The child, therefore, is born into the world depraved, and has tendencies toward the bad. The bad in the child is the work of the devil. Various methods of casting out devils were used, but the most successful method was the causing of physical pain. The rod was the great devil dethroner. The greater pain of the child was interpreted as greater devil pertinacity. The more innocent forms of fun and play were regarded as works of the devil, and were robbed of their attractiveness by having intense pain associated with them. In the absence of suitable switches, the human hand could slap or cull the child almost as effectively as a rod could be used. In schools where vast numbers of these incipient devils are collected, Yankee skill and ingenuity soon introduced the ferrule and the "rawhide" whip. If one holds to this theory of total depravity, severity is the only method by which the natural badness of the child can be eradicated. Hence, wherever one finds those who believe in this theory, he finds those who are severe in their treatment of children. Some even go so far as to maintain that the fact that one desires to do a certain thing is sufficient reason for not doing it. The only good, according to them, is that pleasureless, colorless kind that comes from doing disagreeable things. 22. Theory of Innate Goodness [KEITH, J. A. H., Elementary Education, pp. 90-91. Chicago, Scott Foresman & Co., 1907.] The inevitable revolt from the doctrine of total depravity meant its denial. By emphasis upon this denial the feelings of men swung round to the opposite view. Instead of total depravity we have innate goodness. Wordsworth says that Trailing clouds of glory do we come And coming so direct from heaven, the child is good. He is the image of celestial goodness. Therefore the dicta: "Leave the child alone!" "If you attempt to interfere, you will spoil what God made to be good." The defendants of this theory have always been mystics-men who thought they were in direct contact with the great palpitating heart of the universe. Through this contact they learned many things they could not explain. Their only proof was iteration. With all adherents of this doctrine the argument is:-"Let the child alone. You are already spoiled, but that is no reason for spoiling the child. Punishment is pain, and all pain is evil. Leave the child alone and he will come out all right." 23. Theory of Evolutionary Character [KEITH, J. A. H., Elementary Education, p. 91. Chicago, Scott Foresman & Co., 1907] With the rise of the scientific idea of evolution, there came from many quarters a re-interpretation of ethical theories. If recapitulation be true (and its truth is always assumed), then each child in his unfolding must pass through all the stages of human history. All the appearances of evil are but passing stages of development, necessary as is the backward creeping of some infants in their first efforts. Therefore, to punish the child for something which he cannot help is cruelty. The only thing to do is to "possess our souls with patience" until the higher stages appear. The theory of recapitulation seems valid if stated as tendency. The tendency becomes an overt act, however, only on condition that the environment offer a favorable stimulation. Therefore, the evolutionary account of character is valid only when the present environment is similar in character to the environment of the ancestors. As the conditions of life change there is, of necessity, a change from the evolutionary order of unfolding. Moreover, if the self takes up experience into itself and really becomes other than it was before by virtue of its reaction to a stimulation, the evolutionary tendencies are constantly being modified. The successive and integrated modifications thus brought about so greatly change the original tendencies that recapitulation is not an accurate description of a human being's mental growth. 24. Theory of Experience and Reflection [Keith, J. A. H., Elementary Education, pp. 91-92. Chicago, Scott Foresman & Co., 1907.] Sympathetic observers of children and students of psychology are generally of the belief that children are neither good nor bad at birth; they are neutral because lacking in that experience without which good and bad are meaningless terms. Children are, at birth, at the zero point of morality. . . . In this environment of the child there are both the good and the bad. Therefore, by his imitation of the environment, or by his responses to it, the child becomes both good and bad. Good and bad elements are found in each person, and the above explanation shows why this is so. This theory of experience and reflection explains the genesis of moral notions (they arise primarily through experience), their development (depending upon the "copy" of the environment) and their elaboration into an ethical code (brought about by reflection). This theory makes the formation of moral character as definite a possibility as is the organization of intelligence through instruction. The teacher can so control and order the experience of the child, so stimulate him to reflection that the right attitude toward life results. 25. The Ideal School [HALL, G. Stanley, "The Ideal School as Based on Child Study," Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1901, pp. 475, 478, 483, 484.] The school that I shall describe exists nowhere, but its methods, unless I err, are valid everywhere. Although many of its features exist already, and could be pieced together in a mosaic from many lands and ages, it is essentially the school invisible, and not made with hands. But, as there is nothing so practical as the truly ideal, although my school to-day exists nowhere, it might be organized anywhere to-morrow; and I hope that the most and the least conservative will agree that it is the true goal of all endeavor, and will not differ except as to whether it may be realized at once or only at the end of a long period of labor. I confess that something like this has come. from the first animated of all my own feeble educational endeavors and that without it I should be without hope and without goal in the world of Pedagogy. 1. The kindergarten age is from two or three to six or seven. Here, before the ideal school can be inaugurated, we need some work of rescue from the symbolists. Now the body needs most attention, and the soul least. The child needs more mother, and less teacher; more of the educated nurse, and less of the metaphysician. We must largely eliminate, and partly reconstruct, the mother-plays, while transforming and vastly enlarge the repertory of the gifts and occupations. We must develop the ideal nursery, playgrounds, and rooms, where light, air, and water are at their best. The influences of the new hygiene have been felt least here, where they are needed most. 2. The age of about seven or eight is a transition period of the greatest for science. 3. At eight or nine there begins a new period, which, for nearly four years, to the dawn of puberty, constitutes a unique stage of life, marked off by many important differences from the period which precedes and that which follows it. However this may be, child nature suggests very plainly that this period should be mainly devoted to drill, habituation and mechanism. The age of reason is only dawning, and is not yet much in order; but discipline should be the watchword here. Writing, and even reading, for instance, should be neglected in our system before eight, and previous school work should focus on stories, the study of nature and education by play and other activities. Now writing and reading should be first taught with stress. Their nascent period is now beginning. If we teach them before, we are apt to make the average child a bad writer for life by precocious overemphasis on the finer muscles. 4. Adolescence is a term now applied to a pretty well-marked stage, beginning at about thirteen with girls and a year later with boys, and lasting about ten years, to the period of complete sexual maturity. First of all, the drill and mechanism of the previous period must be gradually relaxed, and an appeal must be made to freedom and interest. Individuality must have a far longer tether. We must, and can, really teach nothing that does not appeal to interests deep enough to make it seem of almost supreme value in the world. We can no longer coerce and break, but must lead and inspire. To drill merely is now to arrest. Each individual must be studied and made a special problem if his personality is to come to full maturity. Hence, there must be a wide range of elective study for those who continue at school. Boys can hereafter rarely do their best work under female teachers, however well equipped these may be mentally. They feel their manhood, and need the dominance of male influences. In the ideal school system the sexes will now, for a time at least, pretty much part company. 26. Plasticity in Childhood While childhood is universally considered the period of maximum plasticity, no claim is now made by psychologists that adults cannot learn effectively. The assumption that certain neurone patterns are more susceptible of modification during childhood is a generally accepted fact. Accent in speaking a foreign language, for example, is much more readily learned in childhood than later. The great plasticity of the period of infancy and early childhood suggest the importance of building the right habits, and developing the right attitudes and ideals from early infancy onward. 27. The Child the Great Objective The child comes into the world endowed with infinite possibilities. His potentialities are but little more than promises. His reactions are at first comparatively simple and primitive. His potential reactions of the higher order will spring into dynamic abilities if suitable stimulation, guidance, and inspiration be given him. The child is the great objective. He must be so educated that he will live a happy and useful life amid social surroundings. Subjects taught him are but means to an end. The individually and socially efficient, happy and healthy child is the goal. 28. The Science of Child Study [BARCLAY, Wade Crawford, The Pupil, p. 21. New York, Methodist Book Concern, 1914.] Child study, or, as it has sometimes been called, paidology,1 is related to the more general science, psychology. Psychology concerns itself principally with the study of the mind and its processes. It discovers, describes, classifies, and seeks to explain the workings of the mind. Child study concerns itself with the study of the developing nature of the child. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS 1. How do children and adults differ, socially, mentally, and physically? 2. Why should teachers know the ways of the child? Why is a knowledge of adolescence indispensable to the teacher in Junior and Senior High Schools? 1 Oscar Chrisman, "Paidology is the science of the child." |