necessary that all pupils read the same history, for instance. Let them read that which appeals to them, for, by so doing, the teacher will best create in them a love for historical knowledge and stimulate them to read widely in history. If we would acquaint the pupil with the essential facts of history, the poorest way in the world to do so is to tie him down to the cold formality of a textbook. The next stage in the educational progress comes when the pupil becomes actively reflective. In this stage he does not use what he learns in the textbook as an end in itself; he uses it as a basis for further inquiry. He does not accept without question what the textbook or the teacher says. He has his own ideas in literature, history, geography, and in mathematics. He takes the facts of literature, history, etc., combines them with his own experiences, and causes them to be real knowledge. In our schools there is entirely too little time devoted to the second step in the educational process. Knowledge is acquired and soon passes out of the mind because it is not organized. The lessons, as a rule, are so long that the pupil has all he can do to make a cursory review of their contents; he has no time to reflect on what he reads and to organize it into a complete whole. We are moving at such a terrific rate in every phase of life that we have no time for calm reflection. The masses accept blindly what the few set before them, or, if they do not accept it blindly, it is, as a rule, a blind rejection. They do not know why they accept or reject certain things. Our social progress is the result of the thinking of a few men. The average person pushes the button and expects the thing to happen, and he is little concerned as to why it happens. The automobile, the telegraph, the telephone, and the thousands of other inventions that make course. life easy and pleasant for us are accepted as a matter of The average man follows the leadership of his party without question. He accepts the foods others prepare for him without question; in fact, the life of the average man is a questionless life, and more than likely this is because he has formed early in life the habit of blindly following others. The highest stage of educational progress is reached when the pupil becomes self-active in the application of knowledge. Self-activity is necessary to the accumulation, and it is also necessary to its organization; but the highest stage is reached in educational progress only when the pupil becomes self-active in the application of knowledge. Here the pupil's individuality is brought into his work and all his faculties are symmetrically developed. The last stage brings about in the pupil the proper coördination between power and attainment and makes him a "doer of the word and not a hearer only." Most people do not live up to their ideals because the power of applying what they learn has not been developed. This failure to do as well as we know has a weakening influence upon us, and most of us are not living up to our possibilities because we have failed to apply our lessons as we learn them. Our good impulses grow weaker and weaker if we fail to act on them, and our knowledge will mean less and less to us if we fail to put it into execution. Ideals will pass away unless there is an effort to live up to them. It is fatal for us to lose sight of the unity between knowing and doing; for, if the relationship is maintained, our ability to do grows less and less. This is, perhaps, one explanation of the weaknesses of poets and musicians, whose thoughts habitually pass away without being executed. NO EDUCATION WITHOUT SELF-ACTIVITY Without self-activity in school work the proper coōrdination of cerebral functions cannot be maintained. If the pupil does not enter into his work with his whole soul, some of his faculties will be used to the exclusion of others, and there will not be symmetrical growth of his whole being. This, perhaps, explains the difference between the city and the country boy. The country boy, having no one to direct him, takes the initiative in his work and thus develops himself all around; while the city boy has no such opportunities, hence his development is one-sided. His receptive faculties are used and his executive faculties are neglected. This is why the city boy stands no chance when he comes into competition with the boy from the country, and it is not a mere happen-so that the great majority of our great men come from the country. The country boy finds his own problems, he studies those things that are vital to him, those things that are suited to his stage of development, he brings into action all his faculties; the result is a complete development of all his powers. Self-activity is indispensable in every stage of educational progress. The child will not enter fully into his work unless he is self-active, and work that is perfunctorily done will not result in habit. The weakness of the school to-day is that it does not enlist all the child's powers; it does not bring all of them into his work, and the great task of the teacher is to arouse self-activity. She must make the inspiration for his work come from within. The pupil must become interested in his work for the work's sake, just as he is interested in his play. Grades, reports, a desire to please parents, teachers, and others, or to prepare for college, may enlist a part of the pupil's faculties and lead him to learn his lessons in a perfunctory manner, but these things will not bring all of him into his work. These things will not cause him to feel that "hot fever of unrest" which will give him no peace unless he is at work on his chosen task. It will doubtless never be possible to make the pupil self-active in all his school work. There are certain preliminaries that will remain drudgery to him and not enlist his powers, because his vision of the beauty of the fields beyond are not enough to lure him on. Maybe we shall never be able to make him self-active in learning the mechanics of reading, the multiplication table, the table of weights and measures, spelling, the correct forms of composition, etc. But, even if this be true, let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that the child is being educated when he mechanically masters these things. He must learn them with self-activity, if he can be induced to do so; if not, then mechanically, for there can be no self-activity beyond unless they are mastered. If learned mechanically, these things are not a part of the child's education; they are but a foundation upon which his education is to be erected. If the child's self-activity is not aroused, he will never be educated. He may mechanically learn many things, but these things will not be a part of him, and he will ever remain a mere machine. TOPICS FOR REPORT AND INVESTIGATION I. The relation of self-activity to a varied program of studies. 2. Dickens' conception of education. 3. The junior high school as a means of motivating school work. 4. Educational methods of the kindergarten which may be carried over to the primary and elementary school. 5. "Ciceronianism" in the schools of to-day. Fisher, Dorothy C. Hughes, James L. & Co. Montessori, Maria. FURTHER READINGS A Montessori Mother. Henry Holt & Co. Dickens as an Educator. D. Appleton & Co. Educational Laws, pp. 84-120. D. Appleton Pearson, Francis B. The Montessori Method. F. A. Stokes Co. |