will develop his mind, but because of the use it will be to him, so you study Psychology because you think the knowledge of it will make you a better teacher.

Nature of Teaching. - How will it help you in this direction? Before you can answer this question, you must answer another. What is teaching? People used to intimate what they thought of this by saying that a teacher "keeps school." But "keeping school" is not teaching. Nor is it to teach to hear recitations. To teach is to deal with mind—is to get it to Do something which it would not have done apart from the teacher, in order to get it to BECOME something which it would not have become apart from him.

In order to do this intelligently, you plainly need to