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diff --git a/17588-8.txt b/17588-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d530a6c --- /dev/null +++ b/17588-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8283 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Vitalized School, by Francis B. Pearson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Vitalized School + + +Author: Francis B. Pearson + + + +Release Date: January 23, 2006 [eBook #17588] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VITALIZED SCHOOL*** + + +E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Italicized words are enclosed by underscores (_italic_). + + Bold-faced words are enclosed by equal signs (=bold=). + + + + + +THE VITALIZED SCHOOL + +by + +FRANCIS B. PEARSON + +Superintendent of Public Instruction of Ohio +Author of "The Evolution of the Teacher" +"The High School Problem" +"Reveries of a Schoolmaster" + + + + + + + +New York +The MacMillan Company +1918 +Copyright, 1917, +by the MacMillan Company. +Published February, 1917. +Reprinted January, 1918. + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The thoughtful observer must have noted in the recent past many +indications of an awakened interest both in the concept of education and +in school procedure on the part of school officials, teachers, and the +public. Educators have been developing pedagogical principles that +strike their roots deep into the philosophy of life, and now their +pronouncements are invading the consciousness of people of all ranks and +causing them to realize more and more that the school process is an +integral part of the life process and not something detached from life. + +The following pages constitute an attempt to interpret some of the +school processes in terms of life processes, and to suggest ways in +which these processes may be made identical. + +It is hoped that teachers who may read these pages may find running +through them a strand of optimism that will give them increased faith in +their own powers, a larger hope for the future of the school, and an +access of zeal to press valiantly forward in their efforts to excel +themselves. + +F. B. P. + +COLUMBUS, OHIO, +January, 1917. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. TEACHING SCHOOL + II. THE TEACHER + III. THE CHILD + IV. THE CHILD OF THE FUTURE + V. THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN + VI. SUBLIME CHAOS + VII. DEMOCRACY + VIII. PATRIOTISM + IX. WORK AND LIFE + X. WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT + XI. COMPLETE LIVING + XII. THE TIME ELEMENT + XIII. THE ARTIST TEACHER + XIV. THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL + XV. THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION + XVI. AGRICULTURE + XVII. THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY + XVIII. POETRY AND LIFE + XIX. A SENSE OF HUMOR + XX. THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST + XXI. BEHAVIOR + XXII. BOND AND FEAR + XXIII. EXAMINATIONS + XXIV. WORLD-BUILDING + XXV. A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL + + + + +THE VITALIZED SCHOOL + + + + +CHAPTER I + +TEACHING SCHOOL + + +=Life and living compared.=--There is a wide difference between +school-teaching and teaching school. The question "Is she a +school-teacher?" means one thing; but the question "Can she teach +school?" means quite another. School-teaching may be living; but +teaching school is life. And any one who has a definition of life can +readily find a definition for teaching school. Much of the criticism of +the work of the schools emanates from sources that have a restricted +concept of life. The artisan who defines life in terms of his own trade +is impatient with much that the school is trying to do. He would have +the scope of the school narrowed to his concept of life. If art and +literature are beyond the limits of his concept, he can see no warrant +for their presence in the school. The work of the schools cannot be +standardized until life itself is standardized, and that is neither +possible nor desirable. The glory of life is that it does not have +fixity, that it is ever crescent. + +=Teaching defined.=--Teaching school may be defined, therefore, as the +process of interpreting life by the laboratory method. The teacher's +work is to open the gates of life for the pupils. But, before these +gates can be opened, the teacher must know what and where they are. This +view of the teacher's work is neither fanciful nor fantastic; quite the +contrary. Life is the common heritage of people young and old, and the +school should be so organized and administered as to teach people how to +use this heritage to the best advantage both for themselves and for +others. If a child should be absent from school altogether, or if he +should be incarcerated in prison from his sixth to his eighteenth year, +he would still have life. But, if he is in school during those twelve +years, he is supposed to have life that is of better quality and more +abundant. Life is not measured by years, but by its own intensity and +scope. It has often been said that some people have more life in +threescore and ten years than Methuselah had in his more than nine +hundred years. + +=Life measured by intensity.=--This statement is not demonstrable, of +course, but it serves to make evident the fact that some people have +more of life in a given time than others in the same time. In this +sense, life may be measured by the number of reactions to objectives. +These reactions may be increased by training. Two persons, in passing a +shop-window, may not see the same objects; or one may see twice as many +as the other, according to their ability to react. The man who was +locked in a vault at the cemetery by accident, and was not discovered +for an hour, thought he had spent four days in his imprisonment. He had +really lived four days in a single hour by reason of the intensity of +life during that hour. + +=Illustrations.=--In the case of dreams, we are told that years may be +condensed into minutes, or even seconds, by reason of the rapidity of +reactions. The rapidity and intensity of these reactions make themselves +manifest on the face of the dreamer. Beads of perspiration and facial +contortions betoken intensity of feeling. In such an experience life is +intense. If a mental or spiritual cyclometer could be used in such a +case, it would make a high record of speed. Life sometimes touches +bottom, and sometimes scales the heights. But the distance between these +extremes varies greatly in different persons. The life of one may have +but a single octave; of the other, eight, or a hundred, or a thousand. +The life of Job is an apt illustration. No one has been able to sound +the depths of his suffering, nor has any one been able to measure the +heights of his exaltation. We may not readily compute the octaves in +such a life as his. + +=The complexity of life.=--It is not easy to think life, much less +define it. The elements are so numerous as to baffle and bewilder the +mind. It looks out at one from so many corners that it seems Argus-eyed. +At one moment we see it on the Stock Exchange where men struggle and +strive in a mad frenzy of competition; at another, in a quiet home, +where a mother soothes her baby to sleep, where there is no competition +but, rather, a sublime monopoly. Again, it manifests itself in the +clanking of machinery where men are tunneling the mountain or +constructing a canal to unite oceans; or, again, in the laboratory where +the microscope is revealing the form of the snow crystal. One man is +watching the movements of the heavenly bodies as they file by his +telescope, while another writes a proclamation that makes free a race of +people. Another man is leading an army into battle, while some Doctor +MacClure is breasting the storm in the darkness as he goes forth on his +mission of mercy. + +=Manifestations of life.=--These manifestations of life men call trade, +commerce, history, mathematics, science, nature, and philanthropy. And +men write these words in books, and other men write other books trying +to explain their meaning. Then, still others divide and subdivide, and +science becomes the sciences, and mathematics becomes arithmetic, and +algebra, and geometry, and trigonometry, and calculus, and astronomy. +Here mathematics and science seem to merge. And, in time, history and +geography come together, and sometimes strive for precedence. + +Thus, books accumulate into libraries and so add another to the many +elements of life. Then magazines are written to explain the books and +their authors. The motive behind the book is analyzed in an effort to +discover the workings of the author's mind and heart. In these +revelations we sometimes hear the rippling of the brook, and sometimes +the moan of the sea; sometimes the cooing of the dove, and sometimes the +scream of the eagle; sometimes the bleating of the lamb, and sometimes +the roaring of the lion. In them we see the moonbeams that play among +the flowers and the lightning that rends the forest; the blossoms that +filter from the trees and the avalanche that carries destruction; the +rain that fructifies the earth and the hurricane that destroys. + +=Life in literature.=--Back of these sights and sounds we discover +men--Cicero, Demosthenes, Homer, Isaiah, Shakespeare, Milton, Dante. We +trace the thoughts and emotions of these men and find literature. And in +literature, again, we come upon another manifestation of life. +Literature is what it is because these men were what they were. They saw +and felt life to be large and so wrote it down large; and because they +wrote it thus, what they wrote endures. They stood upon the heights and +saw the struggles of man with himself, with other men, and with nature. +This panorama generated thoughts and feelings in them, and these they +could not but portray. And so literature and life are identical and not +coördinates, as some would have us think. + +=Life as subject matter in teaching.=--In teaching school, therefore, +the subject matter with which we have to do is life--nothing more and +nothing less. We may call it history, or mathematics, or literature, or +psychology,--but it still remains true that life is the real objective +of all our activities. And, as has been already said, we are teaching +life by the laboratory method. We are striving to interpret the thing in +which we are immersed. We feel, and think, and aspire, and love, and +enjoy. All these are life; and from this life we are striving to extract +strength that our feeling may be deeper, our thinking higher, our +aspirations wider and more lofty, our love purer and nobler, and our own +enjoyment greater. By absorbing the life that is all about us we strive +to have more abundant and abounding life. + +=The teacher's province.=--Such is the province of one who essays the +task of teaching school. School is life, as we have been told; but, at +the same time, it is a place and an occasion for teaching life. If we +could detach history from life, it would cease to be history. If +literature is not life, it is not literature; and so with the sciences. +These branches are but variants or branches of life, and all emanate +from a common center. Whether we scan the heavens, penetrate the depths +of the sea, pore over the pages of books, or look into the minds and +hearts of men, we are striving after an interpretation of life. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Distinguish between a "school teacher" and a "man or woman who +teaches school." + +2. Discuss the importance of the following agencies of the school in +securing for children "life of a better quality and more abundant": +play; revitalized curricula; vitalized teachers; medical inspection; +social centers; moral instruction. + +3. Discuss both from the standpoint of present practice and ideal +educational principles: "More abundant life rather than knowledge is the +chief end of instruction." + +4. What changes are necessary in school curricula and in the methods of +school organization, instruction, and discipline, in order that the +chief purpose of our schools, "more abundant _life_," may be realized? + +5. Justify the apparent length of the school day to teachers and pupils, +as a means of determining the quality of the work of the school. + +6. Some teachers maintain that school is a preparation for life, while +the author maintains that "school is _life_." Is this difference in the +concept of the school a vital one? + +7. How may this difference of concept affect the work of the teacher? +the attitude of the pupil? + +8. What definition of education will best harmonize with the ideals of +this chapter? + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE TEACHER + + +=Teachers contrasted.=--The vitalized school is an expression of the +vitalized teacher. In the hands of the teacher of another sort, the +vitalized school is impossible. Unless she can see in the multiplication +table the power that throws the bridge across the river, that builds +pyramids, that constructs railways, that sends ships across the ocean, +that tunnels mountains and navigates the air, this table becomes a +stupid thing, a dead thing, and an incubus upon the spirits of her +pupils. To such a teacher mathematics is a lifeless thing, without hope +or potency, the school is a mere convenience for the earning of a +livelihood, the work is the drudgery of bondage, and the children are +little less than an impertinence. The vitalized teacher is different. To +her the multiplication table pulsates with life. It stretches forth its +beneficent hand to give employment to a million workers, and food to a +million homes. It pervades every mart of trade; it loads trains and +ships with the commerce of nations; and it helps to amplify and ennoble +civilization. + +=Vitalized mathematics.=--In this table she sees a prophecy of great +achievements in engineering, architecture, transportation, and the +myriad applications of science. In brief, mathematics to her is vibrant +with life both in its present uses and in its possibilities. She knows +that it is a part of the texture of the daily life of every home as well +as of national life. She knows that it pertains to individual, +community, and national well-being. Knowing this, she feels that it is +quite worth while for herself and her pupils, both for the present and +for the future. She feels that, if she would know life, she must know +mathematics, because it is a part of life; that, if she would teach life +to her pupils, she must teach them mathematics as an integral part of +life; and that she must teach it in such a way that it will be as much a +part of themselves as their bodily organs. She wants them to know the +mathematics as they know that the rain is falling or that the sun is +shining, because the rain, the sunshine, and the mathematics are all +elements of life. Her great aim is to have her pupils experience the +study just as they experience other phases of life. + +=The teacher's attitude.=--Such a teacher with such a conception of life +and of her work finds teaching school the very reverse of drudgery. Each +day is an exhilarating experience of life. Her pupils are a part of life +to her. She enjoys life and, hence, enjoys them. They are her +confederates in the fine game of life. The bigness and exuberance of her +abundant life enfolds them all, and from the very atmosphere of her +presence they absorb life. Their studies, under the influence of her +magic, are as much a part of life to them as the air they breathe or the +food they eat. No two days are alike in her school, for life to-day is +larger than it was yesterday and so presents a new aspect. Her spirit +carries over into their spirits the truths of the books, and these +truths thus become inherent. + +=College influences.=--She teaches life, albeit through the medium of +subjects and books, because she knows life. Her college work did not +consist in the gathering together of many facts, but in accumulating +experiences of life. Many of these experiences were acquired +vicariously, but they were no less real on that account. Her generous +nature was able to withstand the most assiduous efforts of some of her +teachers to quench the flames of life that glowed in the pages of books, +with the wet blanket of erudition. She was able to relive the thoughts +and feelings of the authors whose books she studied and so make their +experiences her own. She could reconstitute the emotional life of her +authors and gain potency through the transfusion of spirit. Her books +were living things, and she gleaned life from their pages. + +=Reading and life.=--She can teach reading because she can read. Reading +to her is an experience in life. The words on the printed page are not +meaningless hieroglyphics. They are the electric wires which connect the +soul of the author with her own, and through which the current is +continually passing. When she reads Dickens, Tiny Tim is never a mere +boy with a crutch, but he is Tiny Tim, and, as such, neither men nor +angels can supplant him on the printed page. She knows the touch of him +and the voice of him. She laughs with him; she cries with him; she prays +with him; she lives with him. In her teaching she causes Tiny Tim to +stand forth like a cameo to her pupils, with no rival and no peer. This +she can do because he is a part of her life. She has no occasion either +to pose or to rhapsodize. Sincerity is its own explanation and +justification. + +=Power of understanding.=--When she reads "Little Boy Blue" she can hear +the sobbing of a heartbroken mother and thus, vicariously, comes to know +the universality of death and sorrow. But she finds faith and hope in +the poem, also, and so can see the sunlight suffusing the clouds of the +mother's grief. Thus she enters into the feeling of motherhood and so +shares the life of all the mothers whose children are her pupils. In +every page she reads she crosses anew the threshold of life and gains a +knowledge of its joys, its sorrows, its triumphs, or its defeats. In +short, she reads with the spirit and not merely with the mind, and thus +catches the spiritual meaning of what she reads. She can feel as well as +think and so can emotionalize the printed page. Nature has endowed her +with a sensory foundation that reacts to the emotional situations that +the author produces. Thus she understands, and that is the prime +desideratum in reading. And because she understands, she can interpret, +and cause her pupils to understand. Thus they receive another endowment +of life. + +=Books as exponents of life.=--She has time for reading as she has time +for eating and drinking, and for the same reason. To her they are all +coördinate elements of life. She eats, and sleeps, and reads because she +is alive; and she is more alive because she eats, and sleeps, and reads. +She taps the sources of spiritual refreshment, without parade, and +rejoices in the consequent enrichment of her life. She does not smite +the rock, but speaks to it, and smiles upon it, and the waters gush +forth. She descends into Hades with Dante, and ascends Sinai with Moses, +and is refreshed and strengthened by her journeys. She sits enrapt as +Shakespeare turns the kaleidoscope of life for her, or stands enthralled +by Victor Hugo's picture of the human soul. Her sentient spirit is +ignited by the fires of genius that glow between the covers of the book, +and her fine enthusiasm carries the divine conflagration over into the +spirits of her pupils. There is, therefore, no drag or listlessness in +her class in reading, because, during this exercise, life is as buoyant +and spontaneous as it is upon the playground. + +=The meaning of history.=--In her teaching of history she invests all +the characters with life, because to her they are alive. And because +they are alive to her they are alive to her pupils. They are instinct +with power, action, life. She rehabilitates the scenes in which they +moved, and, therefore, they must be alive in order to perform their +parts. They are all flesh and blood people with all the attributes of +people. They are all actuated by motives and move along their appointed +ways obedient to the laws of cause and effect. They are not named in the +book to be learned and recited, but to be known. She causes her pupils +to know them as they would come to know people in her home. Nor do they +ever mistake one for the other or confuse their actions. They know them +too well for that. These characters are made to stand wide apart, so +that, being thus seen, they will ever after be known. History is not a +directory of names, but groups of people going about their tasks. They +hunger, and thirst, and love, and hate, and struggle with their +environment as their descendants are doing to-day. + +=Language and vitality.=--When she is teaching a language, it is never +less than a living language. In Latin the syntax is learned as a means, +never an end. The big things in the study loom too large for that. The +pupils become so eager to see what Cæsar will do next that they cannot +afford the time to stare long at a mere ablative absolute. They are +following the parade, and are not to be turned aside from their large +purpose by minor matters. They are made to see and hear Cicero; and Rome +becomes a reality, with its Forum, its Senate, and its Mamertine. When +Dido sears the soul of the faithless Æneas with her words of scorn, the +girls applaud and the boys tremble. When Troy burns, there is a real +fire, and Achates is as real as the man Friday. When the shipwrecked +Trojans regale themselves with venison, it is no make-believe dinner, +but a real one. Where such a teacher is, there can be no dead language, +no dry bones of history, and no stagnation in the stream of life. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What suggestions are offered for the vitalization of mathematics? +history? reading? language? + +2. In what ways is vitalization of subject matter related to its +socialization? + +3. How may motivation in teaching the multiplication table be assisted +by vitalization? + +4. What is to be included in the term "read" in the sentence "She can +teach reading because she can read"? + +5. Add to the author's list of children in literature whom the vitalized +teacher may introduce as companions to her pupils. + +6. Why is extended reading essential to success in teaching? + +7. What works of Dante have you read? of Victor Hugo? of Shakespeare? +How will the reading of such authors improve the teaching ability of +elementary teachers? + +8. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the vitalized teacher? + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE CHILD + + +=The child as the center in school procedure.=--The child is the center +of school procedure in all its many ramifications. For the child the +building is erected, the equipment is provided, the course of study is +arranged and administered, and the teacher employed. The child is major, +and all else is subsidiary. In the general scheme even the teacher takes +secondary place. Teachers may come and go, but the child remains as the +focus of all plans and purposes. The teacher is secured for the child, +and not the child for the teacher. Taxpayers, boards of education, +parents, and teachers are all active in the interests of the child; and +all school legislation, to be important, must have the child as its +prime objective. Colleges of education and normal schools, in large +numbers, are working at the educational problem in an effort to develop +more effective methods of training the teachers of the child. A host of +authors and publishers are giving to the interest of the child the +products of their skill. In every commonwealth may be found a large +number of men and women whose time and energies are devoted to the work +of the schools for the child. + +=All children should have school privileges.=--All these facts are +freely admitted, wherever attention is called to them, but we still have +truant officers, and child labor laws. We admit the facts, but, in our +practices, strive to circumvent their application. If the school is good +for one child, it is good for all children. Indeed, the school is +maintained on the assumption that all children will take advantage of +and profit by its presence. If there were no schools, our civilization +would surely decline. If school attendance should cease at the end of +the fifth year, then we would have a fifth-year civilization. It rests, +therefore, with the parents of the children, in large measure, whether +we are to have an eighth-grade civilization, a high-school civilization, +or a college civilization. + +=Parental attitude.=--Schools are administered on the assumption that +every child is capable of and worthy of training, and that training the +child will make for a better quality of civilization. The state regards +the child as a liability during his childhood in the hope that he may be +an asset in his manhood. In this hope time and money are devoted to his +training. But, in the face of all this, there are parents, here and +there, who still look upon their own children as assets and would use +them for their own comfort or profit. They seem to think that their +children are indebted to them for bringing them into the world and that +their obligation to the children is canceled by meager provision of +food, shelter, and clothing. They seem not to realize that "life is more +than fruit or grain," and deny to their children the elements of life. + +=The rights of the child.=--All this is a sort of preface to the +statement that the child comes into the world endowed with certain +inherent rights that may not be abrogated. He has a right to life in its +best and fullest sense, and no one has a right to abridge this measure +of life, or to deprive him of anything that will contribute to such a +life. He goes to the school as one of the sources of life, and any one +who denies him this boon is doing violence to his right to have life. He +does not go to school to study arithmetic, but studies arithmetic as one +of the elements of life; and experience has demonstrated that arithmetic +may be learned in the school more advantageously than elsewhere. He goes +to school to have agreeable and profitable life. Each day is an integer +of life and must be made to abound in life if it is to be accounted a +success. + +=Child life.=--Again, the child has a right to the quality of life that +is consistent with and congenial to his age. A seven-year-old should be +a seven-year-old, in his thinking, in his activities, in his amusements, +and in his feeling. We should never ask or want him to "put away +childish things" at this age, for these childish things are a proof of +his normality and good health. His buoyant life and good health may +prove disastrous to the furniture in his home, but far better marred +furniture than marred childhood. If, at this age, he should become as +quiet and sedate as his father, his parents and teacher would have cause +for alarm. It is the high privilege of the parent and the teacher to +direct his activities, but not to abridge or interdict them. If the +teacher would reduce him to inaction and silence, she may well reflect +that if he were an imbecile he would be quiet. He will not pass this way +again; and if he is ever to have the sort of life that is in harmony +with his age, he must have it now. + +=Childhood curtailed.=--He has a right, also, to the full measure of +childhood. This period is relatively short, and any curtailment does +violence to his physiological and psychological nature. All the years of +his childhood are necessary for a proper balancing of his physical and +mental powers, that they may do their appointed work in after years. +Entire volumes have been devoted to this subject, but, in spite of these +volumes, some mothers still try to hurry their daughters into the duties +and responsibilities of adult life. One such mother went to the high +school to get the books of her fifteen-year-old daughter and, upon being +asked why the daughter was leaving school, replied, "Oh, she's keeping +company now." That daughter will never be the hardy plant in +civilization that she ought to be, because she was reared in a hothouse +atmosphere. That mother had no right to cripple the life of her child by +thwarting nature's decrees. + +=Detrimental effects.=--The pity of it all is that the child is at the +mercy of the parent, or of the teacher, as the case may be. We become so +eager to have "old heads on young shoulders" that we begrudge the child +the years that are necessary for the shoulders to attain that maturity +of strength that is needful for supporting the "old heads." Then ensues +a lack of balance, and, were all children thus denied their right to the +full period of youth, we should have a distorted civilization. Dickens +inveighs against this curtailment of youth prodigiously, and the marvel +is that we have failed to learn the lesson from his pages. We need not +have recourse to Victor Hugo to know the life of little Cosette, for we +can see her prototype by merely looking about us. + +=The child's right to the best.=--As the child has a right to life in +its fullness, so he has a right to all the agencies that can promote +this type of life. If he meets with an accident he has a right to the +best surgical skill that can be secured, and this right we readily +concede; and equally he has a right to the best teacher that money will +secure. If he has a teacher that is less than the best, the time thus +lost can never be restored to him. A lady who had an unskillful teacher +in her first year in the high school now avers that he maimed her for +life in that particular study. Life is such a delicate affair that it +demands expert handling. If we hope to have the child attain his right +to be an intelligent coöperating agent in promoting life in society, +then no price is too great to pay for the expert teaching which will +nurture the sort of life in him that will make him effective. + +=The child's native tendencies.=--Then, again, the child has a right to +the exercise of the native tendencies with which he is endowed. In fact, +these tendencies should be the working capital of the teacher, the +starting points in her teaching. There was a time when the teacher +punished the child who was caught drawing pictures on his slate. Happily +that sort of barbarity disappeared, in the main, along with the slate. +The vitalized teacher rejoices in the pictures that the child draws and +turns this tendency to good account. Through this inclination to draw +she finds the real child and so, as the psychologists direct, she begins +where the child is and sets about attaching to this native tendency the +work in nature study, geography, or history. When she discovers a +constructive tendency in the child, she at once uses this in shifting +from analytic to synthetic exercises in the school order. If he enjoys +making things, he will be glad of an opportunity to make devices, or +problems, or maps. + +=The play instinct.=--She makes large use, also, of the play instinct +that is one of his native tendencies. This instinct is constantly +reaching out for objects of play. The teacher is quick to note the +child's quest for objects and deftly substitutes some phase of school +work for marbles, balls, or dolls, and his playing proceeds apace +without abatement of zest. The vitalized teacher knows how to attach the +arithmetic to this play instinct and make it a fascinating game. During +the games of arithmetic, geography, history, or spelling, life is at +high tide in her school and the work is thorough in consequence. Work is +relieved of the onus of drudgery whenever it appears in the guise of a +game, and the teacher who has skill in attaching school studies to the +play instinct of the child will make her school effective as well as a +delight to herself and her pupils. In such a plan there is neither place +nor occasion for coercion. + +=Self-expression.=--Another right of the child is the right to express +himself. The desire for self-expression is fundamental in the human +mind, as the study of archæology abundantly proves. Since this is true, +every school should be a school of expression if the nature of the child +is to have full recognition. Without expression there is no impression, +and without impression there is no education that has real value. The +more and better expression in the school, therefore, the more and better +the education in that school. In the vitalized school we shall find +freedom of expression, and the absence of unreasoning repression. The +child expresses himself by means of his hands, his feet, his face, his +entire body, and his organs of speech, and his expression through either +of these means gives the teacher a knowledge of what to do. These +expressions may not be what the teacher would wish, but the expression +necessarily precedes intelligent teaching. + +=Imagination.=--These expressions may reveal a vivid imagination, but +they are no less valuable as indices of the child's nature on that +account. It is the very refinement of cruelty to try to interdict or +stifle the child's imagination. But for the imagination of people in the +past we should not have the rich treasures of mythology that so delight +us all. Every child with imagination is constructing a mythology of his +own, and from the gossamer threads of fancy is weaving a pattern of life +that no parent or teacher should ever wish to forbid or destroy. Day by +day, he sees visions and dreams dreams, and so builds for himself a +world in which he finds delight and profit. In this world he is king, +and only profane hands would dare attempt to dethrone him. + +=The child's experiences.=--His experiences, whether in the real world, +or in this world of fancy, are his capital in the bank of life; and he +has every right to invest this capital so as to achieve further +increments of life. In this enterprise, the teacher is his counselor and +guide, and, in order that she may exercise this function sympathetically +and rationally, she must know the nature and extent of his capital. If +he knows a bird, he may invest this knowledge so as to gain a knowledge +of many birds, and so, in time, compass the entire realm of ornithology. +If he knows a flower, from this known he may be so directed that he may +become a master in the unknown field of botany. If he knows coal, this +experience may be made the open sesame to the realms of geology. In +short, all his experiences may be capitalized under the direction of a +skillful teacher, and made to produce large dividends as an investment +in life. + +=Relation to school work.=--Thus the school becomes, for the child, a +place of and for real life, and not a place detached from life. There he +lives effectively, and joyously, because the teacher knows how to +utilize his experiences and native dispositions for the enlargement of +his life. He has no inclination to become a deserter or a tenant, for +life is agreeable there, and the school is made his chief interest. His +work is not doled out to him in the form of tasks, but is graciously +presented as a privilege, and as such he esteems it. There he learns to +live among people of differing tastes and interests without abdicating +his own individuality. There he learns that life is work and that work +is the very quintessence of life. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. How should dividends on school investments be estimated? + +2. What are the inherent rights of childhood? + +3. What use may be made of play in the education of children? + +4. Explain why adults are often unwilling to coöperate through lack of +opportunity to play in childhood. + +5. Illustrate from your own knowledge and experience how the exercise of +native tendencies may be the means of education. + +6. What modes of self-expression should be used by pupils of elementary +schools? of high schools? + +7. What may the vitalized teacher do to assist in the development of +self-expression? What should she refrain from doing? + +8. Suggest methods whereby the teacher may discover the content of the +child's world. + +9. How may the child's experience, imagination, and expression be +interrelated? + +10. Why is the twentieth century called the "age of the child"? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE CHILD OF THE FUTURE + + +=Rights of the coming generations.=--Any school procedure that limits +its interests and activities to the present generation takes a too +restricted view of the real scope of education. The children of the next +generation, and the next, are entitled to consideration if education is +to do its perfect work and have complete and convincing justification. +The child of the future has a right to grandfathers and grandmothers of +sound body and sound mind, and the schools and homes of the present are +charged with the responsibility of seeing to it that this right is +vouchsafed to him. In actual practice our plans seem not to previse +grandfathers and grandmothers, and stop short even of fathers and +mothers. The child of the next generation has a right to a father and a +mother of untainted blood, and neither the home nor the school can +ignore this right. + +=Transmitted weaknesses.=--If these rights are not scrupulously +respected by the present generation, the child of the future may come +into the world under a handicap that all the educational agencies +combined can neither remove nor materially mitigate. If he is crippled +in mind or in body because of excesses on the part of his progenitors, +the schools and hospitals may help him through life in a sorry sort of +fashion, but his condition is evermore a reminder to him of how much he +has missed in comparison with the child of sound body and mind. If such +a child does not imprecate even the memory of the ancestors whose +vitiated blood courses through his stricken body, it will be because his +mind is too weak to reason from effect to cause or because his +affliction has taught him large charity. He will feel that he has been +shamefully cheated in the great game of life, with no hope of +restitution. By reason of this, his gaze is turned backward instead of +forward, and this is a reversal of the rightful attitude of child life. +Instead of looking forward with hope and happiness, he droops through a +somber life and constantly broods upon what might have been. + +=Attitude of ancestors.=--Whether he realizes it or not, he reduces the +average of humanity and is a burden upon society both in a negative and +in a positive sense. In him society loses a worker and gains a +dependent. Every taxpayer of the community must contribute to the +support which he is unable to provide for himself. He watches other +children romp and play and laugh; but he neither romps, nor plays, nor +laughs. He is inert. Some ancestor chained him to the rock, and the +vultures of disease and unhappiness are feeding at his vitals. He asks +for bread, and they give him a stone; he asks for life, and they give +him a living death; he asks for a heaven of delight, and they give him a +hell of despair. He has a right to freedom, but, in place of that, he is +forced into slavery of body and soul to pay the debts of his +grandfather. Nor can he pay these debts in full, but must, perforce, +pass them on to his own children. Sad to relate, the father and +grandfather look upon such a child and charge Providence with unjust +dealing in burdening them with such an imperfect scion to uphold the +family name. They seem blind to the patent truth before them; they seem +unable to interpret the law of cause and effect; they charge the +Almighty and the child with their own defections; they acquit themselves +of any responsibility for what is before their eyes. + +=Hospitals cited.=--Our hospitals for abnormal and subnormal children, +and our eleemosynary institutions, in general, are a sad commentary upon +our civilization and something of a reflection upon the school as an +exponent of and a teacher of life. If the wards of these institutions, +barring the victims of accidents, are the best we can do in the way of +coming upon a solution of the problem of life, neither society nor the +school has any special warrant for exultation. These defectives did not +just happen. The law of life is neither fortuitous nor capricious. On +the contrary, like begets like, and the law is immutable. With lavish +hand, society provides the pound of cure but gives only superficial +consideration to the ounce of prevention. The title of education will be +cloudy until such time as these institutions have become a thing of the +past. Both pulpit and press extol the efforts of society to build, +equip, and maintain these institutions, and that is well; but, with all +that, we are merely trying to make the best of a bad situation. +Education will not fully come into its own until it takes into the scope +of its interests the child of the future as well as the child of the +present; not until it comes to regard the children of the present as +future ancestors as well as future citizens. + +=The child as a future ancestor.=--If the children of the future are to +prove a blessing to society and not a burden, then the children of the +present need to become fully conscious of their responsibilities as +agencies in bringing to pass this desirable condition. If the teacher or +parent can, somehow, cause the boy of to-day to visualize his own +grandson, in the years to come, pointing the finger of scorn at him and +calling down maledictions upon him because of a taint in the family +blood, that picture will persist in his consciousness, and will prove a +deterrent factor in his life. The desire for immortality is innate in +every human breast, we are taught, but certainly no boy will wish to +achieve that sort of immortality. He will not consider with complacency +the possibility of his becoming a pariah in the estimation of his +descendants, and will go far in an effort to avert such a misfortune. +There is no man but will shudder when he contemplates the possibility of +having perpetuated upon his gravestone or in the memory of his +grandchild the word "Unclean." + +=The heart of the problem.=--Here we arrive at the very heart of the +problem that confronts the home and the school. We may close our eyes, +or look another way, but the problem remains. We may not be able to +solve it, but we cannot evade it. Each day it calls loudly to every +parent and every teacher for a solution. The health and happiness of the +coming generations depend upon the right education of the present one, +and this responsibility the home and the school can neither shirk nor +shift. We take great unction to ourselves for the excellence of the +horses, pigs, and cattle that we have on exhibition at the fairs, but +are silent as to our failures in the form of children, that drag out a +half-life in our hospitals. In one state it costs more to care for the +defectives and unfortunates than to provide schooling facilities for all +the normal children, but this fact is not written into party platforms +nor proclaimed from the stump. In the face of such a fact society seems +to proceed upon the agreeable assumption that the less said the better. + +=Misconceptions.=--We temporize with the fundamental situation by the +use of such soporifics as the expressions "necessary evil" and the like, +but that leaves us exactly at the starting point. Many well-meaning +people use these expressions with great frequency and freedom and seem +to think that in so doing they have given a proof of virtue and public +spirit. It were worthy only of an iconoclast to deprecate or disparage +the legislative attempts to foster clean living. All such efforts are +worthy of commendation; but in sadness it must be confessed that, +laudable as these efforts are, they have not produced results that are +wholly satisfactory. Defectives are still granted licenses to perpetuate +their kind; children still enervate their bodies and minds by the use of +narcotics; and society daintily lifts its skirts as it hurries past the +evil, pretending not to see. Legislation is an attempt to express public +sentiment in statutory form; but public sentiment must precede +legislation if it is to become effective. Efforts have been made through +the process of legislation to deny the granting of marriage licenses to +people who are physically unsound, but the efforts came to naught +because public sentiment has not attained to this plane of thinking. +Hence, we shall not have much help from legislation in solving our +problem, until public sentiment has been educated. + +=The responsibility of the school.=--This education must come, in large +part, through the schools, but even these will fail until they come into +a full realization of the fact that their field of effort is life in the +large. Time was when the teacher thought she was employed to teach +geography, grammar, and arithmetic. Then she enlarged this to include +boys and girls. And now she needs to make another addition and realize +that her function is to teach boys and girls the subject of Life, using +the branches of study as a means to this end. In a report on the work of +the schools at Gary, Indiana, the statement is made that the first +purpose of these schools seems to be to produce efficient workers for +the mills. This seems to savor of the doctrine of educational +foreordination, and would make millwork and life synonymous. Life is +larger than any mill. We may be justified in educating one horse for the +plow and another for the race track, but this justification rests upon +the fact that horses are assets and not liabilities. + +=Clean living.=--Clean living in this generation will, undeniably, +project itself into the next, and we have only to see to it that all the +activities of the school function in clean living in the child of +to-day, and we shall surely be safeguarding the interests of the child +of the future. But clean living means more than mere externals. The +daily bath, pure food, fresh air, and sanitary conditions are essential +but not sufficient in themselves. Clean thinking, right motives, and a +high respect for the rights and interests of the future must enter into +the scheme of life. There must be no devious ways, no back alleys, in +the scheme, but only the broad highway of life, open always to the +sunlight and to the gaze of all mankind. All this must become thoroughly +enmeshed in the social consciousness and in the daily practice of every +individual, before the school can lay claim to success in the art of +teaching efficient living. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Investigate the following agencies as means for providing future +generations with ancestors of untainted blood: legislation; moral +education; physical education; sex hygiene and eugenics; penal +institutions; medical science. + +2. Enumerate some of the physical and mental handicaps of the child who +is not well born. + +3. What powerful appeal for clean living may be made to the adolescent +youth? + +4. As a concrete example of children being punished for the sins of +their fathers even unto the third and fourth generation, read the +history of the Juke family. + +5. To what extent does the school share the responsibility for the +improvement of the physical and moral quality of the children of the +future? + +6. What kind of teaching is needed to meet this responsibility? + +7. Reliable authorities have estimated that 60 per cent or 12,000,000 of +the school children of America are suffering from removable physical +defects; that 93 per cent of the school children of the country have +defective teeth; and that on the average the health of children who are +not in attendance at school is better than that of those who are in +school. In the light of these facts discuss the failure or success of +our schools in providing fit material for efficient citizenship. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN + + +=The politician defined.=--The politician has been defined as one who +makes a careful study of the wants of his community and is diligent in +his efforts to supply these wants. This definition has, at the very +least, the merit of mitigating, if not removing, the stigma that +attaches to politicians in the popular thought. Conceding the +correctness of this definition, it must be evident that society is the +beneficiary of the work of the politician, and would be the gainer if +the number of politicians were multiplied. The motive of self-interest +lies back of all human activities, and education is constantly striving +to stimulate and accentuate this motive. Even in altruism we may find an +admixture of self-interest. The merchant who arranges his goods +artistically may hope by this means to win more patronage, but, aside +from this, he wins a feeling of gratification. His self-interest may +look either toward a greater volume of business or to a better class of +patrons, or both. While he is enlarging the scope of his business, he +may be elevating the taste of his customers. In either case his +self-interest is commendable. A successful merchant is better for the +community than an unsuccessful one. + +=Self-interest.=--The physician is actuated by the motive of +self-interest, also. His years of training are but a preparation for the +competition that is certain to fall to his lot. He is gratified at the +increase of his popularity as a successful practitioner. But he +prescribes modes of living as well as remedies, and so tries to +forestall and prevent disease, while he is exercising his curative +skill. He tries not only to restore health, but also to promote good +health in the community by his recommendations of pure food, pure water, +fresh air, and exercise. His motives are altruistic even while he is +consulting self-interest. None but the censorious will criticize the +minister for accepting a larger parish even with a larger salary +attached. The larger parish will afford him a wider field for +usefulness, and the larger salary will enable him to execute more of his +laudable plans. + +=The methods of the politician.=--Hence it will be seen that, in the +right sense, merchants, physicians, and ministers are all politicians in +that they seek to expand the sphere of their activities. Like the +politician they study the wants of the people in order to win a starting +point for leadership. True, there are quacks, charlatans, hypocrites, +and demagogues, but none of these, nor all combined, avail to disprove +the validity of the principle. It has often been said that the churches +would do well to study and use the art of advertising that is so well +understood by the saloons. This is another way of saying that the +methods of the politician will avail in promoting right activities as +well as wrong ones. The politician, whether he is a business man or a +professional man, proceeds from the known to the related unknown, and +thus shows himself a conscious or unconscious student of psychology. He +studies that which is in order to promote that which should be. + +=Leadership.=--The politician aspires to leadership, and that is +praiseworthy, provided his cause is a worthy one. If the cause is +unworthy, the cloven foot will soon appear and repudiation will ensue, +which will mark him unsuccessful as a politician. He may be actuated by +the motive of self-interest, in common with all others, but this +interest may focus in the amelioration of conditions as they are or in +the advancement of his friends. The satisfaction of leadership is the +sole reward of many a politician, with the added pleasure of seeing his +friends profit by this leadership. A statesman is a politician grown +large--large in respect to motives, to plans and purposes, and to +methods. The fundamental principle, however, remains constant. + +=The politician worthy of imitation.=--The successful politician must +know people and their wants. He must know conditions in order to direct +the course of his activities. Otherwise, he will find himself moving at +random, and this may prove disastrous to his purposes. Much misdirected +effort has been expended in disparaging the politician and his methods. +If the man and his methods were better understood, they would often be +found worthy of close imitation in the home, in the school, in the +church, in the professions, and in business. + +=Education and substitution.=--Education, in the large, is the process +of making substitutions. Evermore, in school work, we are striving to +substitute something better for something not so good. In brief, we are +striving to substitute needs for wants. But before we can do this we +must determine, by careful study and close observation, what the wants +are. Ability to substitute needs for wants betokens a high type of +leadership. The boy wants to read Henty, but needs to read Dickens or +Shakespeare. How shall the teacher proceed in order to make the +substitution? Certainly it cannot be done by any mere fiat or ukase. +Those who are incredulous as to the wisdom of establishing colleges of +education and normal schools to generate and promote methods of teaching +have here a concrete and pertinent question: Can a college of education +or normal school give to an embryo teacher any method by which she may +effectively substitute Shakespeare for Henty? + +=Methods contrasted.=--Some teachers have attempted to make this +substitution by means of ridicule and sarcasm and then called the boy +stupid because he continued to read his Henty. Others have indulged in +rhapsodies on Shakespeare, hoping to inoculate the boy with the +Shakespearean virus, and then called the boy stolid because he failed to +share their apparent rapture. The politician would have pursued neither +of these plans. His inherent or acquired psychology would have +admonished him to begin where the boy is. He would have gone to Henty to +find the boy. Having found him, he would have sat down beside him and +entered into his interest in the book. In time he would have found +something in the book to remind him of a passage in Shakespeare. This +passage he would have read in his best style and then resumed the +reading of Henty. Thus, by degrees, he would have effected the +substitution, permitting the boy to think that this had been done on his +own initiative. + +=The principle illustrated.=--The vitalized teacher observes, profits +by, and initiates into her work the method of the politician and so +makes her school work vital. Beginning with what the boy wants, she +lures him along, by easy stages, until she has brought him within the +circle of her own wants, which are, in reality, the needs of the boy. +The boy walks along in paces, let us say, of eighteen inches. The +teacher moderates her gait to harmonize with his, but gradually +lengthens her paces to two feet. At first, she kept step with him; now +he is keeping step with her and finds the enterprise an exhilarating +adventure. She is teaching the boy to walk in strides two feet in +length, and begins with his native tendency to step eighteen inches. +Thus she begins where the boy is, by acquainting herself with his wants, +attaches her teaching to his native tendencies, and then proceeds from +the known to the related unknown. Libraries abound in books that explain +lucidly this simple elementary principle of teaching, but many teachers +still seem to find it difficult of application. + +=Substitution illustrated.=--This method of substitution becomes the +rule of the school through the skill of the vitalized teacher. The lily +of the valley is substituted for the sunflower, in the children's +esteem, and there is generated a taste for the exquisite. The copy of +the masterpiece of art supplants the bizarre chromo; correct forms of +speech take the place of incorrect forms; the elegant usurps the place +of the inelegant; and the inartistic gives place to the artistic. The +circle of their wants is extended until it includes their needs, and +these, in turn, are transformed into wants. Thus all the pupils ascend +to a higher level of appreciation of the things that make for a more +comfortable and agreeable civilization. They work under the spell of +leadership, for real leadership always inspires confidence. + +=Society and the school.=--At its best, society is but an enlarged copy +of the vitalized school. Or, to put it in another way, the vitalized +school is society in miniature. As the school is engaged in the work of +making substitutions, so, in fact, is society. Legislative bodies are +striving to substitute wise laws for the laws that have fallen behind +the needs of the times, that the interests of society may be fully +conserved. The church is substituting better methods of work in all its +activities for the methods that have become antiquated or ineffective. +This it does in the hope that its influence may be broadened and +deepened. Ministers and officials are constantly pondering the question +of substitutions. The farmer is substituting better methods of tilling +the soil for the methods that were in vogue in a former time before +science had invaded the realms of agriculture, to the end that he may +increase the yield of his fields, make larger contributions to commerce, +increase his profits, and so be better able to gratify some of the +higher desires of his nature. + +=The automobile factory.=--Each successive model in an automobile +factory is a concrete illustration of the process of making +substitutions, and each substituted part bears witness to a close +scrutiny of past experiences as well as of the wants of prospective +purchasers. The self-starter was a want at first; but now it is a need, +and, therefore, a necessity. If the school would but make as careful +study of the boy's experiences and his wants as the manufacturer does in +the case of automobiles, and then would attach the substitutions to +these experiences and wants, the boy would very soon find himself in +happy possession of a self-starter which would prove to be the very +crown of school work. The automobile manufacturer is both a psychologist +and a politician. + +=Results of substitutions.=--As a result of substitutions we have better +roads, better houses, better laws, cleaner streets, better fences, +better machinery, more sanitary conditions, and a higher type of +conduct. We step to a higher level upon the experiences of the past and +make substitutions as we move upward. The progress of civilization is +measured by the character of these substitutions and the rapidity with +which they are made. The people on the Isle of Marken make but few +substitutions, and these only at long intervals, and so they are looked +upon as curiosities among humans. In all our missionary enterprises we +are endeavoring to persuade the peoples among whom we are working to +make substitutions. Instead of their own, we would have them accept our +books, our styles of clothing, our plans of government, our modes of +living, our means of transportation, and, in short, our standards of +life. But, first of all, we must learn their standards of life; +otherwise we cannot proceed intelligently or effectively in the line of +substitutions. We must know their language before we can teach them +ours, and we must translate our books into their language before we can +hope to substitute our books for theirs. All the substitutions we hope +to make presuppose a knowledge of their wants. Hence the methods of the +missionary bear a close analogy to the methods of the politician. + +=The Idealist.=--This is equally true of the vitalized teacher. She is a +practical idealist. In the words of the poet, her reach is beyond her +grasp, and this proclaims her an idealist. In her capacity as a +politician she makes a close study of the wants of her constituents, +both pupils and parents, and so learns how best to articulate school +work with the interests of the community. She does not hold aloof from +her pupils or their homes, but studies them at close range, as do the +missionary and the politician. She lives among them and so learns their +language and their modes of thinking and living. Only so can she come +into sympathetic relations with them and be of greatest service to them +in promoting right substitutions. She finds one boy surcharged with the +instinct of pugnacity. This tendency manifests itself both in school and +at home. Her own conclusions are ratified by the parents. He wants to +fight. His whole nature cries aloud for battle. In such a case, neither +repression nor suppression will avail. So she attaches a phase of school +work to this native disposition and gives his pugnacious instinct a fair +field. + +=An example.=--Enlisting him as her champion in a tournament, she pits +against him a doughty antagonist in the form of a problem in arithmetic. +In tones of encouragement she gives the signal and the fight is on. The +boy pummels that problem as he would belabor a schoolmate on the +playground. His whole being is focused upon the adventure. And when he +has won his meed of praise, he feels himself a real champion. The +teacher merely substituted mind for hands in the contest and so fell in +with his notion that fighting is quite right if only the cause is a +worthy one. He is quick to see the distinction and so makes the +substitution with alacrity and with no loss of self-respect. Ever after +he disdains the vulgar brawl and does not lose the fighting instinct. +Thus the vitalized teacher by knowing how to make substitutions wins for +society a valiant champion. If we multiply this example, we shall +readily see how such a teacher-politician deserves the distinction of +being termed a practical idealist. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Distinguish the following terms: demagogue; politician; statesman; +and practical idealist. + +2. Subject to what limitations should a successful teacher be a +politician? + +3. Enumerate the qualities of a successful politician that teachers +should possess. + +4. How does the author define education? Criticize this definition. + +5. What resemblances has the process of education to the evolution of +machinery? to the evolution of biological species? + +6. Describe methods by which the tactful teacher may secure helpful +substitutions in the child's life. + +7. In what respects does society resemble a vitalized school? + +8. Illustrate how teachers may utilize for the education of the child +seemingly harmful instincts. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SUBLIME CHAOS + + +=Acquisitiveness.=--In fancy, at least, we may attain a position over +and far above the city of London and from this vantage-place, with the +aid of strong glasses, watch a panorama that is both entrancing and +bewildering. The scene bewilders not alone by its scope, but still more +by its complexity. The scene is a shifting one, too, never the same in +two successive minutes. Here is Trafalgar Square, with its noble +monument and the guardian lions, reminding us of Nelson in what is +accounted one of the most heroic naval engagements recorded in history. +As we look, we reconstitute the scene, far away, in which he was +conspicuous, and reread in our books his stirring appeal to his men. +Thence we glance up Regent Street and see it thronged with equipages +that betoken wealth and luxury. Richly dressed people in great numbers +are moving to and fro and giving color to the picture. A shabby garb +cannot be made to fit into this picture. When it appears, there is +discord in the general harmony. All this motion must have motives behind +it somewhere; but we can only conjecture the motives. We have only +surface indications to guide us in our quest for these. But we are +reasonably certain that these people are animated by the instinct of +acquisition. They seem to want to get things, and so come where things +are to be had. + +=Desires for things intangible.=--There are miles of vehicles of many +kinds wending their tortuous, sinuous ways in and out along streets that +radiate hither and thither. They stay their progress for a moment and +people emerge at Robinson's, at Selfridge's, at Liberty's. Each of these +is the Mecca of a thousand desires, and faces beam with pleasure when +they reappear. Some desire has evidently been gratified. Others alight +at the National Gallery and enter its doors. When they come forth it is +obvious that something happened to them inside that building. The lines +of care on their faces are not so evident, and their step is more +elastic and buoyant. Their desires did not have tangible things as their +objectives as in the case of the people who entered the shops for +merchandise, but their faces shine with a new light and, therefore, +their quest must have been successful. As we look, we realize that +desires for intangible things may be as acute as for tangible ones, and +that the gratification of these desires produces equal satisfaction. + +=Westminster Abbey.=--Not far away other throngs are invading +Westminster Abbey. In those historic and hallowed precincts they are +communing with the Past, the Present, and the Future. All about them is +the sacred dust of those who once wrought effectively in affairs of +state and in the realm of letters. History and literature have their +shrine there, and these people are worshipers at that shrine. All about +them are reminders of the Past, while the worshipers before the Cross +direct their thoughts to the Future. Earth and Heaven both send forth an +invitation for supreme interest in their thoughts and feelings. History +and literature call to them to emulate the achievements whose monuments +they see about them, while the Cross admonishes them that these +achievements are but temporal. Here they experience a fulfillment of +their desires. Their knowledge is broadened, and their faith is lifted +up. The Past thrills them; the Future inspires them; and thus the +Present is far more worth while. + +=House of Parliament.=--Across the way is Parliament, and this conjures +up a long train of events of vast import. The currents that flow out +from this power-house have encircled the globe. Here conquests have been +planned that electrified nations. Here have been generated vast armies +and navies as messengers of Desire. Here have been voted vast treasures +in execution of the desires of men for territorial extension and +national aggrandizement. These halls have resounded with the eloquence +of men who were striving to inoculate other men with the virus of their +desires; and the whole world has stood on tiptoe awaiting the issue of +this eloquence. Momentous scenes have been enacted here, all emanating +from the desires of men, and these scenes have touched the lives of +untold millions of people. + +=Commerce.=--We see the Thames near by, teeming with ships from the +uttermost corners of the earth, and we think of commerce. We use the +word glibly, but no mind is able to comprehend its full import. We know +that these ships ply the seas, bearing food and clothing to the peoples +who live far away, but when we attempt to estimate the magnitude of +commerce, the mind confesses to itself that the problem is too great. We +may multiply the number of ships by their tonnage, but we get, in +consequence, an array of figures so great that they cease to have any +meaning for the finite mind. The best and most that they can do for us +is to make us newly aware that the people who dwell in the jungles of +Africa, who roam the pampas of South America, who climb the Alps, the +Rockies, the Andes, and the Himalayas, all have desires that these ships +are striving to gratify. + +=Social intercourse.=--Going up the river to Hampton Court we see people +out for a holiday. There are house-boats with elaborate and artistic +fittings and furnishings, and other craft of every sort that luxury can +suggest. One could imagine that none but fairies could stage such a +scene. The blending of colors, the easy dalliance, the rippling +laughter, the graceful feasting, and the eddying wavelets all conspire +to produce a scene that serves to emphasize the beauty of the shores. +Underneath this enchanting scene of variegated beauty we discover the +fundamental fact that man is a gregarious animal, that he not only +craves association with his kind but that playing with them brings him +into more harmonious communion with them. In their play they meet upon +the plane of a common purpose and are thus unified in spirit. Hence, all +this beauty and gayety is serving a beneficent purpose in the way of +gratifying the inherent desire of mankind for social intercourse. + +=The travel instinct.=--At Charing Cross the commerce drama is +reënacted, only here with trains instead of boats, and, mainly, people +instead of merchandise. Here we see hurry and bustle, and hear the +shriek of the engine and the warning blast of the guard. Trains are +going out, trains are coming in. When the people step out upon the +platforms, they seem to know exactly whither they are bound. There are +porters all about to help them achieve their desires, and cabs stand +ready at the curb to do their bidding. Here is human commerce, and the +trains are the answer to the call of the human family to see their own +and other lands. These trains are swifter and more agreeable for nomads +than the camel of the desert or the Conestoga wagon of the prairie. The +nomadic instinct pulls and pushes people away from their own door-yards; +hence railways, trains, engines, air brakes, telegraph lines, wireless +apparatuses, and all the many other devices that the mind of man has +designed at the behest of this desire to roam about. + +=Monuments.=--Further down the Thames we see Greenwich, which regulates +the clocks for the whole world, and furnishes the sea captain the +talisman by which he may know where he is. Over against St. Paul's is +the Bank of England, which for long years ruled the finances of the +world. Yonder is the Museum, the conservator of the ages. There is the +Rosetta Stone, which is the gateway of history; there the Elgin Marbles, +which proclaim the glory of the Greece that was; there the palimpsests +which recall an age when men had time to think; and there the books of +all time by means of which we can rethink the big thoughts of men long +since gone from sight. There are things that men now call curiosities +that mark the course of minds in their struggles toward the light; and +there are the sentiments of lofty souls that will live in the hearts of +men long after these giant stones have crumbled. + +=Desire for pastoral beauty.=--Beyond the city, in the alluring country +places, we see a landscape that delights the senses, ornate with hedges, +flowers, vine-clad cottages, highways of surpassing smoothness, fertile +fields, and thrifty flocks and herds. There are carts and wagons on the +roads bearing the products of field and garden to the marts of trade. +Men, women, and children zealously ply the hoe, the plow, or the shovel, +abetting Nature in her efforts to feed the hungry. In this pastoral +scene there is dignity, serenity, and latent power. Its beauty answers +back to the æsthetic nature of mankind, and nothing that is artificial +can ever supplant it in the way of gratifying man's desire for the +beautiful. + +=Economic articulation.=--Through all the diversified phases of this +panorama there runs a fundamental principle of unity. There are no +collisions. In the economy of civilization the farmer is coördinate with +the artist, the artisan, and the tradesman. But, if all men were +farmers, the economic balance would be disturbed. The railroad engineer +is major because he is indispensable. So, also, is the farmer, the +legislator, the artist, and the student. There is a degree of +interdependence that makes for economic harmony. The articulation of all +the parts gives us an economic whole. + +=Aspirations.=--This panorama is a picture of life; and the school is +life. Hence the panorama and the school are identical; only the school +is larger than the panorama, even though the picture is reduced in size +to fit the frame of the school. The pupils in the school have dreams and +aspirations that reach far beyond the limits of the picture of our +fancy. And all these aspirations are a part of life and so are +indigenous in the vitalized school. And woe betide the teacher who would +abridge or repress these dreams and aspirations. They are the very warp +and woof of life, and the teacher who would eliminate them would +suppress life itself. That teacher is in sorry business who would fit +her pupils out with mental or spiritual strait-jackets, or mold them to +some conventional pattern, even though it be her own. These pupils are +the prototypes of the people in our panorama, and are, therefore, +animated by like inclinations and desires. + +=Desire is fundamental.=--Here is a boy who is hungry; he desires food. +But so does the man who is passing along the street. The man is focusing +all his mental powers upon the problem of how he shall procure food. The +man's problem is the boy's problem and each has a right to a solution of +his problem. The school's business is to help the boy solve his problem +and not to try to quench his desire for food or try to persuade him that +no such desire exists. This desire is one of the native dispositions to +which the work of the school is to attach itself. Desires are +fundamental in the scheme of education, the very tentacles that will lay +hold upon the school activities and render them effective. The teacher's +large task is to strengthen and nourish incipient desires and to cause +the pupil to hunger and thirst after the means of gratifying them. + +=Innate tendencies.=--Each pupil has a right to his inherent +individuality. The school should not only begin where the boy is, but +should begin its work upon what he is. Only so can it direct him toward +what he ought to be. If the boy would alight at the National Gallery in +order to regale himself with the masterpieces of art, why, pray, should +the teacher try to curtail this desire and force him into Westminster +Abbey? If she will accompany him into the Gallery and prove herself his +friend and guide among the treasures of art, she will, doubtless, +experience the joy of hearing him ask her to be his companion through +the Abbey later on. The Abbey is quite right in its way and the boy must +visit it soon or late, but to this particular boy the Gallery comes +first and he should be led to the Abbey by way of the Gallery. In school +work the parties are all personally conducted, but the rule is that a +party is composed of but one person. + +=Illustration.=--The girl is not to be condemned because she desires to +visit the Selfridge shop rather than the Museum. The teacher may +rhapsodize upon the Museum to the limit of her strength, but the girl is +thinking of the beautiful fabrics to be seen at the shop, and, +especially, of the delicious American ice cream that can be had nowhere +else in London. It is rather a poor teacher who cannot lead the girl to +the British Museum by way of Selfridge's. If the teacher finds the task +difficult, she would do well to traverse the route a few times in +advance. The ice cream will help rather than hinder when they stand, at +length, before the Rosetta Stone or read the original letter to Mrs. +Bixby. The store and the Museum are both in the picture, and the teacher +must determine which should come first in the itinerary of this girl. +The native dispositions and desires will point out the way to the +teacher. + +The old-time schoolmaster was fond of setting as a copy in the +old-fashioned copy book "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"; +but, later, when he caught Jack playing he gave him a flogging, thus +proving himself both inconsistent and deficient in a knowledge of +psychology and fair play. If we are going to Greenwich we shall save +time by taking the longer journey by way of Hampton Court. As we disport +ourselves amid the beauties and gayeties of the Court we can prolong our +pleasures by anticipating Greenwich, and so make our play the anteroom +of our work. + +=Variety in excellence.=--In the vitalized school we shall find each +pupil eager in his quest of food for the hunger he feels, and the +teacher rejoicing in the development of his individuality. She would not +have all her pupils attain the same level even of excellence. They are +different, and she would have them so. Nor would she have her school +exemplify the kind of order that is to be found in a gallery of statues. +Her school is a place of life, eager, yearning, pulsating life, and not +a place of dead and deadening silence. Her pupils have diversified +tastes and desires and, in consequence, diversified activities, but work +is the golden cord that binds them in a healthy and healthful unity. +This is sublime chaos, a busy, happy throng, all working at full +strength at tasks that are worth while, and all animated by hopes and +aspirations that reach out to the very limits of space. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What may the school do to give helpful direction and needed +modifications to the instinct of acquisition? + +2. The ultimate ends of education are more efficient production and more +intelligent consumption. How and by what means may the school bring +about a more intelligent choice of tangible and intangible things? + +3. What hint may the teacher of geography receive from the brief +description of London's points of interest? + +4. Compare a vitalized school with the panorama of London. + +5. To what extent must individual differences be recognized by the +teacher in the recitation? in discipline? + +6. Suggest means whereby pupils may be induced to spend their evenings +with Dickens, Eliot, Macaulay, or Irving in preference to the "movies." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DEMOCRACY + + +=A conflict.=--There was a fight on a railway train--a terrific fight. +The conductor and two other Americans were battling against ten or more +foreigners. These foreigners had come aboard the train at a mining town +en route to the city for a holiday. The train had hardly got under way, +after the stop, when the fight was on. The battle raged back and forth +from one car to the other across the platform amid the shouts and +cursing of men and the screams of women. Bloody faces attested the +intensity of the conflict. One foreigner was knocked from the train, but +no account was taken of him. The train sped on and the fight continued. +Nor did its violence abate until the train reached the next station, +where the conductor summoned reënforcements and invoked the majesty of +the law in the form of an officer. The affray, from first to last, was +most depressing and gave to the unwilling witness a feeling that +civilization is something of a misnomer and that men are inherently +ferocious. + +=Misconceptions.=--More mature reflection, however, served to modify +this judgment, and the application of some philosophy resolved the +distressing combat into a relatively simple proposition. The conductor +and his assistants were fighting for their conception of order, and +their opponents were fighting for their conception of manhood. Reduced +to its primal elements, the fight was the result of a dual +misconception. The conductor was battling to vindicate his conception of +order; the foreigners were battling to vindicate their conception of the +rights of men in a democracy. Neither party to the contest understood +the other, and each one felt himself to be on the defensive. Neither one +would have confessed himself the aggressor, and yet each one was +invading the supposed rights of the other. Judicial consideration could +readily have averted the whole distressing affair. + +=Foreign concept of democracy.=--The foreigners had come to our country +with roseate dreams of democracy. To their conception, this is the land +where every man is the equal of every other man; where equal rights and +privileges are vouchsafed to all men without regard to nationality, +position, or possessions; where there is no faintest hint of the caste +system; and where there are no possible lines of demarcation. Their +disillusionment on that train was swift and severe, and the observer +could not but wonder what was their conception of a democracy as they +walked about the streets of the city or gave attention to their bruised +faces. Their dreams of freedom and equal rights must have seemed a +mockery. They must have felt that they had been lured into a trap by +some agency of cruelty and injustice. After such an experience they must +have been unspeakably homesick for their native land. + +="Melting pot."=--Their primary trouble arose from the fact that they +had not yet achieved democracy, but had only a hazy theoretical +conception of its true meaning. Nor did the conductor give them any +assistance. On the contrary he pushed them farther away into the realm +of theory, and rendered them less susceptible to the influence of the +feeling for democracy. Before these foreigners can become thoroughly +assimilated they must know this feeling by experience; and until this +experience is theirs they cannot live comfortably or harmoniously in our +democracy. To do this effectively is one of the large tasks that +confront the American school and society as a whole. If we fail here, +the glory of democracy will be dimmed. All Americans share equally in +the responsibility of this task. The school, of course, must assume its +full share of this responsibility if it would fully deserve the name of +melting pot. + +=Learning democracy.=--Meeting this responsibility worthily is not the +simple thing that many seem to conceive it to be. If it were, then any +discussion appertaining to the teaching of democracy would be +superfluous. This subject of democracy is, in fact, the most difficult +subject with which the school has to do, and by far the most important. +Its supreme importance is due to the fact that all the pupils expect to +live in a democracy, and, unless they learn democracy, life cannot +attain to its maximum of agreeableness for them nor can they make the +largest possible contributions to the well-being of society. It has been +said that the seventeenth century saw Versailles; the eighteenth century +saw the Earth; and the nineteenth century saw Humanity. Then the very +pertinent question is asked, "Which century will see Life?" We who love +our country and our form of government fondly hope that we may be the +first to see Life, and, if this privilege falls to our lot, we must come +to see life through the medium of democracy. + +=The vitalized school a democracy.=--Life seems to be an abstract +something to many people, but it must become concrete before they can +really see it as it is. Democracy is a means, therefore, of transforming +abstract life into concrete life, and so we are to come into a fuller +comprehension of life through the gateway of democracy. The vitalized +school is a laboratory of life and, at the same time, it is the most +nearly perfect exemplification of democracy. The nearer its approach to +perfection in exemplifying the spirit and workings of a democracy, the +larger service it renders society. If the outflow from the school into +society is a high quality of democracy, the general tone of society will +be improved. If society deteriorates, the school may not be wholly at +fault, but it evidently is unable to supply to society reënforcement in +such quantity and of such quality as will keep the level up to normal. + +=Responsibility of the individual.=--In society each individual raises +or lowers the level of democracy according to what he is and does. The +idler fails to make any contributions to the well-being of society and +thus lowers the average of citizenship. The trifler and dawdler lower +the level of democracy by reason of their inefficiency. They may +exercise their right to vote but fail to exercise their right to act the +part of efficient citizens. If all citizens emulated their example, +democracy would become inane and devitalized. Tramps, burglars, +feeble-minded persons, and inebriates lower the level of democracy +because of their failure to render their full measure of service, and +because, in varying degrees, they prey upon the resources of society and +thus add to its burdens. Self-reliance, self-support, self-respect, as +well as voting, are among the rights that all able-bodied citizens must +exercise before democracy can come into its rightful heritage. + +=The function of the school.=--All this and much more the schools must +teach effectively so that it shall be thoroughly enmeshed in the social +consciousness or their output will reveal a lack of those qualities that +make for the larger good of democratic society. Democracy must be +grooved into habits of thought and action or the graduates of the +schools will fall short of achieving the highest plane of living in the +community. They will not be in harmony with their environment, and +friction will ensue, which will reduce, in some degree, the level of +democracy. Hence, the large task of the school is to inculcate the habit +of democracy with all that the term implies. Twelve years are none too +long for this important work, even under the most favorable conditions +and under the direction of the most skillful teaching. Indeed, civic +economy will be greatly enhanced if, in the twelve years, the schools +accomplish this one big purpose. + +=Manifestations of democratic spirit.=--We may not be able to resolve +democracy into its constituent elements, but the spirit that is attuned +to democracy is keenly alive to its manifestations. The spirit so +attuned is quick to detect any slightest discord in the democratic +harmony. This is especially true in the school democracy. A discordant +note affects the entire situation and militates against effective +procedure. In the school democracy we look for a series and system of +compromises,--for a yielding of minor matters that major ones may be +achieved. We look for concessions that will make for the comfort and +progress of the entire body, and we experience disappointment if we fail +to discover some pleasure in connection with these concessions. We +expect to see good will banishing selfishness and every semblance of +monopoly. We expect to find every pupil glad to share the time and +strength of the teacher with his fellows even to the point of +generosity, and to find joy in so doing. We expect to find each pupil +eager to deposit all his attainments and capabilities as assets of the +school and to find his chief joy in the success of all that the school +represents. + +=Obstacles in the path.=--But it is far easier to depict democracy than +to teach it. In fact, the teacher is certain to encounter obstacles, and +many of these have their source in American homes. Indeed, some of the +most fertile sources of discord in the school may be traced to a +misconception of democracy on the part of the home. One of these +misconceptions is a species of anarchy, which appropriates to itself the +gentler name of democracy. But, none the less, it is anarchy. It +disdains all law and authority, treads under foot the precepts of the +home and the school, flouts the counsels of parents and teachers, and is +self-willed, obstinate, and defiant. Democracy obeys the law; anarchy +scorns it. Democracy respects the rights of others, anarchy overrides +them. Democracy exalts good will; anarchy exalts selfishness. Democracy +respects the Golden Rule; anarchy respects nothing, not even itself. + +=Anarchy.=--When this spirit of anarchy gains access to the school, it +is not easily eradicated for the reason that the home is loath to +recognize it as anarchy, and resents any such implication on the part of +the school. The father may be quite unable to exercise any control over +the boy, but he is reluctant to admit the fact to the teacher. Such a +boy is an anarchist and no sophistry can gloss the fact. What he needs +is a liberal application of monarchy to fit him for democracy. He should +read the Old Testament as a preparation for an appreciative perusal of +the New Testament. If the home cannot generate in him due respect for +constituted authority, then the school must do so, or he will prove a +menace to society and become a destructive rather than a constructive +agency. Here we have a tense situation. Anarchy is running riot in the +home; the home is arrayed against the attempts of the school to correct +the disorder; and Democracy is standing expectant to see what will be +done. + +=Snobbery.=--Scarcely less inimical to democracy than anarchy is +snobbery. The former is violent, while the latter is insidious. Both +poison the source of the stream of democracy. If the home instills into +the minds of children the notion of inherent superiority, they will +carry this into the school and it will produce a discord. A farmer and a +tenant had sons of the same age. These lads played together, never +thinking of superiority or inferiority. Now the son of the tenant is +president of one of the great universities, and the son of the +proprietor is a janitor in one of the buildings of that university. +Democracy presents to view many anomalies, and the school age is quite +too early for anything approaching the caste system or snobbery. The +time may come when the rich man's son will consider it an honor to drive +the car for his impecunious classmate. + +=Restatement.=--It needs to be repeated, therefore, that democracy is +the most difficult subject which the school is called upon to teach, not +only because it is difficult in itself, but also because of the attitude +of many homes that profess democracy but do not practice it. To the +influence of such homes one may trace the exodus of many children from +the schools. The parents want things done in their way or not at all, +and so withdraw their children to vindicate their own autocracy. They +are willing to profit by democracy but are unwilling to help foster its +growth. They not only lower the level of democracy but even compel their +children to lower it still more. The teacher may yearn for the children +and the children for the teacher, but the home is inexorable and +sacrifices the children to a misconception of democracy. + +=Coöperation.=--Democracy does not mean fellowship, but it does mean +coöperation. It means that people in all walks of life are animated by +the common purpose to make all their activities contribute to the +general good of society. It means that the railroad president may shake +hands with the brakeman and talk with him, man to man, encouraging him +to aspire to promotion on merit. It means that this brakeman may become +president of the road with no scorn for the stages through which he +passed in attaining this position. It means that he may understand and +sympathize with the men in his employ without fraternizing with them. It +means that every boy may aspire to a place higher than his father has +attained with no loss of affection for him. It does not mean either +sycophancy or truculence, but freedom to every individual to make the +most of himself and so help others to make the most of themselves. + +=The democratic teacher.=--Democracy is learned not from books but from +the democratic spirit that obtains in the school. If the teacher is +surcharged with democracy, her radiating spirit sends out currents into +the life of each pupil, and the spirit of democracy thus generated in +them fuses them into homogeneity. Thus they become democratic by living +in the atmosphere of democracy, as the boy grew into the likeness of the +Great Stone Face. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. How may elementary teachers inculcate the principles of true +democracy? + +2. By what means may public schools assist in the transformation of +illiterate foreigners into "intelligent American citizens"? + +3. What are some of the weaknesses of democracy which the public school +may remedy? the press? public officials? the people? + +4. Are such affairs as are described in the beginning of the chapter +peculiar to democracies? Why or why not? + +5. How may school discipline recognize democratic principles, thereby +laying the foundation of respect for law and order by our future +citizens? + +6. What qualities of citizens are inconsistent with a high level of +democracy? + +7. Discuss the extent to which the management of the classroom should be +democratic. + +8. How may the monarchical government of a school fit pupils for a +democracy? How may it unfit them? + +9. In what ways may the following institutions raise the level of +democracy: centralized schools? vocational schools? junior high schools? +moonlight schools? evening schools? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +PATRIOTISM + + +=Patriotism as a working principle.=--The vitalized school generates and +fosters patriotism, not merely as a sentiment, but more particularly as +a working principle. Patriotism has in it a modicum of sentiment, to be +sure, as do religion, education, the home, and civilization; but +sentiment alone does not constitute real or true patriotism. The man who +shouts for the flag but pursues a course of conduct that brings +discredit upon the name of his country, belies the sentiment that his +shouting would seem to express. The truly patriotic man feels that he +owes to his country and his race his whole self,--his mind, his time, +and his best efforts,--and the payment of this obligation spells life to +him. Thus he inevitably interprets patriotism in terms of industry, +economy, thrift, and the full conservation of time and energy, that he +may render a good account of his stewardship to his country. + +=Spelling as patriotism.=--With this broad conception in mind the +teacher elevates patriotism to the rank of a motive and proceeds to +organize all the school activities in consonance with this conception. +Actuated by this high motive the pupils, in time, come to look upon +correct spelling not only as a comfort and a convenience, but also as a +form of patriotism in that it is an exponent of intelligent observation +and as such wins respect and commendation from people at home and people +abroad. Or, to put the case negatively, if we were all deficient in the +matter of spelling, the people of other lands would hold us up to +ridicule because of this defect; but if we are expert in the art of +spelling, they have greater respect for us and for our schools. Hence, +such a simple matter as spelling tends to invest the flag of our country +with better and fuller significance. Thus spelling becomes woven into +the life processes, not as a mere task of the school, but as a privilege +vouchsafed to every one who yearns to see his country win distinction. + +=Patriotism a determining motive.=--In like manner the teacher runs the +entire gamut of school studies and shows how each one may become a +manifestation of patriotism. If she has her pupils exchange letters with +pupils in the schools of other countries, they see, at once, that their +spelling, their writing, and their composition will all be carefully +assessed in the formation of an estimate of ourselves and our schools. +It is evident, therefore, that the pupils will give forth their best +efforts in all these lines that the country they represent may appear to +the best advantage. In such an exercise the motive of patriotism will +far outweigh in importance the motive of grades. Besides, the letters +are written to real people about real life, and, hence, life and +patriotism become synonymous in their thinking, and all their school +work becomes more vital because of their patriotism. + +=History.=--In the study of history, the pupils readily discover that +the men and women who have given distinction to their respective +countries have done so, in the main, by reason of their attainments in +science, in letters, and in statesmanship. They are led to think of +Goethals in the field of applied mathematics; of Burbank in the realm of +botany; of Edison in physics; of Scott and Burns in literature; of Max +Müller in philology; of Schliemann in archæology; of Washington and +Lincoln in the realm of statesmanship; and of Florence Nightingale and +Clara Barton in philanthropy. They discover that France deemed it an +honor to have Erasmus as her guest so long as he found it agreeable to +live in that country, and that many countries vied with one another in +claiming Homer as their own. Phillips Brooks was a patriot, not alone +because of his profession of love for his country, but because of what +he did that added luster to the name of his country. + +=Efficiency.=--The study of physiology and hygiene affords a wide field +for the contemplation and practice of patriotic endeavor. The care of +the body is a patriotic exercise in that it promotes health and vigor, +and these underlie efficiency. Anything short of efficiency is +unpatriotic because it amounts to a subtraction from the possible best +that may be done to advance the interests of society. The shiftless man +is not a patriot, nor yet the man who enervates his body by practices +that render him less than efficient. The intemperate man may shout +lustily at sight of the flag, but his noise only proclaims his lack of +real patriotism. An honest day's work would redound far more to the +glory of his country than his noisy protestations. Seeing that behind +every deliberate action there lies a motive, the higher the motive the +more noble will be the action. If, then, we can achieve temperance +through the motive of patriotism, society will be the beneficiary, not +only of temperance itself, but also of many concomitant benefits. + +=Temperance.=--Temperance may be induced, of course, through the motives +of economy, good health, and the like, but the motive of patriotism +includes all these and, therefore, stands at the summit. Waste, in +whatever form, is evermore unpatriotic. Conservation is patriotism, +whether of natural resources, human life, human energy, or time. The +intemperate man wastes his substance, his energies, his opportunities, +his self-respect, and his moral fiber. Very often, too, he becomes a +charge upon society and abrogates the right of his family to live +comfortably and agreeably. Hence, he must be accounted unpatriotic. If +all men in our country were such as he, our land would be derided by the +other nations of the world. He brings his country into disrepute instead +of glorifying it because he does less than his full share in +contributing to its well-being. He renders himself less than a typical +American and brings reproach upon his country instead of honor. + +=Sanitation.=--One of the chief variants of the general subject of +physiology and hygiene is sanitation, and this, even yet, affords a +field for aggressive and constructive patriotism. Grime and crime go +hand in hand; but, as a people, we have been somewhat slow in our +recognition of this patent truth. Patriotism as well as charity should +begin at home, and the man who professes a love for his country should +make that part of his country which he calls his home so sanitary and so +attractive that it will attest the sincerity of his profession. If he +loves his country sincerely, he must love his back yard, and what he +really loves he will care for. It does him no credit to have the flag +floating above a home that proclaims his shiftlessness. His feeling for +sanitation, attractiveness, and right conditions as touching his own +home surroundings will expand until it includes his neighborhood, his +county, his State, and his entire country. + +=A typical patriot.=--A typical patriot is the busy, intelligent, +frugal, cultured housewife whose home is her kingdom and who uses her +powers to make that kingdom glorious. She regrets neither the time nor +the effort that is required to make her home clean, artistic, and +comfortable. She places upon it the stamp of her character, industry, +and good taste. She supplies it with things that delight the senses and +point the way to culture. To such a home the crude and the bizarre are a +profanation. She administers her home as a sacred trust in the interests +of her family and never for exhibition purposes. Her home is an +expression of herself, and her children will carry into life the +standards that she inculcates through the agency of the home. Life is +better for the family and for the community because her home is what it +is, and, in consequence, her patriotism is far-reaching in its +influence. If all homes were such as this, our country would be +exploited as representing the highest plane of civilization the world +has yet attained. The vitalized teacher is constantly striving to have +this standard of home and home life become the standard of her pupils. + +=Mulberry Bend.=--In striking contrast with this home are conditions in +Mulberry Bend, New York, as described by a writer thoroughly conversant +with conditions as they were until recently--conditions, however, now +much bettered: "These alleys, running from nowhere to nowhere, alongside +cellars where the light never enters and where nothing can live but +beast-men and beast-women and rats; behind foul rookeries where skulk +the murderer and the abandoned tramp; beside hideous plague-spots where +the stench is overpowering--Bottle Alley, where the rag-pickers pile +their bags of stinking stuff, and the Whyo Roost where evil-visaged +beings prowl about, hunting for prey; dozens of alleys winding in and +out and intersecting, so that the beast may slay his prey, and hide in +the jungle, and be safe; these foul alleys--who shall picture them, or +explore their depths, or describe their wretchedness and their +hideousness?... Upon the doorsteps weary mothers are nursing little +babies who will never know the meaning of innocent childhood, but will +be versed in the immoral lore of the Underworld before they learn their +alphabet. Ragged children covered with filth play about the pushcarts +and the horses in the street, while their mothers chatter in greasy +doorways, or shout from upper windows into the hordes below, or clatter +about creaky floors, preparing the foul mess of tainted edibles which +constitutes a meal." + +With many other phases of this gruesome picture this author deals, and +then concludes with the following: "But in the rookeries which, like +their inmates, skulk and hide out of sight in the crowded street; in +these ramshackle structures which line the back alleys, and there breed +their human vermin amid dirt and rags--in these there is no direct +sunlight throughout the long year. Rookeries close to the front windows, +shutting out light and air, and rookeries close to the rear windows, and +rookeries close to each side, and never a breath of fresh air to +ventilate one of these holes wherein men and women and children wallow +in dirt, and live and fight and drink and die, and finally give way to +others of their kind." So long as such conditions as these continue in +our country, sanitation as a manifestation of patriotism will not have +done its perfect work, and the stars and stripes of our flag will lack +somewhat of their rightful luster. + +=Patriotism in daily life.=--When the influences of hygiene and of home +economics, taught as life processes and not merely as prerequisites for +graduation, by teachers who regard them as forms of patriotism,--when +these influences have percolated to every nook and cranny of our +national life,--to the homes, the streets and alleys, the farms, the +shops, the factories, and the mines, such conditions as these will +disappear, and we as a nation shall then have a clearer warrant for our +profession of patriotic interest in and devotion to the welfare of our +country as a whole. But so long as we can look upon insanitary +conditions without a shudder; so long as we permit dirt to breed disease +and crime; so long as we make our streams the dumping places for débris; +so long as we tolerate ugliness where beauty should obtain; and so long +as our homes and our farms betray the spirit of shiftlessness,--so long +shall we have occasion to blush when we look at our flag and confess our +dereliction of our high privilege of patriotism. + +=The American restaurant.=--Perhaps no single detail of the customs that +obtain in our country impresses a cultivated foreigner more unfavorably +than the régime in our popular restaurants. The noise, the rattle and +clatter and bang, the raucous calling of orders, and the hurry and +confusion give him the impression that we are content to have feeding +places where we might have eating places. He regards all that he sees +and hears as being less than proper decorum, less than a high standard +of intelligence, less than refined cultivation, and less than agencies +that contribute to the graces of life. He marvels that we have not yet +attained the conception that partaking of food amounts to a gracious and +delightful ceremony rather than a gastronomic orgy. His surprise is not +limited to the people who administer these establishments, but extends +to the people who patronize them. He marvels that the patrons do not +seek out places where there is quiet, and serenity, and pleasing +decorum. He returns to his own land wondering if the noisy restaurant is +typical of American civilization. He may not know that the study of +domestic science in our schools has not had time to attain its full +fruition in the way of inculcating a lofty conception of life in the +dining room. + +=Thrift as patriotism.=--Another important phase of patriotism is +thrift; and here, again, we have come short of realizing our +possibilities. There are far too many people who have failed to lay in +store against times of emergency, far too many who care only for to-day +with slight regard for to-morrow. Moreover, there are far too many who, +despite sound bodies, are dependents, contributing nothing to the +resources of society, but constantly preying upon those resources. There +are in our country not fewer than one hundred thousand tramps, and by +some the number has been estimated at a half-million. If this vast army +of dependents could be transferred to the ranks of producers, tilling +our fields, harvesting our crops, constructing our highways of travel, +redeeming our waste places, and beautifying our streams, life would be +far more agreeable both for them and for the rest of our people. They +would become self-supporting and so would win self-respect; they would +subtract their number from the number of those who live at public +expense; and they would make contributions to the general store. They +would thus relieve society of the incubus of their dependence, and +largely increase the number of our people who are self-supporting. + +=Some contrasts.=--We are making some progress in the line of thrift +through our school savings and postal savings, but we have not yet +attained to a national conception of thrift as an element of patriotism. +This is one of the large yet inspiring privileges of the vitalized +school. Thrift is so intimately identified with life that they naturally +combine in our thinking, and we have only to reach the conception that +our mode of life is the measure of our patriotism in order to realize +that thrift and patriotism are in large measure identical. The +industrious, frugal, thrifty man is patriotic; the unthrifty, lazy, +shiftless man is unpatriotic. The one ennobles and honors his country; +the other dishonors and degrades his country. + +=Conclusion.=--If the foregoing conclusions are valid, and to every +thoughtful person they must seem well-nigh axiomatic, then the school +has a wide field of usefulness in the way of inculcating a loftier and +broader conception of patriotism. The teacher who worthily fills her +place in the vitalized school will give the boys and girls in her care +such a conception of patriotism as will give direction, potency, and +significance to every school activity and lift these activities out of +the realm of drudgery into the realm of privilege. Her pupils will be +made to feel that what they are doing for themselves, their school, and +their homes, they are doing for the honor and glory of their country. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. In what ways and to what extent should patriotism affect conduct? + +2. Indicate methods in which patriotism may be used as an incentive to +excel in the different branches of study. + +3. What branches of study should have for their sole function to +stimulate the growth of patriotism? Discuss methods and give instances. + +4. Distinguish from patriotism each of the following counterfeits: +sectionalism; partisanship; nationalism; and jingoism. Should teachers +try to eradicate or sublimate these sentiments? How? + +5. What should be the attitude of the teacher of history toward +Commodore Decatur's toast: "My country, may she always be in the right; +but right or wrong, my country"? + +6. Cite recent history to prove that temperance and sanitation are +necessary for the realization of national victories and the perpetuation +of the common welfare. + +7. Is the "Golden Rule" a vital principle of patriotism? Why? + +8. How are culture and refinement related to patriotism? thrift? + +9. Make a list of songs, poems, novels, paintings, and orations that are +characterized by lofty patriotic sentiments. Name some that are usually +regarded as patriotic but which are tainted with inferior sentiments. + +10. Discuss the adaptability of these to the different periods of +youthful development and the methods whereby their appeal may be made +most effective. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +WORK AND LIFE + + +=Tom Sawyer.=--Tom Sawyer was one of the most effective teachers that +has figured in the pages of the books; and yet we still regard Mark +Twain as merely the prince of humorists. He was that, of course, but +much more; and some day we shall read his books in quest of pedagogical +wisdom and shall not be disappointed. It will be recalled that Tom +Sawyer sat on the top of a barrel and munched apples while his boy +companions whitewashed the fence in his stead. Tom achieved this triumph +because he knew how to emancipate work from the plane of drudgery and +exalt it to the plane of a privilege. Indeed, it loomed so large as a +privilege that the other boys were eager to barter the treasures of +their pockets in exchange for this privilege. And never did a fence +receive such a whitewashing! There wasn't fence enough and, therefore, +the process must needs be repeated again and again. The best part of the +entire episode was that everybody was happy, Tom included. Tom was happy +in seeing his plan work, and the other boys were happy because they were +doing work that Tom had caused them to become eager to do. + +=Work as a privilege.=--To make work seem a privilege is a worthy task +for the school to set before itself, and if it but achieves this it will +prove itself worth all it costs. At first thought, it seems a stupendous +task, and so it is. But Tom Sawyer accomplished it in an easy, natural +way, with no parade or bombast. He had habit and tradition to contend +against, just as the school has, but he overbore these obstacles and won +the contest. Some of those boys, before that morning, may have thought +it ignoble to perform menial tasks; but Tom soon overcame that feeling +and led them to feel that only an artist can whitewash a fence properly. +Some of them may have been interpreting life as having a good time, but, +under the tutorage of Tom, they soon came to feel that having a good +time means whitewashing a fence. + +=The persistency of habit.=--In striving to exalt and ennoble work, the +school runs counter to habits of thought that have been formed in the +home, and these habits prove stubborn. The home has so long imposed work +as a task that the school finds it difficult to make it seem a +privilege. The father and mother have so often complained of their work, +in the presence of their children, that all work comes to assume the +aspect of a hardship, if not a penalty. It often happens, too, that the +parents encourage their children to think that education affords +immunity from work, and the children attend school with that notion +firmly implanted in their minds. They seem to think that when they have +achieved an education they will receive their reward in the choicest +gifts that Fortune has to bestow, and that their only responsibility +will be to indicate their choices. + +=Misconceptions of work.=--Still further, when children enter school +imbued with this conception of work, they feel that the work of the +school is imposed upon them as a task from which they would fain be +free. If their parents had only been as wise as Tom Sawyer and had set +up motives before them in connection with their home activities and thus +exalted all their work to the plane of privilege, the work of the school +would be greatly simplified. It is no slight task to eradicate this +misconception of work, but somehow it must be done before the work of +the school can get on. Until this is done, the work of the school will +be done grudgingly instead of buoyantly, and work that is done under +compulsion is never joyous work. Nor will work that is done under +compulsion ever be done in full measure, as the days of slavery clearly +prove. + +=Illustrations.=--Life and work are synonymous, and no amount or form of +sophistry can abrogate their relation. The man who does not work does +not have real life, as the invalid will freely witness. The tramp on the +highway manages to exist, but he does not really live, no matter what +his philosophy may be. Many children interpret life to mean plenty of +money and nothing to do, but this conception merely proves that they are +children with childish misconceptions. They see the railway magnate +riding in his private car and conceive his life to be one of ease and +luxury. They do not realize that the private car affords him the +opportunity to do more and better work. They see the president of the +bank sitting in his private office and imagine that he is idle, not +realizing that his mind is busy with problems of great magnitude, +problems that would appall his subordinates. They cannot know, as he +sits there, that he is projecting his thoughts into far-off lands, and +is watching the manifold and complex processions of commerce in their +relations to the world of finance. + +=Concrete examples.=--They see the architect in his luxurious +apartments, but do not realize that his brain is directing every +movement of a thousand men who are causing a colossal building to tower +toward the sky. They see a Grant sitting beneath a tree in apparent +unconcern, but do not know that he is bearing the responsibility of the +movements of a vast army. They see the pastor in his study among his +books, but do not know the travail of spirit that he experiences in his +yearning for his parishioners. They see the farmer sitting at ease in +the shade, but do not know that he is visualizing every detail of his +farm, the men at their tasks, the flocks and herds, the crops, the +streams, the machinery, the fences, and the orchards and vineyards. They +see the master of the ship, standing on the bridge clad in his smart +uniform, and imagine that he is merely enjoying the sea breezes the same +as themselves, not knowing that his thoughts are concentrated upon the +safety of his hundreds of passengers and his precious cargo. + +=The potency of mental work.=--Only by experience may children come to +know that work may be mental as well as physical, and the school is +charged with the responsibility of affording this experience. Through +experience they will come to know that mind transcends matter, and that +in life the body yields obedience to the behests of the mind. They will +come to know that mental work is more far-reaching than physical work, +in that a single mind plans the work for a thousand hands. They will +learn that mental work has redeemed the world from its primitive +condition and is making life more agreeable even if more complex. They +will come to see the mind busy in its work of tunneling mountains, +building canals and railways, navigating oceans, and exploring the sky. +They will come to realize that mental work has produced our libraries, +designed our machinery, made our homes more comfortable and our fields +more fertile. + +=Work a blessing.=--As a knowledge of all these things filters into +their minds, their conception of life broadens, and they see more and +more clearly that life and work are fundamentally identical. They see +that work directs the streams of life and gives to life point, potency, +and significance. They soon see that knowledge is power only because it +is the agency that generates power, and that knowledge touches life at +every point. They will come to realize that work is the one great luxury +in life, and that education is designed to increase the capacity for +work in order that people may indulge in this luxury more abundantly. +The more work one can do, the more life one has; and the better the work +one can do, the higher the quality of that life. They learn that the +adage "Work to live and live to work" is no fiction but a reality. + +=Work and enjoyment.=--The school, therefore, becomes to them a workshop +of life, and unless it is that, it is not a worthy school. It is not a +something detached from life, but, rather, an integral part of life and +therefore a place and an occasion for work. The school is the Burning +Bush of work that is to grow into the Tree of Life. But life ought to +teem with joy in order to be at its best, and never be a drag. Work, +therefore, being synonymous with life, should be a joyous experience, +even though it taxes the powers to the utmost. If the child comes to the +work of the school as the galley-slave goes to his task, there is a lack +of adjustment and balance somewhere, and a readjustment is necessary. It +matters not that a boy spends two hours over a problem in arithmetic if +only he enjoys himself during the time. But, if he works two hours +merely to get a passing grade or to escape punishment, the time thus +spent does not afford him the pleasure that rightfully belongs to him, +and some better motive should be supplied. + +=The teacher's problem.=--The teacher's mission is not to make school +work easy, but, rather, to make the hardest work alluring and agreeable. +Here, again, she may need to take counsel with Tom Sawyer. Whitewashing +a fence is quite as hard work as solving a problem in decimals or cube +root. Much depends upon the mental attitude of the boy, and this in turn +depends upon the skill of the teacher and her fertility of mind in +supplying motives. Whitewashing a fence causes the arms to grow weary +and the back to ache, but the boys recked not of that. On the contrary, +they clamored for more of the same kind of work. This same spirit +characterizes the work of the vitalized school. The pupils live as +joyously in the schoolroom as they do outside, and the harder the work +the greater their joy. + +When work is made a privilege by the expert teacher, school procedure +becomes well-nigh automatic and there is never any occasion for nagging, +hectoring, or badgering. Such things are abnormal in life and no less so +in the vitalized school. They are a confession on the part of the +teacher that she has reached the limit of her resources. She admits that +she cannot do what Tom Sawyer did so well, and so proclaims her +inability to articulate life and work effectively. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Read that chapter of "Tom Sawyer" which deals with the whitewashing +episode. + +2. What principles of teaching did Tom Sawyer apply? + +3. Discuss, from the pupils' viewpoint, how the study of different +subjects may be made a privilege. + +4. In accordance with Tom Sawyer pedagogy, discuss plans for the +formation of the reading habit in pupils. How direct the pupils' choice +of reading matter? + +5. How would you demonstrate to pupils that mental work is more +exhausting than manual labor? + +6. Why is work a blessing? How convince an indolent pupil of this truth? + +7. State the chief problem of the teacher. + +8. Show that the pedagogical doctrines of this chapter are not to be +classified under the head of "soft pedagogy." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT + + +=Initial statement.=--Life and words are so closely interwoven that we +have only to study words with care in order to achieve an apprehension +of life. Indeed, education may be defined as the process of enlarging +the content of words. No two of us speak the same language even though +we use the same words. The schoolboy and the savant speak of education, +using the same word, but the boy has only the faintest conception of the +meaning of the word as used by the savant. We must know the content of +the words that are used before we can understand one another, either in +speaking or in writing. For one man, a word is big with meaning; for +another, the same word is so small as to be well-nigh meaningless. To +the ignorant boor, the word "education" means far less than the three +R's, while to the scholar the word includes languages, ancient and +modern, mathematics through many volumes, sciences that analyze the +dewdrop, determine the weight of the earth and the distances and +movements of the planets, history from the Rosetta Stone to the latest +presidential election, and philosophy from Plato to the scholar of +to-day. + +=The word "education."=--And yet both these men spell and pronounce the +word alike. The ignorant man has only the faintest glimmering of the +scholar's meaning of the word when he speaks or writes it. Still the +word is in common use, and people who use it are wont to think that +their conception of its meaning is universal. If the boor could follow +the expansion of the word as it is invested with greater and greater +content, he would, in time, understand Aristotle, Shakespeare, +Gladstone, and Max Müller. And, understanding these men, he would come +to know philosophy, literature, and language, and so would come to +appreciate more fully what education really is. In contemplating the +expansion of the word, one might easily visualize the ever widening +circle produced by throwing a pebble into a pool; but a better +conception would be the expansion of a balloon when it is being +inflated. This comparison enables one to realize that education enlarges +as a sphere rather than as a circle. + +=The scholar's concept of the sea.=--The six-year-old can give the +correct spelling of the word _sea_ as readily as the sage, but the sage +has spent a lifetime in putting content into the word. For him, the word +epitomizes his life history. Through its magic leading he retraces his +journeys through physiography and geology, watching the sea wear away +two thousand feet of the Appalachian Mountains and spread the detritus +over vast areas, making the great fertile corn and wheat belt of our +country. He knows that this section produces, annually, such a quantity +of corn as would require for transportation a procession of teams that +would encircle the earth nine times, at the equator, and he interprets +all this as sea. The word leads him, also, through the mazes and +mysteries of meteorology, revealing to him the origin of the rain, the +snow, the dew, and the frost, with all the wonders of evaporation, +condensation, and precipitation. + +=Further illustration.=--He can discern the sea in every blade of grass, +in every leaf, and in every flower. In the composition of his own body, +he finds that ninety per cent of it is sea. He finds his heart pumping +the sea through his veins and arteries as a vital part of the life +process; and through the power of capillary attraction, the sea is +coursing through every hair of his head. In the food upon his table, the +meat, the bread, the milk, the vegetables, and the fruits, he finds the +sea. Not his poetry, but his science follows the raindrop from the roof +to the rivulet, on to the river, then to the ocean, then into vapor and +on into rain down into the earth, then up into the tree, out into the +orange, until it finally reappears as a drop of juice upon the rosy lip +of his little six-year-old. + +=The child's conception.=--Whether the child ever wins the large +conception of the sea that her father has depends, in part, upon the +father himself, but, in a still larger degree, upon her teacher. If the +teacher thinks of the sea merely as a word to be spelled, or defined, or +parsed, that she may inscribe marks in a grade book or on report cards, +then the child will never know the sea as her father knows it, unless +this knowledge comes to her from sources outside the school. Instead of +becoming a living thing and the source of life, her sea will be a desert +without oasis, or grass, or tree, or bird, or bubbling spring to refresh +and inspire. It would seem a sad commentary upon our teaching if the +child is compelled to gain a right conception of the sea outside the +school and in spite of the school, rather than through and by means of +the school. + +=The quest of teacher and child.=--The vitalized teacher knows the sea +as the sage knows it, and can infuse her conception into the +consciousness of the child. She feels it to be her high privilege to +lead the child on in quest of the sea and to find, in this quest, +pulsating life. In this alluring quest, she is putting content into the +word, and thus discovering, by experience, what life is. This is +education. This is the inviting vista that stretches out before the eyes +of the child under the spell and leadership of such a teacher. In their +quest for the meaning of the sea, these companions, the child and the +teacher, will come upon the fields of grain, the orchards, the flocks +and herds, the ships, the trains, and the whole intricate world of +commerce. They will find commerce to be a manifestation of the sea and +moreover a big factor in life. It will mean far more than mere cars to +be counted or cargoes to be estimated in the form of problems for the +class in arithmetic. The cargoes of grain that they see leaving the port +mean food for the hungry in other lands, and the joy and vigor that only +food can give. + +=The sea as life.=--At every turn of their ramified journey, these +learners find life and, best of all, are having a rich experience in +life, throughout the journey. They are immersed in life and so are +absorbing life all the while. Wider and wider becomes their conception +of life as exemplified by the sea, and their capacity for life is ever +increasing. Day by day they ascend to higher levels and find their +horizon receding farther and farther. For them, life enlarges until it +embraces all lands, the arts, the sciences, the languages, and all +history. Whether they pursue the sea into the mountains; to the steppes, +plateaus, or pampas; to the palace or the hovel; to the tropics or the +poles,--they find it evermore representing life. + +=The word "automobile."=--It would seem to be quite possible to +construct a twelve-year course of study based upon this sort of study of +words and their content with special emphasis upon the content. Since +life is conterminous with the content of the words that constitute one's +vocabulary, it is evident that the content of words becomes of major +importance in the scheme of education. To be able to spell the word +"automobile" will not carry a young man very far in his efforts to +qualify as a chauffeur, important though the spelling may be. As a mere +beginning, the spelling is essential, but it is not enough. Still the +child thinks that his education, so far as this word is concerned, is +complete when he can spell it correctly, and carry home a perfect grade. +No one will employ the young man as a driver until he has put content +into the word, and this requires time and hard work. He must know the +mechanism of the machine, in every detail, and the articulation of all +its parts. He must be able to locate trouble on the instant and be able +to apply the remedy. He must be sensitive to every slightest sound that +indicates imperfect functioning. This, of course, carries far beyond the +mere spelling of the word, but all this is essential to the safety of +his passengers. + +=Etymology.=--Etymology has its place, of course, in the study of words, +but it stops short of the goal. It may be well to take the watch apart +in order to make an examination of its parts, but until it is +reconstituted and set going, it is useless as a watch. So with a word. +We may give its etymology and rhapsodize over its parts, but thus +analyzed it is an inert thing and really inane so far as real service is +concerned. If word study does not carry beyond the mere analysis, it is +futile as a real educative process. To be really effective, the word +must be instinct with life and busy in the affairs of life, and not a +mere specimen in a museum. Too often our work in etymology seems to be +considered an end in itself, rather than a means to an end. + +=The word in use.=--Arlo Bates says that the word "highly" in the +Gettysburg Speech is the most ornate word in the language in the setting +that Lincoln gave it. The merest tyro can give its etymology, but only +when it was set to work by a master did it gain potency and distinction. +The etymology of the word "fidelity" is reasonably easy, but this +analysis is powerless to cause the child to thrill at the story of +Casabianca, or of Ruth and Naomi, or of Esther, or Antigone, or +Cordelia, or Nathan Hale, or the little Japanese girl who deliberately +bit through her tongue that she might not utter a syllable that would +jeopardize the interests or safety of her father. The word analyzed is a +dead thing; the word in use is a living thing. The word merely analyzed +is apt to be ephemeral; the word in use is abiding and increasingly +significant. As the child puts more and more content into the word, he, +himself, expands at the same rate in the scope and power of his +thinking. Words are the materials out of which he weaves the fabric of +life, and the pattern depends upon the content of his words. + +=Illustrations from art.=--The child can spell the word "art" and can +repeat the words of the book by way of a memorized definition, but he +cannot define the word with even a fair degree of intelligence. He +cannot know the meaning of the word until its significance becomes +objectified in his life processes. This requires time, and thought, and +experiences with books, with people, and with galleries. In short, he +must live art before he can define the word; and his living art invests +the word with content. The word will grow just as he grows in his +conception of art. At first, he may denominate as art the simple little +daubs of pictures that he makes with the teacher's hand guiding his +brush. But, later on, as he gains a larger conception, these things will +appear puerile if not silly. The time may come when he can read the +thoughts of the masters as expressed in their masterpieces. Then, and +only then, will he be able to define the word. + +=Michael Angelo.=--At the age of fifteen, Michael Angelo wrought the +Mask of the Satyr, which would not be considered a work of art if that +were the only product of his chisel. What he did later was the +fulfillment of the prophecy embodied in the Mask. At the age of eighty, +he produced the Descent from the Cross, which glorifies the Duomo in +Florence. In between these productions, we find his David, his Moses, +the Sistine Ceiling, with many others scarcely less notable. He rose to +a higher and higher conception of art as he lived art more and more +fully, and his execution kept pace with the expansion of his conception. +He gave content to the word both for himself and for the world until now +we associate, in our thinking, art with his name. He himself is now, in +large measure, our definition of art--and that because he lived art. + +=The child's conception of truth.=--In his restricted conception, the +boy conceives truth to be the mere absence of peccadillos. He thinks +that his denial of the charge that he was impolite to his sister, or +that he went on a foraging expedition to the pantry, is the whole truth +and, indeed, all there is to truth. It requires a whole lifetime to +realize the full magnitude of his misconception. In the vitalized +school, he finds himself busy all day long trying to find answer to the +question: What is Truth? In the Alps, there is a place called Echo Glen +where a thousand rocks, cliffs, and crags send back to the speaker the +words he utters. So, when this boy asks What is Truth? a thousand voices +in the school and outside the school repeat the question to him: What is +Truth? Abraham Lincoln tried to find the answer as he figured on the bit +of board with a piece of charcoal by the firelight. Later on, he wrote +the Emancipation Proclamation, and in both exercises he was seeking for +the meaning of truth. + +=The work of the school.=--Christopher Columbus was doing the same thing +in his quest, and thought no hardship too great if he could only come +upon the answer. Galileo, Huxley, Newton, Tyndall, Humboldt, Darwin, +Edison, and Burbank are only the schoolboys grown large in their search +for the meaning of truth. They have enlarged the content of the word for +us all, and by following their lead we may attain to their answers. +Every school study gives forth a partial answer, and the sum of all +these answers constitutes the answer which the boy is seeking. +Mathematics tells part of the story, but not all of it; science tells +another part, but not all of it; history tells still another part, but +not all of it. Hence, it may be reiterated that one of the prime +functions of the vitalized school is to invest words with the largest +possible content. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. To what extent is education the process of enlarging the content of +words? + +2. As a concrete illustration of the differences in the content of +words, compare various definitions of education. Choose typical +definitions of education to reflect the ideas of different educational +periods. + +3. Suggest other methods than the use of the dictionary for the +enlargement of the pupil's content of words. + +4. How may words be vitalized in composition? + +5. Should the chief aim of language work in the grades be force, +accuracy, or elegance in the use of language? + +6. Add to the author's list of words, other words the content of which +may be expanded by education. + +7. How may the vitalized teacher encourage in pupils the formation of +habits of careful diction? + +8. How remove unnatural stilted words and expressions from the oral and +written expressions of pupils? + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +COMPLETE LIVING + + +=The question raised.=--That education is a preparation for complete +living has been quoted by every teacher who lays any sort of claim to +the standard definitions. Indeed, so often and so glibly has the +quotation been made that it is well-nigh axiomatic and altogether trite. +But we still await any clear explanation of what is meant by complete +living. On this point we are still groping, with no prophetic voice to +tell us the way. By implication we have had hints, and much has been +said on the negative side, but the positive side still lies fallow. When +asked for an explanation, those who give the quotation resort to +circumlocution and, at length, give another definition of education, +apparently conscious of the mathematical dictum that things that are +equal to the same thing are equal to each other. So we continue to +travel in a circle, with but feeble attempts to deviate from the course. + +=The vitalized school an exemplification.=--Nor will this chapter +attempt to resolve the difficult situation in which we are placed. It is +not easy to define living, much less complete living. All that is hoped +for here is to bring the matter to the attention of all teachers and to +cause them to realize that the quest for a definition of complete living +will be for them and for their pupils an exhilarating experience. The +vitalized school will belie its name if it does not strive toward a +solution of the difficulty, and any school that approximates a +satisfactory definition will be proclaimed a public benefactor. In fact, +the school cannot lay claim to the distinction of being vitalized if it +fails to exemplify complete living, in some appreciable degree, and if +it fails to groove this sort of living into a habit that will persist +throughout the years. This is the big task that the school must essay if +it would emancipate itself from the trammels of tradition and become a +leader in the larger, better way. Complete living must become the ideal +of the school if it would realize the conception of education of which +it is a professed exponent. + +=Incomplete living.=--The man who walks with a crutch; the man who is +afflicted with a felon; the man who lacks a hand or even a +finger,--cannot experience complete living. Through the power of +adaptation the man with a crutch may compass more difficult situations +than the man with sound legs will attempt, but he cannot realize all the +possibilities of life that a sound body would vouchsafe to him. The man +without hands may learn to write with his toes, but he is not employed +as a teacher of penmanship. His life is a restricted one and, therefore, +less than complete. We marvel at the exhibitions of skill displayed by +the maimed, but we feel no envy. We may not be able to duplicate their +achievements, but we feel that we have ample compensation in the normal +use of our members. We know instinctively that, in the solitude of their +meditations, they must experience poignant regrets that they are not as +other people, and that they must pass through life under a handicap. + +=The sound body.=--It is evident, therefore, that soundness of body is a +condition precedent to complete living. The body is the organism by +means of which the mind and the spirit function in terms of life; and, +if this organism is imperfect, the functioning will prove less than +complete. Hence, it is the province of the school to so organize all its +activities that the physical powers of the pupils shall be fully +conserved. The president of a large university says that during his +incumbency of seventeen years they have found only one young woman of +physical perfection and not a single young man, although the tests have +been applied to thousands. College students, it will be readily +conceded, are a selected group; and yet even in such a group not a +physically perfect young man was found in tests extending over seventeen +years. If a like condition should be discovered in the scoring of live +stock at our fairs, there would ensue a careful investigation of causes +in the hope of finding a remedy. + +=Personal efficiency.=--We shall not achieve national efficiency until +every citizen has achieved personal efficiency, and physical fitness is +one of the fundamental conditions precedent to personal efficiency. Here +we have the blue print for the guidance of society and the school. If we +are ever to achieve national efficiency, we must see to it that every +man and woman, every boy and girl, has a strong, healthy body that is +fully able to execute the behests of mind and spirit. This may require a +stricter censorship of marriage licenses, including physical +examinations; it may require more stringent laws on our statute books; +it may require radical changes in our methods of physical training; and +it may require the state to assume some of the functions of the home +when the home reveals its inability or unwillingness to cope with the +situation. Heroic treatment may be necessary; but until we as a people +have the courage to apply the remedies that the diagnosis shows to be +necessary, we shall look in vain for improvement. + +=Physical training.=--Seeing that it is so difficult to find a man or a +woman among our people who has attained physical perfection, it behooves +society and the schools to take a critical inventory of their methods of +physical training and their meager accomplishments as a preliminary +survey looking to a change in our procedure. We seem to have delegated +scientific physical training to athletics and pugilism, with but scant +concern for our people as a whole. If pink-tea calisthenics as practiced +mildly in our schools has failed to produce robust bodies, then it is +incumbent upon us to adopt a régime of beefsteak. What the traditional +school has failed to do the vitalized school must attempt to do or +suffer the humiliation of striking its colors. There is no middle +course; it must either win a victory or admit defeat in common with the +traditional school. The standard is high, of course, but every standard +of the vitalized school is and ought to be high. + +=Cigarettes.=--If the use of cigarettes is devitalizing our boys, and +this can be determined, then the manufacture and sale must be prohibited +unless our legislative bodies would plead guilty to the charge of +impotence. But we are told that public sentiment conditions the +enactment of laws. If such be the case, then the school and its +auxiliaries should feel it a duty to generate public sentiment. If +cigarettes are harmful, then they should be banished, and the task is +not an impossible one by any means. As to the injurious effects of +cigarettes, as distinguished an authority as Thomas A. Edison says the +following: + + "The injurious agent in cigarettes comes principally from the + burning paper wrapper. The substance thereby formed is called + 'acrolein.' It has a violent action on the nerve centers, + producing degeneration of the cells of the brain, which is quite + rapid among boys. Unlike most narcotics, this degeneration is + permanent and uncontrollable. I employ no person who smokes + cigarettes." + +We have eliminated dangerous explosives from our Fourth of July +celebrations, and the ban can as easily be placed upon any other +dangerous product. Just here we inevitably meet the cry of paternalism, +but we shall always be confronted by the question to what extent the +government should stand aside and see its citizens follow the bent of +their appetites and passions over the brink of destruction. It is the +inherent right of government to maintain its own integrity, and this it +can do only through the conservation of the powers of its citizens. If +paternalism is necessary to this end, then paternalism is a governmental +virtue. Better, by far, some paternalism than a race of weaklings. + +=Military training.=--We may shrink away from military training in the +schools, just as we shrink from the régime of pugilism; but we may +profit by observing both these types of training in our efforts to +develop some method of training that will render our young people +physically fit. We need some type of training that will eliminate round +and drooping shoulders, weak chests, shambling gait, sluggish +circulation, and shallow breathing. The boys and girls need to be, first +of all, healthy animals with large powers of endurance, elastic, +buoyant, graceful, and in general well set up. These conditions +constitute the foundation for the superstructure of education. The +placid, anæmic, fiberless child is ill prepared in physique to attain to +that mastery of the mental and spiritual world that makes for an +approximation to complete living. + +=Examples cited.=--If one will but make a mental appraisement of the +first one hundred people he meets, he will see among the number quite a +few who reveal a lack of physical vigor. They droop and slouch along and +seem to be dragging their bodies instead of being propelled through +space by their bodies. They can neither stand nor walk as a human being +ought to stand and walk, and their entire ensemble is altogether +unbeautiful. We feel instinctively that, being fashioned in the image of +their Maker, they have sadly declined from their high estate. Their +bodily attitude seems a sort of apology for life, and we long to invoke +the aid of some teacher of physical training to rescue them from +themselves and restore them to their rightful heritage. They are weak, +apparently ill-nourished, scrawny, ill-groomed; and we know, without the +aid of words, that neither a vigorous mind nor a great spirit would +choose that type of body as its habitation. + +=The body subject to the mind.=--A healthy, vigorous, symmetrical body +that performs all its functions like a well-articulated, well-adjusted +mechanism is the beginning, but only a beginning. Next comes a mind that +is so well trained that it knows what orders to give to the body and how +to give them. Many a strong body enters the door of a saloon because the +mind is not sufficiently trained to issue wise orders. The mind was +befuddled before the body became so, and the body becomes so only +because the mind commands. Intoxication, primarily, is a mental +apostasy, and the body cannot do otherwise than obey. If the mind were +intent upon securing a book at the library, the body would not have seen +the door of the saloon, but would have been urgent to reach the library. +There is neither fiction nor facetiousness in the adage, "An idle brain +is the devil's workshop." On the contrary, the saying is crammed full of +psychology for the thoughtful observer. Hence, when we are training the +mind we are wreaking destruction upon this workshop. + +=Freedom a condition precedent.=--Complete living is impossible outside +the domain of freedom. The prisons show forth no examples of complete +living. But mental thralldom is quite as inimical to complete living as +thralldom of the body. The mind must know in order to move among the +things of life in freedom. Ignorance is slavery. The mind that is unable +to read the inscription on a monument stands baffled and helpless, and +no form of slavery can be more abject. The man who cannot read the bill +of fare of life is in no position to revel in the good things that life +offers. The man who cannot read the signboards of life gropes and +flounders about in the byways and so misses the charms. If he knows the +way, he has freedom; otherwise he is in thralldom. The man who cannot +interpret life as it shows itself in hill, in valley, in stream and rock +and tree, goes through life with bandaged eyes, and that condition +affords no freedom. + +=Street signs.=--A man who had been traveling through Europe for several +weeks, and had finally reached London, wrote enthusiastically of his +pleasure at being able to read the street signs. All summer he had felt +restricted and hampered, but when he reached a country where the street +signs were intelligible, he gained his freedom. Had he been as familiar +with Italian, German, and French as he is with English, life would have +been for him far more nearly complete during that summer and therefore +much more agreeable and fertile. There is no more exhilarating +experience than to be able to read the street signs along the highway of +life, and this ability is one of the great objectives of every vitalized +school. + +=Trained minds.=--Nature reveals her inmost secrets only to the trained +mind. No power can force her, no wealth can bribe her, to disclose these +secrets to others. Only the mind that is trained can gain admission to +her treasure house to revel in its glories. John Burroughs lives in a +world that the ignorant man cannot know. The trained mind alone has the +key that will unlock libraries, art galleries, the treasure houses of +science, language, history, and art. The untrained minds must stand +outside and win what comfort they can from their wealth, their social +status, or whatever else they would fain substitute for the training +that would admit them. All these things are parts of life, and those who +cannot gain admission to these conservatories of knowledge cannot know +life in its completeness. + +=Achievements of trained minds.=--In order to know life in the large, +the mind must be able to leap from the multiplication table to the +stars; must become intimate with the movements of the tides, the +glacier, and the planets; must translate the bubbling fountain and the +eruption of Vesuvius; must be able to interpret the whisper of the +zephyr and the diapason of the forest; must be able to hear music in the +chirp of the cricket as well as in the oratorios; must be able to delve +into the recesses of the mine and scale the mountain tops; must know the +heart throbs of Little Nell as well as of Cicero and Demosthenes; must +be able to see the processions of history from the cradle of the race to +the latest proclamation; and must sit in the councils of the poets, the +statesmen, the orators, the artists, the scientists, and the historians +of all time. A mind thus trained can enter into the very heart of life +and know it by experience. + +=Things of the spirit.=--But education is a spiritual process, as we +have been told; and, therefore, education is without value unless it +touches the spirit. Indeed, it is only by the spirit that we may test +the quality of education. It is spirit that sets metes and bounds and +points the way to the fine things of life. A man may live in the back +alley of life or on the boulevard, according to the dictates of the +spirit. If his spirit cannot react to the finer things, his way will lie +among the coarse and bizarre. If he cannot appreciate the glory that is +revealed upon the mountain, he will gravitate to the lower levels. If +his spirit is not attuned to majestic harmonies, he will drift down to +association with his own kind. If he cannot thrill with pleasure at the +beauty and fragrance of the lily of the valley, he will seek out the +gaudy sunflower. If his spirit cannot rise to the plane of Shakespeare +and Victor Hugo, he will roam into fields that are less fruitful. The +spirit that is rightly attuned lifts him away from the sordid into the +realms of the chaste and the glorified; away from the coarse and ugly +into the realm of things that are fine and beautiful; and away from the +things that are mean and petty into the zone of the big, the true, the +noble, and the good. And so with body, mind, and spirit thus doing their +perfect work, he can, at least, look over into the promised land of +complete living. + +=Altruism.=--We are commanded to let our light shine, and this command +is a noble and an inspiring one. A man who by such training as has been +depicted approximates complete living is prepared to let his light shine +primarily because he has light, and in the next place because his +training has made him generous in spirit and altruistic; and his +greatest joy comes from letting his light so shine that others may catch +his spirit and move up to higher planes of living. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Why is education not satisfactorily defined by saying that it is a +preparation for complete living? Who first stated this definition? + +2. What is the relation of the school to complete living? + +3. What further training should the school give in better living than to +teach the pupils what it is? + +4. Give an idea of what is meant by incomplete living so far as the body +is concerned. + +5. Show that soundness of body is necessary to realize one's best. + +6. What are some reasons for the scarcity of physically perfect men and +women? + +7. Have we been able to eliminate physical defects and develop physical +merits in people to the same extent that we have in domestic animals? + +8. What are some of the things that have been done to improve physical +man? Which of these have to do primarily with heredity and which with +rearing or training? + +9. Why is the possession of healthy bodies a matter of national concern? + +10. Wherein does physical training seem to have failed to attain its +ends? + +11. What are the arguments, from the standpoint of the physically +efficient life, for the regulation or prohibition by the government of +the sale of injurious products? + +12. What are the benefits of such a type of training as military +training? + +13. Show how the lack of proper training of the mind may result in a +less efficient body. + +14. In our present civilization what conditions may give rise to mental +thralldom? Upon what is mental freedom conditioned? + +15. How can the trained mind get the most out of life and contribute the +most to it? + +16. Explain how the spirit is the dominant element in complete living. + +17. Why is one who is living the complete life sure to be altruistic? + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE TIME ELEMENT + + +=The question stated.=--There are many, doubtless, who will deny, if not +actually resent, the statement that some do more real teaching in ten +minutes than others do in thirty minutes. But, in spite of denials, the +statement can be verified by the testimony of a host of expert observers +and supervisors. Indeed, stenographic reports have been made of many +class exercises by way of testing the truth of this statement, and these +reports are a matter of record. Assuming the validity of the statement, +therefore, it is pertinent to inquire into the causes that underlie the +disparity in the teaching ability of the ten-minute teacher and the +thirty-minute teacher. The efficiency expert would be quick to seize +upon this disparity in the rate of progress as the starting point in his +critical examination. In a factory a like disparity would lead to +unpleasant consequences. The workman who consumes thirty minutes in +accomplishing a piece of work that another does in ten minutes would be +admonished to accelerate his progress or else give way to a more +efficient man. If we had instruments of sufficient delicacy to test the +results of teaching, we should probably discover that the output of the +ten-minute teacher is superior in quality to that of the thirty-minute +teacher. For we must all have observed in our own experience that the +clarity of our thinking depends upon its intensity. + +=Examples.=--A young man who won distinction as a college student had a +wide shelf fitted up on one side of his room at which he stood in the +preparation of all his lessons. His theory was that the attitude of the +body conditions the attitude of the mind. Professor James gives assent +to this theory and avers that an attitude of mind may be generated by +placing the body in such an attitude as would naturally accompany this +mental attitude. This theory proclaims that, if the body is slouching, +the mind will slouch; but that, if the body is alert, the mind will be +equally so. Another college student always walked to and fro in his room +when preparing his history lesson. A fine old lady, in a work of +fiction, explained her mental acumen by the single statement, "I never +slouch." Every person must have observed many exemplifications of this +theory in his own experience even if he has not reduced it to a working +formula. + +=Basic considerations.=--Any consideration of the time element, in +school work, must take into account, therefore, not only the number of +minutes involved in a given piece of work, but also the intensity of +effort during those minutes. Two minds, of equal natural strength, may +be fully employed during a given period and yet show a wide difference +in the quality and quantity of the results. The one may be busy all the +while but slouch through the minutes. The other may be taut and +intensive, working at white heat, and the output will be more extensive +and of better quality. The mind that ambles through the period shows +forth results that are both meager and mediocre; but the mind whose +impact is both forceful and incisive produces results that serve to +magnify the work of the school. Thus we have placed before us two basic +considerations, one of which is the time itself, in actual minutes, and +the other is the character of the reactions to external stimuli during +those minutes. + +=Two teachers compared.=--In order to consider these factors of the +teaching process with some degree of definiteness it will be well to +have the ten-minute teacher and the thirty-minute teacher placed in +juxtaposition in our thinking. We shall thus be able to compare and +contrast and so arrive at some clear judgments that may be used as a +basis for generalizations. We may assume, for convenience and for +concreteness, that the lesson is division of fractions. There will be +substantial agreement that the principle involved in this subject can be +taught in one recitation period. The reasons for some of the steps in +the process may come later, but the child should be able to find his way +to the correct answer in a single period. Now if one teacher can achieve +this result in thirty minutes and the other in ten minutes, there is a +disparity in the effectiveness of the work of these teachers which is +worthy of serious consideration. The ten-minute teacher proves that the +thirty-minute teacher has consumed twenty minutes of somebody's time +unnecessarily. If the salary of this thirty-minute teacher should be +reduced to one third its present amount, she would inveigh against the +reduction. + +=School and factory compared.=--If she were one of the operators in a +factory, she would not escape with the mere penalization of a salary +reduction. The owner would argue that he needed some one who could +operate the machine up to its full capacity, and that, even if she +should work without salary, her presence in the factory would entail a +loss in that the output of her machine was so meager. If one operator +can produce a shoe in ten minutes and the other requires thirty minutes +for the same work, the money that is invested in the one machine pays +dividends, while the other machine imposes a continuous tax upon the +owner. This, of course, will be recognized as the line of argument of +the efficiency expert, but it certainly is not out of place to call +attention to the matter in connection with school work. The subject of +efficiency is quite within the province of the school, and it would seem +to be wholly within reason for the school to exemplify its own +teachings. + +=Appraisal of teaching expertness.=--The teacher who requires thirty +minutes for division of fractions which the other teacher compasses in +ten minutes consumes twenty minutes unnecessarily in each recitation +period, or two hundred minutes in the course of the day. The efficiency +expert would ask her to account for these two hundred minutes. In order +to account for them satisfactorily she would be compelled to take an +inventory of her acquired habits, her predilections, her attitude toward +her pupils and her subjects, and any shortcomings she may have in regard +to methods of teaching. She would, at first, resent the implication that +the other teacher's method of teaching division of fractions is better +than her own and would cite the many years during which her method has +been used. When all else fails, tradition always proves a convenient +refuge. We can always prove to-day by yesterday; only, by so doing, we +deny the possibility of progress. + +=The potency of right methods.=--A teacher of Latin once used twenty +minutes in a violent attempt to explain the difference between the +gerund construction and the gerundive construction. At the end of the +time she had the pupils so completely muddled that, for months, the +appearance of either of these constructions threw them into a condition +of panic. To another class, later, this teacher explained these +constructions clearly and convincingly in three minutes. In the meantime +she had studied methods in connection with subject matter. Another +teacher resigned her position and explained her action by confessing +that she had become so accustomed to the traditional methods of teaching +a certain phase of arithmetic that it was impossible for her to learn +the newer one. Such a teacher must be given credit for honesty even +while she illustrates tragedy. + +=The waste of time.=--In explaining the loss of two hundred minutes a +day the teacher will inevitably come upon the subject of methods of +teaching, and she may be put to it to justify her method in view of its +results. The more diligently she tries to justify her method, the more +certainly she proclaims her responsibility for a wrong use of the +method. Those twenty minutes point at her the accusing finger, and she +can neither blink nor escape the facts. The other teacher led her pupils +into a knowledge of the subject in ten minutes, and this one may neither +abrogate nor amend the record. As an operative in the factory she holds +in her hand one shoe as the result of her thirty minutes while the other +holds three. Conceding that results in the school are not so tangible as +the results in the factory, still we have developed methods of +estimating results in the school that have convincing weight with the +efficiency expert. We can estimate results in school work with +sufficient accuracy to enable us to assess teaching values with a goodly +degree of discrimination. + +=Possibilities.=--It would be a comparatively simple matter to compute +in days and weeks the time lost during the year by the thirty-minute +teacher, and then estimate the many things that the pupils could +accomplish in that time. If the thirty-minute teacher could be +transformed into a ten-minute teacher, the children could have three +more hours each day for play, and that would be far better for them than +the ordeal of sitting there in the class, the unwilling witnesses, or +victims, of the time-wasting process. Or they might read a book in the +two hundred minutes and that would be more enjoyable, and the number of +books thus read in the course of a year would aggregate quite a library. +Or, again, they might take some additional studies and so make great +gains in mental achievements in their twelve years of school life. Or +they might learn to work with their hands and so achieve self-reliance, +self-support, and self-respect. + +=Conservation.=--In a word, there is no higher type of conservation than +the conservation of childhood, in terms of time and interest. The two +hundred minutes a day are a vital factor in the life of the child and +must be regarded as highly valuable. The teacher, therefore, who +subtracts this time from the child's life is assuming a responsibility +not to be lightly esteemed. She takes from him his most valuable +possession and one which she can never return, try as she may. Worst of +all, she purloins this element of time clandestinely, albeit +seductively, in the guise of friendship. The child does not know that he +is the victim of unfair treatment until it is too late to set up any +defense. He is made to think that that is the natural and, therefore, +only way of school, and that he must take things as they come if he is +to prove himself a good soldier. So he musters what heroism he can and +tries to smile while the teacher despoils him of the minutes he might +better be employing in play, in reading, or in work. + +=The teacher's complacency.=--This would seem a severe indictment if it +were incapable of proof, but having been proved by incontrovertible +evidence its severity cannot be mitigated. We can only grieve that the +facts are as they are and ardently hope for a speedy change. The chief +obstacle in the way of improvement is the complacency of the teacher. +Habits tend to persist, and if she has contracted the habit of much +speaking, she thinks her volubility should be accounted a virtue and +wonders that the children do not applaud the bromidic platitudes which +have been uttered in the same form and in the same tones a hundred +times. She is so intoxicated with her own verbosity that she can neither +listen to the sounds of her own voice nor analyze her own utterances. +While her neighbor is teaching she is talking, and then with sublime +nonchalance she ascribes the retardation of her pupils to their own +dullness and never, in any least degree, to her own unprofitable use of +their time. + +=The voluble teacher.=--And while she rambles on in her aimless talking +the children are bored, inexpressibly bored. It is axiomatic that the +learning process does not flourish in a state of boredom. Under the +ordeal of verbal inundation the children wriggle and squirm about in +their seats and this affords her a new point of attack. She calls them +ill-bred and unmannerly and wonders at the homes that can produce such +children. She does not realize that if these children were grown-ups +they would leave the room regardless of consequences. When they yawn, +she reminds them of the utter futility of casting pearls before swine. +All the while the twenty minutes are going and the pupils have not yet +learned how to divide fractions. Over in the next room the pupils know +full well how to divide fractions and the teacher is rewarding their +diligence with a cookie in the form of a story, while they wait for the +bell to ring. Out of the room of the thirty-minute teacher come the +children glowering and resentful; out of the other room the children +come buoyant and happy. + +=The test of teaching.=--Not alone did the former teacher use the time +of her pupils for her own ends, but, even more, she dulled their +interest, and the damage thus inflicted cannot be estimated. Many a +child has deserted the school because the teacher made school life +disagreeable. She was the wet blanket upon his enthusiasm and chilled +him to the marrow when he failed to go forward upon her traditional +track. The teacher who can generate in the minds of her pupils a +spiritual ignition by her every movement and word will not be humiliated +by desertions. Indeed, the test of the teacher is the mental attitude of +her pupils. The child who drags and drawls through the lesson convicts +the teacher of a want of expertness. On the other hand, when the pupils +are all wide-awake, alert, animated, eager to respond, and dynamic, we +know that the teacher has brought this condition to pass and that she is +a ten-minute teacher. + +=Meaningless formalities.=--One of the influences that tends to deaden +the interest of children is the ponderous formality that sometimes +obtains. The teacher solemnly calls the roll, although she can see at a +glance that there are no absentees. This is exceedingly irksome to +wide-awake boys and girls who are avid for variety. The same monotonous +calling of the roll day after day with no semblance of variation induces +in them a sort of mental dyspepsia for which they seek an antidote in +what the teacher denominates disorder. This so-called disorder betokens +good health on their part and is a revelation of the fact that they have +a keen appreciation of the fitness of things. They cannot brook monotony +and it irks them to dawdle about in the anteroom of action. They are +eager to do their work if only the teacher will get right at it. But +they are impatient of meaningless preliminaries. They see no sense in +calling the roll when everybody is present and discredit the teacher who +persists in the practice. + +=Repeating answers.=--Still another characteristic of the thirty-minute +teacher is her habit of repeating the answers that pupils give, with the +addition of some inane comment. Whether this repeating of answers is +merely a bad habit or an effort on the part of the teacher to +appropriate to herself the credit that should otherwise accrue to the +pupils, it is not easy to say. Certain it is that school inspectors +inveigh against the practice mightily as militating against the +effectiveness of the teaching. Teachers who have been challenged on this +point make a weak confession that they repeat the answers unconsciously. +They thus make the fatal admission that for a part of the time of the +class exercise they do not know what they are doing, and admitting so +much we can readily classify them as belonging among the thirty-minute +teachers. + +=Meanderings.=--Another characteristic is her tendency to wander away +from the direct line and ramble about among irrelevant and +inconsequential trifles. Sometimes these rambles are altogether +entertaining and enable her pupils to pass the time pleasantly, but they +lack "terminal facilities." They lead from nowhere to nowhere in the +most fascinating and fruitless meanderings. Such expeditions bring back +no emoluments. They leave a pleasant taste in the mouth but afford no +nourishment. They use the time but exact no dividends. Like sheet +lightning they are beautiful but never strike anything. They are +soothing sedatives that never impel to action. They lull to repose but +never vitalize. + +=The ten-minute teacher.=--It is evident, therefore, that only the +ten-minute teacher is worthy of a place in the vitalized school. She +alone is able and willing to conserve, with religious zeal, the time and +interest of the pupils. To her their time and interest are sacred and +she deems it a sacrilege to trifle with them. She knows the market value +of her own time but does not know the value of the time of the possible +Edison who sits in her class. She gives to every child the benefit of +the doubt and respects both herself and her pupils too much to take +chances by pitting herself against them and using their time for her own +purposes. Moreover, she never permits their interest to flag, but knows +how to keep their minds tense. Their reactions are never less than +incisive, and, therefore, the truths of the lesson groove themselves +deep in their consciousness. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What is meant by the time element in teaching? + +2. How is an operation in a factory timed? For what purpose? What are +some of the results that have accrued from the timing of work by +efficiency experts? + +3. How can teaching be timed approximately? Is it probable that more of +this will be done in the future by supervisors and investigators? Would +you resent the timing of your work? Would you appreciate it? Why? + +4. What may be done, in the matter of bodily positions, to improve +mental time-reactions of the student? Of the teacher? + +5. The literature of a typewriter manufacturer carries the precept "Sit +erect." What are the reasons? + +6. What two factors must be considered in estimating mental work with a +view to time considerations? + +7. If the attainment of school results by the teacher were treated as +the attainment of factory results by the operator, what would happen if +a large per cent of the time spent on a process were unnecessary? + +8. Apply the factory manager's argument in detail to the teacher's +efficiency. If you can, show wherein it fails to apply. + +9. What result besides waste of time may come of a cumbersome method of +teaching? + +10. How can one acquire a clear-cut method? + +11. A professor of physics was asked by a former student who was +beginning to teach for suggestions on the teaching of physics. His only +reply was "Know your subject thoroughly." Was this a satisfactory +response? Give reasons for your opinion. + +12. If the teacher can have lessons finished with greater rapidity, what +can be done with the time thus remaining? + +13. Show that the teacher must attend to the conservation of time in +order to protect the child. + +14. In what way besides the direct waste of the minutes is the +expenditure of undue time unfortunate? + +15. In what particular way do many teachers lose much of the +recitation-lesson or study-lesson period? + +16. What are the results of an undue expenditure of time in this way? + +17. What is the relation between the waste of time in school and the +exodus of children from the upper grades? + +18. What do you think of a teacher who persists in "meaningless +formalities"? + +19. How does the repeating of answers by the teacher affect the pupils? + +20. A teacher says she repeats answers often because pupils speak low +and indistinctly. What are the proper remedies for this? + +21. What should be the teacher's rule in regard to digressions? + +22. Why should every teacher strive to be a "ten-minute" teacher, and +why should every supervisor strive to recommend no others? + +23. What corollary can be drawn on the advisability of the employment of +no teachers except those recommended by competent supervisors? + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE ARTIST TEACHER + + +=Teaching as a fine art.=--Teaching is an art. This fact has universal +recognition. But it may be made a fine art, a fact that is not so +generally recognized. The difference between the traditional school and +the vitalized school lies in the fact, to a large degree, that, in the +former, teaching is regarded merely as an art, while in the latter it +becomes a fine art. In the former, the teacher is an artisan; in the +latter the teacher is an artist. The difference is broadly significant. +The artisan, in his work, follows directions, plans, specifications, and +blue-prints that have been devised and designed by others; the artist +imbues his work with imagination. The artisan works by the day--so much +money for so many hours' work with pay day as his large objective; the +artist does not disdain pay day, but he has an objective beyond this and +has other sources of pleasure besides the pay envelope. The artisan +thinks and talks of pay day; the artist thinks and talks of his work. +The artisan drops his work when the bell rings; the artist is so +engrossed in his work that he does not hear the bell. The artisan plods +at his task with a grudging mien; the artist works in a fine frenzy. + +=Characteristic qualities.=--It is not easy to find the exact words by +which to differentiate the traditional teacher from the artist teacher. +There is an elusive quality in the artist teacher which is not easily +reduced to or described by formal words. We know that the one is an +artist teacher and that the other is not. The formal examination may not +be able to discover the artist teacher, but there is a sort of knowledge +that transcends the findings of an examination, that makes her identity +known. She is a real flesh and blood person and yet she has a +distinctive quality that cannot be mistaken even though it eludes +description. She exhales a certain exquisiteness that reveals itself in +the delicacy and daintiness of her contact with people and the objective +world. Her impact upon the consciousness is no more violent than the +fragrance of the rose, but, all at once, she is there and there to stay, +modest, serene, and masterful. + +She is as gentle as the dawn but as staunch as the oak. She has +knowledge and wisdom, and, better still, she has understanding; she +needs no diagram. Her gaze penetrates the very heart of a situation but +is never less than kindly, and her eyes are never shifty. Her aplomb, +her pose, and her poise belong to her quite as evidently as her hands. +She is genuine and altogether free from affectation. Her presence +stimulates without intoxicating, and she accepts the respect of people +with the same naturalness and grace as would accompany her acceptance of +a glass of water. Both the giver and the recipient of this respect are +ennobled by the giving. Indeed she would far rather have the respect of +people, her pupils included, than mere admiration, for she knows full +well that respect is far more deeply rooted in the spirit and bears +fruit that is more worth while. Her nature knows not inertia, but it +abounds in enterprise, endeavor, and courage that are born of a high +purpose. + +=Joy in her work.=--Her teaching and her life do not occupy separate +compartments but are identical in time and space; only her teaching is +but one phase or manifestation of her life. She fitly exemplifies the +statement that "Art is the expression of man's joy in his work." She has +great joy in her work and, therefore, it is done as any other artist +does his work. She enjoys all life, including her work. Indeed, she has +contracted the habit of happiness and is so engrossed in the big +elemental things of life that she can laugh at the incidental pin-pricks +that others call troubles. She differentiates major from minor and never +permits a minor to usurp the throne. Being an integral part of her life, +her work takes on all the hues of her life. For her, culture is not +something added; rather it is a something that permeates her whole +nature and her whole life. She does not read poetry and other forms of +literature, study the great masterpieces of music and art, and seek +communion with the great, either in person or through their works--she +does not do these things that she may acquire culture, but does them +because she has culture. + +=Dynamic qualities.=--Her character is the sum of all her habits of +thinking, feeling, and action and, therefore, is herself. Since she is +an artist, her habits are all pitched in a high key and she is culture +personified. Her immaculateness of body and spirit is not a superficial +acquisition but a fundamental expression of her real self. Just as the +electric bulb diffuses light, so she diffuses an atmosphere of culture. +She gives the artistic touch to every detail of her work because she is +an artist, a genuine, sincere artist in all that makes up life. She has +the heart of an artist, the eyes of an artist, the touch of an artist. +Whether these qualities are inherent or acquired is beside the point, at +present, but it may be remarked, in passing, that unless they were +capable of cultivation, the world would be at a standstill. There is no +place in her exuberant vitality for a jaundiced view, and hence her +world does not become "stale, flat, and unprofitable." + +=Aspiration and worship.=--Every sincere, noble aspiration is a prayer; +hence, she prays without ceasing in obedience to the admonition of the +Apostle. And, let it be said in reverence, she helps to answer her own +prayers. Her spirit yearns out toward higher and wider attainments every +hour of the day, not morbidly but exultantly. And while she aspires she +worships. The starry sky holds her in rapt attention and admiration, and +the modest flower does no less. She is thankful for the rain, and revels +in the beauty and abundance of the snow. The heat may enervate, but she +is grateful, none the less, because of its beneficent influence upon the +farmer's work. Like food and sleep, her attitude of worship conserves +her powers and preserves her balance. When physical weariness comes, she +sends her spirit out to the star, or the sea, or the mountain, and so +forgets her burden in the contemplation of majesty and beauty. In short, +her spirit is attuned to all beauty and sublimity and truth, and so she +is inherently an artist. + +=Professor Phelps quoted.=--In his very delightful book, "Teaching in +School and College," the author, Professor William Lyon Phelps, says: "I +do not know that I could make entirely clear to an outsider the pleasure +I have in teaching. I had rather earn my living by teaching than in any +other way. In my mind, teaching is not merely a life work, a profession, +an occupation, a struggle; it is a passion. I love to teach. I love to +teach as a painter loves to paint, as a musician loves to play, as a +singer loves to sing, as a strong man rejoices to run a race. Teaching +is an art--an art so great and so difficult to master that a man or a +woman can spend a long life at it, without realizing much more than his +limitations and mistakes, and his distance from the ideal. But the main +aim of my happy days has been to become a good teacher, just as every +architect wishes to be a good architect, and every professional poet +strives toward perfection. For the chief difference between the ambition +of the artist and the ambition of a money-maker--both natural and +honorable ambitions--is that the money-maker is after the practical +reward of his toil, while the artist wants the inner satisfaction that +accompanies mastery." + +=Attitude toward work.=--To these sentiments the artist teacher +subscribes whole-heartedly, if not in words, certainly by her attitude +and practices. She regards her work not as a task but as a privilege, +and thinking it a privilege she appreciates it as she would any other +privilege. She would esteem it a privilege to attend a concert by +high-class artists, or to visit an art gallery, or to witness a +presentation of a great drama, or to see the Jungfrau; and she feels the +same exaltation as she anticipates her work as a teacher. She sings on +her way to school because of the privileges that await her. She +experiences a fine flow of sentiment without becoming sentimental. +Teaching, to her, is a serious business, but not, in the least, somber. +Painting is a serious business, but the artist's zeal and joy in his +work give wings to the hours. Laying the Atlantic cable was a serious +business, but the vision of success was both inspiring and inspiriting, +and temporary mishaps only served to stimulate to greater effort. + +=The element of enthusiasm.=--To this teacher, each class exercise is an +enterprise that is big with possibilities; and, in preparation for the +event, she feels something of the thrill that must have animated +Columbus as he faced the sea. She estimates results more by the faces of +her pupils than by the marks in a grade book, for the field of her +endeavors is the spirit of the child, and the face of the child +telegraphs to her the awakening of the spirit. Like the sculptor, she is +striving to bring the angel of her dream into the face of the child; and +when this hope is realized, the privilege of being a teacher seems the +very acme of human aspirations. The animated face and the flashing eye +betoken the sort of life that her teaching aims to stimulate; and when +she sees these unmistakable manifestations, she knows that her big +enterprise is a success and rejoices accordingly. If, for any reason, +her enthusiasm is running low, she takes herself in hand and soon +generates the enthusiasm that she knows is indispensable to the success +of her enterprise. + +=Redemption of common from commonplace.=--She has the supreme gift of +being able to redeem the common from the plane of the commonplace. +Indeed, she never permits any fact of the books to become commonplace to +her pupils. They all know that Columbus discovered America in 1492, but +when the recitation touches this fact she invests it with life and +meaning and so makes it glow as a factor in the class exercise. The +humdrum traditional teacher asks the question; and when the pupil drones +forth the answer, "Columbus discovered America in 1492," she dismisses +the whole matter with the phonographic response, "Very good." What a +farce! What a travesty upon the work of the teacher! Instead of being +very good, it is bad, yea, inexpressibly bad. The artist teacher does it +far better. By the magic of her touch she causes the imagination of her +pupils to be fired and their interest to thrill with the mighty +significance of the great event. They feel, vicariously, the poverty of +Columbus in his appeals for aid and wish they might have been there to +assist. They find themselves standing beside the intrepid mariner, +watching the angry waves striving to beat him back. They watch him +peering into space, day after day, and feel a thousand pities for him in +his suspense. And when he steps out upon the new land, they want to +shout out their salvos and proclaim him a victor. + +=The voyage of Columbus.=--They have yearned, and striven, and prayed +with Columbus, and so have lived all the events of his great +achievements. Hence, it can never be commonplace in their thinking. The +teacher lifted it far away from that plane and made it loom high and +large in their consciousness. A dramatic critic avers that the action of +the play occurs, not upon the stage, but in the imagination of the +auditors; that the players merely cause the imagination to produce the +action; and that if nothing were occurring in the imagination of the +people in the seats beyond what is occurring on the stage, the audience +would leave the theater by way of protest. The artist teacher acts upon +this very principle in every class exercise. Neither the teacher nor the +book can possibly depict even a moiety of all that she hopes to produce +in the imagination of the pupils. She is ever striving to find the one +word or sentence that will evoke a whole train of events in their minds. +Just here is where her superb art is shown. A whole volume could not +portray all that the imagination of the pupils saw in connection with +the voyage of Columbus, and yet the teacher caused all these things to +happen by the use of comparatively few words. This is high art; this +proclaims the artist teacher. + +=Resourcefulness.=--In her work there is a fineness and a delicacy of +touch that baffles a satisfactory analysis. She has the power to call +forth Columbus from the past to reënact his great discovery in the +imagination of her pupils--all without noise, or bombast, or +gesticulation. She does what she does because she is what she is; and +she needs neither copyright nor patent for protection. Her work is +suffused with a rare sort of enthusiasm that carries conviction by +reason of its genuineness. This enthusiasm gives to her work a tone and +a flavor that can neither be disguised nor counterfeited. Her work is +distinctive, but not sensational or pyrotechnic. Least of all is it ever +hackneyed. So resourceful is she in devising new plans and new ways of +saying and doing things that her pupils are always animated by a +wholesome expectancy. She is the dynamo, but the light and heat that she +generates manifest themselves in the minds of her pupils, while she +remains serene and quiet. + +=The thirteen colonies.=--With the poet Keats she can sing: + + Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all + Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. + +Animated by this sentiment, she disdains no form of truth, whether large +or small, for in every form of truth she finds beauty; and her spirit +reacts to it on the instant, and joy is the resultant. This is the basis +for her superb enthusiasm in every detail of her work as well as the +source of her joyous living. Her pupils may name the thirteen original +colonies without a slip, but that is not enough for her. The +establishing of these colonies formed a mighty epoch in history, and she +must dwell upon the events until they throb through the life currents of +her pupils. Names in books must mean people with all their hopes, their +aspirations, their trials and hardships, their sorrows and their joys. +The conditions of life, the food, the clothing, the houses, the modes of +travel, and the dangers must all come into the mental picture. Hence it +is that she prepares for the lesson on the colonies as she would make +ready for a trip with the pupils around the world, and the mere giving +of names is negligible in her inspiring enterprise. + +=Every subject invested with life.=--She finds in the circulation of the +blood a subject of great import and makes ready for the lesson with +enthusiastic anticipation. Her step is elastic as she takes her way to +school on this particular day, and her face is beaming, for to-day comes +to the children this stupendous revelation. She feels as did the college +professor when he was just ready to begin an experiment in his +laboratory and said to his students, "Gentlemen, please remove your +hats; I am about to ask God a question." She approaches every truth +reverently, albeit joyously, for she feels that she is the leader of the +children over into the Promised Land. In the book already quoted, +Professor Phelps says, "I read in a German play that the mathematician +is like a man who lives in a glass room at the top of a mountain covered +with eternal snow--he sees eternity and infinity all about him, but not +much humanity." Not so in her teaching of mathematics; for every subject +and every problem transports her to the Isle of Patmos, and the hour is +crowded with revelations. + +=Human interest.=--And wherever she is, there is humanity. There are no +dry bones in her work, for she invests every subject with human interest +and causes it to pulsate in the consciousness of her pupils. If there +are dry bones when she arrives, she has but to touch them with the magic +of her humanity, and they become things of life. Whether long division +or calculus, it is to her a part of the living, palpitating truth of the +world, and she causes it to live before the minds of the pupils. The +so-called dead languages spring to life in her presence, and, like +Aaron's rod, blossom and bring forth at her touch. Wherever she walks +there are resurrections because life begets life. No science, no +mathematics, no history, no language, can be dull or dry when touched by +her art, but all become vital because she is vital. By the subtle +alchemy of her artistic teaching all the subjects of her school are +transmuted into the pure gold of truth and beauty. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What kinds of arts are there other than the fine arts? + +2. How do the motives of the artisan differ from those of the artist? + +3. What are some of the characteristics that gain one the distinction of +being an "artist" teacher? + +4. Show that to enjoy respect is more worth while than to attract +admiration. + +5. Under what conditions can one have joy in his work? Can one do his +best without it? + +6. What is the result on one's work of brooding over troubles? + +7. Henry Ford employs trained sociologists who see that the home +relations of his employees are satisfactory. Why? + +8. Is one who reads good literature to acquire culture as yet an +"artist" teacher? + +9. What constitutes character? + +10. What is the inference concerning one's culture if his clothes and +body are not clean? If his property at the school is not in order? + +11. How can one add to his culture? Is what one knows or what one does +the more important part of it? Has a high degree of culture been +attained by a person who must ever be on his guard? + +12. Is feeling an important element of culture? Illustrate. + +13. What is the teacher's chief reward? + +14. Can a teacher lead pupils to regard work as a privilege rather than +as a task, unless she has that attitude herself? + +15. In what respects do you regard teaching as a privilege? In what +respects is it drudgery to you? + +16. Can enthusiasm result if there is a lack of joy in one's work? If +there is a deficiency of physical strength? If there is a poor knowledge +of the subject? + +17. What causes historical facts to seem commonplace? + +18. What elements should be emphasized in history to make it seem alive +with meaning? + +19. What principle of the drama comes into play in teaching, when a +teacher desires to invest the subject with life? + +20. What advantages are there in having variety in one's plans? + +21. Why should one avoid the sensational in school work? What are the +characteristics of sensationalism? Is the fact that a class is unusually +aroused a reason for decrying a method as sensational? + +22. With what spirit should a teacher prepare to teach about the +thirteen colonies? + +23. Why should a teacher have great joy in the teaching of science? + +24. Is interest in a subject as an abstract science likely to be an +adequate interest? If so, is it the best sort of interest? Why? + +25. From what should interest start, and in what should it function? + +26. Summarize the ways in which the artist teacher will show herself the +artist. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL + + +=Responsibility of the exemplar.=--If the teacher could be convinced +that each of her pupils is to become a replica of herself, she would +more fully appreciate the responsibilities of her position. At first +flush, she might feel flattered; but when she came into a full +realization of the magnitude of the responsibility, she would probably +seek release. If she could know that each pupil is striving to copy her +in every detail of her life, her habits of speech, her bodily movements, +her tone of voice, her dress, her walk, and even her manner of thinking, +this knowledge would appall her, and she would shrink from the +responsibility of becoming the exemplar of the child. She cannot know, +however, to what extent and in what respects the pupils imitate her. +Nor, perhaps, could they themselves give definite information on these +points, if they were put to the test. Children imitate their elders both +consciously and unconsciously; so, whether the teacher wills it so or +not, she must assume the functions of an exemplar as well as a teacher. + +=Absorbing standards.=--If we give full credence to Tennyson's +statement, "I am a part of all that I have met," then it follows that we +have become what we are, in some appreciable measure, through the +process of absorption. In other words, we are a composite of all our +ideals. The vase of flowers, daintily arranged, on the breakfast table +becomes the standard of good taste thenceforth, and all through life a +vase of flowers arranged less than artistically gives one a sensation of +discomfort. A traveler relates that in a hotel in Brussels he saw window +curtains of a delicate pattern; and, since that time, he has sought in +many cities for curtains that will fill the measure of the ideal he +absorbed in that hotel. Beauty is not in the thing itself, but in the +eye of the beholder, and the eye is but the interpreter of the ideal. +One person rhapsodizes over a picture that another turns away from, +because the latter has absorbed an ideal that is unknown to the former. + +=Education by absorption.=--This subject of absorption has not received +the careful attention that its importance warrants. In the social +consciousness education has been so long associated with books, and +formal processes, that we find it difficult to conceive of education +outside of or beyond books. If, as we so confidently assert, education +is a spiritual process, then whatever stimulates the spirit must be +education, whether a landscape, a flower, a picture, or a person. The +traveler who sits enrapt before the Jungfrau for an hour or a day is +becoming more highly educated, even in the absence of books and +formalities. The beauty of the mountain touches his spirit, and there is +a consequent reaction that fulfills all the claims of the educational +processes. In short, he is lifted to a higher plane of appreciation, and +that is what the books and the schools are striving to achieve. + +=The principle illustrated.=--In the presence of this mountain the +tourist gains an ideal of grandeur which becomes his standard of +estimating scenery throughout life. A boy once heard "The Dead March" +played by an artist, and when he was grown to manhood that was still his +ideal of majestic music. A traveler asserts that no man can stand for an +hour on the summit of Mt. Rigi and not become a better and a stronger +man for the experience. A writer on art says that it is worth a trip +across the ocean to see the painting of the bull by Paul Potter; but +that, of course, depends upon the ideals of the beholder. All these +illustrations conform to and are in harmony with the psychological +dictum that in the educational process the spirit reacts to its +environment. + +=The teacher as environment.=--But the environment may include people as +well as inanimate objects, mountains, rivers, flowers, and pictures. +And, as a part of the child's environment, the teacher takes her place +in the process of education by absorption. A city superintendent avers +that there is one teacher in his corps who would be worth more to his +school than the salary she receives even if she did no teaching. This +means that her presence in the school is a wholesome influence, and that +she is the sort of environment to which the pupils react to their own +advantage. It might not be a simple thing to convince some taxpayers of +the truth of the superintendent's statement, but this fact only proves +that they have not yet come into a realization of the fact that there +can be education by absorption. + +=The Great Stone Face.=--The people of Florence maintain that they need +not travel abroad to see the world, for the reason that the world comes +to them. It is true that many thousands visit that city annually to win +a definition of art. There they absorb their ideals of art and thus +attain abiding standards. In like manner the child may sojourn in the +school to gain an ideal of grace of manner and personal charm as +exemplified by the teacher, and no one will have the temerity to assert +that this phase of the child's education is less important than those +that are acquired through the formal processes. The boy in the story +grew into the likeness of the "Great Stone Face" because that had become +his ideal, and not because he had had formal instruction in the subject +of stone faces, or had taken measurements of or computed the dimensions +of the one stone face. He grew into its likeness because he thought of +it, dreamed of it, absorbed it, and was absorbed by it, and reacted to +it whenever it came into view. + +=Pedagogy in literature.=--Hawthorne, in this story, must have been +trying to teach the lesson of unconscious education or education by +absorption, but his readers have not all been quick to catch his +meaning. Teachers often take great unction in the reflection that they +afford to the child his only means of education, and that but for them +the child would never become educated at all. We are slow to admit that +there are many sources of education besides the school, and that formal +instruction is not the only road to the acquisition of knowledge. +Tennyson knew and expressed this conception in the quotation already +given, but we have not acquired the habit of consulting the poets and +novelists for our pedagogy. When we learn to consult these, we shall +find them expressing many tenets of pedagogy that are basic. + +=The testimony of experience.=--But we need not go beyond our own +experiences to realize that much of our education has been unconsciously +gained, that we have absorbed much of it, and, possibly, what we now +regard as the most vital part of it. We have but to explore our own +experiences to discover some person whose standards have been effective +in luring us out of ourselves and causing us to yearn toward higher +levels; who has been the beacon light toward which our feet have been +stumbling; who has been the pattern by which we have sought to shape our +lives; and for whom we feel a sense of gratitude that cannot be +quenched. The influence of that person has been a liberal education in +the vital things that the books do not teach, and we shudder to think +what we might have been had that influence not come into our lives. This +ideal is not some mythical, far-away person, but a real man or woman who +has challenged our admiration by looks, by conduct, by position, and by +general bearing in society. + +=The one teacher.=--This preliminary part of the subject has been dwelt +upon thus at length in an effort to win assent to the general +proposition that unconscious education is not only possible, but an +actuality. This assent being once given, the mind feels out at once for +applications of the principle and, inevitably, brings the parent and the +teacher into the field of view. But the parent is too near to us in +time, in space, and in relation to afford the illustration that we seek, +and we pass on to the teacher. In the experience of each one of us there +stands out at least one teacher as clear in definition as a cameo. This +teacher may not have been the most scholarly, or the most successful in +popular esteem, or even the most handsome, but she had some quality that +differentiates her in our thinking from all others. Others may seem but +a sort of blur in our memory, but not so this one. She alone is +distinct, distinctive, and regnant. + +=Her supremacy.=--The vicissitudes of life have not availed to dethrone +her, nor have the losses, perplexities, and sorrows of life caused the +light of her influence to grow dim. She is still an abiding presence +with us, nor can we conceive of any influence that could possibly +obliterate her. She may have been idealized by degrees, but when she +came fully into our lives she came to stay. She came not as a transient +guest, but as a lifelong friend and comrade. She crept into our lives as +gently as the dawn comes over the hills, and since her arrival there has +been no sunset. Nor was there ever by pupil or teacher any profession or +protestation, but we simply accepted each other with a frankness that +would have been weakened by words. + +=The rôle of ideal.=--But the rôle of ideal is not an easy one. It is a +comparatively simple matter to give instruction in geography, +arithmetic, and history, but to know one's self to be the ideal of a +child, or to conceive of the possibility of such a situation and +relation, is sufficient to render the teacher deeply thoughtful. Once it +is borne in upon her that the child will grow into her likeness, she +cannot dismiss the matter from her thinking as she can the lesson in +grammar. The child may be unconscious of the matter, but the teacher is +acutely conscious. When she stands before her class she sees the child +growing into her image, and this reflection gives cause and occasion for +a careful and critical introspection. She feels constrained to take an +inventory of herself to determine whether she can stand a test that is +so searching and so far-reaching. + +=The teacher's other self.=--As she stands thus in contemplation she sees +the child grown to maturity with all her own predilections--physical, +mental, spiritual--woven into the pattern of its life. In this child +grown up she sees her other self and can thus estimate the qualities of +body, mind, and spirit that now constitute herself, as they reveal +themselves in another. She thus gains the child's point of view and so is +able to see herself through the child's eyes. When she is reading a book, +she is aware that the child is looking over her shoulder to note the +quality of literature that engages her interest. When she is making a +purchase at the shop, she finds the child standing at her elbow and +duplicating her order. When she is buying a picture, she is careful to +see to it that there are two copies, knowing that a second copy must be +provided for the child. When she is arranging her personal adornment, she +is conscious of the child peeping through the door and absorbing her with +languishing eyes. + +=The status irrevocable.=--Wherever she goes or whatever she does, she +knows that the child is walking in her footsteps and reënacting her +conduct. Her status is irrevocably fixed in the life of the child, nor +can any philosophy or sophistry absolve her from the situation. She +cannot abdicate her place in favor of another, nor can she win immunity +from responsibility. She is the child's ideal for weal or woe, nor can +men or angels change this big fact. Through all the hours of the day she +hears the child saying, "Whither thou goest I will go," and there is no +escape. + +=The child's viewpoint.=--This is no flight of fancy. Rather it is a +reality in countless schoolrooms of the land if only the teachers were +alive to the fact. But we have been so busy measuring, estimating, +scoring, and surveying the child for our purposes that we have given but +scant consideration to the child's point of view as regards the teacher. +We have not been quick to note the significant fact that the child is +estimating, measuring, scoring, and surveying the teacher for purposes +of its own and in the strictest obedience to the laws of its nature. + +=The child's need of ideals.=--Every child needs and has a right to +ideals, and finds the teacher convenient both in space and in the nature +of her work to act in this capacity. Because of the character of her +work and her peculiar relation to the child, the teacher assumes a place +of leadership, and the child naturally appropriates her as the lodestar +for which his nature is seeking. And so, whether the teacher leads into +the morass or into the jungle, the child will follow; but if she elects +to take her way up to the heights, there will be the child as faithful +as her shadow. If the teacher plucks flowers by the way, then, in time, +gathering flowers will become habitual to the child, nor will there be +any need to admonish the child to gather flowers. The teacher plucks +flowers, and that becomes the child's command. Education by absorption +needs neither admonition nor homilies. + +=The ideal a perpetual influence.=--And all this is life--actual life, +fundamental life, and inevitable life. Moreover, the inevitableness of +this phase of life serves to accentuate its importance. The idealized +teacher gives to the child his ideals of conduct, literature, art, +music, home, school, and service. Take this teacher out of his life and +these ideals vanish. Better by far eliminate the formal instruction, +important as that may be made to be, than to rob the child of his +ideals. They are the influences that are ever active even when formal +instruction is quiescent. They are potent throughout the day and +throughout the year. They induce reactions and motor activities that +groove into habits, and they are the external stimuli to which the +spirit responds. + +=The teacher's attitude.=--The vitalized school takes full cognizance of +this phase and means of education and gives large scope and freedom for +its exercise and development. The teacher is more concerned with who and +what her pupils are to be twenty years hence than she is in getting them +promoted to the next grade. She knows full well that vision clarifies +sight, and she is eager to enlarge their vision in order to make their +sight more keen and clear. She, therefore, adopts as her own standards +of life and conduct what she wishes for her pupils when they have come +to maturity. She may not proclaim herself an ideal teacher or a model +teacher, but she is cognizant of the fact that she is the model and the +ideal of one or more pupils in her school and bases her rule of life +upon this fact. + +=Prophetic conduct.=--In her dress she decides between ornateness and +simplicity as a determining factor in the lives of her pupils both for +the present and for the years to come. In this she feels that she is but +doing her part in helping to determine the trend and quality of +civilization. She is reading such books as she hopes to find in their +libraries when they have come to administer homes of their own. She is +directing her thinking into such channels as will bear the thoughts of +her pupils out into the open sea of bigness and sublimity. Knowing that +pettiness will be inimical to society in the next generation, she is +careful to banish it from her own life. + +=Her rule of life.=--In her thinking she comes into intimate relations +with the sea and all its ramified influences upon life. She invites the +mountains to take her into their confidence and reveal to her the +mysteries of their origin, and their influence upon the winds, the +seasons, the products of the earth, and upon life itself. She communes +with the great of all times that she may learn of their concepts as to +the immensities which the mind can explore, as well as intricate and +infinite manifestations of the human soul. She associates with the +planets and rides the spaces in their company. She asks the flowers, the +sunrise glow of the morning, the hues of the rainbow, and the drop of +dew to explain to her what God is, and rejoices in their responses. + +=Her growth.=--And so, through her thinking she grows big--big in her +aspirations, big in her sympathies with all nature and mankind, big in +her altruism, and big in her conceptions of the universe and all that it +embraces. And when people come to know her they almost lose sight of the +teacher in their contemplation of the woman. Her pupils, by their close +contact and communion, became inoculated with the germs of her bigness +and so follow the lead of her thinking, her aspirations, her sympathies, +and her conceptions of life. Thus they grow into her likeness by +absorbing her thoughts, her ideals, her standards, in short, herself. + +=Seeing life large.=--The bigness of her spirit and her ability to see +and feel life in the large superinduce dignity, poise, and serenity. She +never flutters; but, calm and masterful, she moves on her majestic way +with regal mien. Nor is her teaching less thorough or less effective +because she has a vision. On the contrary, she teaches cube root with +accuracy and still is able to see and to cause her pupils to see the +index finger pointing out and up toward the mathematical infinities. She +can give the latitude and longitude of Rome, and, while doing so, review +the achievements of that historic city. She can explain the action of +the geyser and still find time and inclination to take delight in its +wonders. She can analyze the flower and still revel in its beauty. She +can teach the details of history and find in them the footprints of +great historical movements. All these things her pupils sense and so +invest her with the attributes of an ideal. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Do most teachers realize to what extent they have influence? + +2. Is it comfortable to think that one is an example? If not, why not? +Is it only teachers who need to feel that they are examples? Is it fair +to demand a higher standard of the teacher and preacher? + +3. Give from your own experience instances in which you have absorbed an +ideal which has persisted. Is there danger of adopting an ideal that, +while it is worthy as far as it goes, is merely incidental and not worth +while? (Such are an accurate memory of unimportant details, certain +finesse in manners and speech, punctiliousness in engagements, +exhaustiveness in shopping before making purchases, perfection in +penmanship and other arts at the expense of speed: suggest others.) + +4. How can the contemplation of a rainbow educate? What education should +result from a view of Niagara Falls? + +5. What qualities would a teacher have to possess that her influence +aside from her teaching might be of more value than the teaching itself? + +6. That one may have influence is it enough for one to be good, or is it +what one does that counts? Suggest lines of action for a teacher that +would increase her influence for good. + +7. Explain how a fine unconscious influence exerted by a teacher helps +to keep pupils in school. + +8. In Hawthorne's story of the _Great Stone Face_ what qualities were +attained by those whom Ernest expected to grow into the likeness? + +9. Why did Ernest's face come to resemble that of the great stone face? + +10. In what ways is good fiction of value to teachers? + +11. Cite something that you have gained from the unconscious influence +of another. + +12. What attainments or qualities have you yet to acquire in order to +stand out as "distinctive and regnant" to a good many pupils? + +13. A bacteriologist makes a "culture" of a drop of blood, multiplying +many times the bacteria in it, to determine whether serious disease +germs are prevalent. If the influence of a person could be observed in a +large way, would that be conclusive as to the person's character, just +as the result of the culture proves the condition of the blood? May +there not be an obscure element in the teacher's character that is +having a deleterious effect? Or is it only the outstanding features of +his conduct that affect the pupils? + +14. Why is it more important to acquire ideals than to acquire +knowledge? + +15. Describe the attitude of the teacher toward the pupils in the +"vitalized" school. + +16. Show how the teacher should have in view the future of the pupils. + +17. Is it a compliment to be easily recognized as a teacher? Why or why +not? + +18. Just what is meant by "narrowness" in a teacher? What is meant by +"bigness"? What is their effect if the teacher is taken as an ideal? + +19. Can one instill high ideals in others without frequently absorbing +inspiration himself? What are suitable sources? + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION + + +=The term defined.=--The socialized recitation, as its name implies, is +a recitation in which teacher and pupils form themselves into a +committee of the whole for the purpose of investigating some phase of a +school study. In this committee the line of cleavage between teacher and +pupils is obliterated as nearly as possible, the teacher exercising only +so much of authority as will preserve the integrity of the group and +forestall its disintegration. The teacher thus becomes a coördinate and +coöperating member of the group, and her superior knowledge of the +subject is held in abeyance to be called into requisition only in an +emergency and as a last resort. It will readily be seen, however, that +the teacher's knowledge of the subject must be far more comprehensive in +such a procedure than in the question-and-answer type of recitation, for +the very cogent reason that the discussion is both liable and likely to +diverge widely from the limits of the book; and the teacher must be +conversant, therefore, with all the auxiliary facts. She must be able to +cite authorities in case of need, and make specific data readily +accessible to all members of the group. This presupposes wide reading on +her part, and a consequent familiarity with all the sources of knowledge +that have a bearing upon the subject under consideration. + +=The pupil-teacher.=--In order to make the coöperative principle of the +recitation active in practice a pupil acts as chairman of the meeting, +serving in rotation, and gives direction to the discussion. He is +clothed with authority, also, to restrict the discussion to time limits +that there may be no semblance of monopoly and that the same rights and +privileges may be accorded to each member of the class. The chairman, in +short, acts both as captain and as umpire, with the teacher in the +background as the court of final appeal. Knowing the order of rotation, +each pupil knows in advance upon what day he is to assume the functions +of chairman and makes preparation accordingly, that he may acquit +himself with credit in measuring up to the added responsibilities which +the position imposes. In taking the chair he does not affect an air of +superiority for the reason that he knows the position to have come to +him by rotation and that upon his conduct of the duties depend his +chances for honor; and acting for his peers he is careful not to do +anything that will lead to a forfeiture of their respect and good will. + +=Some advantages.=--It requires far more time to describe these +preliminary arrangements than it does to put them into operation. +Indeed, after the first day, they become well-nigh automatic. Because of +their adaptableness the pupils look upon the new order as the +established order, and, besides, the rotation in the chair affords a +pleasing antidote to monotony. Each day brings just enough novelty to +generate a wholesome degree of anticipation. They are all stimulated by +an eagerness to know just what the day will bring forth. The class +exercise is relieved of much of the heavy formalism that characterizes +the traditional recitation and that is so irksome to children of school +age. The socialized recitation is a worthy enterprise that enlists the +interest of all members of the group and unifies them upon the plane of +a common purpose. In the common quest they become members in a social +compact whose object is the investigation of some subject that has been +found worthy the attention and thoughtful consideration of scholars and +authors. + +=The gang element.=--The members of the group represent all strata of +society, and the group is, in consequence, a working democracy. Moving +in the same direction under a common impulse and intent upon a laudable +enterprise, race and class distinctions are considered negligible, if, +indeed, they are not entirely overlooked or forgotten. The group is, in +truth, a sublimated gang with the undesirable elements eliminated and +the potential qualities of the gang retained. The gang spirit when +impelling in right directions and toward worthy ends is to be highly +commended. In the gang, each member stimulates and reënforces the other +members, and their achievements in combination amply justify their +coöperation. The potency of the gang spirit is well exemplified in such +enterprises as "tag day" for the benefit of charity, the sale of Red +Cross stamps, and the sale of special editions of papers. People +willingly enlist in these enterprises who would not do so but for the +element of coöperation. We have come to recognize and write upon the +psychology of the gang, and the socialized recitation strives to utilize +these psychological principles for the advancement and advantage of the +enterprise in hand. + +=Proprietary interest.=--In a coöperative enterprise such as the one +under consideration each member of the group feels a sense of +responsibility for the success of the enterprise as a whole, and this +makes for increased effort. In the traditional recitation the pupil +feels responsibility only for that part of the lesson upon which he is +called to recite. In his thinking the enterprise belongs to the teacher, +and therefore he feels no proprietary interest. If the lesson is a +failure, he experiences no special compunction; if a success, he feels +no special elation. If the trunk with which he struggles up the stairs +is his own, he has the feeling of a victor when he reaches the top; but +since it belongs to the teacher, he feels that he has finished a +disagreeable task, takes his compensating pittance in the form of a +grade, and goes on his complacent way. The boy who digs potatoes from +his own garden thinks them larger and smoother than the ones he digs for +wages. The latter are potatoes, while the former are his potatoes. +Proprietary interest sinks its roots deep into the motives that impel to +action. + +=This interest in practice.=--The recitation in question strives to +generate a proprietary interest in the enterprise on the part of every +member of the class so that each one may have a share in the joy of +success. Such an interest gives direction and efficacy to the work of +the class exercise. Given such an interest, the pupil will not sit inert +through the period unless stimulated by a question from the teacher, but +will ask intelligent and pertinent questions to help the enterprise +along. Moreover, each pupil, because of his proprietary interest in the +enterprise, will feel constrained to bring to class such subsidiary aids +as his home affords. His interest causes him to react to clippings, +pictures, magazine articles, books, and conversations that have a +bearing upon the topic, and these he contributes opportunely in his zeal +for the success of the recitation. His pockets become productive of a +varied assortment of materials that the tentacles of his interest have +seized upon in his preparation for the event, and so all members of the +class become beneficiaries of his explorations and discoveries. + +=The potency of ownership.=--A child is interested in his own things. +The little girl fondles her doll in the most tender way, even though it +does not measure up to the accepted standards of excellence or elegance. +But it is her doll; hence her affection. Volumes have been written upon +the general subject of interest, and we have been admonished to attach +our teaching to the native interests of the child, but the fundamental +interest of proprietorship has strangely enough been overlooked. If we +want to discover and localize the child's interest, we have but to make +an inventory of his possessions. His pony, his dog, or his cart will +discover to us one of his interests. Again, if we would generate an +interest in the child, we have but to make him conscious that he is the +owner of the thing for which we hope to awaken his interest. This is +fundamental in this type of recitation. The teacher effaces herself as +much as possible in order to develop in the pupils a feeling of +proprietorship in the exercise in progress, and the pupils are quick to +take the advantage thus afforded to make the work their own. + +=Exemplified in society.=--The socialized recitation has its counterpart +in many a group in society. In the blacksmith shop, at the grocery, in +the barber shop, in the office, at the club, and in the field, we find +groups of people in earnest, animated conversation or discussion. They +are discussing politics, religion, community affairs, public +improvements, tariff, war, fashions, crops, live stock, or machinery. +Whatever the topic, they pursue the give-and-take policy in their +efforts to arrive at the truth. They contest every point and make +concessions only when they are confronted by indisputable facts. Some +feeling, or even acrimony, may be generated in the course of the +discussion, but this is always accounted a weakness and a substitute for +valid argument. The recitation is rather more decorous than some of +these other discussions, but, in principle, they are identical. Every +one has freedom to express his convictions and to adduce contributory +arguments or evidence. There are no restrictions save the implied one of +decorum. The utmost courtesy obtains in the recitation, even at the +sacrifice of some eagerness. There may be a half-dozen members of the +group on their feet and anxious to be heard, but they do not interrupt +one another without due apology. + +=Abiding resultants.=--Unlike some of their elders, they are ready to +acknowledge mistakes and to make concessions. They do not scruple to +correct the mistakes of others, knowing that corrections will be +gratefully received, but they do not accept mere statements from one +another. They must have evidence. They combat statements with evidence +from books or other sources that are regarded as authorities. They read +extracts, or draw diagrams, or display pictures or specimens in support +of their contentions. There is animation, to be sure; and, at times, the +flushed face and the flashing eye betoken intense feeling. But the +psychologist knows full well that these expressions intensify and make +abiding the impressions. Both in victory and in defeat the pupil comes +to an appreciation of the truth. Defeat may humiliate, but he will +evermore know the rock on which his craft was wrecked. Victory may elate +and exalt, but he will not forget the occasion or the facts. The truths +of the lesson become enmeshed in his nervous system and throughout life +they will be a part of himself. + +=Reflex influence.=--Still further, this type of recitation reaches back +into the home and begets a wholesome coöperation between the home and +the school, and this is a desideratum of no slight import. The events of +the day are recounted at the home in the evening, and the contributions +of the members of the family are deposited as assets in the recitation +the next day. Then the family is eager to learn of the reactions of the +class to their contributions. Such a community of interests cannot be +confined to the four walls of a home, but finds its way to other homes +and to places of business; the discussions of the class become the +property of society, and the influence is most salutary. Indirectly, the +school is affording the people of the community many profitable topics +of conversation, and these readily supplant the futile and less +profitable topics. It is easy to measure the intelligence of an +individual or of a community by noting the topics of conversation. +Gossip and small talk do not thrive in a soil that has been thoroughly +inoculated with history, art, music, literature, economics, and +statecraft. + +=Influence upon pupils.=--From the foregoing it will be seen that this +type of recitation represents, not a _modus operandi_, but, rather, a +_modus vivendi_, not a way of doing things, merely, but a manner of +living. The work of the school is redeemed from the plane of a task and +lifted to the plane of a privilege. The pupil's initiative is given full +recognition and inspiriting freedom ensues. The teacher is not a +taskmaster but a friend in need. Pupils and teacher live and work +together in an enterprise in which they have common interests. The +emoluments attending success are shared equally and there is no place +for envy in the distribution of dividends. There is fair dealing in +every detail of the work, with no semblance of discrimination. There is +a cash basis in every transaction. If a pupil's offerings are rejected, +he sees at once that they are inferior to others and becomes a willing +shareholder in the ones that are superior to his own. Nothing that is +spurious or counterfeit can gain currency in the enterprise, because of +the critical inspection of the members of the group, all of whom are +jealous for the preservation of the integrity of their organization. + +In this cross section of life we find young people learning, by the +laboratory method, the real meaning of reciprocity; we find them winning +the viewpoints of others with no abatement or abrogation of their own +individuality; we find them able and willing to make concessions for the +general good; we find them learning justice and discrimination in their +assessment of values; we find them enlarging their horizons by ascending +to higher levels of intelligence. This work is as much a part of life +for them as their food or their games and they accept it on the same +terms. They are becoming upright, intelligent, effective citizens by +performing some of the work that engages the time and energies of such +citizens. They are learning how to live by the experience of actual +living. + +=Part of an actual recitation given.=--Some schools have developed this +type of recitation to a very complete degree and in a very effective +way. In one such school the young woman who teaches the subject of +history makes the following report of a part of one of her recitations +in this study: + +The class was called to order by the chairman for the assignment for the +next day's lesson, which proceeded as follows: + +Teacher:--To-morrow we shall have for the work of this convention the +New Constitution as a whole. We are ready for suggestions as to how we +had best proceed. + +Earl:--It seems to me that a good way would be to compare it with the +Articles of Confederation. + +Joe:--I don't quite get your idea. Do you mean to take them article by +article? + +Earl:--Yes. + +(Joe and Frank begin at the same time. Teacher indicates Joe by nod.) + +Joe:--But there are so many things in the new that are not in the old. + +Earl:--That is just it. Let's make a list of the points in one that do +not appear in the other. Then by investigation and discussion see if we +can tell why. + +Teacher:--Frank, you had something to say a moment ago. + +Frank:--Not on Earl's plan, which I think an excellent one, but I wished +to ask the class if they think it important while looking through these +two documents to keep in mind the questions: "Is this the way things are +done to-day?" and "Does this apply in our own city?" and "In case the +President or Congress failed in their duty, what could the people do +about it?" + +Ella:--It seems to me that Frank's suggestion is a good one for it bears +upon what we decided in the beginning, that we must apply the history of +the past to see how it affects us to-day. + +Violet:--I should like to know how the people received the work of this +convention. You know that it was all so secret no one knew what they +were doing behind their closed doors. If the people were like they are +to-day there would certainly be some opposition to the New Constitution. + +Elsie:--Good. Mr. Chairman, I move that Violet report the reception and +rejection of the New Constitution by the people of the several States as +a special topic for to-morrow. + +Robert:--Second the motion. + +Chairman:--Miss Brown, have you any suggestion as to time limit? + +Teacher:--I suggest ten minutes. (Chairman puts vote and suggestion is +carried.) + +Teacher:--Mr. Chairman, may we have the secretary read the several +points in the assignment? + +At the chairman's request the secretary reads and the class note as +follows: Study of the New Constitution, emphasizing points of similarity +and difference. + +Seek reasons for same. + +Application of Constitution to our present-day life. + +Remedy for failures if officers fail to do their duty. + +Special topic ten minutes in length on the reception of the Constitution +by the people of the different States. + +Teacher:--I think that will be enough--consult the text. In connection +with the special topic some valuable material may be found in the Civics +section in the reference room. The other references on this subject you +had given you. Mr. Chairman, may we have the secretary read the points +brought out by yesterday's recitation? + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What is meant by the "socialized recitation" as the term is here +used? + +2. Define separately the word "socialized" as used in this connection. + +3. What are the teacher's functions in such a recitation? + +4. What are the teacher's functions in the traditional recitation? + +5. Compare the kinds of knowledge required of a teacher in connection +with the two types of recitations. + +6. Suggest a method of proceeding in a socialized recitation and show +the advantages of the method. + +7. Give some of the reasons why the socialized recitation enhances +interest. + +8. What is the essence of the "gang spirit"? + +9. Compare the character and extent of the individual's responsibility +in the two types of recitations. + +10. In what other ways is the socialized recitation likely to produce +better reactions? + +11. Some one says that the convention style of recitation will not do, +because a few do all of the work. From your experience or observation do +you find this true? If so, is this condition peculiar to that type of +recitation? Suggest methods of counteracting this tendency in the +socialized class. Would these prove effective in a class taught in the +ordinary way? + +12. Is one likely to overestimate the value of one's possessions, mental +or physical? Are the pupils (and perhaps the teacher) likely to +overestimate what is done in the socialized recitation? What things may +offset this tendency? + +13. Compare the socialized recitation with a debate. + +14. Compare it with an ordinary discussion or argument. + +15. Show just why the results of the socialized recitation are likely to +be permanent. + +16. How does socialized class work affect the home and society? + +17. Though school is a preparation for life, it, at the same time, is +life. Show that the socialized recitation presupposes this truth. + +18. Compare the value of the assignment of a history lesson in the +manner described in the notes quoted with the value of an ordinary +assignment. + +19. Describe at least one other socialized recitation. + +20. Compare socialized work as described in Scott's Social Education (C. +A. Scott, Ginn & Co., 1908) with the socialized recitation here +described, as to (_a_) aim, (_b_) method, (_c_) results. + +21. "Lessons require two kinds of industry, the private individual +industry and the social industry or class work." Is this true? If so, +what sort of recitation-lesson will stimulate each kind? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +AGRICULTURE + + +=Agriculture a typical study.=--In the vitalized school the subject of +agriculture is typical and may profitably be elaborated somewhat by way +of illustrating the relation of a subject to school procedure. From +whatever angle we approach the subject of agriculture we find it +inextricably connected with human life. This fact alone gives to it the +rank of first importance. Its present prominence as a school study is +conclusive evidence that those who are charged with the responsibility +of administering the schools are becoming conscious of the need for +vitalizing them. Time was when arithmetic was regarded as the most +practical subject in the school and, therefore, it was given precedence +over all others. History, grammar, and geography were relegated to +secondary rank, and agriculture was not even thought of as a school +study. But as population increased and the problem of providing food +began to loom large in the public consciousness, the subject of +agriculture assumed an importance that rendered it worthy a place in the +school curriculum. It is a high tribute to the school that whenever any +subject takes hold of the public mind the school is thought of at once +as the best agency for promulgating that subject. The subjects of +temperance and military training aptly illustrate this statement of +fact. + +=Its rapid development.=--So soon, therefore, as the subject of +agriculture became prominent in the public consciousness there ensued a +speedy development of colleges and schools of agriculture for the +training of teachers. This movement was prophetic of the plan and +purpose to incorporate this study in the school régime. And this +prophecy has been fulfilled, for the school now looks upon agriculture +as a basic study. True, we are as yet only feeling our way, and that for +the very good reason that the magnitude of the subject bewilders us. We +have written many textbooks on the subject that were soon supplemented +by better ones. The more the subject is studied, the more we appreciate +its far-reaching ramifications. We find it attaching itself to many +other subjects to which it seemed to have but remote relation in the +earlier stages of our study. In brief, we are now on the borderland of a +realization of the fact that agriculture is as broad as life and, +therefore, must embrace many other studies that have a close relation to +life. + +=Relation to geology and other sciences.=--In the beginning, geology and +agriculture seemed far apart, but our closer study of agriculture has +revealed the fact that they are intimately related. It remained for +agriculture to lay the right emphasis upon geology. The study of the +composition and nature of the soil carried us at once to a study of its +origin and we found ourselves at the very door of geology. When we began +to inquire how the soil came to be where it is and what it is, we found +ourselves yearning for new and clearer lines of demarcation in science, +for we could scarcely distinguish between geology and physiography. We +soon traced our alluvial plains back to their upland origin, and then we +were compelled to explain their migration. This led us inevitably into +the realm of meteorology, for, if we omit meteorology, the chain is +broken and we lose our way in our search for the explanation we need. +But having availed ourselves of the aid of meteorology, we have a story +that is full of marvelous interest--the great story of the evolution of +the cornfield. In this story we find many alluring details of +evaporation, air movements, precipitation, erosion, and the attraction +of gravitation. But in all this we are but lingering in the anteroom of +agriculture. + +=The importance of botany.=--Advancing but a single step we find +ourselves in the realm of botany, which is a field so vast and so +fascinating that men have devoted an entire lifetime to its wonders, and +then realized that they had but made a beginning in the way of exploring +its possibilities. In our own time Mr. Burbank has made his name known +throughout the world by his work in one phase of this subject, and a +score of other Burbanks might be working with equal success in other +branches of the subject and still not trench upon one another's domain. +Venturesome, indeed, would be the prophet who would attempt to predict +the developments in the field of botany in the next century in the way +of providing food, shelter, and clothing for the race. The possibilities +stagger the imagination and the prophet stands bewildered as he faces +this ever-widening field. But botany, vast as it is seen to be, is only +one of the branching sciences connected with agriculture. + +=Physics and chemistry.=--Another advance brings us into the wide and +fertile field of physics and chemistry, for in these subjects we find +the means of interpreting much in agriculture that without their aid +would elude our grasp. We have only to resolve a grain of corn into its +component elements to realize the potency and scope of chemistry. Then +if we inquire into the sources of these elements as they have come from +the soil to form this grain of corn, the indispensability of a knowledge +of chemistry will become more apparent. In our explanations we shall +soon come upon capillary attraction, and the person is dull, indeed, who +does not stand in awe before the mystery of this subject. If we broaden +our inquiry so as to compass the evolution of an ear of corn, we shall +realize that we have entered upon an inquiry of vast and fascinating +import. The intricate and delicate processes of growth, combining, as +they do, the influences of sunshine and moisture and the conversion into +food products of elements whose origin goes back to primeval +times,--these processes are altogether worthy of the combined +enthusiasms of scientist and poet. + +=Physiology.=--But no mention has been made, as yet, of the science of +physiology, which, alone, requires volumes. We have but to ask how wheat +is converted into brain power to come upon a realization of the +magnitude of the study of this science. We have only to relax the leash +of fancy to see that there are no limits to the excursions that may be +made in this field. If we allow fancy to roam, taking the _a posteriori_ +course, we might begin with "Paradise Lost" and reach its sources in +garden and field, in orchard, and in pasture where graze flocks and +herds. But in any such fanciful meandering we should be well within the +limits of physiology, and should be trying to interpret the adaptation +of means to end, or, to use the language of the present, we should be +making a quest to determine how the products of field, orchard, and +pasture may be utilized that they may function in poetry, in oratory, in +discoveries, and in inventions. In short, we should be trying to explain +to ourselves how agriculture functions in life. + +=Art as an auxiliary.=--In a recent work of fiction a chapter opens with +a picture of a little girl eating a slice of bread and butter which is +further surmounted by apple sauce and sugar. If the author of the book +"Agriculture and Life" had only caught a glimpse of this picture, he +might have changed the title of his book to "Life and Agriculture." He +certainly would have given to the life element far more prominence than +his book in its present form affords. His title makes a promise which +the book itself does not redeem, more's the pity. If science would use +art as an ally, it need not be less scientific, and its teachings would +prove far more palatable. The little girl with her bread and butter +would prove quite as apt as an introductory picture for a book on +agriculture as for a work of fiction. It matters not that agriculture +includes so many other sciences, for life is the great objective of the +study of all these, and the little girl exemplifies life. + +=Relation of sciences to life.=--The pictures are practically endless +with which we might introduce the study of agriculture--a boy in the +turnip field, a milkmaid beside the cow, or Millet's celebrated picture +"Feeding the Birds." And, sooner or later, pursuing our journey from +such a starting point, we shall arrive at physiology, chemistry, botany, +physics, meteorology, and geology, and still never be detached from the +subject of life. In the school consciousness agriculture and domestic +science seem far apart, but by right teaching they are made to merge in +the subject of life. Upon that plane we find them to be complementary +and reciprocal. In the same way chemistry, botany, and physiology merge +in agriculture for the reason that all these sciences as well as +agriculture have to do with life. In the traditional school chemistry is +taught as chemistry--as a branch of science, and the learner is +encouraged to seek for knowledge. In the vitalized school the truths of +chemistry are no less clearly revealed, but, in addition, their +relations to life are made manifest, and the learner has a fuller +appreciation of life, because of his study of chemistry. + +=Traditional methods.=--In the traditional school domestic science is +taught that the girl may learn how to cook; but in the vitalized school +the girl learns how to cook that she may be able to make life more +agreeable and productive both for herself and for others. In the +traditional school the study of agriculture consists of the testing of +soils and seeds, working out scientific theories on the subject of the +rotation of crops, testing for food values the various products of the +farm, judging stock, studying the best method of propagating and caring +for orchards, and testing for the most economic processes for conserving +and marketing crops. In the vitalized school all this is done, but this +is not the ultimate goal of the study. The end is not reached until all +these ramifications have touched life. + +=The child as the objective.=--Reverting once more to the little girl of +the picture, it will be conceded, upon careful consideration, that she +is the center and focus of all the activities of mind and hand +pertaining to agriculture. Every furrow that is plowed is plowed for +her; every tree that is planted is planted for her; every crop that is +harvested is harvested for her; and every trainload of grain is moving +toward her as its destination. But for her, farm machinery would be +silent, orchards would decay, trains would cease to move, and commerce +would be no more. She it is that causes the wheels to turn, the +harvesters to go forth to the fields, the experiment stations to be +equipped and operated, the markets to throb with activity, and the ships +of commerce to ply the ocean. For her the orchard, the granary, the +dairy, and the loom give of their stores, and a million willing hands +till, and toil, and spin. + +=The story of bread.=--But the bread and butter, the apple sauce, and +the sugar! They may not be omitted from the picture. The bread +transports us to the fields of waving grain and conjures up in our +imagination visions of harvesters with their implements, wagons groaning +beneath their golden loads, riches of grain pouring forth from machines, +and brings to our nostrils the tang of the harvest time. Into this slice +of bread the sun has poured his wealth of sunshine all the summer long, +and into it the kindly clouds have distilled their treasures. In it we +find the glory of the sunrise, the sparkling dewdrop, the song of the +robin, the gentle mooing of the cows, the murmur of the brook, and the +creaking of the mill wheel. In it we read the poetry of the morning and +of the evening, the prophecy of the noontide heat, and the mighty +proclamations of Nature. And it tells us charming stories of health, of +rosy cheeks, of laughing eyes, of happiness, of love and service. + +=Food and life.=--The butter, the apple sauce, and the sugar each has a +story of its own to tell that renders fiction weak by comparison. If our +hearts were but attuned to the charm and romance of the stories they +have to tell, every breakfast-table would be redolent with the fragrance +of thanksgiving. If our hearts were responsive to the eloquence of these +stories, then eating would become a ceremony and upon the farmer who +provides our food would descend our choicest benedictions. If the scales +could but fall from our eyes that we might behold the visions which our +food foretells, we could look down the vista of the years and see the +children grown to manhood and womanhood, happy and busy in their work of +enlarging and beautifying civilization. + +=Agriculture the source of life.=--Agriculture is not the sordid thing +that our dull eyes and hearts would make it appear. In it we shall find +the romance of a Victor Hugo, the poetry of a Shelley or a Shakespeare, +the music of a Mozart, the eloquence of a Demosthenes, and the painting +of a Raphael, when we are able to interpret its real relation to life. +When the morning stars sang together they were celebrating the birth of +agriculture, but man became bewildered in the mazes of commercialism and +forgot the music of the stars. It is the high mission of the vitalized +school to lead us back from our wanderings and to restore us to our +rightful estate amid the beauties, the inspiration, the poetry, and the +far-reaching prophecies of agriculture. This it can do only by revealing +to us the possibilities, the glories, and the joy of life and causing us +to know that agriculture is the source of life. + +=Synthetic teaching.=--The analytic teaching of agriculture will not +avail; we must have the synthetic also. Too long have we stopped short +with analysis. We have come within sight of the promised land but have +failed to go up and possess it. We have studied the skeleton of +agriculture but have failed to endow it with life. We must keep before +our eyes the picture of the little girl. We must feel that the +quintessence and spirit of agriculture throbs through all the arteries +of life. Here lies the field in which imagination can do its perfect +work. Here is a subject in which the vitalized school may find its +highest and best justification. By no means is it the only study that +fitly exemplifies life, but, in this respect, it is typical, and +therefore a worthy study. On the side of analysis the teacher finds the +blade of grass to be a thing of life; on the side of synthesis she finds +the blade of grass to be a life-giving thing. And the synthesis is no +less in accord with science than the analysis. + +=The element of faith.=--Then again agriculture and life meet and merge +on the plane of faith. The element of faith fertilizes life and causes +it to bring forth in abundance. Man must have faith in himself, faith in +the people about him, and faith in his own plans and purposes to make +his life potent and pleasurable. By faith he attaches the truths of +science to his plans and thus to the processes of life; for without the +faith of man these truths of science are but static. Faith gives them +their working qualities. There is faith in the plowing of each furrow, +faith in the sowing of the seed, faith in the planting of each tree, and +faith in the purchase of each machine. The farmer who builds a silo has +faith that the products of the summer will bring joy and health to the +winter. By faith he transmutes the mountains of toil into valleys of +delight. Through the eyes of faith he sees the work of his hands +bringing in golden sheaves of health and gladness to his own and other +homes. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. In what ways is agriculture a typical study? + +2. Why was its importance not realized until recently? + +3. What educational agency in your state first reflected the need of +scientific instruction in agriculture? + +4. The study of agriculture in the public school was at first ridiculed. +Why? What is now the general attitude toward it? + +5. To what extent is the study of agriculture important in the city +school? Is there another subject as important for the city school as +agriculture is for the rural school? + +6. Mention some school subjects that are closely related to agriculture. +Show how each is related to agriculture. + +7. Is Luther Burbank's work to be regarded as botanical or as +agricultural? Why? To which of these sciences do plant variation and +improvement properly belong? + +8. In many schools agriculture and domestic science are associated in +the curriculum. What have they in common to justify this? + +9. In the chemistry class in a certain school food products are examined +for purity. How will this increase the pupils' knowledge of chemistry? + +10. In a certain school six girls appointed for the day cook luncheon +for one hundred persons, six other girls serve it, and six others figure +the costs. Criticize this plan. + +11. Show how some particular phase of agricultural instruction may +function in agricultural practice. + +12. What benefits accrue to a teacher from the study of a subject in its +ramifications? + +13. In what respects is agriculture a noble pursuit? Compare it in this +respect with law. How does agriculture lead to the exercise of faith? +Teaching? Law? Electrical engineering? + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY + + +=An analogy.=--If we may win a concept of the analogy between the +vitalized school and a filtration-plant, we shall, perhaps, gain a +clearer notion of the purpose of the school and come upon a juster +estimate of its processes. The purpose of the filtration-plant is to +purify, clarify, and render more conducive to life the stream that +passes through, and the function of the school may be stated in the same +terms. The stream that enters the plant is murky and deeply impregnated +with impurities; the same stream when it issues from the plant is clear, +free from impurities, and, therefore, better in respect to nutritive +qualities. The stream of life that flows into the school is composed of +many heterogeneous elements; the stream that issues from the school is +far more homogeneous, clearer, more nearly free from impurities, and, +therefore, more conducive to the life and health of the community. The +stream of life that flows into the school is composed of elements from +all countries, languages, and conditions. In this are Greeks and +barbarians, Jews and Gentiles, saints and sinners, the washed and the +unwashed, the ignorant, the high, the low, the depraved, the weak, and +the strong. + +=Life-giving properties.=--The stream that issues from the school is the +very antithesis of all this. Instead of all these heterogeneous +elements, the stream when it comes from the school is composed wholly of +Americans. A hundred flags may be seen in the stream that enters the +school, but the stream that flows out from the school bears only the +American flag. The school has often been called the melting-pot, in +which the many nationalities are fused; but it is far more than that. +True, somehow and somewhere in the school process these elements have +been made to coalesce, but that is not the only change that is wrought. +The volume of life that issues from the school is the same as that which +enters, barring the leakage, but the resultant stream is far more potent +in life-giving properties because of its passage through the school. + +=Changes wrought.=--When we see the stream entering the filtration-plant +polluted with impurities and then coming forth clear and wholesome, we +know that something happened to that stream in transit. Similarly, when +we see the stream of life entering the school as a mere aggregation of +more or less discordant elements and then coming forth in a virtually +unified homogeny, we know that something has happened to that stream in +its progress through the school. To determine just what happens in +either case is a task for experts and a task, moreover, that is well +worth while. In either case we may well inquire whether the things that +happen are the very best things that could possibly be made to happen; +and, if not, what improvements are possible and desirable. + +=Another misconception.=--The analogy between the plant and the school +will not hold if we still retain in the parlance of school procedure the +expression "getting an education." The act of getting implies material +substance. Education is not a substance but a process, and it is +palpably impossible to get a process. So there can be no such thing as +getting an education, in spite of the tenacity of the expression. Even +to state the fact would seem altogether trite, were we not confronted +every day with the fact that teachers and parents are either unable or +unwilling to substitute some right expression for this wrong one. +Education is not the process of getting but, rather, the process of +becoming, and the difference is as wide as the difference between the +true and the false. + +Just how long it will require to eradicate this conception from the +school and society no one can well conjecture. Its presence in our +nomenclature reveals, in a marked way, the strength of habit. Many +teachers will give willing assent to the fact and then use the +expression again in their next sentence. Certainly we shall not even +apprehend the true function and procedure of the vitalized school until +we have eliminated this expression. If we admit the validity of the +contention as to this expression, then we may profitably resume the +consideration of our analogy, for, in that case, we shall find in this +analogy no ineptitude. + +=The validity of the analogy.=--We cause the stream of water to pass +through the filtration-plant that it may become rectified; we cause the +stream of life to pass through the school that it may become rectified. +When the stream of water becomes rectified, bodily disease is averted; +when the stream of life is rectified, mental and spiritual disease is +averted. The analogy, therefore, holds good whether we consider the +process itself or its effect. We have only to state the case thus to +have opened up for us a wide field for profitable speculation. The +diseases of mind and spirit that invade society are the causes that lie +back of our police courts, our prisons, and, very often, our almshouses. +Hence, if the stream of life could be absolutely rectified, these +undesirable institutions would disappear, and life for the entire +community would be far more agreeable by reason of their absence. + +=Function of the school.=--The school, then, is established and +administered to carry on this process of rectification. By means of this +process ignorance becomes intelligence, coarseness becomes culture, +strife becomes peace, impurity becomes purity, disease becomes health, +and darkness becomes light. The child comes into the school not to get +something but to have something done to and for him that he may become +something that he was not before, and, therefore, that he may the better +execute his functions as a member of society. In short, he comes into +the school that he may pass through the process of rectification. In +this process he loses neither his name, his extraction, his identity, +nor his individuality. On the contrary, all these attributes are so +acted upon by the process that they become assets of the community. + +=Language.=--In order to lead to a greater degree of clarity it may be +well to be even more specific in explaining this process of +rectification. Language is fundamental in all the operations of society. +It is indispensable to the grocer, the farmer, the lawyer, the +physician, the manufacturer, the housewife, and the legislator. It is +the means by which members of society communicate with one another, and +without communication, in some form, there can be no social intercourse, +and, therefore, no society. People are all interdependent, and language +is the bond of union. They must use the same language, of course, and +the words must be invested with the same meaning in order to be +intelligible. + +=Language a social study.=--Just here great care must be exercised or we +shall go astray in depicting the work of the school in dealing with this +subject of language. The child comes into the school with language of a +sort, but it needs rectification in order to render it readily available +for the purposes of society. Herein lies the crux of the whole matter. +If this child were not to become a member of society, it would matter +little what sort of language he uses or whether he uses any language. If +he were to be banished to some island there to dwell alone, language +would be unnecessary. Hence, his study of language in the school is, +primarily, for the well-being of society and not for himself. Language +is so essential to the life processes that, without it, society would be +thrown out of balance. The needs of society are paramount, and hence +language as it concerns the child relates to him chiefly if not wholly +as a member of society. + +=Grammar.=--Grammar is nothing else than language reduced to a system of +common terms that have been agreed upon in the interests of society. +People have entered into a linguistic compact, an agreement that certain +words and combinations of words shall be understood to mean certain +things. The tradesman must understand the purchaser or there can be no +exchange. The ticket-agent must understand the prospective traveler or +the latter cannot take the journey and reach his destination. Hence, +grammar, with all that the term implies, is a means of facilitating the +activities of society and pertains to the individual only in his +relation to society. + +=Needs of society.=--True, the individual will find life more agreeable +in society if he understands the common language, just as the traveler +is more comfortable in a foreign country if he understands its language. +But we need emphasis upon the statement that we have grammar in the +school because it is one of the needs of society. The individual may not +need chemistry, but society does need it, and the school must somehow +provide it because of this need. Hence we place chemistry in the school +as one of the ingredients of the solvent which we employ in the process +of rectification. Those who are susceptible to the influences of this +ingredient will become inoculated with it and bear it forth into the +uses of society. + +=Caution.=--But just here we find the most delicate and difficult task +of the school. Here we encounter some of the fundamental principles of +psychology as explained and emphasized by James, McDougall, and Strayer. +Here we must begin our quest for the native tendencies that condition +successful teaching. We must discover what pupils are susceptible to +chemistry before we can proceed with the work of inoculation. This has +been the scene and source of many tragedies. We have been wont to ask +whether chemistry will be good for the boy instead of making an effort +to discover whether the boy will be good for chemistry--whether his +native tendencies render him susceptible to chemistry. + +=Some mistakes.=--Our procedure has often come but little short of an +inquisition. We have followed our own predilections and prejudices +instead of being docile at the feet of Nature and asking her what to do. +We have applied opprobrious epithets and resorted to ostracism. We have +been freely dispensing suspensions and expulsions in a vain effort to +prove that the school is both omniscient and omnipotent. We have tried +to transform a poet into a mechanic, a blacksmith into an artist, and an +astronomer into a ditcher. And our complacency in the presence of the +misfits of the school is the saddest tragedy of all. We have taken +counsel with tradition rather than with the nature of the pupil, the +while rejoicing in our own infallibility. + +=Native dispositions.=--Society needs only a limited number of chemists +and only such as have the native tendencies that will make chemistry +most effective in the activities of society. But we have been proceeding +upon the agreeable assumption that every pupil has such native +tendencies. Such an assumption absolves the school, of course, from the +necessity of discovering what pupils are susceptible to chemistry and of +devising ways and means of making this important discovery. Because we +do not know how to make this discovery we find solace in the assumption +that it cannot or need not be made. We then proceed to apply the +Procrustean bed principle with the very acme of _sang froid_. Here is +work for the efficiency expert. When children are sitting at the table +of life, the home and the school in combination ought to be able to +discover what food they crave and not insist upon their eating olives +when they really crave oatmeal. + +=The ideal of the school.=--We shall not have attained to right +conditions until such time as the stream of life that issues from the +school shall combine the agencies, in right proportions and relations, +that will conserve the best interests of society and administer its +activities with the maximum of efficiency. This is the ideal that the +school must hold up before itself as the determining plan in its every +movement. But this ideal presupposes no misfits in society. If there are +such, then it will decline in some degree from the plane of highest +efficiency. If there are some members of society who are straining at +the leash which Nature provided for them and are trying to do work for +which they have neither inclination nor aptitude, they cannot render the +best service, and society suffers in consequence. + +=Misfits.=--The books teem with examples of people who are striving to +find themselves by finding their work. But nothing has been said of +society in this same strain. We have only to think of society as +composed of all the people to realize that only by finding its work can +society find itself. And so long as there is even one member of society +who has not found himself, so long must we look upon this one exception +as a discordant note in the general harmony. If one man is working at +the forge who by nature is fitted for a place at the desk, then neither +this man nor society is at its best. And a large measure of the +responsibility for such discord and misfits in society must be laid at +the door of the school because of its inability to discover native +tendencies. + +=Common interests.=--There are many interests that all children have in +common when they enter the school in the morning, and these interests +may well become the starting points in the day's work. The conversations +at breakfast tables and the morning paper beget and stimulate many of +these interests and the school does violence to the children, the +community, and itself if it attempts to taboo these interests. Its work +is to rectify and not to suppress. When the children return to their +homes in the evening they should have clearer and larger conceptions of +the things that animated them in the morning. If they come into the +school all aglow with interest in the great snowstorm of the night +before, the teacher does well to hold the lesson in decimals in abeyance +until she has led around to the subject by means of readings or stories +that have to do with snowstorms. The paramount and common interest of +the children in the morning is snow and, therefore, the day should hold +snow in the foreground in their thinking, so that, at the close of the +day, their horizon in the snow-world may be extended, and so that they +may thus be able to make contributions to the home on the subject of +snow. + +=Real interests.=--In the morning the pupils had objective snow in which +they rollicked and gamboled in glee. All day long they had subjective +snow in which the teacher with fine technique caused them to revel; and, +in the evening, their concept of snow was so much enlarged that they +experienced a fresh access of delight. And that day was their snow +epiphany. On that day there was no break in the stream of life at the +schoolhouse door. There was no supplanting of the real interests of the +morning with fictitious interests of the school, to be endured with ill +grace until the real interests of the morning could be resumed in the +evening. On the contrary, by some magic that only the vitalized teacher +knows, every exercise of the day seemed to have snow as its center. Snow +seemed to be the major in the reading, in the spelling, in the +geography, and in the history. + +On that day they became acquainted with Hannibal and his struggles +through the snow of the Alps. On that day they learned of the avalanche, +its origin, its devastating power, and, of course, its spelling. On that +day they read "Snow Bound" and the snow poems of Longfellow and Lowell. +Thus the stream of life was clarified, rectified, and amplified as it +passed through the school, and, incidentally, the teacher and the school +were glorified in their thoughts. + +=Circus day.=--But snow is merely typical. On other days other interests +are paramount. On circus day the children, again, have a common interest +which affords the teacher a supreme opportunity. The day has been +anticipated by the teacher, and the pupils have cause to wonder how and +whence she ever accumulated such a wealth of pictures of animal life. +All day long they are regaled with a subjective menagerie, and when they +attend the circus in the evening they astonish their parents by the +extent and accuracy of their information. They know the animals by name, +their habitat, their habits, their food, and their uses. In short, they +seemed to have compassed a working knowledge of the animal kingdom in a +single day through the skill of the teacher who knows how to make the +school reënforce their life interests. + +=The quality of life.=--If we now extend the scope of common interests +that belong in the category with the snow and the animals, we shall +readily see that the analogy of the filtration-plant holds good in the +entire régime of the vitalized school. But we must never lose sight of +the additional fact that the quality of life that issues from the school +is far better because of its passage through the school. The volume may +be less, through unfortunate leakage, but the quality is so much better +that its value to society is enhanced a hundred- or a thousand-fold. The +people who pass through the school have learned a common language, have +been imbued with a common purpose, have learned how to live and work in +hearty accord, have come to revere a common flag, and have become +citizens of a common country. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What is the general function of the school? + +2. What is meant by the school's being the "melting-pot"? + +3. What objection is there to the expression "getting an education"? +What would be a better expression to indicate the purpose of attending +school? + +4. What diseases that invade society would be checked if in school the +stream of life were rectified? + +5. Why is it desirable that pupils shall not lose their individuality in +passing through school? + +6. What is the primary purpose of each school study, for instance, +language? + +7. What is the true purpose of grammar? + +8. What do these functions of the school and of its studies teach us +regarding the adaptation of subjects and methods to the individual? + +9. Tell something of the work done in vocational guidance in Boston. + +10. Tell something of the methods employed by some corporations in +choosing employees naturally fitted for the work. + +11. Tell something of the psychological tests for vocations devised by +Professor Münsterberg. (Psychology and Industrial Efficiency, Hugo +Münsterberg, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1913.) + +12. What do you think is the practicable way of helping the pupils in +your school to develop along the lines of their natural endowment? + +13. What is the effect on society when a man does work for which he is +not fitted? + +14. Show some ways in which the interests of the school as a whole may +be fostered and a natural development of the class as a whole be +secured. + +15. There has been a big fire in town. Show how the interest in this +event may be used in the day's work. + +16. In what ways is one who has had private instruction likely to be a +poorer citizen than one who has attended school? + +17. What conditions might cause some of those who go through school to +be polluted instead of rectified? Whose fault would it be? + +18. What questions should we ask ourselves about the things that are +being done in our schools? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +POETRY AND LIFE + + +=Poetry defined.=--Poetry has been defined as "a message from the heart +of the artist to the heart of the man"; and, seeing that the heart is +the center and source of life, it follows that poetry is a means of +effecting a transfusion of life. The poet ponders life long and deeply +and then gives forth an interpretation in artistic form that is +surcharged with the very quintessence of life. The poet absorbs life +from a thousand sources--the sky, the forest, the mountain, the sunrise, +the ocean, the storm, the child in the mother's arms, and the man at his +work, and then transmits it that the recipient may have a new influx of +life. The poet's quest is life, his theme is life, and his gift to man +is life. His mission is to gain a larger access of life and to give life +in greater abundance. He gains the meaning of life from the snowflake +and the avalanche; from the grain of sand and the fertile valley; from +the raindrop and the sea; from the chirp of the cricket and the crashing +of the thunder; from the firefly and the lightning's flash; and from +Vesuvius and Sinai. To know life he listens to the baby's prattle, the +mother's lullaby, and the father's prayer; he looks upon faces that show +joy and sorrow, hope and despair, defeat and triumph; and he feels the +pulsations of the tides, the hurricane, and the human heart. + +=How the poet learns life.=--He sits beside the bed of sickness and +hears the feeble and broken words that tell of the past, the present, +and the future; he visits the field of battle and sees the wreckage of +the passions of men; he goes into the dungeon and hears the ravings and +revilings of a distorted soul; he visits pastoral scenes where peace and +plenty unite in a song of praise; he rides the mighty ship and knows the +heartbeats of the ocean; he sits within the church and opens the doors +of his soul to its holy influences; he enters the hovel whose squalor +proclaims it the abode of ignorance and vice; he visits the home of +happiness where industry and frugality pour forth their bounteous gifts +and love sways its gentle scepter; and he sits at the feet of his mother +and imbibes her gracious spirit. + +=Transfusion of life.=--And then he writes; and as he writes his pen +drips life. He knows and feels, and, therefore, he expresses, and his +words are the distillations of life. His spiritual percipience has +rendered his soul a veritable garden of emotions, and with his pen he +transplants these in the written page. And men see and come to pluck the +flowers to transplant again in their own souls that they, too, may have +a garden like unto his. His _élan_ carries over into the lives of these +men and they glow with the ardor of his emotions and are inspired to +deeds of courage, of service, and of solace. For every flower plucked +from his garden another grows in its stead more beautiful and more +fragrant than its fellow, and he is reinspired as he inspires others. +And thus in this transfusion of life there is an undertow that carries +back into his own life and makes his spirit more fertile. + +=Aspiration.=--When he would teach men to aspire he writes "Excelsior" +and so causes them to know that only he who aspires really lives. They +see the groundling, the boor, the drudge, and the clown content to dwell +in the valley amid the loaves and fishes of animal desires, while the +man who aspires is struggling toward the heights whence he may gain an +outlook upon the glories that are, know the throb and thrill of new +life, and experience the swing and sweep of spiritual impulses. He makes +them to know that the man who aspires recks not of cold, of storm, or of +snow, if only he may reach the summit and lave his soul in the glory +that crowns the marriage of earth and sky. They feel that the aspirant +is but yielding obedience to the behests of his better self to scale the +heights where sublimity dwells. + +=Perseverance.=--Or he writes the fourth "Æneid" to make men feel that +the palm of victory comes only to those who persevere to the end; that +duty does not abdicate in favor of inclination; and that the high gods +will not hold guiltless the man who stops short of Italy to loiter and +dally in Carthage even in the sunshine of a Dido's smile. When Italy is +calling, no siren song of pleasure must avail to lure him from his +course, nor must his sail be furled until the keel grates upon the +Italian shore. His navigating skill must guide him through the perils of +Scylla and Charybdis and the stout heart of manhood must bear him past +Mount Ætna's fiery menace. His dauntless courage must brave the anger of +the greedy waves and boldly ride them down. Nor must his cup of joy be +full until the wished-for land shall greet his eager eyes. + +=Overweening ambition.=--Or, again, the poet may yearn to teach the +wrong of overweening, vaulting ambition and he writes "Paradise Lost" +and "Recessional." He pictures Satan overthrown, like the Giants who +would climb into the throne on Olympus. He pictures Hell as the fitting +place for Satan overthrown, and in his own place he pictures the outcast +and downcast Satan writhing and cursing because he was balked of his +unholy ambition. And, lest mortals sink from their high estate, borne +down by their sins of unsanctified ambition, he prays, and prays again, +"Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget." And +the prayer echoes and reëchoes in the soul of the man, and the world +sees his lips moving in the prayer of the poet, "Lest we forget, lest we +forget." + +=Native land.=--Or, again, he writes Bannockburn and the spirit is fired +with patriotic devotion to native land. We hear the bagpipe and the drum +and see the martial clans gathering in serried ranks and catch the glint +of their arms and armor as they flash back the sunlight. We hear their +lusty calls as they rush together to defend the hills and the homes they +love. We see, again, the Wallace and the Bruce inciting valorous men to +deeds of heroism and hear the hills reëchoing with the shock of steel +upon steel. From hill to hill the pibroch leaps, and hearts and feet +quicken at its sound. And mothers are pressing their bairns to their +bosoms as they cheer their loved ones away to the strife. And while +their eyes are weeping their hearts are saying: + + "Wha will be a traitor knave? + Wha can fill a coward's grave? + Wha so base as be a slave? + Let him turn and flee!" + +=Faith.=--And after the sounds of battle are hushed he sings "To Mary in +Heaven" and causes the man to stand in the presence of the Burning Bush +and to hear the command "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the +place whereon thou standest is holy ground." And the heart of the man +grows tender as the poet opens his eyes to catch a glimpse of the life +of faith that the star foretells even as the Star of Bethlehem was +prophetic. And, through the eyes of the lover, he looks over into the +other life and knows that his faith is not in vain. And when faith sits +enthroned, the music of the brook at his feet becomes sweeter, the stars +shine more brightly, the earth becomes a place of gladness, and life is +far more worth while. The poet has caused the scales to fall from his +eyes and through them the light of Heaven has streamed into his soul. + +=The teacher's influx of life.=--And the teacher imbibes the spirit of +the poet and becomes vital and thus becomes attuned to all life. Flowers +spring up in her pathway because they are claiming kinship with the +flowers that are blooming in her soul. The insect chirps forth its +music, and her own spirit joins in the chorus of the forest. The +brooklet laughs as it ripples its way toward the sea, and her spirit +laughs in unison because the poet has poured his laughter into her soul. +She stands unafraid in the presence of the storm because her feeling for +majesty overmasters her apprehension of danger. The lightning's flash +may rend the oak but, even so, she stands in mute admiration at this +wondrous manifestation of life. Her quickened spirit responds to the +roll and reverberation of the thunder because she has grown to womanhood +through the poet's copious draughts of life. + +=The book of life.=--The voices of the night enchant her and the stars +take her into their counsels. The swaying tree speaks her language +because both speak the language of life. She takes delight in the +lexicon of the planets because it interprets to her the book of life, +and in the revelations of this book she finds her chief joy. For her +there are no dull moments whether she wanders by the river, through the +glades, or over the hills, because she is ever turning the pages of this +book. She moves among the things of life and accounts them all her +friends and companions. She knows their moods and their language and +with them holds intimate communion. They smile upon her because she can +reciprocate their smiles. Life to her is a buoyant, a joyous experience +each hour of the day because the poet has poured into her spirit its +fuller, deeper meanings. + +=The teaching.=--And because the poet has touched her spirit with the +wand of his power the waters of life gush forth in sparkling abundance. +And children come to the fountain of her life and drink of its waters +and are thereby refreshed and invigorated. Then they smile back their +gratitude to her in their exuberance of joyous life. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What is poetry? + +2. What is the purpose of rhyme? + +3. May writing have the essentials of poetry and yet have no regular +rhythm? What of the Psalms? + +4. Why is poetry especially valuable to the teacher? + +5. Show how some poem other than those mentioned in the chapter teaches +a lesson or gives an inspiration. + +6. Name, if you can, some methods of treatment that cause poetry to fail +to affect the lives of the pupils as it should. + +7. Suggest uses of poetry and the treatment that will insure the right +results. + +8. Is there danger that a teacher may become too appreciative or +susceptible--too poetic in temperament? Recall observations of those who +were either too much so or too little. + +9. Is there danger that one may have too much of a good quality, or is +the danger not in having too little of some other quality? + +10. Show how a wide and appreciative reading of poetry makes for a +proper balance of temperament. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +A SENSE OF HUMOR + + +=An American story.=--There is a story to the effect that a certain Mr. +Jones was much given to boasting of his early rising. He stoutly +maintained that he was going about his work every morning at three +o'clock. Some of his friends were inclined to be incredulous as to his +representations and entered into a kindly conspiracy to put them to the +test. Accordingly one of the number presented himself at the kitchen +door of the Jones residence one morning at half-past three and made +inquiry of Mrs. Jones as to the whereabouts of her husband, asking if he +was at home. In a very gracious manner Mrs. Jones replied: "No, he isn't +here now. He was around here early this morning but I don't really know +where he is now." This is a clean, fine, typical American story, and, by +means of such a story, we can test for a sense of humor. The boy in +school will laugh at this story both because it is a good one and +because he is a normal boy. If he does not laugh at such a story, there +is cause for anxiety as to his mental condition or attitude. If the +teacher cannot or does not laugh, a disharmony is generated at once +between teacher and pupil which militates against the well-being of the +school. If the teacher reprimands the boy, the boy as certainly +discredits the teacher and all that she represents. If she cannot enjoy +such a wholesome story, he feels that her arithmetic, geography, and +grammar are responsible, and these studies decline somewhat in his +esteem. Moreover, he feels that the teacher's reprimand was unwarranted +and unjust and he fain would consort with people of his own kind. Many a +boy deserts school because the teacher is devoid of the saving grace of +humor. Her inability to see or have any fun in life makes him +uncomfortable and he seeks a more agreeable environment. + +=Humor in its manifestations.=--A sense of humor diffuses itself through +all the activities of life, giving to them all a gentle quality that +eliminates asperities and renders them gracious and amiable. Like +fireflies that bespangle the darkness of the night, humor scintillates +through all life's phases and activities and causes the day to go more +pleasantly and effectively on. It twinkles through the thoughts and +gives to language a sparkle and a nicety that cause it to appeal to the +artistic sense. It gives to discourse a piquancy that stimulates but +does not irritate. It is the flavor that gives to speech its undulatory +quality, and redeems it from desert sameness. It pervades the motives +and gives direction as well as a pleasing fertility to all behavior. It +is pervasive without becoming obtrusive. It steals into the senses as +quietly as the dawn and causes life to smile. Wit may flash, but humor +blithely glides into the consciousness with a radiant and kindly smile +upon its face. Wit may sting and inflame, but humor soothes and +comforts. The man who has a generous admixture of humor in his nature is +an agreeable companion and a sympathetic friend to grown-up people, to +children, and to animals. His spirit is genial, and people become kindly +and magnanimous in his presence. + +=One of John B. Gough's stories.=--The celebrated John B. Gough was wont +to tell a story that was accounted one of his many masterpieces. It was +a story of a free-for-all convention where any one, according to +inclination, had the privilege of freely speaking his sentiments. When +the first speaker had concluded, a man in the audience called lustily +for a speech from Mr. Henry. Then another spoke, and, again, more +lustily than before, the man demanded Mr. Henry. More and more +vociferous grew the call for Mr. Henry after each succeeding speech +until, at last, the chairman with some acrimony exclaimed: "The man who +is calling for Mr. Henry will please be quiet. It is Mr. Henry who is +now speaking." The man thus rebuked was somewhat crestfallen, but +managed to say, as if in a half-soliloquy: "Mr. Henry! Why, that ain't +Mr. Henry. That's the little chap that told me to holler." + +At the conclusion of one of his lectures in which Mr. Gough told this +story in his inimitable style, a man came to the platform and explained +to him that he had a friend who seemed to lack a sense of humor and +wondered if he might not prevail upon Mr. Gough to tell him this +particular story in the hope that it would cause him to laugh. In a +spirit of adventure Mr. Gough consented, and at the time appointed told +the story to the old gentleman in his own best style. The old gentleman +seemed to be deeply interested, but at the conclusion of the story, +instead of laughing heartily as his friend had hoped, he solemnly asked, +"What did he tell him to holler fur?" + +=The man who lacks a sense of humor.=--There was no answer to this +question, or, rather, he himself was the answer. Such a man is obviously +outside the pale, without hope of redemption. If such a story, told by +such a _raconteur_, could not touch him, he is hopeless. In his +spiritual landscape there are no undulations, but it reveals itself as a +monotonous dead-level without stream or verdure. He eats, and sleeps, +and walks about, but he walks in a spiritual daze. To him life must seem +a somber, drab affair. If he were a teacher in a traditional school, he +would chill and depress, but he might be tolerated because a sense of +humor is not one of the qualifications of the teacher. But, in the +vitalized school, he would be intolerable. If children should go to such +a teacher for spiritual refreshment, they would return thirsty. He has +nothing to give them, no bubbling water of life, no geniality, no such +graces of the spirit as appeal to buoyant childhood. He lacks a sense of +humor, and that lack makes arid the exuberant sources of life. He may +solve problems in arithmetic, but he cannot compass the solution of the +problem of life. The children pity him, and no greater calamity can +befall a teacher than to deserve and receive the pity of a child. He +might, in a way, teach anatomy, but not physiology. He might be able to +deal with the analytic. He might succeed as curator in a museum of +mummies, but he will fail as a teacher of children. + +=Story of a boy.=--A seven-year-old boy who was lying on his back on the +floor asked his father the question, "How long since the world was +born?" The father replied, "Oh, about four thousand years." In a few +moments the child said in a tone of finality, "That isn't very long." +Then after another interval, he asked, "What was there before the world +was born?" To this the father replied, "Nothing." After a lapse of two +or three minutes the child gave vent to uncontrollable laughter which +resounded throughout the house. When, at length, the father asked him +what he was laughing at, he could scarcely control his laughter to +answer. But at last he managed to reply, "I was laughing to see how +funny it was when there wasn't anything." + +=The child's imagination.=--The philosopher could well afford to give +the half of his kingdom to be able to see what that child saw. Out of +the gossamer threads of fancy his imagination had wrought a pattern that +transcends philosophy. The picture that his imagination painted was so +extraordinary that it produced a paroxysm of laughter. That picture is +far beyond the ken of the philosopher and he will look for it in vain +because he has grown away from the child in power of imagination and has +lost the child's sense of humor. What that child saw will never be +known, for the pictures of fancy are ephemeral, but certain it is that +the power of imagination and a keen sense of humor are two of the +attributes of childhood whose loss should give both his father and his +teacher poignant regrets. + +=The little girl and her elders.=--The little girl upon the beach +invests the tiny wavelets not only with life and intelligence, but, +also, with a sense of humor as she eludes their sly advances to engulf +her feet. She laughs in glee at their watery pranks as they twinkle and +sparkle, now advancing, now receding, trying to take her by surprise. +She chides them for their duplicity, then extols them for their prankish +playfulness. She makes them her companions, and they laugh in chorus. If +she knows of sprites, and gnomes, and nymphs, and fairies, she finds +them all dancing in glee at her feet in the form of rippling wavelets. +And while she is thus refreshing her spirit from the brimming cup of +life, her matter-of-fact elders are reproaching her for getting her +dress soiled. To the parent or the teacher who lacks a sense of humor +and cannot enter into the little girl's conception of life, a dress is +of more importance than the spirit of the child. But the teacher or the +parent who has the "aptitude for vicariousness" that enables her to +enter into the child's life in her fun and frolic with the playful +water, and can feel the presence of the nymphs among the wavelets,--such +a teacher or parent will adorn the school or the home and endear herself +to the child. + +=Lincoln's humor.=--The life of Abraham Lincoln affords a notable +illustration of the saving power of humor. Reared in conditions of +hardship, his early life was essentially drab and prosaic. In +temperament he was serious, with an inclination toward the morbid, but +his sense of humor redeemed the situation. When clouds of gloom and +discouragement lowered in his mental sky, his keen sense of humor +penetrated the darkness and illumined his pathway. He was sometimes the +object of derision because men could not comprehend the depth and +bigness of his nature, and his humor was often accounted a weakness. But +the Gettysburg speech rendered further derision impossible and the +wondrous alchemy of that address transmuted criticism into willing +praise. + +=Humor betokens deep feeling.=--Laughter and tears issue from the same +source, we are told, and the Gettysburg speech revealed a depth and a +quality of tenderness that men had not, before, been able to recognize +or appreciate. The absence of a sense of humor betokens shallowness in +that it reveals an inability to feel deeply. People who feel deeply +often laugh in order to forestall tears. Lincoln was a great soul and +his sense of humor was one element of his greatness. His apt stories and +his humorous personal experiences often carried off a situation where +cold logic would have failed. Whether his sense of humor was a gift or +an acquisition, it certainly served the nation well and gave to us all +an example that is worthy of emulation. + +=The teacher of English.=--Many teachers could, with profit to +themselves and their schools, sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln, not +only to learn English but also to imbibe his sense of humor. Nothing is +more pathetic than the efforts of a teacher who lacks a sense of humor +to teach a bit of English that abounds in humor, by means of the textual +notes. The notes are bad enough, in all conscience, but the teacher's +lack of humor piles Ossa upon Pelion. The solemnity that pervades such +mechanical teaching would be farcical were it not so pathetic. The +teacher who cannot indulge in a hearty, honest, ringing laugh with her +pupils in situations that are really humorous is certain to be laughed +at by her pupils. In her work, as in Lincoln's, a sense of humor will +often save the day. + +=Mark Twain as philosopher.=--Mark Twain will ever be accounted a very +prince of humorists, and so he was. But he was more than that. Upon the +current of his humor were carried precious cargoes of the philosophy of +life. His humor is often so subtle that the superficial reader fails to +appreciate its fine quality and misses the philosophy altogether. To +extract the full meaning from his writing one must be able to read not +only between the lines but also beneath the lines. The subtle quality of +his humor defies both analysis and explanation. If it fails to tell its +own story, so much the worse for the reader. To such humor as his, +explanation amounts to an impertinence. People can either appreciate it +or else they cannot, and there's the end of the matter. + +In the good time to come when the school teaches reading for the purpose +of pleasure and not for examination purposes, we shall have Mark Twain +as one of our authors; and it is to be hoped that we shall have editions +devoid of notes. The notes may serve to give the name of the editor a +place on the title page, but the notes cannot add to the enjoyment of +the author's genial humor. Mark Twain reigns supreme, and the editor +does well to stand uncovered in his presence and to withhold his pen. + +=A Twain story.=--One of Mark Twain's stories is said to be one of the +most humorous stories extant. The story relates how a soldier was +rushing off the battlefield in retreat when a companion, whose leg was +shattered, begged to be carried off the field. The appeal met a willing +response and soon the soldier was bearing his companion away on his +shoulder, his head hanging down the soldier's back. Unknown to the +soldier a cannon ball carried away the head of his companion. Accosted +by another soldier, he was asked why he was carrying a man whose head +had been shot away. He stoutly denied the allegation and, at length, +dropped the headless body to prove the other's hallucination. Seeing +that the man's head was, in truth, gone, he exclaimed, "Why, the durn +fool told me it was his leg." + +=Humor defies explanation.=--The humor of this story is cumulative. We +may not parse it, we may not analyze it, we may not annotate it. We can +simply enjoy it. And, if we cannot enjoy it, we may pray for a spiritual +awakening, for such an endowment of the sense of humor as will enable us +to enjoy, that we may no longer lead lives that are spiritually blind. +Bill Nye wrote: + + "The autumn leaves are falling, + They are falling everywhere; + They are falling through the atmosphere + And likewise through the air." + +Woe betide the teacher who tries to explain! There is no +explanation--there is just the humor. If that eludes the reader, an +explanation will not avail. + +A teacher of Latin read to his pupils "The House-Boat on the Styx" in +connection with their reading of the "Æneid." It was good fun for them +all, and never was Virgil more highly honored than in the assiduous +study which those young people gave to his lines. They were eager to +complete the study of the lesson in order to have more time for the +"House-Boat." The humor of the book opened wide the gates of their +spirits through which the truths of the regular lesson passed blithely +in. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What is the source of humor in a humorous story? + +2. When should the teacher laugh with the school? When should she not do +so? + +3. How does the response of the school to a laughable incident reflect +the leadership of the teacher? + +4. What can be done to bring more or better humor into the school? + +5. Compare as companions those whom you know who exhibit a sense of +humor with those who do not. + +6. Compare their influence on others. + +7. What can be done to bring humor into essays written by the students? + +8. Distinguish between wit and humor. Does wit or humor cause most of +the laughter in school? + +9. What is meant by an "aptitude for vicariousness"? + +10. How did Lincoln make use of humor? Is there any humor in the +Gettysburg speech? Why? + +11. What is the relation of pathos to humor? + +12. Give an example from the writings of Mark Twain that shows him a +philosopher as well as a humorist. + +13. What books could you read to the pupils to enliven some of the +subjects that you teach? + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +The Element of Human Interest + + +=Yearning toward betterment.=--Much has been said and written in recent +times touching the matter and manner of vitalizing and humanizing the +studies and work of the school. The discussions have been nation-wide in +their scope and most fertile in plans and practical suggestions. No +subject of greater importance or of more far-reaching import now engages +the interest of educational leaders. They are quite aware that something +needs to be done, but no one has announced the sovereign remedy. The +critics have made much of the fact that there is something lacking or +wrong in our school procedure, but they can neither diagnose the case +nor suggest the remedy. They can merely criticize. We are having many +surveys, but the results have been meager and inadequate. We have been +working at the circumference of the circle rather than at the center. We +have been striving to reform our educational training, hoping for a +reflex that would be sufficient to modify the entire school régime. We +have added domestic science, hoping thereby to reconstruct the school by +inoculation. We have looked to agriculture and other vocational studies +as the magnetic influences of our dreams. Something has been +accomplished, to be sure, but we are still far distant from the goal. +The best that writers can do in their books or educational conferences +can do in their meetings, is to report progress. + +=The obstacle of conservatism.=--One of the greatest obstacles we have +to surmount in this whole matter of vitalizing school work is the +habitual conservatism of the school people themselves. The methods of +teaching that obtained in the school when we were pupils have grooved +themselves into habits of thinking that smile defiance at the theories +that we have more recently acquired. When we venture out from the shore +we want to feel a rope in our hands. The superintendent speaks fervently +to patrons or teachers on the subject of modern methods in teaching, +then retires to his office and takes intimate and friendly counsel with +tradition. In sailing the educational seas he must needs keep in sight +the buoys of tradition. This matter of conservatism is cited merely to +show that our progress, in the very nature of the case, will be slow. + +=Schools of education.=--Another obstacle in the way of progress toward +the vitalized school is the attitude and teaching of many who are +connected with colleges of education and normal schools. We have a right +to look to them for leadership, but we find, instead, that their +practices lag far in the rear of their theories. They teach according to +such devitalized methods and in such an unvitalized way as to discredit +the subjects they teach. It is only from such of their students as are +proof against their style of teaching that we may hope for aid. One such +teacher in a college of education in a course of eight weeks on the +subject of School Administration had his students copy figures from +statistical reports for several days in succession and for four and five +hours each day. The students confessed that their only objective was the +gaining of credits, and had no intimation that the work they were doing +was to function anywhere. + +=The machine teacher.=--Such work is deadening and disheartening. It has +in it no inspiration, no life, nothing, in short, that connects with +real life. Such a teacher could not maintain himself in a wide-awake +high school for a half year. The boys and girls would desert him even if +they had to desert the school. And yet teachers and prospective teachers +must endure and not complain. Those who submit supinely will attempt to +repeat in their schools the sort of teaching that obtains in his +classes, and their schools will suffer accordingly. His sort of teaching +proclaims him either more or less than a human being in the estimation +of normal people. Such a teacher drones forth weary platitudes as if his +utterances were oracular. The only prerequisite for a position in some +schools of education seems to be a degree of a certain altitude without +any reference to real teaching ability. + +=Statistics versus children.=--Such teaching palliates educational +situations without affording a solution. It is so steeped in tradition +that it resorts to statistics as it would consult an oracle. We look to +see it establishing precedents only to find it following precedents. +When we would find in it a leader we find merely a follower. To such +teaching statistical numbers mean far more than living children. Indeed, +children are but objects that become useful as a means of proving +theories. It lacks vitality, and that is sad; but, worst of all, it +strives unceasingly to perpetuate itself in the schools. Real teaching +power receives looks askance in some of these colleges as if it bore the +mark of Cain in not being up to standard on the academic side. And yet +these colleges are teaching the teachers of our schools. + +=Teaching power.=--Hence, the work of vitalizing the school must begin +in our colleges of education and normal schools, and this beginning will +be made only when we place the emphasis upon teaching power. The human +qualities of the teachers must be so pronounced that they become their +most distinguished characteristics. It is a sad commentary upon our +educational processes if a man must point to the letters of his degree +to prove that he is a teacher. His teaching should be of such a nature +as to justify and glorify his degree. As the preacher receives his +degree because he can preach, so the teacher should receive his degree +because he can teach, even if we must create a new degree by which to +designate the real teacher. + +=Degrees and human qualities.=--There is no disparagement of the +academic degree in the statement that it proves absolutely nothing +touching the ability to teach. It proclaims its possessor a student but +not a teacher. Yet, in our practices, we proceed upon the assumption +that teacher and student are synonymous. We hold examinations for +teachers in our schools, but not for teachers in our colleges of +education. His degree is the magic talisman that causes the doors to +swing wide open for him. Besides, his very presence inside seems to be +prima facie evidence that he is a success, and all his students are +supposed to join in the general chorus of praise. + +=Life the great human interest.=--The books are eloquent and persistent +in their admonitions that we should attach all school work to the native +interests of the child. To this dictum there seems to be universal and +hearty assent. But we do not seem to realize fully, as yet, that the big +native interest of the child is life itself. We have not, as yet, found +the way to enmesh the activities of the school in the life processes of +the child so that these school activities are as much a part of his life +as his food, his games, his breathing, and his sleep. We have been +interpreting some of the manifestations of life as his native interests +but have failed thus to interpret his life as a whole. The child is but +the aggregate of all his inherent interests, and we must know these +interests if we would find the child so as to attach school work to the +child himself. + +=The child as a whole.=--Here is the crux of the entire matter, here the +big problem for the vitalized school. We have been taking his pulse, +testing his eyes, taking his temperature, and making examinations for +defects--and these things are excellent. But all these things combined +do not reveal the child to us. We need to go beyond all these in order +to find him. We must know what he thinks, how he feels as to people and +things, what his aspirations are, what motives impel him to action, what +are his intuitions, what things he does involuntarily and what through +volition or compulsion. With such data clearly before us we can proceed +to attach school work to his native interests. We have been striving to +bend him to our preconceived notion instead of finding out who and what +he is as a condition precedent to intelligent teaching. + +=Three types of teachers.=--The three types of teachers that have been +much exploited in the books are the teacher who conceives it to be her +work to teach the book, the one who teaches the subject, and the one who +teaches the child. The number of the first type is still very large in +spite of all the books that inveigh against this conception. It were +easy to find a teacher whose practice indicates that she thinks that all +the arithmetic there is or ought to be is to be found in the book that +lies on her desk. It seems not to occur to her that a score of books +might be written that would be equal in merit to the one she is using, +some of which might be far better adapted to the children in her +particular school. If she were asked to teach arithmetic without the aid +of a book, she would shed copious tears, if, indeed, she did not resign. + +=The first type.=--To such a teacher the book is the Ultima Thule of all +her endeavors, and when the pupils can pass the examination she feels +that her work is a success. If the problem in the book does not fit the +child, so much the worse for the child, and she proceeds to try to make +him fit the problem. It does not occur to her to construct problems that +will fit the child. When she comes to the solution of the right +triangle, the baseball diamond does not come to her mind. She has the +boy learn a rule and try to apply it instead of having him find the +distance from first base to third in a direct line. In her thinking such +a proceeding would be banal because it would violate the sanctity of the +book. She must adhere to the book though the heavens fall, and the boy +with them. + +=The book supreme.=--She seems quite unable to draw upon the farm, the +grocery, the store, or the playground for suitable problems. These +things seem to be obscured by her supreme devotion to the book. She +lacks fertility of resources, nor does she realize this lack, because +her eyes are fastened upon the book rather than upon the child. Were she +as intent upon the child as she is upon the book, his interests would +direct attention to the things toward which his inclinations yearn and +toward which his aptitudes lure him. In such a case, her ingenuity and +resourcefulness would roam over wide fields in quest of the objects of +his native interests and she would return to him laden with material +that would fit the needs of the child far better than the material of +the book. + +=The child supreme.=--The teacher whose primary consideration is the +child and who sees in the child the object and focus of all her +activities, never makes a fetish of the book. It has its use, to be +sure, but it is subordinate in the scheme of education. It is not a +necessity, but a mere convenience. She could dispense with it entirely +and not do violence to the child's interests. No book is large enough to +compass all that she teaches, for she forages in every field to obtain +proper and palatable food for the child. She teaches with the grain of +the child and not against the grain. If the book contains what she +requires in her work, she uses it and is glad to have it; but, if it +does not contain what she needs, she seeks it elsewhere and does not +return empty-handed. + +=Illustrations.=--She places the truth she hopes to teach in the path of +the child's inclination, and this is taken into his life processes. Life +does not stop at way-stations to take on supplies, but absorbs the +supplies that it encounters as it moves along. This teacher does not +stop the ball game to teach the right triangle, but manages to have the +problem solved in connection with or as a part of the game. She does not +taboo the morning paper in order to have a lesson in history, but begins +with the paper as a favorable starting point toward the lesson. She does +not confiscate the contents of the boy's pocket as contraband, but is +glad to avail herself of all these as indices of the boy's interests, +and, therefore, guides for her teaching. + +=Attitude toward teaching materials.=--When the boy carries a toad to +school, she does not shudder, but rather rejoices, because she sees in +him a possible Agassiz. When he displays an interest in plant life, she +sees in him another Burbank. When she finds him drawing pictures at his +desk, she smiles approval, for she sees in him another Raphael. She does +not disdain the lowliest insect, reptile, or plant when she finds it +within the circle of the child's interests. She is willing, nay eager, +to ransack the universe if only she may come upon elements of nutrition +for her pupils. From every flower that blooms she gathers honey that she +may distill it into the life of the child. She does not coddle the +child; she gives him nourishment. + +=History.=--Her history is as wide as human thought and as high as human +aspiration. It includes the Rosetta stone and the morning paper. It +travels back from the clothing of the child to the cotton gin. The +stitch in the little girl's dress is the index finger that points to the +page that depicts the invention of the sewing machine. Every engine +leads her back to Watt, and she takes the children with her. Every +foreign message in the daily paper revives the story of Field and the +laying of the Atlantic cable. Every mention of the President's cabinet +gives occasion for reviewing the cabinets of other Presidents with +comparisons and contrasts. At her magic touch the libraries and +galleries yield forth rich treasures for her classroom. Life is the +textbook of her study, and the life of the child is the goal of her +endeavors. + +=The child's native interests.=--In brief, she is teaching children and +not books or subjects, and the interests of the children take emphatic +precedence over her own. She enters into the life of the child and makes +excursions into all life according to the dictates of his interests. The +child is the big native interest to which she attaches the work of the +school. The program is elastic enough to encompass every child in her +school. Her program is a garden in which something is growing for each +child, and she cultivates every plant with sympathetic care. She +considers it no hardship to learn the plant, the animal, the place, or +the fact in which the child finds interest. Because of the child and for +the sake of the child she invests all these things with the quality of +human interest. + +=The school and the home.=--Arithmetic, language, history, and geography +touch life at a thousand points, and we have but to select the points of +contact with the life of each pupil to render any or all of these a +vital part of the day's work and the day's life. They are not things +that are detached from the child's life. The child's errand to the shop +involves arithmetic, and the vitalized teacher makes this fact a part of +the working capital of the school. The dinner table abounds in +geography, and the teacher is quick to turn this fact to account in the +school. Her fertility of resources, coupled with her vital interest in +human beings and human affairs, soon establishes a reciprocal relation +between the home and the school. Similarly, she causes the language of +the school to flow out into the home, the factory, and the office. + +=The skill of the teacher.=--History is not a school affair merely. It +is a life affair, and through all the currents of life it may be made to +flow. The languages, Latin, German, French, Spanish, are expressions and +interpretations of life, and they may be made to appear what they really +are if the teacher is resourceful enough and skillful enough to attach +them to the life of the pupil by the human ligaments that are ever at +hand. Chemistry, physics, botany, and physiology all throb with life if +only the teacher can place the fingers of the pupils on their pulses. +Given the human teacher, the human child, and the humanized teaching, +the vitalized school is inevitable. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What agencies have been employed with the expectation that they would +improve the school? + +2. What are the reasons why some of these have not accomplished more? + +3. Give instances in which the conservatism of teachers seems to have +stood in the way of utilizing the element of human interest. + +4. What do you think of a teacher who asserts that no important advance +has been made in educational theory and practice since, say, 1910? + +5. Make an outline of what you think a college of education should do +for the school. + +6. What would you expect to gain from a course in school administration? + +7. The president of at least one Ohio college personally inspects and +checks up the work of the professors from the standpoint of proper +teaching standards, and has them visit one another's classes for +friendly criticism and observation. He reports improvement in the +standard of teaching. How is his plan applicable in your school? + +8. A city high school principal states that it is not his custom to +visit his teachers' classes; that he knows what is going on and that he +interferes only if something is wrong. What do you think of his +practice? How is the principle applicable in your school? + +9. Do the duties of a superintendent have to do only with curriculum and +discipline, or have they to do also with teaching power? + +10. What are some of the ways in which you have known superintendents +successfully to increase the teaching power of the teachers? + +11. What things do we need to know about a child in order to utilize his +interests? + +12. Distinguish three types of teachers. + +13. What are the objections to teaching the book? + +14. What are the objections to teaching the subject? + +15. What are some items of school work upon which some teachers spend +time that they should devote to finding materials suited to the child's +interests? + +16. Can one teacher utilize all of the interests of a child within a +nine-month term? What is the measure of how far she should be expected +to do so? + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +BEHAVIOR + + +=Behavior in retrospect.=--The caption of this chapter implies the +behavior of human beings, as a matter of course, and the study of this +subject is, at once, both alluring and illusive. No sooner has the +student arrived at deductions that seem conclusive than exceptions begin +to loom up on his speculative horizon that disintegrate his theories and +cause him to retrace the steps of his reasoning. Such a study affords +large scope for introspection, but too few people incline to examine +their own behavior in any mental attitude that approaches the +scientific. The others seem to think that things just happen, and that +their own behavior is fortuitous. They seem not to be able to reason +from effect back to cause, or to realize that there may be any possible +connection between what they are doing at the present moment and what +they were doing twenty years ago. + +=Environment.=--In what measure is a man the product of his environment? +To what extent is a man able to influence his environment? These +questions start us on a line of inquiry that leads toward the realm of, +at least, a hypothetical solution of the problem of behavior. After we +have reached the conclusion, by means of concrete examples, that many +men have influenced their environment, it becomes pertinent, at once, to +inquire still further whence these men derived the power thus to modify +their environment. We may not be able to reach final or satisfactory +answers to these questions, but it will, none the less, prove a +profitable exercise. We need not trench upon the theological doctrine of +predestination, but we may, with impunity, speculate upon the +possibility of a doctrine of educational predestination. + +=Queries.=--Was Mr. George Goethals predestined to become the engineer +of the Panama Canal from the foundation of the world, or might he have +become a farmer, a physician, or a poet? Could Julius Cæsar have turned +back from the Rubicon and refrained from saying, "The die is cast"? +Could Abraham Lincoln have withheld his pen from the Emancipation +Proclamation and permitted the negro race to continue in slavery? Could +any influence have deterred Walter Scott from writing "Kenilworth"? Was +Robert Fulton's invention of the steamboat inevitable? Could Christopher +Columbus possibly have done otherwise than discover America? Does +education have anything whatever to do in determining what a man will or +will not do? + +=Antecedent causes.=--Here sits a man, let us say, who is writing a +musical selection. He works in a veritable frenzy, and all else seems +negligible for the time. He well-nigh disdains food and sleep in the +intensity of his interest. Is this particular episode in his life merely +happening, or does some causative influence lie back of this event +somewhere in the years? Did some influence of home, or school, or +playground give him an impulse and an impetus toward this event? Or, in +other words, are the activities of his earlier life functioning on the +bit of paper before him? If this is an effect, what and where was the +cause? In the case of any type of human behavior can we postulate +antecedent causes? If a hundred musicians were writing musical +compositions at the same moment, would they offer similar explanations +of their behavior? + +=Leadership.=--As a working hypothesis, it may be averred that ability +to influence environment betokens leadership. With such a measuring-rod +in hand we may go out into the community and determine, with some degree +of accuracy, who are leaders and who are mere followers. Then we should +need to go further and discover degrees of leadership, whether small or +large, and, also, the quality of the leadership, whether good or bad, +wise or foolish, selfish or altruistic, noisy or serene, and all the +many other variations. Having done all this, we are still only on the +threshold of our study, for we must reason back from our accumulated +facts to their antecedent causes. If we score one man's leadership fifty +and another's eighty, have we any possible warrant for concluding that +the influences in their early life that tend to generate leadership were +approximately as five to eight? + +=Restricted concepts.=--This question is certain to encounter +incredulity, just as it is certain to raise other questions. Both +results will be gratifying as showing an awakening of interest, which is +the most and the best that the present discussion can possibly hope to +accomplish. Very many, perhaps most, teachers in the traditional school +do their teaching with reference to the next examination. They remind +their pupils daily of the on-coming examination and remind them of the +dire consequences following their failure to attain the passing grade of +seventy. They ask what answer the pupil would give to a certain question +if it should appear in the examination. If they can somehow get their +pupils to surmount that barrier of seventy at promotion time, they seem +quite willing to turn their backs upon them and let the teacher in the +next grade make what she can of such unprofitable baggage. + +=Each lesson a prophecy.=--And we still call this education. It isn't +education at all, but the merest hack work, and the tragedy of it is +that the child is the one to suffer. The teacher goes on her complacent +way happy in the consciousness that her pupils were promoted and, +therefore, she will retain her place on the pay roll. It were more +logical to have the same teacher continue with the pupil during his +entire school life of twelve years, for, in that case, her interest in +him would be continuous rather than temporary and spasmodic. But the +present plan of changing teachers would be even better than that if only +every teacher's work could be made to project itself not only to +graduation day, but to the days of mature manhood and womanhood. If only +every teacher were able to make each lesson a vital prophecy of what the +pupil is to be and to do twenty years hence, then that lesson would +become a condition precedent to the pupil's future behavior. + +=Outlook.=--Groping about in the twilight of possibilities we speculate +in a mild and superficial way as to the extent to which heredity, +environment, and education either singly or in combination are +determining factors in human behavior. But when no definite answer is +forthcoming we lose interest in the subject and have recourse to the +traditional methods of our grandfathers. We lose sight of the fact that +in our quest for the solution of this problem we are coming nearer and +nearer to the answer to the perennial question, What is education? +Hence, neither the time nor the effort is wasted that we devote to this +study. We may not understand heredity; we may find ourselves bewildered +by environment; we may not apprehend what education is; but by keeping +all these closely associated with behavior in our thinking we shall be +the gainers. + +=Long division ramified.=--We are admonished so to organize the +activities of the school that they may function in behavior. That is an +admonition of stupendous import as we discover when we attempt to +compass the content of behavior. One of the activities of the school is +Long Division. This is relatively simple, but the possible behavior in +which it may function is far less simple. In the past, this same Long +Division has functioned in the Brooklyn Bridge, in the Hoosac Tunnel, +and Washington Monument, in the Simplon Pass, and in Eiffel Tower. It +has helped us to travel up the mountain side on funicular railways, +underneath rivers and cities by means of subways, under the ocean in +submarines, and in the air by means of aircraft, and over the tops of +cities on elevated railways. Only the prophet would have the temerity to +predict what further achievements the future holds in store. But all +that has been done and all that will yet be done are only a part of the +behavior in which this activity functions. + +=Behavior amplified.=--Human behavior runs the entire gamut, from the +bestial to the sublime, with all the gradations between. It has to do +with the mean thief who pilfers the petty treasures of the little child, +and with the high-minded philanthropist who walks and works in obedience +to the behests of altruism. It includes the frowzy slattern who offends +the sight and also the high-born lady of quality whose presence exhales +and, therefore, inspires to, refinement and grace. It has to do with the +coarse boor who defiles with his person and his speech and the courtly, +cultured gentleman who becomes the exemplar of those who come under his +influence. It touches the depraved gamin of the alley and the celebrated +scholar whose pen and voice shed light and comfort. It concerns itself +with the dark lurking places of the prowlers of the night who prey upon +innocence, virtue, and prosperity and with the cultured home whose +members make and glorify civilization. + +=Its scope.=--It swings through the mighty arc, from the anarchist +plotting devastation and death up to Socrates inciting his friends to +good courage as he drinks the hemlock. It takes cognizance of the slave +in his cabin no less than of Lincoln in his act of setting the slaves +free. It touches the extremes in Mrs. Grundy and Clara Barton. It +concerns itself with Medea scattering the limbs of her murdered brother +along the way to delay her pursuers and with Antigone performing the +rites of burial over the body of her brother that his soul might live +forever. It has to do with Circe, who transformed men into pigs, and +with Frances Willard, who sought to restore lost manhood. It includes +all that pertains to Lucrezia Borgia and Mary Magdalene; Nero and +Phillips Brooks; John Wilkes Booth and Nathan Hale; Becky Sharp and +Evangeline; Goneril and Cordelia; and Benedict Arnold and George +Washington. + +=Behavior in history.=--Before the teacher can win a starting-point in +her efforts to organize the activities of her school in such a manner +that they may function in behavior, she must have a pretty clear notion +as to what behavior really is. To gain this comprehensive notion she +must review in her thinking the events that make up history. In the +presence of each one of these events she must realize that this is the +behavior in which antecedent activities functioned. Then she will be +free to speculate upon the character of those activities, what +modifications, accretions, or abrasions they experienced in passing from +the place of their origin to the event before her, and whether like +activities in another place or another age would function in a similar +event. She need not be discouraged if she finds no adequate answer, for +she will be the better teacher because of the speculation, even lacking +a definite answer. + +=Machinery.=--She must challenge every piece of machinery that meets her +gaze with the question "Whence camest thou?" She knows, in a vague way, +that it is the product of mind, but she needs to know more. She needs to +know that the machine upon which she is looking did not merely happen, +but that it has a history as fascinating as any romance if only she +cause it to give forth a revelation of itself. She may find in tracing +the evolution of the plow that the original was the forefinger of some +cave man, in the remote past. For a certainty, she will find, lurking +in some machine, in some form, the multiplication table, and this fact +will form an interesting nexus between behavior in the form of the +machine and the activities of the school. She will be delighted to learn +that no machine was ever constructed without the aid of the +multiplication table, and when she is teaching this table thereafter she +does the work with keener zest, knowing that it may function in another +machine. + +=Art.=--When she looks at the "Captive Andromache" by Leighton she is +involved in a network of speculations. She wonders by what devious ways +the mind of the artist had traveled in reaching this type and example of +behavior. She wonders whether the artistic impulse was born in him or +whether it was acquired. She sees that he knew his Homer and she would +be glad to know just how his reading of the "Iliad" had come to function +in this particular picture. She further wonders what lessons in drawing +and painting the artist had had in the schools that finally culminated +in this masterpiece, and whether any of his classmates ever achieved +distinction as artists. She wonders, too, whether there is an embryo +artist in her class and what she ought to do in the face of that +possibility. Again she wonders how geography, grammar, and spelling can +be made to function in such a painting as Rosa Bonheur's "The Plough +Oxen," and her wonder serves to invest these subjects with new meaning +and power. + +=Shakespeare.=--In the school at Stratford they pointed out to her the +desk at which Shakespeare sat as a lad, with all its boyish +hieroglyphics, and her thought instinctively leaped across the years to +"The Tempest," "King Lear," and "Hamlet." She pondered deeply the +relation between the activities of the lad and the behavior of the man, +wondering how much the school had to do with the plays that stand alone +in literature, and whether he imbibed the power from associations, from +books, from people, or from his ancestors. She wondered what magic +ingredient had been dropped into the activities of his life that had +proven the determining factor in the plays that set him apart among men. +She realizes that his behavior was distinctive, and she fain would +discover the talisman whose potent influence determined the bent and +power of his mind. And she wonders, again, whether any pupil in her +school may ever exemplify such behavior. + +=History.=--When she reads her history she has a keener, deeper, and +wider interest than ever before, for she now realizes that every event +of history is an effect, whose inciting causes lie back in the years, +and is not fortuitous as she once imagined. She realizes that the +historical event may have been the convergence of many lines of thinking +emanating from widely divergent sources, and this conception serves to +make her interest more acute. In thus reasoning from effect back to +cause she gains the ability to reason from cause to effect and, +therefore, her teaching of history becomes far more vital. She is +studying the philosophy of history and not a mere catalogue of isolated +and unrelated facts. History is a great web, and in the events she sees +the pattern that minds have worked. She is more concerned now with the +reactions of her pupils to this pattern than she is with mere names and +dates, for these reactions give her a clew to tendencies on the part of +her pupils that may lead to results of vast import. + +=Poetry.=--In every poem she reads she finds an illustration of mental +and spiritual behavior, and she fain would find the key that will +discover the mental operations that conditioned the form of the poem. +She would hark back to the primal impulse of each bit of imagery, and +she analyzes and appraises each word and line with the zeal and skill of +a connoisseur. She would estimate justly and accurately the activities +that functioned in this sort of behavior. She seeks for the influences +of landscapes, of sky, of birds, of sunsets, of clouds,--in short, of +all nature, as well as of the manifestations of the human soul. Thus the +teacher gains access into the very heart of nature and life and can thus +cause the poem to become a living thing to her pupils. In all literature +she is ever seeking for the inciting causes; for only so can she prove +an inspiring guide and counselor in pointing to them the way toward +worthy achievements. + +=Attitude of teacher.=--In conclusion, then, we may readily distinguish +the vitalized teacher from the traditional teacher by her attitude +toward the facts set down in the books. The traditional teacher looks +upon them as mere facts to be noted, connoted, memorized, reproduced, +and graded, whereas the vitalized teacher regards them as types of +behavior, as ultimate effects of mental and spiritual activities. The +traditional teacher knows that seven times nine are sixty-three, and +that is quite enough for her purpose. If the pupil recites the fact +correctly, she gives him a perfect grade and recommends him for +promotion. For the vitalized teacher the bare fact is not enough. She +does not disdain or neglect the mechanics of her work, but she sees +beyond the present. She sees this same fact merging into the operations +of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, physics, and engineering, +until it finally functions in some enterprise that redounds to the +well-being of humanity. + +=Conclusion.=--To her every event of history, every fact of mathematics +and science, every line of poetry, every passage of literature is +pregnant with meaning, dynamic, vibrant, dramatic, and prophetic. +Nothing can be dull or prosaic to her electric touch. All the facts of +the books, all the emotions of life, and all the beauties of nature she +weaves into the fabric of her dreams for her pupils. The goal of her +aspirations is far ahead, and around this goal she sees clustered those +who were her pupils. In every recitation this goal looms large in her +vision. She can envisage the viewpoint of her pupils, and thus strives +to have them envisage hers. She yearns to have them join with her in +looking down through the years when the activities of the school will be +functioning in worthy behavior. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Discuss the relative importance of environment as a factor in the +behavior of plants; animals; children; men. + +2. How may an understanding of the mutual reaction of the child and his +environment assist the teacher in planning for character building in +pupils? + +3. Make specific suggestions by which children may influence their +environment. + +4. Discuss the vitalized teacher's contribution to the environment of +the child. + +5. After reading this chapter give your definition of "behavior." + +6. Discuss the author's idea of leadership. + +7. Define education in terms of behavior, environment, and heredity. + +8. Account for the difference in behavior of some of the characters +mentioned in the chapter. + +9. How may the vitalized teacher be distinguished from the traditional +teacher in her attitude toward facts? + +10. Discuss the doctrine of educational predestination. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +BOND AND FREE + + +=Spiritual freedom.=--There is no slavery more abject than the bondage +of ignorance. John Bunyan was not greatly inconvenienced by being +incarcerated in jail. His spirit could not be imprisoned, but the +imprisonment of his body gave his mind and spirit freedom and +opportunity to do work that, otherwise, might not have been done. If he +had lived a mere physical life and had had no resources of the mind upon +which to draw, his experience in the jail would have been most irksome. +But, being equipped with mental and spiritual resources, he could smile +disdain at prison bars, and proceed with his work in spiritual freedom. +Had he been dependent solely, or even mainly, upon food, sleep, drink, +and other contributions to his physical being for his definition of +life, then his whole life would have been restricted to the limits of +his cell; but the more extensive and expansive resources of his life +rendered the jail virtually nonexistent. + +=Illustrations.=--It is possible, therefore, so to furnish the mind that +it can enjoy freedom in spite of any bondage to which the body may be +subjected. Indeed, the whole process of education has as its large +objective the freedom of the mind and spirit. Knowledge of truth gives +freedom; ignorance of truth is bondage. A man's knowledge may be +measured by the extent of his freedom; his ignorance, by the extent of +his bondage. In the presence of truth the man who knows stands free and +unabashed, while the man who does not know stands baffled and +embarrassed. In a chemical laboratory the man who knows chemistry moves +about with ease and freedom, while the man who does not know chemistry +stands fixed in one spot, fearing to move lest he may cause an +explosion. To the man who knows astronomy the sky at night presents a +marvelous panorama full of interest and inspiration, to the man who is +ignorant of astronomy the same sky is merely a dome studded with dots of +light. + +=Rome.=--The man who lacks knowledge of history is utterly bewildered +and ill at ease in the Capitoline Museum at Rome. All about him are +busts that represent the men who made Roman history, but they have no +meaning for him. Nero and Julius Cæsar are mere names to him and, as +such, bear no relation to life. Cicero and Caligula might exchange +places and it would be all one to him. He takes a fleeting glance at the +statue of the Dying Gaul, but it conveys no meaning to him. He has +neither read nor heard of Byron's poem which this statue inspired. He +sees near by the celebrated Marble Faun, but he has not read Hawthorne's +romance and therefore the statue evokes no interest. In short, he is +bored and uncomfortable, and importunes his companions to go elsewhere. + +When he looks out upon the Forum he says it looks the same to him as any +other stone quarry, and he roundly berates the shiftlessness of the +Romans in permitting the Coliseum to remain when the stone could be used +for building purposes, for bridges, and for paving. The Tiber impresses +him not at all for, as he says, he has seen much larger rivers and, +certainly, many whose water is more clear. In the Sistine Chapel he +cannot be persuaded to give more than a passing glance at the ceiling +because it makes his neck ache to look up. The Laocoön and Apollo +Belvedere he will not see, giving as a reason that he is more than tired +of looking at silly statuary. He feels it an imposition that he should +be dragged around to such places when he cares nothing for them. His +evident boredom is pathetic, and he repeatedly says that he'd far rather +be visiting in the corner grocery back home, than to be spending his +time in the Vatican. + +=Contrasts.=--In this, he speaks but the simple truth. In the grocery he +has comfort while, in the Vatican, he is in bondage. His ignorance of +art, architecture, history, and literature reduces him to thralldom in +any place that exemplifies these. In the grocery he has comfort because +he can have a share in the small talk and gossip that obtain there. His +companions speak his language and he feels himself to be one of them. +Were they, by any chance, to begin a discussion of history he would feel +himself ostracized and would leave them to their own devices. If they +would retain him as a companion they must keep within his range of +interests and thinking. To go outside his small circle is to offer an +affront. He cannot speak the language of history, or science, or art, +and so experiences a feeling of discomfort in any presence where this +language is spoken. + +=History.=--In this concrete illustration we find ample justification +for the teaching of history in the schools. History is one of the large +strands in the web of life, and to neglect this study is to deny to the +pupil one of the elements of freedom. It is not easy to conceive a +situation that lacks the element of history in one or another of its +phases or manifestations. Whether the pupil travels, or embarks upon a +professional life, or associates, in any relation, with cultivated +people, he will find a knowledge of history not only a convenience but a +real necessity, if he is to escape the feeling of thralldom. The +utilitarian value of school studies has been much exploited, and that +phase is not to be neglected; but we need to go further in estimating +the influence of any study. We need to inquire not only how a knowledge +of the study will aid the pupil in his work, but also how it will +contribute to his life. + +=Restricted concepts.=--We lustily proclaim our country to be the land +of the free, but our notion of freedom is much restricted. In the +popular conception freedom has reference to the body. A man can walk the +streets without molestation and can vote his sentiments at the polls, +but he may not be able to take a day's ride about Concord and Lexington +with any appreciable sense of freedom. He may walk about the +Congressional Library and feel himself in prison. He may desert a +lecture for the saloon in the interests of his own comfort. He may find +the livery stable more congenial than the drawing-room. His body may +experience a sort of freedom while his mind and spirit are held fast in +the shackles of ignorance. A Burroughs, an Edison, a Thoreau, might have +his feet in the stocks and still have more freedom than such a man as +this. He walks about amid historic scenes with his spiritual eyes +blindfolded, and that condition of mind precludes freedom. + +=Real freedom.=--We shall not attain our high privileges as a free +people until freedom comes to mean more than the absence of physical +restraint. Our conception of freedom must reach out into the world of +mind and spirit, and our educational processes must esteem it their +chief function to set mental and spiritual prisoners free. We have only +to read history, science, and literature to realize what sublime heights +mind can attain in its explorations of the realms of truth, and, since +the boys and girls of our schools are to pass this way but once, every +effort possible should be made to accord to them full freedom to emulate +the mental achievements of those who have gone before. They have a right +to become the equals of their predecessors, and only freedom of mind and +spirit can make them such. Every man should be larger than his task, and +only freedom of mind and spirit can make him so. The man who works in +the ditch can revel among the sublime manifestations of truth if only +his mind is rightly furnished. + +=Spelling.=--The man who is deficient in spelling inevitably confines +his vocabulary to narrow limits and so lacks facility of expression and +nicety of diction. Accordingly, he suffers by comparison with others +whose vocabulary is more extensive and whose diction is, therefore, more +elegant. The consciousness of his shortcomings restricts the exuberance +of his life, and he fails of that sense of large freedom that a +knowledge of spelling would certainly give. So that even in such an +elementary study as spelling the school has an opportunity to generate +in the pupils a feeling of freedom, and this feeling is quite as +important in the scheme of life as the ability to spell correctly. In +this statement, there is no straining for effects. On the contrary, many +illustrations might be adduced to prove that it is but a plain statement +of fact. A cultured lady confesses that she is thrown into a panic +whenever she has occasion to use the word _Tuesday_ because she is never +certain of the spelling. + +=The switchboard.=--Life may be likened to an extensive electric +switchboard, and only that man or woman has complete freedom who can +press the right button without hesitation or trepidation. The ignorant +man stands paralyzed in the presence of this mystery and knows not how +to proceed to evoke the correct response to his desires. It has been +said that everything is infinitely high that we cannot see over. Hence, +to the man who does not know, cube root is infinitely high and, as such, +is as far away from his comprehension as the fourth dimension or the +precession of the equinoxes. In the presence of even such a simple truth +as cube root he stands helpless and enthralled. He lives in a small +circle and cannot know the joy of the man whose mind forgathers with the +big truths of life. + +=Comparisons.=--The ignorant man cannot accompany this man upon his +mighty excursions, but must remain behind to make what he can of his +feeble resources. The one can penetrate the mysteries of the planets and +bring back their secrets; the other must confine his thinking to the +weather and the crops. The one can find entertainment in the Bible and +Shakespeare; the other seeks companionship among the cowboys and Indians +of the picture-films. The one sits in rapt delight through an evening of +grand opera, reveling on the sunlit summits of harmony; the other can +rise no higher in the scale of music than the raucous hand organ. The +one finds keen delight among the masterpieces of art; the other finds +his definition of art in the colored supplement. The one experiences the +acme of pleasure in communing with historians, musicians, artists, +scientists, and philologists; the other finds such associations the very +acme of boredom. The one finds freedom among the big things of life; the +other finds galling bondage. + +=Three elements of freedom.=--There are three elements of freedom that +are worthy of emphasis. These are self-reliance, self-support, and +self-respect. These elements are the trinity that constitute one of the +major ultimate aims of the vitalized school. The school that inculcates +these qualities must prove a vital force in the life of the pupil; and +the pupil who wins these qualities is well equipped for the work of real +living. These qualities are the golden gateways to freedom, nor can +there be a full measure of freedom if either of these qualities be +lacking. Moreover, these qualities are cumulative in their relations to +one another. Self-reliance leads to and engenders self-support, and both +these underlie and condition self-respect. Or, to put the case +conversely, there cannot be self-respect in the absence of self-reliance +and self-support. + +=Self-reliance.=--It would not be easy to over-magnify the influence of +the school that is rightly conducted in the way of inculcating the +quality of self-reliance and in causing it to grow into a habit. Every +problem that the boy solves by his own efforts, every obstacle that he +surmounts, every failure that he transforms into a success, and every +advance he makes towards mastery gives him a greater degree of +self-reliance, greater confidence in his powers, and greater courage to +persevere. It is the high privilege of the teacher to cause a boy to +believe in himself, to have confidence in his ability to win through. To +this end, she adds gradually to the difficulties of his work, always +keeping inside the limits of discouragement, and never fails to give +recognition to successful achievements. In this way the boy gains +self-reliance and so plumes himself for still loftier flights. Day after +day he moves upward and onward, until at length he exemplifies the +sentiment of Virgil, "They can because they think they can." + +=This quality in practice.=--The self-reliance that becomes ingrained in +a boy's habits of life will not evaporate in the heat of the activities +and competition of the after-school life. On the contrary, it will be +reënforced and crystallized by the opportunities of business or +professional life, and, in calm reliance upon his own powers, he will +welcome competition as an opportunity to put himself to the test. He is +no weakling, for in school he made his independent way in spite of the +lions in his path, and so gained fiber and courage for the contests of +daily life. And because he has industry, thrift, perseverance, and +self-reliance the gates of success swing wide open and he enters into +the heritage which he himself has won. + +=The sterling man.=--His career offers an emphatic negation to the +notion that obtains here and there to the effect that education makes a +boy weak and ineffective, robbing him of the quality of sterling +elemental manhood, and fitting him only for the dance-hall and inane +social functions. The man who is rightly trained has resources that +enable him to add dignity and character to social functions in that he +exhales power and bigness. People recognize in him a real man, capable, +alert, and potential, and gladly pay him the silent tribute that manhood +never fails to win. He can hold his own among the best, and only the +best appeal to him. + +=Self-respect.=--And, just as he wins the respect of others, so he wins +the respect of himself, and so the triumvirate of virtues is complete. +Having achieved self-respect he disdains the cheap, the bizarre, the +gaudy, and the superficial. He knows that there are real values in life +that are worthy of his powers and best efforts, and these real values +are the goal of his endeavors. Moreover, he has achieved freedom, and so +is not fettered by precedent, convention, or fads. He is free to +establish precedents, to violate the conventions when a great principle +is at stake, and to ignore fads. He can stand unabashed in the presence +of the learned of the earth, and can understand the heartbeats of life, +because he has had experience both of learning and of life. And being a +free man his life is fuller and richer, and he knows when and how to +bestow the help that will give to others a sense of freedom and make +life for them a greater boon. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Account for the production of some of our greatest religious +literature in prison or in exile. Give other instances than the one +mentioned by the author. + +2. Give your idea of the author's concept of the terms "bondage" and +"freedom." + +3. Add to the instances noted in this chapter where ignorance has +produced bondage. + +4. Defend the assertion that the cost of ignorance in our country +exceeds the cost of education. The total amount spent for public +education in 1915 slightly exceeded $500,000,000. + +5. How do the typical recitations of your school contribute to the +happiness of your pupils? Be specific. + +6. How may lack of thoroughness limit freedom? Illustrate. + +7. How may education give rise to self-reliance? Self-respect? + +8. Show that national and religious freedom depend upon education. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +EXAMINATIONS + + +=Prelude.=--When the vitalized school has finally been achieved there +will result a radical departure from the present procedure in the matter +of examinations. A teacher in the act of preparing a list of examination +questions of the traditional type is not an edifying spectacle. He has a +text-book open before him from which he extracts nuts for his pupils to +crack. It is a purely mechanical process and only a mechanician could +possibly debase intelligence and manhood to such unworthy uses. Were it +not so pathetic it would excite laughter. But this teacher is the victim +of tradition. He knows no other way. He made out examination questions +in accordance with this plan fifteen years ago and the heavens didn't +fall; then why, pray, change the method? Besides, men and women who were +thus examined when they were children in school have achieved +distinction in the world's affairs, and that, of itself, proves the +validity of the method, according to his way of thinking. + +=Mental atrophy.=--It seems never to occur to him that children have +large powers of resistance and that some of his pupils may have won +distinction in spite of his teaching and his methods of examination and +not because of them. His trouble is mental and spiritual atrophy. He +thinks and feels by rule of thumb, "without variableness or shadow of +turning." In the matter of new methods he is quite immune. He settled +things to his complete satisfaction years ago, and what was good enough +for his father, in school methods, is quite good enough for him. His +self-satisfaction would approach sublimity, were it not so extremely +ludicrous. He has a supercilious sneer for innovations. How he can bring +himself to make concessions to modernity to the extent of riding in an +automobile is one of the mysteries. + +=Self-complacency.=--His complacency would excite profound admiration +did it not betoken deadline inaction. He became becalmed on the sea of +life years ago, but does not know it. When the procession of life moves +past him he thinks he is the one who is in motion, and takes great +unction to himself for his progressiveness--"and not a wave of trouble +rolls across his peaceful breast." So he proceeds to copy another +question from the text-book, solemnly writing it on a bit of paper, and +later copying on the blackboard with such a show of bravery and gusto as +would indicate that some great truth had been revealed to him alone. In +an orotund voice he declaims to his pupils the mighty revelations that +he copied from the book. His examination régime is the old offer of a +mess of pottage for a birthright. + +=Remembering and knowing.=--In our school practices we have become so +inured to the question-and-answer method of the recitation that we have +made the examination its counterpart. As teachers we are constantly +admonishing our pupils to remember, as if that were the basic principle +in the educational process. In reality we do not want them to +remember--we want them to know; and the distinction is all-important. +The child does not remember which is his right hand; he knows. He does +not remember the face of his mother; he knows her. He does not remember +which is the sun and which is the moon; he knows. He does not remember +snow, and rain, and ice, and mud; he knows. + +=Questions and answers.=--But, none the less, we proceed upon the +agreeable assumption that education is the process of memorizing, and so +reduce our pupils to the plane of parrots; for a parrot has a prodigious +memory. Hence, it comes to pass that, in the so-called preparation of +their lessons, the pupils con the words of the book, again and again, +and when they can repeat the words of the book we smile approval and +give a perfect grade. It matters not at all that they display no +intelligent understanding of the subject so long as they can repeat the +statements of the book. It never seems to occur to the teacher that the +pupil of the third grade might give the words of the binomial theorem +without the slightest apprehension of its meaning. We grade for the +repetition of words, not for intelligence. + +=Court procedure.=--In our school practices we seem to take our cue from +court procedure and make each pupil who recites feel that he is on the +witness stand experiencing all its attendant discomforts, instead of +being a coöperating agent in an agreeable enterprise. We suspend the +sword of Damocles above his head and demand from him such answers as +will fill the measure of our preconceived notions. He may know more of +the subject, in reality, than the teacher, but this will not avail. In +fact, this may militate against him. She demands to know what the book +says, with small concern for his own knowledge of the subject. We +proclaim loudly that we must encourage the open mind, and then by our +witness-stand ordeal forestall the possibility of open-mindedness. + +=Rational methods.=--When we have learned wisdom enough, and humanity +enough, and pedagogy enough to dispense with the quasi-inquisition type +of recitation, the transition to a more rational method of examination +will be well-nigh automatic. Let it not be inferred that to inveigh +against the question-and-answer type of recitation is to advocate any +abatement of thoroughness. On the contrary, the thought is to insure +greater thoroughness, and to make evident the patent truth that +thoroughness and agreeableness are not incompatible. Experience ought to +teach us that we find it no hardship to work with supreme intensity at +any task that lures us; and, in that respect, we are but grown-up +children. We have only to generate a white-heat of interest in order to +have our pupils work with intensity. But this sort of interest does not +thrive under compulsion. + +=Analysis and synthesis.=--The question-and-answer method evermore +implies analysis. But children are inclined to synthesis, which shows at +once that the analytic method runs counter to their natural bent. They +like to make things, to put things together, to experiment along the +lines of synthesis. Hence the industrial arts appeal to them. But +constructing problems satisfies their inclination to synthesis quite as +well as constructing coat-hangers or culinary compounds, if only the +incitement is rational. The writers of our text-books are coming to +recognize this fact, and it does them credit. In time, we may hope to +have books that will take into account the child's natural inclinations, +and the schools will be the beneficiaries. + +=Thinking.=--In the process of synthesis the pupil is free to draw upon +the entire stock of his accumulated resources, whereas in the +question-and-answer method he is circumscribed. In the question-and-answer +plan he is encouraged to remember; in the other he is encouraged to think. +In our theories we exalt thinking to the highest pinnacle, but in our +practice we repress thinking and exalt memory. We admonish our pupils to +think, sometimes with a degree of emphasis that weakens our admonition, +and then bestow our laurel wreaths upon those who think little but +remember much. Our inconsistency in this respect would be amusing if the +child's interests could be ignored. But seeing that the child pays the +penalty, our inconsistency is inexcusable. + +=Penalizing.=--The question-and-answer régime, in its full application, +is not wholly unlike a punitive expedition, in that the teacher asks the +question and sits with pencil poised in air ready to blacklist the +unfortunate pupil whose memory fails him for the moment. The child is +embarrassed, if not panic-stricken, and the teacher seems more like an +avenging nemesis than a friend and helper. Just when he needs help he +receives epithets and a condemning zero. He sinks into himself, +disgusted and outraged, and becomes wholly indifferent to the subsequent +phases of the lesson. He feels that he has been trapped and betrayed, +and days are required for his redemption from discouragement. + +=Traditional method.=--In the school where this method is in vogue the +examination takes on the color and character of the recitation. At the +close of the term, or semester, the teacher makes out the proverbial ten +questions which very often reflect her own bias, or predilections, and +in these ten questions are the issues of life and death. A hundred +questions might be asked upon the subjects upon which the pupils are to +be tested, but these ten are the only ones offered--with no options. +Then the grading of the papers ensues, and, in this ordeal, the teacher +thinks herself another Atlas carrying the world upon her shoulders. The +boy who receives sixty-seven and the one who receives twenty-seven are +both banished into outer darkness without recourse. The teacher may know +that the former boy is able to do the work of the next grade, but the +marks she has made on the paper are sacred things, and he has fallen +below the requisite seventy. Hence, he is banished to the limbo of the +lost, for she is the supreme arbiter of his fate. + +No allowance is made for nervousness, illness, or temperamental +conditions, but the same measuring-rod is applied to all with no +discrimination, and she has the marks on the papers to prove her +infallibility. If a pupil should dare to question the correctness of her +grades, he would be punished or penalized for impertinence. Her grades +are oracular, inviolable, and therefore not subject to review. She may +have been quite able to grade the pupils justly without any such ordeal, +but the school has the examination habit, and all the sacred rites must +be observed. In that school there is but one way of salvation, and that +way is not subject either to repeal or amendment. It is _via sacra_ and +must not be profaned. Time and long usage have set the seal of their +approval upon it and woe betide the vandal who would dare tamper with +it. + +=Testing for intelligence.=--This emphatic, albeit true, representation +of the type of examinations that still obtains in some schools has been +set out thus in some detail that we may have a basis of comparison with +the other type of examinations that tests for intelligence rather than +for memory. For children, not unlike their elders, are glad to have +people proceed upon the assumption that they are endowed with a modicum +of intelligence. They will strive earnestly to meet the expectations of +their parents and teachers. Many wise mothers and teachers have incited +children to their best efforts by giving them to know that much is +expected of them. It is always far better to expect rather than to +demand. Coercion may be necessary at times, but coercion frowns while +expectation smiles. Hence, in every school exercise the teacher does +well to concede to the pupils a reasonable degree of intelligence and +then let her expectations be commensurate with their intelligence. + +=Concessions.=--It is an affront to the intelligence of a child not to +concede that he knows that the days are longer in the summer than in +winter. We may fully expect such a degree of intelligence, and base our +teaching upon this assumption. In our examinations we pay a delicate +compliment to the child by giving him occasion for thinking. We may ask +him why the days are longer in summer than in winter and thus give him +the feeling that we respect his intelligence. Our examinations may +always assume observed facts. Even if he has never noted the fact that +his shadow is shorter in summer than in winter, if we assume such +knowledge on his part and ask him why such is the case, we shall +stimulate his powers of observation along with his thinking. If the +teacher asks a boy when and by whom America was discovered, he resents +the implication of crass ignorance; but if she asks how Columbus came to +discover America in 1492, he feels that it is conceded that there are +some things he knows. + +=Illustrations.=--If we ask for the width of the zones, we are placing +the emphasis upon memory; but, if we ask them to account for the width +of the zones, we are assuming some knowledge and are testing for +intelligent thinking. If we ask why the sun rises in the east and sets +in the west we are, once again, assuming a knowledge of the facts and +testing for intelligence. If we ask for the location of the Suez, Kiel, +and Welland canals, we are testing for mere memory; but, if we ask what +useful purpose these canals serve, we are testing for intelligence. When +we ask pupils to give the rule for division of fractions, we are testing +again for mere memory; but when we ask why we invert the terms of the +divisor, we are treating our pupils as rational beings. Our pedagogical +sins bulk large in geography when we continually ask pupils to locate +places that have no interest for them. Such teaching is a travesty on +pedagogy and a sin against childhood. + +=Intelligence of teacher.=--If the teacher is consulting her own ease +and comfort, then she will conduct the examination as a test for memory. +It requires but little work and less thinking to formulate a set of +examination questions on this basis. She has only to turn the pages of +the text-book and make a check-mark here and there till she has +accumulated ten questions, and the trick is done. But if she is testing +for intelligence, the matter is not so simple. To test for intelligence +requires intelligence and a careful thinking over the whole scope of the +subject under consideration. To do this effectively the teacher must +keep within the range of the pupil's powers and still stimulate him to +his best efforts. + +=Major and minor.=--She must distinguish between major and minor, and +this is no slight task. Her own bias may tend to elevate a minor into a +major rank, and this disturbs the balance. Again, she must see things in +their right relations and proportions, and this requires deliberate +thinking. In "King Lear" she may regard the Fool as a negligible minor, +but some pupil may have discovered that Shakespeare intended this +character to serve a great dramatic purpose, and the teacher suffers +humiliation before her class. If she were testing for memory, she would +ask the class to name ten characters of the play and like hackneyed +questions, so that her own intelligence would not be put to the test. +Accurate scholarship and broad general intelligence may be combined in +the same person and, certainly, we are striving to inculcate and foster +these qualities in our pupils. + +=Books of questions and answers.=--When the examinations for teachers +shall become tests for intelligence and not for memory, we may fully +expect to find the same principle filtering into our school practices. +It is a sad travesty upon education that teachers, even in this +enlightened age, still try to prepare for examinations by committing to +memory questions and answers from some book or educational paper. But +the fault lies not so much with the teachers themselves as with those +who prepare the questions. The teachers have been led to believe that to +be able to recall memorized facts is education. There are those, of +course, who will commercialize this misconception of education by +publishing books of questions and answers. Of course weak teachers will +purchase these books, thinking them a passport into the promised land. + +The reform must come at the source of the questions that constitute the +examination. When examiners have grown broad enough in their conception +of education to construct questions that will test for intelligence, we +shall soon be rid of such an incubus upon educational progress as a book +of questions and answers. The field is wide and alluring. History, +literature, the sciences, and the languages are rich in material that +can be used in testing for intelligence, and we need not resort to petty +chit-chat in preparing for examinations. + +=The way of reform.=--We must take this broader view of the whole +subject of examinations before we can hope to emerge from our beclouded +and restricted conceptions of education. And it can be done, as we know +from the fact that it is being done. Here and there we find +superintendents, principals, and teachers who are shuddering away from +the question-and-answer method both in the recitation and in the +examination. They have outgrown the swaddling-clothes and have risen to +the estate of broad-minded, intelligent manhood and womanhood. They have +enlarged their concept of education and have become too generous in +their impulses to subject either teachers or pupils to an ordeal that is +a drag upon their mental and spiritual freedom. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. What purposes are actually achieved by examinations? + +2. What evils necessarily accompany examinations? What evils usually +accompany them? + +3. Outline a plan by which these purposes may be achieved unaccompanied +by the usual evils. + +4. Is memory of facts the best test of knowledge? Suggest other tests by +which the value of a pupil's knowledge may be judged. + +5. Experts sometimes vary more than 70 per cent in grading the same +manuscript. The same person often varies 20 per cent or more in grading +the same manuscript at different times. An experiment with your own +grading might prove interesting. + +6. Do you and your pupils in actual practice regard examinations as an +end or as a means to an end? As corroborating evidence or as a final +proof of competence? + +7. How may examinations test intelligence? + +8. Suggest methods by which pupils may be led to distinguish major from +minor and to see things in their right relations. + +9. Is it more desirable to have the pupils develop these powers or to +memorize facts? Why? + +10. Why are "question and answer" publications antagonistic to modern +educational practice? Why harmful to students? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +WORLD-BUILDING + + +=An outline.=--Education is the process of world-building. Every man +builds his own world and is confined, throughout life, to the world +which he himself builds. He cannot build for another, nor can another +build for him. Neither can there be an exchange of worlds. Moreover, the +process of building continues to the end of life. In building their +respective worlds all men have access to the same materials, and the +character of each man's world, then, is conditioned by his choice and +use of these materials. If one man elects to build a small world for +himself, he will find, at hand, an abundant supply of petty materials +that he is free to use in its construction. But, if he elects to build a +large world, the big things of life are his to use. If he chooses to +spend his life in an ugly world, he will find ample materials for his +purpose. If, however, he prefers a beautiful world, the materials will +not be lacking, and he will have the joy and inspiration that come from +spending a lifetime amid things that are fraught with beauty. + +=Exemplifications.=--This conception of education is not a figment of +fancy but a reality whose verification can be attested by a thousand +examples. We have only to look about us to see people who are living +among things that are unbeautiful and who might be living in beautiful +worlds had they elected to do so. Others are spending their lives among +things that are trivial and inconsequential, apparently blind to the +great and significant things that lie all about them. Some build their +worlds with the minor materials, while others select the majors. Some +select the husks, while others choose the grain. Some build their worlds +from the materials that others disdain and seem not to realize the +inferiority of their worlds as compared with others. Their supreme +complacency in the midst of the ugliness or pettiness of their worlds +seems to accentuate the conclusion that they have not been able to see, +or else have not been able to use, the other materials that are +available. + +=Flowers.=--To the man who would live in a beautiful world flowers will +be a necessity. To such a man life would be robbed of some of its charm +if his world should lack flowers. But unless he has subjective flowers +he cannot have objective ones. He must have a sensory foundation that +will react to flowers or there can be no flowers in his world. There may +be flowers upon his breakfast table, but unless he has a sensory +foundation that will react to them they will be nonexistent to him. He +can react to the bacon, eggs, and potatoes, but not to the flowers, +unless he has cultivated flowers in his spirit before coming to the +table. + +=Lily-of-the-valley civilization.=--All the flowers that grow may adorn +his world if he so elects. He may be content with dandelions and +sunflowers if he so wills, or he may reach forth and gather about him +for his delight the entire gamut of roses from the Maryland to the +American Beauty, the violet and its college-bred descendant the pansy, +the heliotrope, the gladiolus, the carnation, the primrose, the +chrysanthemum, the sweet pea, the aster, and the orchid. But, if he can +reach the high plane of the lily-of-the-valley, in all its daintiness, +delicacy, chastity, and fragrance, he will have achieved distinction. +When society shall have attained to the lily-of-the-valley plane, life +will be fine, fragrant, and beautiful. Intemperance will be no more, and +profanity, vulgarity, and coarseness will disappear. Such things cannot +thrive in a lily-of-the-valley world, but shrink away from the presence +of beauty and purity. + +=Music.=--Again, the man who is building such a world will elect to have +music as one of the elements. But here, again, we find that he must have +a sensory foundation or there will be no music for him. Moreover, the +nature of this sensory foundation will determine the character of the +music to be found in his world. He may be satisfied with "Tipperary" or +he may yearn for Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Melba, and +Schumann-Heink. He may not be able to rise above the plane of ragtime, +or he may attain to the sublime plane of "The Dead March in Saul." He +has access to all the music from the discordant hand organ to the +oratorio and grand opera. In his introduction of a concert company, the +chairman said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the artists who are to favor us +this evening will render nothing but high-grade selections. If any of +you are inclined to be critical and to say that their music is above +your heads, I beg to remind you that it will not be above the place +where your heads ought to be." In substance he was saying that the +nature of the music depended not so much upon the singers as upon the +sensory foundation of the auditors. + +=Music and life.=--Having a sensory foundation capable of reacting to +the best music, this man opens wide the portals of his world for the +reception of the orchestra, the concert, the opera, and the choir, and +his spirit revels in the "concord of sweet sounds." Through the toil of +the day he anticipates the music of the evening, and the next day he +goes to his work buoyant and rejuvenated by reason of the musical +refreshment. He has music in anticipation and music in retrospect, and +thus his world is regaled with harmony. His world cannot be a dead level +or a desert, for it is diversified by the alluring undulations of music +and made fertile by the perennial fountains of inspiring harmony, and +his world + + "shall be filled with music + And the cares that infest the day + Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, + And as silently steal away." + +=Children.=--Again, this man elects to have children in his world, for +he has come to know that there is no sweeter music on earth than the +laughter of a child. Were he sojourning five hundred miles away from the +abode of children he would soon be glad to walk the entire distance that +he might again hear the prattle, the laughter, or even the crying of a +child. Cowboys on the plains have been thrown into a frenzy of delight +at the sight of a little child. Full well the man knows that, if he +would have children in his world, he must find these children for +himself; for this task may not be delegated. If he would bring Paul and +Florence Dombey into his world, he must win them to himself by living +with them throughout all the pages of the book. In order to lure +Pollyanna into his world to imbue it with the spirit of gladness, he +must establish a community of interests with her by imbibing her spirit +as revealed in the book. + +=Characterizations.=--He may not have Little Joe in his world unless his +spirit becomes attuned to the pathos of _Bleak House_. And he both wants +and needs Little Joe. Echoing and reëchoing through his soul each day +are the words of the little chap, "He wuz good to me, he wuz," and +acting vicariously for the little fellow he touches the lives of other +unfortunates as the hours go by and brings to them sunshine and hope and +courage. And he must needs have Tiny Tim, also, to banish the cobwebs +from his soul with his fervent "God bless us every one." The day cannot +go far wrong with this simple prayer clinging in his memory. It +permeates the perplexities of the day, gives resiliency to his spirit, +and encourages and reënforces all the noble impulses that come into his +consciousness. Wherever he goes and whatever he is doing he feels that +Tiny Tim is present to bestow his childish benediction. + +=Lessons from childhood.=--In _Laddie_ he finds a whole family of +children to his liking and feels that his world is the better for their +presence. To _Old Curiosity Shop_ and _Silas Marner_ he goes and brings +thence Little Nell and Eppie, feeling that in their boon companionship +they will make his world more attractive to himself and others by their +gentle graces of kindness and helpfulness. In his quest for children of +the right sort he lingers long with Dickens, the apostle and benefactor +of childhood, but passes by the colored supplement. For all the children +in his world he would have the approval and blessing of the Master. He +would know, when he hears the words "Except ye become as little +children," that reference is made to such children as he has about him. +At the feet of these children he sits and learns the lessons of +sincerity, guilelessness, simplicity, and faith, and through their eyes +he sees life glorified. + +=Stars=.--Nor must his world lack stars. He needs these to draw his +thoughts away from sordid things out into the far spaces. He would not +spend a lifetime thinking of nothing beyond the weather, the ball-score, +his clothes, and his ailments. He wants to think big thoughts, and he +would have stars to guide him. He knows that a man is as high, as broad, +and as deep as his thoughts, and that if he would grow big in his +thinking he must have big objects to engage his thoughts. He would +explore the infinite spaces, commune with the planets in their courses, +attain the sublime heights where the masters have wrought, and discover, +if possible, the sources of power, genius, and inspiration. He would +find delight in the colors of the rainbow, the glory of the morning, and +the iridescence of the dewdrop. He would train his thoughts to scan the +spaces behind the clouds, to transcend the snow-capped mountain, and to +penetrate the depths of the sea. He would visualize creation, evolution, +and the intricate processes of life. So he must have stars in his world. + +=Books.=--In addition to all these he must have books in his world, and +he is cognizant of the fact that his neighbors judge both himself and +his world by the character of the books he selects. He may select _Mrs. +Wiggs_ or _Les Miserables_. If he elects to have about him books of the +cabbage patch variety, he condemns himself to that sort of reading for a +whole lifetime. Nor is any redemption possible from such standards save +by his own efforts. Neither men nor angels can draw him up to the plane +of Victor Hugo if he elects to abide in the cabbage patch. If he prefers +_Graustark_ to _Macbeth_, all people, including his dearest friends, +will go on their way and leave him to his choice. If he says he cannot +read Shakespeare, Massinger, Milton, or Wordsworth, he does no violence +to the reputation of these writers, but merely defines and classifies +himself. + +=Authors as companions.=--Having learned or sensed these distinctions, +he elects to consort with Burns, Keats, Shelley, Southey, Homer, Dante, +Virgil, Hawthorne, Scott, Maupassant, Goethe, Schiller, and George +Eliot. In such society he never has occasion to explain or apologize for +his companions. He reads their books in the open and gains a feeling of +elation and exaltation. When he would see life in the large, he sits +before the picture of Jean Valjean. When he would see integrity and +fidelity in spite of suffering, he sits before the portrait of Job. When +he would see men of heroic size, he has the characters of Homer file by. +If he would see the panorama of the emotions of the human soul, he +selects Hugo as his guide. If he would laugh, he reads _Tam O'Shanter_; +if he would weep, he reads of the death of Little Nell. If he would see +real heroism, he follows Sidney Carton to the scaffold, or Esther into +the presence of the King. He goes to Shelley's _Skylark_ to find beauty, +Burns's _Highland Mary_ to find tenderness, Hawthorne's _Scarlet Letter_ +to find tragedy, and the _Book of Job_ to find sublimity. Through his +books he comes to know Quasimodo and Sir Galahad; Becky Sharp and +Penelope; Aaron Burr and Enoch Arden; and Herodias and Florence +Nightingale. + +=People.=--But his world would be incomplete without people, and here, +again, he is free to choose. And, since he wants people in his world who +will be constant reminders to him of qualities that he himself would +cultivate, he selects Ruth and Jephthah's daughter to represent +fidelity. When temptation assails him he finds them ready to lead him +back and up to the plane of high resolves. To remind him of indomitable +courage and perseverance he selects William the Silent, Christopher +Columbus, and Moses. When his courage is waning and he is becoming +flaccid and indolent, their very presence is a rebuke, and a survey of +their achievements restores him to himself. As examples of patriotic +thinking and action he invites into his world Samuel Adams, Thomas +Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. They remind him that he is a product +of the past and that it devolves upon him to pass on to posterity +without spot or blemish the heritage that has come to him through the +patriotic service and sacrifice of his progenitors. + +=Influence of people.=--That he may never lose sight of the fact that it +is cowardly and degrading to recede from high ideals he opens the doors +of his world for Milton, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo. Their superb +achievements, considered in connection with their afflictions and +hardships, are a source of inspiration to him and keep him up to his +best. As a token of his appreciation of these exemplars he strives to +excel himself, thus proving himself a worthy disciple. They need not +chide him, for in their presence he cannot do otherwise than hold fast +to his ideals and struggle upward with a courage born of inspiration. +Living among such goodly people, he finds his world resplendent with the +virtues that prove a halo to life. With such people about him he can be +neither lonely nor despondent. If the cares of life fret him for the +moment, he takes counsel with them and his equilibrium is restored. In +their company he finds life a joyous experience, for their very presence +exhales the qualities that make life worth while. + +As an inevitable result of all the influences that constitute his world +he finds himself yearning for meliorism as the crownpiece. Drinking from +the fount of inspiration that gushes forth at the behest of all these +wholesome influences, he longs for betterment. Good as he finds the +things about him, he feels that they are not yet good enough. So he +becomes the eloquent apostle of meliorism, proclaiming his gospel +without abatement. The roads are not good enough, and he would have +better ones. Our houses are not good enough, and he would have people +design and build better ones. Our music is not good enough as yet, and +he would encourage men and women to write better. Our books are not good +enough, and he would incite people to write better ones. Our conduct of +civic affairs is not good enough, and he would stimulate society to +strive for civic betterment. Our municipal government is not good +enough, and he proclaims the need to make improvement. Our national +government is not all that it might be, and he would have all people +join in a benevolent conspiracy to make it better. + +=Influence of the school.=--Thus day by day this man continues the +building of a world for himself. And day by day he strives to make his +world better, not only as an abiding place for himself but also as an +example for others. In short, this man is a product of the vitalized +school, and is weaving into the pattern of his life the teachings of the +school. In exuberance of spirit and in fervent gratitude he looks back +to the school that taught him to know that education is the process of +world-building. And to the school he gives the credit for the large and +beautiful world in which he lives. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Show how the world that one builds depends upon one's own choosing. + +2. Do people seem to realize this truth when they do not build their +world as they might? If pupils fail to realize it, what can the teacher +do to help them? + +3. Suppose a pupil is interested in petty things; the school must +utilize his interests. How can this be done? How can he be led to larger +aims? + +4. To what extent does the richness of our lives depend on the way we +react to stimuli? + +5. Explain how each of the influences alluded to in this chapter helps +the teacher. + +6. Why does the character of the books one reads most serve as an index +of one's own character? + +7. What do you think of a person who prefers new books? + +8. What do you think of one who prefers sensational books? + +9. Why is it especially important for a teacher to be thoroughly +acquainted with the great characters of history? + +10. Does acquaintance with the great in history tend to produce merely a +good static character, or does it do more? + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL + + +=The school an expression of the teacher.=--The vitalized school may be +a school of one room or of forty rooms; it may be in the city, in the +village, in the hamlet, or in the heart of the country; it may be a +kindergarten, a grade school, a high school, or a college. The size or +the location of the school does not determine its vital quality. This, +on the contrary, is determined by the character of its work and the +spirit that obtains. In general it may be said that the vitalized +teacher renders the school vital. This places upon her a large measure +of responsibility, but she accepts it with equanimity, and rejoices in +the opportunity to test out her powers. It needs to be oft repeated that +if the teacher is static, the school will be static; but if the teacher +is dynamic, the school will be dynamic. The teacher can neither +delegate, abrogate, abate, nor abridge her responsibility. The school is +either vitalized or it is not, according to what the teacher is and +does, and what the teacher does depends upon what she is. In short, the +school is an expression of the teacher, and, if the school is not +vitalized, the reason is not far to seek. + +=A centralized school.=--For the purpose of illustration we may assume +that the typical vitalized school is located in the country, and is what +is known as a centralized school. The grounds comprise about ten acres, +and the building contains, all told, not fewer than twenty rooms, large +and small. This building was designed by a student of school problems, +and is not merely a theory of the architect. Each room, and each detail, +articulates with every other room in harmony with a general scheme of +which the child and his interests are the prime considerations. The +well-being of the child takes precedence over the reputation of the +architect. Every nook of the building has its specific function, and +this function has vital reference to the child. The location of each +piece of furniture can be explained from the viewpoint of the child, and +the architectural scheme is considered subsidiary. The seats conform to +the child, and not the reverse. The scheme of lighting concerns itself +with the child's welfare rather than with the external appearance. + +=Integrity in construction and decoration.=--The decorations throughout +the building are all chaste and artistic. Nothing below this standard +can win admission. No picture is admitted that does not represent art. +The theory is that the school has a reflex influence upon the homes that +attracts them to its standards, and experience reveals the fact that the +decorations in the homes are constantly rising in artistic tone. The +standards of the school become the standards of the pupils, and the +pupils, in turn, modify and improve the standards of the homes. There is +a degree of simplicity and dignity throughout the building that banishes +from the homes the ornate and the bizarre. There is integrity in every +detail of construction, and the absence of veneer gives to the pupils a +definition of honesty and sincerity. There is nothing either in the +building or in the work of the school that savors of the show element. +The teachers of history and mathematics cannot display the products of +their teaching and, therefore, there is no display of her products by +the teacher of drawing. This school believes in education but not in +exhibition. Words of commendation may be dispensed in the classrooms, +but there is no exhibit of any department in the halls. The teachers are +too polite and too considerate to sanction any such display. + +=Simplicity and sincerity.=--The library is notable for the character +of the books, but not for the number. The teachers and pupils are too +genuine ever to become thrasonical, and no teacher or pupil is ever +heard to boast of anything pertaining to the school. They neither boast +nor apologize, but leave every visitor free to make his own appraisement +of their school and its belongings. The teachers are too truly cultured +and the pupils are too well trained ever to exploit themselves, their +school, or their work. The pictures, the statuary, the fittings, and the +equipment are all of the best, and, hence, show for themselves without +exploitation. To teachers and pupils it would seem a mark of +ill-breeding to expatiate upon their own things. Such a thing is simply +not done in this school. The auditorium is a stately, commodious, and +beautiful room, and everybody connected with the school accepts it as a +matter of course with no boastful comment. Anything approaching +braggadocio would prove a discordant note in this school, and, in this +respect, it represents the American ideal that is to be. + +=Rooms are phases of life.=--The home economics room, the industrial +arts room, the laboratories, the dining room, the rest rooms, and the +hospital room are all supplied with suitable fittings and equipment and +all represent phases of life. At luncheon each pupil is served a bowl of +soup or other hot dish to supplement his own private lunch, and this +food is supplied at public expense. The school authorities have the +wisdom to realize that health is an asset of the community and is +fundamental in effective school work. The pupils serve their schoolmates +in relays, wash the dishes, and restore them to their places. The boys +do not think they demean themselves by such service, but enter into it +in the true spirit of democracy. A teacher is present to modify and +chasten the hurry and heedlessness of childhood, and there is decorum +without apparent repression. + +=Industrial work.=--In connection with the industrial arts department +there is a repair shop where all the implements that are used in caring +for the school farm, gardens, orchards, and lawns are kept in repair. +Here the auto trucks in which the pupils are brought to the school are +repaired by the drivers, assisted by the boys. In this shop the boys +gain the practical knowledge that enables them to keep in repair the +tools and machinery, including automobiles, at their homes. The farmers +who have no sons in school avail themselves of the skill and fidelity +that obtain in the shop, bringing in their tools, their harness, and +their automobiles for needed repairs. The money thus earned is expended +for school equipment. The products of the orchards, farm, and garden are +the property of the school and are all preserved for use in the home +economics department for school lunches. The man in charge of the farm +is employed by the year and is a member of the teaching staff. The farm, +gardens, orchard, and lawn are integral parts of the school, and perform +the functions of laboratories. + +=School a life enterprise.=--There are all grades in the school, from +the kindergarten through the high school. There is but slight disparity +in the size of the classes, for the parents instinctively set apart +thirteen years of the time of their children for life in the school. To +these parents school and life are synonymous, and when a child enters +the kindergarten he enlists in the enterprise for a term of thirteen +years. The homes as well as the school are arranged on this basis, and +this plan of procedure is ingrained in the social consciousness. +Deserting the school is no more thought of than any other form of +suicide. If, by any chance, a boy should desert the school, he would be +a pariah in that community and could not live among the people in any +degree of comfort. He would be made to feel that he had debased himself +and cast aspersion upon society. The looks that the people would bestow +upon him would sting more than flagellation. He would be made to feel +that he had expatriated himself, and neither himself nor his parents +would be in good standing in the community. They would be made to feel +that their conduct was nothing short of sacrilege. + +=Public sentiment.=--In view of the school sentiment that obtains in the +community the eighth grade is practically as populous as the first +grade. Attendance upon school work is a habit of thinking both with the +children and with their parents, and school is taken for granted the +same as eating and sleeping. If a boy should, for any cause, fail to +graduate from the high school, every patron of the school would regard +it as a personal calamity. They would feel that he had, somehow, been +dropped off the train before he reached his destination, and the whole +community would be inclined to wear badges of mourning. Every parent is +vitally interested in each child of the community, whether he has +children in school or not, and thus school taxes are paid with pride and +elation. The school is regarded as a safe investment that pays large +dividends. Patrons rally to the calls of the school with rare unanimity +and heartiness. Differences in politics and religion evaporate in their +school, for the school is the high plane upon which they meet in +fraternal concord. + +=The course of study.=--The course of study is flexible, and because of +its resiliency it adapts itself easily and gracefully to the native +dispositions and the aptitudes of the various pupils. If the boy has a +penchant for agriculture, provision is made for him, both in the theory +and in the practical applications of the subject. If he inclines to +science, the laboratories accord him a gracious welcome. The studies are +adapted to the boy and not the boy to the studies. No boy need +discontinue school to find on the outside something that is congenial, +for, within the school, he may find work that represents life in all its +phases. If he yearns for horticulture, then this study is made his major +and, all in good time, he is made foreman of the group who care for the +gardens. If the course of study lacks the element which he craves and +for which he has a natural aptitude, this branch is added to the course. +The economy of life demands the conservation of childhood and youth and +the school deems it the part of wisdom as well as civic and social +economy to provide special instruction for this boy, as was done in the +case of Helen Keller. This school, in theory and in practice, is firm in +its opposition to wasting boys and girls. Hence, ample provision is made +for the child of unusual inclinations. + +=Electives.=--The pupils do not elect a study because it is easy, but +because their inclinations run in that direction. Indeed, there are no +easy courses, no snap courses in the school. Diligent, careful, thorough +work is the rule, and there can be found no semblance of approval for +loafing or dawdling. The school stands for purposes that are clear in +definition and for work that is intense. There are no prizes offered for +excellent work, but the approbation of parents, teachers, and +schoolmates, in the estimation of the pupils, far transcends any +material or symbolic prizes that could be offered. In school work and in +conduct the pupils all strive to win this approval. There is no +coarseness nor boorishness, for that would forfeit this approval. The +cigarette is under ban, for public sentiment is against it; and, after +all, public sentiment is the final arbiter of conduct. Hence, no boy +will demean himself by flying in the face of public sentiment through +indulging in any practice that this sentiment proclaims unclean or +enervating. + +=The school the focus of community life.=--This school is the focus of +the community. Hither come the patrons for music, for lectures, for art, +for books and magazines, for social stimulus, and, in short, for all the +elements of their avocational life. Indeed, in educational matters, the +community is a big wholesome family and the school is the shrine about +which they assemble for educational and cultural communion. It is quite +a common practice for mothers to sit in the classrooms engaged in +knitting or sewing while their children are busy with their lessons. +For, in their conception of life, geography and sewing are coördinate +elements, and so blend in perfect harmony in the school régime. At the +luncheon period these mothers go to the dining room with their children +in the same spirit of coöperation that gives distinction to the school +and to the community. There is an interflow of interests between the +school and the homes that makes for unity of purpose and practice. There +is freedom in the school but not license. People move about in a natural +way but with delicate consideration for the rights and sentiments of +others. The atmosphere of the school interdicts rudeness. There is a +quiet dignity, serenity, and intensity, with no abatement of freedom. In +this school it is not good form for a boy to be less than a gentleman or +for a girl to be less than a lady. + +=The teachers.=--The atmosphere in which the pupils live is, mainly, an +exhalation from the spirit of the teachers. They live and work together +in a delightful spirit of concord and coöperation. They are magnanimous +and would refuse to be a part of any life that would decline from this +high plane. In this corps there are no hysterics, no heroics, no strain, +no stress. They are, first of all, successful human beings; and their +expert teaching is an expression of their human qualities. Their +teaching is borne along on the tones of conversation. They know that +well-modulated tones of voice contribute to the culture and well-being +of the school. Should a teacher ever indulge in screeching, nagging, +hectoring, badgering, or sarcasm, she would find herself ostracized. +Such things are simply not done in this school. Hence, she would soon +realize that this school is no place for her and would voluntarily +resign. The school is simply above and beyond her kind. + +=Unity of purpose.=--Among the teachers there are no jealousies, because +each one is striving to exalt the others. They are so generous in their +impulses, and have such exalted conceptions of life, that they incline +to catalogue their colleagues among the very elect. The teacher in the +high school and the teacher in the primary grade hold frequent +conversations concerning each other's work, and no teacher ever loses +interest in the pupils when they advance to the next grade. To such +teachers, education is not parceled out in terms of years but is a +continuous process, even as life itself. They use the text-book merely +as a convenience, but never as a necessity. If all the text-books in the +school should be destroyed overnight, the work would proceed as usual +the next day, barring mere inconvenience. They respect themselves and +others too highly ever to assume a patronizing air toward their pupils. +On the contrary, they treat them as coördinates and confederates in the +noble and exhilarating game of life. + +=The vitalized school.=--They have due regard to their personal +appearance, but, once they have decided for the day, they dismiss the +matter from their thinking and devote their attention to major +considerations. Neither in dress, in manner, nor in conversation do they +ever bring into the school a discordant note. School hours are not a +detached portion of life but, rather, an integral part of life, and to +them life is quite as agreeable during these hours as before and after. +Such as they cannot do otherwise than render the school vital. And when +such teachers and patrons as these join in such a benevolent conspiracy, +then shall we realize not only a typical school but the vitalized +school. + + +QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES + +1. Upon what does the vitalization of a school mainly depend? Upon what +else does it depend in part? + +2. What suggestion is made in this chapter in regard to the planning of +school buildings? + +3. Why should care be taken in choosing the decorations of a school? + +4. Why is it unwise for teacher or pupils to boast of the achievements +of the school? + +5. Why has the question of school lunches gained so much prominence +recently? + +6. How should the industrial work in a school be linked with that in the +community? + +7. Why are there fewer students in the higher than in the lower grades +of most schools? Make a careful analysis of the situation in this +respect in your school. + +8. Why is it a calamity to a community for a boy to fail to graduate +from the high school? + +9. What may be done to prevent a child going outside the school to find +something congenial? + +10. What should be a student's motive in choosing a course? + +11. How do you make your school a center for community life? How can you +make it more of a center than it is? + +12. How is the spirit of jealousy among teachers injurious to our school +system? What usually makes one teacher disparage the work of another? + +13. What is essential in vitalizing a school? + + + + +INDEX + + +Absorbing standards, 160. + +Acquisitiveness, 52. + +Advantages of socialized recitation, 178. + +Agriculture; a typical study, 192; + its rapid development, 193; + relation to geology, 194; + the source of life, 202. + +Altruism, 124. + +Ambition, 226. + +American restaurants, 86. + +American story, 231. + +Analysis and synthesis, 293. + +Anarchy, 73. + +Ancestor, child as a future, 34. + +Ancestors, attitude of, 31. + +Answers, repetition of, 139. + +Antecedent causes, 261. + +Art, 197, 268; + teaching as an, 143. + +Aspiration, 224; + and worship, 149. + +Aspirations, 59. + +Attitude of teacher, 11, 272. + +Attitude towards work, 148. + +Authors, 311. + +Automobile, 105; + factory, 47. + + +Beauty, desire for pastoral, 58. + +Behavior, amplified, 265; + in history, 267; + in retrospect, 259; + scope of, 256. + +Betterment, 244. + +Body subject to the mind, 120. + +Books, 311; + as exponents of life, 14; + of questions and answers, 300; + of life, 228; + supreme, 252. + +Botany, importance of, 195. + +Boy, story of a, 236. + +Bread, 200. + + +Centralized school, 318. + +Characterizations, 308. + +Child; as a future ancestor, 34; + as a whole, 250; + as the objective, 200; + and teacher, quest of, 104; + as the center in school procedure, 18; + imagination of, 26; + supreme, 252; + right to express himself, 25; + play instinct of, 24; + relation of to school work, 27; + life, 21; + rights of, 20. + +Child's; conception of truth, 109; + conception, 103; + need of ideals, 169; + viewpoint of teacher, 168; + experiences, 27; + native tendencies, 24; + right to the best, 23; + native interests, 255; + imagination, 236. + +Childhood curtailed, 22. + +Children, 307; + parental attitude towards, 19; + common interests, 216; + should have school privileges, 19; + real interests, 217; + _vs._ statistics, 247. + +Cigarettes, 117. + +Circus day, 118. + +Civilization, 305. + +Clean living, 37. + +College influences, 11. + +Columbus, voyage of, 152. + +Commerce, 55. + +Common from commonplace, 151. + +Comparison of life and living, 1. + +Comparison of two teachers, 129. + +Complacency of teacher, 135. + +Complete living defined, 112. + +Complexity of life, 4. + +Concepts restricted, 262, 279. + +Concessions, 297. + +Conclusion, 272. + +Conduct of teacher, 171. + +Conflict, 65. + +Conservation, 245. + +Contrasted methods, 44. + +Contrasts, 278. + +Coöperation, 75. + +Course of study, 324. + +Court procedure, 291. + +Curtailment of childhood, 22. + + +Definition; of complete living, 112; + of poetry, 222; + of politician, 40; + of socialized recitation, 176; + of teaching, 2. + +Degrees and human qualities, 248. + +Democracy; foreign concept of, 66; + the vitalized school a, 69. + +Democratic spirit, manifestations of, 71. + +Democratic teacher, 75. + +Desire is fundamental, 60. + +Desires for things intangible, 53. + +Domestic science, 199. + +Dynamic qualities, 146. + + +Economic articulation, 59. + +Education, 101, 303; + and substitution, 43; + by absorption, 160; + schools of, 246; + unconsciously gained, 164. + +Efficiency, 80. + +Electives, 325. + +English, teacher of, 239. + +Enthusiasm, element of, 150. + +Environment, 259. + +Etymology, 106. + +Examinations, 288; + traditional method, 294; + testing for intelligence, 296; + way of reform, 301. + +Expertness, appraisal of teaching, 131. + + +Faith, 203, 227. + +Filtration plant and a vitalized school, 206. + +Flowers, 304. + +Food and life, 201. + +Foreign concept of democracy, 66. + +Formalities, meaningless, 128. + +Freedom, 120, 275; + elements of, 283; + real, 280. + +Function of the school, 70, 210. + + +Gang element, 179. + +Generations, rights of the coming, 30. + +Girl and her elders, 237. + +Grammar, 212. + +Great Stone Face, 162. + + +Habit, persistency of, 92. + +History, 79, 254, 270, 278; + behavior in, 267; + meaning of, 14. + +Home and the school, 255. + +Hospitals cited, 32. + +House of Parliament, 55. + +Human interest, 155. + +Human qualities, degrees of, 248. + +Humor, 232; + betokens deep feeling, 239; + defies explanation, 242; + lack of, 235; + of Lincoln, 238. + + +Ideal; of the school, 215; + rôle of, 166. + +Idealist, 49. + +Ideals, a perpetual influence, 169. + +Imagination of children, 26, 236. + +Imitation, politician worthy of, 43. + +Incomplete living, 113. + +Individual, responsibility of the, 69. + +Industrial work, 321. + +Influence; of people, 313; + of the school, 315; + upon pupils, 185. + +Influences of college, 11. + +Initial statement, 100. + +Innate tendencies, 61. + +Intelligence of teacher, 298. + +Intensity, life measured by, 2. + +Interest in practice, 180. + +Interest, life the great human, 249. + + +Joy in work of artist teacher, 145. + + +Language, 211; + a social study, 211; + and vitality, 15. + +Leadership, 42, 261. + +Learning democracy, 268. + +Lesson a prophecy, 263. + +Lessons from childhood, 309. + +Life; and living compared, 1; + and music, 307; + and reading, 12; + as subject matter in teaching, 6; + books as exponents of, 14; + book of, 228; + complexity of, 4; + every subject invested with, 155; + how the poet learns, 223; + in literature, 6; + quality of, 219; + manifestations of, 5; + measured by intensity, 2; + sea as, 104; + teachers' influx of, 228; + the great human interest, 249; + transfusion of, 224. + +Life and food, 201. + +Lincoln's humor, 238. + +Literature; life in, 6; + pedagogy in, 163. + +Long division ramified, 264. + + +Machine teacher, 246. + +Machinery, 268. + +Major and minor, 299. + +Man, 285. + +Manifestations of life, 5. + +Mark Twain as a philosopher, 240. + +Mathematics vitalized, 10. + +Meanderings, 139. + +Melting pot, 67. + +Mental atrophy, 289. + +Methods, 292; + contrasted, 44; + potency of right, 132; + of the politician, 41. + +Michael Angelo, 108. + +Military training, 118. + +Minor and major, 299. + +Misconceptions, 35, 66. + +Misfits, 216. + +Mistakes, 214. + +Monuments, 58. + +Mulberry Bend, 83. + +Music, 306; + and life, 307. + + +Native land, 226. + +Needs of society, 212. + + +Outlook, 264. + +Ownership, potency of, 181. + + +Parental attitude towards children, 19. + +Parliament, House of, 55. + +Patriot, a typical, 82. + +Patriotism; a determining motive, 78; + as a working principle, 77; + conclusions, 89; + in daily life, 85; + thrift as, 87. + +Pedagogy in literature, 163. + +Penalizing, 294. + +People, 312; + influence of, 313. + +Perseverance, 225. + +Personal efficiency, 115. + +Physical training, 116. + +Physics and Chemistry, 196. + +Physiology, 196. + +Poetry, 271; + defined, 222. + +Poet learns life how, 223. + +Politician defined, 40; + methods of, 41; + worthy of imitation, 43. + +Possibilities, 134. + +Potency of right methods, 132. + +Power of understanding, 13. + +Problem of the teacher, 98. + +Proprietary interests, 180. + +Public sentiment, 323. + +Pupil teacher, 177. + + +Question stated, 127. + +Questions and answers, 290; + books of, 300. + + +Rational methods, 292. + +Reading and life, 12. + +Recitation, example of socialized, 187. + +Reflex influence, 184. + +Remembering and knowing, 290. + +Repeating answers, 139. + +Resourcefulness, 153. + +Responsibility of the school, 36. + +Restricted concepts, 262. + +Resultants, 183. + +Rights of the child, 20. + +Rome, 276. + +Rooms, 320. + + +Sanitation, 82. + +Scholar's concept of the sea, 102. + +School; and society, 46; + and the home, 255; + an expression of the teacher, 317; + and factory compared, 130; + a life enterprise, 322; + function of the, 70; + function of, 210; + ideal of the, 215; + influence of, 315. + +Schoolhouse, 319; + the community center, 326. + +Schools; of education, 246; + responsibility of, 36; + work of the, 110. + +Sciences, relation of, to life, 198. + +Sea; as life, 104; + scholar's concept of, 102. + +Self-complacency, 289. + +Self-interest, 41. + +Self-reliance, 284. + +Self-respect, 286. + +Shakespeare, 269. + +Simplicity and sincerity, 320. + +Snobbery, 73. + +Social intercourse, 56. + +Social study, language a, 211. + +Socialized recitation; definition of, 176; + sample of, 187; + exemplified in society, 182. + +Society; and the school, 46; + needs of, 212. + +Sound body, 114. + +Spelling, 281; + as patriotism, 77. + +Spirit, things of the, 123. + +Spiritual freedom, 275. + +Stars, 310. + +Statistics _vs._ children, 247. + +Stories, 233. + +Story of a boy, 236. + +Street signs, 121. + +Substitutions, results of, 48. + +Switchboard, 282. + +Synthesis and analysis, 293. + +Synthetic teaching, 203. + + +Teacher, 165; + and child, 104; + as a machine, 246; + as environment, 162; + attitude towards children, 254; + conduct of, 171; + characteristic qualities of, 144; + intelligence of, 298; + growth of, 172; + her supremacy, 166; + of English, 239; + responsibility of, 159; + rule of life, 171; + seeing life large, 172; + school an expression of, 317; + skill of the, 256; + status irrevocable, 168; + volubility, 136. + +Teachers, 327; + attitude, 11, 170; + complacency, 135; + contrasted, 9; + first type, 251; + influx of life, 228; + problem, 89; + province, 7; + other self, 167; + three types of, 250. + +Teaching, 229; + as a fine art, 143; + defined, 2; + test of, 137; + life as subject matter in, 6; + power, 248. + +Temperance, 81. + +Tests of teaching, 137. + +Things of the spirit, 123. + +Thinking, 293. + +Thirteen colonies, 154. + +Three types of teachers, 250. + +Thrift as patriotism, 87. + +Time element, basic considerations, 129. + +Time, waste of, 133. + +Tom Sawyer, 91. + +Trained minds, 122; + achievements of, 123. + +Transfusion of life, 224. + +Travel instinct, 57. + +Truth, child's conception of, 109. + +Twain story, 241. + +Two teachers compared, 129. + +Typical patriot, 82. + + +Understanding, power of, 13. + +Unity of purpose, 328. + + +Variety in excellence, 63. + +Vitalized mathematics, 10. + +Vitalized School, 329; + a democracy, 69; + an exemplification of complete living, 113; + filtration plant, 206. + +Voluble teacher, 136. + + +Waste of time, 133. + +Weaknesses transmitted, 30. + +Westminster Abbey, 54. + +Word automobile, 105. + +Word in use, 107. + +Work; a blessing, 96; + as a privilege, 92; + and enjoyment, 97; + of the school, 110; + potency of mental, 95; + misconceptions of, 93. + +World-building, 303. + + + + +The following pages contain advertisements of Macmillan books on kindred +subjects. + + + + +MODERN PEDAGOGY + +=Alexander= + The Prussian Elementary School System $2.50 + +=Bagley= + Classroom Management. Its Principles and Technique 1.25 + Craftsmanship in Teaching 1.10 + Educational Values 1.10 + Educative Process, The 1.25 + School Discipline 1.25 + +=Bigelow= + Sex Education 1.25 + +=Brewer= + The Vocational Guidance Movement 1.25 + +=Bricker= + Teaching of Agriculture in the High School 1.00 + +=Brown= + American High School 1.40 + +=Chubb= + The Teaching of English in Elementary and Secondary Schools 1.00 + +=Cloyd= + Modern Education in Europe and the Orient 1.40 + +=Cubberley= + State and County Educational Reorganization 1.25 + +=Cubberley and Elliott= + State and County School Administration 2.50 + +=Curtis= + Education Through Play (Educational Edition) 1.25 + Practical Conduct of Play (Educational Edition) 1.50 + The Play Movement and Its Significance 1.50 + +=De Garmo= + Interest and Education 1.00 + Principles of Secondary Education 3 Vols. + I, $1.25; + II, 1.00; + III, 1.00 + +=Dewey= + Democracy and Education, A Philosophy of Education 1.40 + +=Dobbs= + Illustrative Handwork 1.10 + +=Dresslar= + School Hygiene 1.25 + +=Dutton= + Social Phases of Education in the School and the Home 1.25 + +=Eaton and Stevens= + Commercial Work and Training for Girls 1.50 + +=Farrington= + Commercial Education in Germany 1.10 + +=Foght= + The American Rural School 1.25 + Rural Denmark and its Schools 1.40 + The Rural Teacher and His Work 1.40 + +=Ganong= + The Teaching Botanist 1.25 + +=Graves= + A History of Education. + Vol. I. Before the Middle Ages 1.10 + Vol. II. A History of Education During the Middle Ages 1.10 + Vol. III. Modern Times 1.10 + Great Educators of Three Centuries 1.10 + Peter Ramus and the Educational Reformation of the 16th Century 1.25 + A Students' History of Education 1.25 + +=Halleck= + Education of the Central Nervous System 1.00 + +=Hall-Quest= + Supervised Study 1.25 + +=Hanus= + Educational Aims and Values 1.00 + Modern School, A 1.25 + +=Hart= + Educational Resources of Village and Rural Communities 1.00 + +=Heatwole= + A History of Education in Virginia 1.25 + +=Henderson= + Principles of Education 1.75 + +=Herrick= + Meaning and Practice of Commercial Education 1.25 + +=Holtz= + Principles and Methods of Teaching Geography 1.10 + +=Home= + Philosophy of Education 1.50 + Psychological Principles of Education 1.75 + Idealism in Education 1.25 + Story-Telling, Questioning and Studying 1.10 + +=Howerth= + The Art of Education 1.00 + +=Huey= + Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading 1.40 + +=Hummel and Hummel= + Materials and Methods in High School Agriculture 1.25 + +=Jessup and Coffman= + The Supervision of Arithmetic 1.10 + +=Johnson, Henry= + Teaching of History in Elementary and Secondary Schools 1.40 + +=Kahn and Klein= + Commercial Education, Principles and Methods in 1.40 + +=Kennedy= + Fundamentals in Methods 1.25 + +=Kerschensteiner= + The Idea of the Industrial School .50 + +=Kilpatrick, V. E.= + Departmental Teaching in Elementary Schools .60 + +=Kilpatrick, W. B.= + Froebel's Kindergarten Principles Critically Examined .90 + +=Kirkpatrick, E. A.= + Fundamentals of Child Study 1.30 + +=Lee= + Play in Education 1.50 + +=McKeever= + Training the Girl 1.50 + The Industrial Training of the Boy .50 + +=MacVannel= + Outline of a Course in the Philosophy of Education .90 + +=Miller= + Education for the Needs of Life 1.25 + +=Monroe= + Principles of Secondary Education 2.00 + Text-Book in the History of Education 2.00 + Syllabus of a Course of Study on the + History and Principles of Education .50 + Source Book in the History of Education + for the Greek and Roman Period 2.40 + Brief Course in the History of Education 1.40 + Cyclopedia of Education, 5 Vols. 25.00 + +=O'Shea= + Dynamic Factors in Education 1.25 + +=Pearson= + Vitalized School 1.40 + +=Perry= + Management of a City School 1.25 + Outlines of School Administration 1.40 + +=Pyle= + The Examination of School Children .50 + +=Sachs= + The American Secondary School 1.10 + +=Sisson= + Essentials of Character 1.00 + +=Smith= + All the Children of All the People (Teachers' Edition) 1.10 + +=Sneath and Hodges= + Moral Training in the School and Home .80 + +=Starch= + Educational Measurements 1.25 + Experiments in Educational Psychology 1.00 + +=Strayer= + A Brief Course in the Teaching Process 1.25 + +=Strayer and Norsworthy= + How to Teach 1.40 + +=Strayer and Thorndike= + Educational Administration Quantitative Studies 2.00 + +=Taylor= + Handbook of Vocational Education 1.00 + Principles and Methods of Teaching Reading .90 + +=Thorndike= + Education: A First Book 1.25 + +=Vandewalker= + Kindergarten, The, in American Education 1.25 + +=Ward= + The Montessori Method and the American School 1.25 + +=Wayland= + How to Teach American History 1.10 + + + +The MacMillan Company + +Boston New York Atlanta +Chicago San Francisco Dallas + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VITALIZED SCHOOL*** + + +******* This file should be named 17588-8.txt or 17588-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/5/8/17588 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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