THE WILL.
We have now completed the discussion of the concept-bearing or
inductive process in learning and apperception, and find that they both
tend to the unifying of knowledge and to the awakening of interest.
It remains to be seen how the will may be brought into activity and
placed in command of the resources of the mind.
The _will_ is that power of the mind which chooses, decides, and
controls action.
According to psychology there are three distinct activities of the
mind, _knowing_, _feeling_, and _willing_. These three powers are
related to one another on a basis of equality, and yet the will should
become the _monarch of the mind_. It is expected that all the other
activities of the mind will be brought into subjection to the will.
For strong _character_ resides in the will. Strength of character
depends entirely upon the mastery which the will has acquired over the
life; and _the formation of character_, as shown in a strong moral
will, is the highest aim of education.
The _great problem_ for us to solve is: 1. How far can teaching
stimulate and develop such a will?
There is an apparent contradiction in saying that the _will_ is the
monarch of the mind, the power which must control and subject all the
other powers; and yet that it can be trained, educated, moulded, and
chiefly too by a proper cultivation of the other powers, _feeling_ and
_knowing_. Knowledge and feeling, while they are subject to the will,
still constitute its strength, just as the soldiers and officers of an
army are subject to a commander and yet make him powerful.
We shall first notice the dependence of the will upon the _knowing_
faculty. It is an old saying "that knowledge is power." But it is
power only as a strong will is able to convert knowledge into action.
Before the will can _decide_ to do any given act it must see its way
clearly. It must at least believe in the possibility. _In trying to
get across a stream_, for example, if one can not swim and there is no
bridge nor boat nor means of making one, the will can not act. It is
helpless. The will must be shown the way to its aims or they are
impossible. The more clear and distinct our knowledge, the better we
can lay our plans and _will_ to carry them out. It would be impossible
for one of us _to will_ to run a steam engine from Chicago to St. Paul
to-day. We don't know how, and we should not be permitted to try. In
every field of action we must have knowledge, and clear knowledge,
before the will can act to good advantage. It is only knowledge, or at
least faith in the possibility of accomplishing an undertaking, that
opens the way to will. Much successful _experience_ in any line of
work brings increasing confidence and the will is greatly strengthened,
because one knows that certain actions are possible. The simple
acquisition of facts therefore, the increase of knowledge so long as it
is well digested, makes it possible for the will to act with greater
energy in various directions. The more clear this knowledge is, the
more thoroughly it is cemented, together in its parts and subject to
control, the greater and more effective can be the will action. All
the knowledge we may acquire can be used by the will in planning and
carrying out its purposes. Knowledge, therefore, derived from all
sources, is a _means_ used by the will, and increases the possibilities
of its action.
But, secondly, there are found still more immediate means of
stimulating and strengthening the will, namely, in the _feelings_. The
feelings are more closely related to will than knowledge, at least in
the sense of cause and effect. There is a gradual transition from the
feelings up to will, as follows: interest in an object, inclination,
desire and purpose, or will to secure it. We might say that will is
only the final link in the chain, and the feelings and desires lead up
to and produce the act of willing. Even will itself has been called a
feeling by some psychologists and classed with the feelings. But the
thing in which we are now most concerned is how to reach and strengthen
the will through the feelings. Some of the feelings which powerfully
influence the will are desire of approbation, ambition, love of
knowledge, appreciation of the beautiful and the good; or, on the other
side, rivalry, envy, hate, and ill-will. Now, it is clear that a
cultivation of the feelings and emotions is possible which may strongly
influence the purposes and decisions of the will, either in the right
or wrong direction. It is just at this point that education is capable
of a vigorous influence in moulding the character of a child. The
cultivation of the _six interests_ already mentioned is little else
than a cultivation of the great classes of feeling, for interest always
contains a strong element of feeling. It is certain in any case that a
child's, and eventually a man's will, is to be guided largely by his
feelings. Whether any _care is taken_ in education or not, feeling,
good or bad, is destined to guide the will. Most people, as we know,
are too much influenced by their feelings. This is apparent in the
adage, "Think twice before you speak." Feelings of malice and
ill-will, of revenge and envy, of dislike and jealously, get the
control in many lives, because they have been permitted to grow and
nothing better has been put in their place. The teacher by _selecting
the proper materials_ of study is able to cultivate and strengthen such
feelings as sympathy and kindliness toward others; appreciation of
brave, unselfish acts in others; the feeling of generosity, charity,
and a forgiving spirit; a love for honesty and uprightness; a desire
and ambition for knowledge in many directions. On the other hand, the
teacher may gently instill a _dislike_ for cowardice, meanness,
selfishness, laziness, and envy, and bring the child to master and
control these evil dispositions. Not only is it possible to cultivate
those feelings which we may summarize as the love of the virtues and
develop a dislike and turning away from vices, but this work of
cultivating the feelings may be carried on so systematically that great
_habits_ of feeling are formed, and these habits become the very
strongholds of character. They are the forces acting upon the will and
guiding its choice.
It is _freedom of the will_ to chose the best that we are after. We
desire to limit the choice of the will if possible to good things. We
desire to make the character so strong and so noble and consistent in
its desires that it will not be strongly tempted by evil. The will in
the end, while it controls all the life and action, is itself under the
guidance of those _habits_ of thought and feeling that have been
gradually formed. Sully says, "Thus it is feeling that ultimately
supplies the stimulus or force to volition and intellect which guides
or illumines it."
A study of the will in its relation to knowledge and feeling reveals
that the training and development of the will depend upon _exercise_
and upon _instruction_. There are two ways of exercising will power.
First, by requiring it to obey authority promptly and to control the
body and the mind at the direction of another. The discipline of a
school may exert a strong influence upon pupils in teaching them
concentration and will power under the direction of another.
Especially is this true in lower grades. Children in the first grade
have but little power or habit of concentrating the attention. The
will of the teacher, combined with her tact, must aid in developing the
energies of the will in these little ones. The primary value of quick
obedience in school, of exact discipline in marching, rising, etc., is
twofold. It secures the necessary orderliness and it trains the will.
Even in higher and normal schools such a perfect discipline has a great
value in training to alertness and quickness of apprehension associated
with action.
Secondly, by the training of the mind to freedom of action, to
_self-activity_, to independence. As soon as children begin to develop
the power of thought and action their self-activity should be
encouraged. Even in the lowest grades the beginnings may be made. An
_aim_ may be set before them which they are to reach by their own
efforts. For example, let a class in the first reader be asked to make
a list of all the words in the last two lessons containing _th_, or
_oi_, or some other combination. _Activity_ rather than repose is the
nature of children, and even in the kindergarten this activity is
directed to the attainment of definite ends. With number work in the
first grade the objects should be handled by the children, the letters
made, rude drawings sketched, so as to give play to their active powers
as well as to lead them on to confidence in doing, to an increase of
self-activity. As children grow older, the problems set before them,
the aims held out, should be more difficult. Of course they should be
of _interest_ to the child, so that it will have an impulse and desire
of its own to reach them.
There are few things so valuable as setting up _definite aims_ before
children and then supplying them with incentives to reach them through
their own efforts. It has been often supposed that the only way to do
this is to use _reference books_, to study up the lesson or some topics
of it outside of the regular order. But self-activity is by no means
limited to such outside work. A child's self-activity may be often
aroused by the manner of studying a simple lesson from a text-book.
When a reading or geography lesson is so studied that the pupil
thoroughly sifts the piece, hunts down the thought till he is certain
of its meaning; when all the previous knowledge the pupil can command
is brought to bear upon this, to throw light upon it; when the
dictionary and any other books familiar to the child are studied for
the sake of reference and explanation, self-activity is developed.
Whenever the disposition can be stimulated to look at a fact or
statement from _more than one standpoint_, to _criticise_ it even, to
see how true it is, or if there are exceptions, self-activity is
cultivated.
The pursuit of definite aims always calls out the will and their
satisfactory attainment strengthens one's confidence in his ability to
succeed. Every step should be toward a clearly seen aim. At least
this is our ideal in working with children. They should not be led on
blindly from one point to another, but try to reach definite results.
There is a gradual _transition_ in the course of a child's schooling
from training of the will under guidance to its independent exercise.
Throughout the school course there must be much obedience and will
effort under the guidance of one in authority. But there should be a
gradual increase of self-activity and self-determination. When the
pupil leaves school he should be prepared to launch out and pursue his
own aims with success.
Will effort, however, to be valuable, must have its roots in those
_moral convictions_ which it is the chief aim of the school to foster
and strengthen. We have attempted to show in the preceding chapters
how the central subject matter of the school could be chosen, and the
other studies concentrated about it with a view to accomplishing this
result. In concluding our discussion of general principles of
education, and in summing up the results, basing our reasoning upon
psychology, we are always forced to the conclusion that education aims
at the _will_, and more particularly at the will as influenced and
guided by moral ideas. This is the same as saying that we have
completed the circle and come around to our starting point, that _moral
character is the chief aim of education_.
Teachers who are interested in this phase of pedagogy will do well to
study the _science of ethics_. Not that it will much aid them directly
in school work, but it will at least give them a more comprehensive and
definite notion of the field of morals and perhaps indicate more
clearly where the _materials_ of moral education are to be sought, and
the leading ideas to be emphasized.
Herbart projected a system of ethics, based on psychology, with the
intention of classifying the chief moral notions and of showing their
relation to each other. He also developed a theory of the _origin_ of
moral ideas and their best means of cultivation, and then based his
system of pedagogy upon it.
The chief classes of ethical ideas of Herbart are briefly explained as
follows:
1. _Good will_. It is manifested in the sympathy we feel for the
sorrow or joy of another person. It is illustrated by the example of
Sidney and Howard already cited.
2. _Legal right_. It serves to avoid strife by some agreement or
established rule; _e.g._, the government of the United States fixes the
law for pre-empting land and for homestead claims so that no two
persons can lay claim to the same piece of land.
3. _Justice_, as expressed by reward or punishment. When a person
purposely does an injury to another, all men unite in the judgment, "He
must be punished." Likewise, if a kind act is done to anyone, we
insist upon a return of gratitude at least.
4. _Perfection of will_. This implies that the will is strong enough
to resist all opposition. David's will to go out and meet Goliath was
perfect. A boy desires to get his lesson, but indolence and the love
of play are too strong for his will. There is nothing which goes so
far to make up the character of the hero as strength of will which
yields to no difficulties.
5. _Inner freedom_. This is the obedience of the will to its _highest_
moral incentive. It is ability to set the will free from all selfish
or wrong desires and to yield implicit obedience to moral ideas. This
of course depends upon the cultivation of the other ideas and their
proper subordination, one to another.
The five moral ideas just given indicate the lines along which strength
of moral character is shown. They are of some interest to the teacher
as a systematic arrangement of morals, but they are of no direct value
in teaching. They are the most abstract and general classes of moral
ideas and are of no interest whatever to children.
In morals the only thing that interests children is _moral action_.
Whether it be in actual life or in a story or history, the child is
aroused by a deed of kindness or courage. But all talk of kindness or
goodness in general, disconnected from particular persons and actions,
is dry and uninteresting. This gives us _the key to the child's_ mind
in morals. Not moralizing, not preaching, not lecturing, not reproof,
can ever be the _original source_ of moral ideas with the young, but
the _actions_ of people they see, and of those about whom they read or
hear. Moral judgments and feelings spring up originally only in
connection with human action in the concrete. If we propose then to
_adapt moral teaching_ to youthful minds, we must make use of concrete
materials, observations of people taken from what the children have
seen, stories and biographies of historical characters. A story of a
man's life is interesting because it brings out his particular motives
and actions. This is the field in which instruction has its conquests
to make over youthful minds.
We will gather up the fruits of our discussion in the preceding
chapters. Having fixed the chief aim in the effort to influence and
strengthen moral character, we find _concentration_ to be the central
principle in which all others unite. It is the focusing of life and
school experiences in the unity of the personality. The worth and
choice of studies is determined by this. Interest unites knowledge,
feeling, and will. The culture epochs supply the nucleus of materials
for moral-educative purposes. Apperception assimilates new ideas by
bringing each into the bond of its kindred and friends, spinning
threads of connection in every direction. The inductive process
collects, classifies, and organizes knowledge, everywhere tending
toward unity.