which mature; the nervous system acts with greater energy and the muscular system develops. In short, a period of the most active life sets in. The physical vigor of the twelve-year-old and the thirteenyear-old child is only part of the explanation of the characteristic intellectual temper of this period. Just prior to this period the child, as we have seen, passes through an era of marked individualism. The unsocial tendencies of that period bring disappointments and new lessons and finally the child is ready for a renewal of his contacts with the social group. He cannot now be purely imitative as was the primary child, for he has gained self-consciousness. He cannot be content with pure individualism, because his experience has broadened so that he sees his dependence on others. A new social era opens. With self-consciousness and with a desire to get back into society by accepting its ways and complying with its demands, the adolescent seeks, albeit somewhat clumsily, a new contact with his fellows. The awkwardness of this period, its lack of selfassurance, its eagerness for social recognition, are all perfectly clear to the student of human nature who has analyzed the case of a twelve-year-old pupil. 19. The Adolescent Period [WHIPPLE, G. M., "The Adolescent Period," Junior-Senior High School Administration by JOHNSTON, C. H., NEWLON, Jesse, and PICKELL, Frank, pp. 116-124. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1922.] This selection on the subject of adolescence is probably one of the best that has appeared. The actual span of adolescence is somewhat variable; we think of it as roughly covering the time between puberty and maturity. Puberty is defined by the physiologist as that stage of physical development at which an individual first becomes capable of begetting or bearing children. Ordinarily this stage is reached by girls in their twelfth or thirteenth year, and by boys in their fourteenth year, though there are marked variations in the time of its appearance, e. g., from as early as the tenth to as late as the twentieth year. There is a close connection between growth in height and pubertal change, so that the stage of physical development that is attained may often be estimated correctly by noting the rate of increase of stature and of weight. The fact that girls reach the onset of puberty earlier than boys is likewise reflected in their outward growth; there is actually a period between the ages of 11.5 and 14.5 when girls are taller than boys, and a period between the ages of 12.5 and 14.5 when girls are heavier than boys of the same age. In other measurements, like strength of grip, lung capacity, etc., girls again are found to reach a period of rapid physical development earlier than boys, though they never, as a group, excel the boys in these measurements. All of these physical changes and many others that appear at the same time, like lengthening, thickening, ossification, and alterations in shape of bones; marked increase in breathing capacity accompanying enlargement of the thoracic cavity, radical increase in the size and strength of the heart, appearance of facial hair in boys, the alteration in the voice of boys, known as "mutation" (usually a drop of about an octave in pitch), the enlargement of the pelvis and bust in girls-all of these physical changes are quite obviously closely connected with the advent of other well-known aspects of sex development in both sexes. The phenomena combine to signal the transformation from childhood to adult life. . . . In seeking to classify and understand these mental alterations it seems natural to expect that their explanation will be found in the same general principles that underlie the bodily alterations of the period; that is, that the psychological aspects of adolescence will be found to be manifestations, sometimes direct, often perhaps quite indirect, of the unfolding of the drama of sex. In fact, it is difficult to see any other expla nation. The child is essentially an egoist, an individualist; he is moved to follow out his own desires; he is originally and naturally selfish (however much the careful training of the parents and teachers may have overlaid or transformed his native bent); for him "self-preservation is the first law of nature." The expansion of the interest in sex at the time of puberty is indicative of the preparation nature is making for the individual to participate in the life of the race; for nature the preservation of the species is more important than the preservation of the individual. It becomes, therefore, important that interest in the opposite sex should arise, that love and courtship, with all their tremendous mental stimulation and their concern for others should supplant the self-centered attitude of childhood. And thus it comes about that the highest forms of altruistic conductthe development of respect for others, the seeking to act in such a manner as to secure the approbation of one's fellows, the out pouring of sympathy, the yearning for the beautiful, the sacrifice of selfish satisfactions to promote the welfare of others, that all these and similar phases of mental and moral development, as well as such more obvious and possibly less worthy manifestations as interest in the opposite sex, self-consciousness, "showing-off," and interest in adornment, are to be understood and interpreted as manifestations of sex. Stanley Hall, to whom we owe so many of our present-day studies of adolescence, refers to the more remote or indirect manifestations as the "long circuitings" or "irradiations" of the sex instinct; other psychologists refer to them as "sublimations" of the sex interest. It will perhaps, then, be understood that the actual development of these sublimations is not always accomplished or at least not effected as it should be. The problem is to make the strong instinctive tendencies that emerge at this period serve as motives for worthy conduct and not to permit them to become debased or debauched. The problem is to use the driving power of sex to socialize the individual. Evidently the problem is closely associated with the inculcation of ideals, and especially with the skillful utilization of the religious sentiments that seem so commonly to become a powerful factor in the motives behind the conduct of youths and maidens in the mid-adolescent period. . . . One of the tendencies of adolescence obviously closely associated with the sex instinct is the ripening into full function of the social instinct in its various ramifications. As compared with their mates in the grade school, boys and girls of high school age are distinctly less self-centered, are more interested in others, are more likely to seek the society of others, are more profoundly affected by the opinions of others, are more prone to behave in such a way as to gain the good-will of others (especially of the opposite sex), and are more ready to give up their own personal satisfaction in order to help another. All these shifts of attitude are evidently of the far-reaching significance for the mental and moral development of their possessors, and of correspondingly great significance for the teacher who would seek to mould this development. We say "seek to mould this development" because, although the shifts of attitude just cited are undoubtedly instinctive at bottom, and therefore the common property of all human beings at these ages, they are not always fully accomplished; human instincts are more or less modified by training and environmental conditions generally. Consequently, the primary problem of adolescent training, as I see it, is to supervise and guarantee, as it were, that this fundamental transition from the self-centered mind of childhood to the socialized mind of adulthood is properly effected. It is worth our while to consider some of the methods by which this realization by the individual of his place in a social system, this development of the sentiment of duty and responsibility, can be brought about. One of the signs or symptoms of the awakening social tendency is the greater tendency toward the formation of groups of all sorts of clubs, societies, unions, leagues, organizations, and what not. The adolescent takes kindly to the idea of banding together for some common purpose, whether it be recreative or athletic or philanthropic or merely social in the narrower sense. Of course boys and girls do things in groups when they are children, but most of the active and persistent group activities of children are made for them and largely run for them by their elders. In the prepubertal stage there is hardly a boy who doesn't belong to some sort of spontaneously organized "gang." This gang is usually a more or less well-organized, even though transient, organization for carrying on athletics or some other form of physical activity, rarely for the sort of literary, artistic, or philanthropic activity that grown-ups organize societies for. These spontaneously organized societies, especially the rudimentary ones organized by boys, have been rather carefully investigated, and numerous valuable ideas for the assistance of adults in superintending the development of social tendencies have been derived from the investigations. It has been shown, for instance, that boys and girls cannot be handled to the best advantage in the same organization, that boys drawn from different social strata do not fuse well, that even skillful leaders cannot always maintain these organizations for indefinitely long periods, that societies formed for serious moral purposes ought not to have this aspect too prominent, but, rather, supplementary to a program appealing to physical activity, with a reasonable amount of mystery, ceremony, and secrecy. 20. Adolescence [HALL, G. Stanley, Adolescence, Vol. II, p. 37; Vol. I, p. 154, xv. New York. D. Appleton & Co., 1904.] Hall's monumental volumes on Adolescence were epochmaking. Up to this time (1904) very little had been done in Child Psychology, except by Preyer, in Europe, and a few scattered studies in this country by Hall and his pupils. Chrisman was busily engaged about the same time in developing his Paidology (the science of the child). Hall's volumes have been quoted time and again. While many of his the ories are no longer accepted, it may be said to his credit that few books have enjoyed as far-reaching results for good. If we accept Whipple and Judd's view of Adolescence, we do so because they are more in accord with the more recent studies. Adolescent years mark the golden age of sense, which is so prone to become sensual if uncontrolled. Then the soul exposes most surface, as it were, to the external world. The eye gate and ear gate especially are open their widest, and not only that, but the feeling tone and the general sense feeling, so largely independent of perception, are also at their best, so that the possibilities of knowing our world and acquiring experience on the one hand, and of lapsing into a life of indulgence, are now most developed (Vol. II, p. 37). Adolescence marks a new relation to time and space. The temporal and spatial horizon is enlarged; greater wholes are more adequately judged; more complex members of each are grouped into unity; the relation of wholes and parts is better seen . . . (Vol. I, p. 154). The social instincts undergo sudden unfoldment and the new life of love awakens. It is the age of sentiment and of religion, of rapid fluctuation of mood, and the world seems strange and new. Interest in adult life and in vocations develops. Youth awakes to a new world and understands neither it nor himself (p. xv). 21. The Theory of Total Depravity [KEITH, J. A. H., Elementary Education, pp. 89-90. Chicago, Scott Foresman & Co., 1907.] There are and have been various theories of the moral nature of the child, and these theories have a great influence upon the discipline administered by those who believe in them. The Theory of Total Depravity.-There have been many people who, in the language of the New England Primer, believed that In Adam's fall We sinned all. |