"The time necessary to recognize a given letter increases

greatly, when the limit of visual acuteness has been reached.

Therefore, insufficient light would tend to make work slower,

unless the pupil increased acuteness by approaching the

object more closely. Thus myopia constitutes a positive

adaptation to the defective conditions of work, enabling the

pupil to work more rapidly." [6]

[Footnote 6: Bronardet and Mosny, _Hygiène Scolaire_. Boillière,

Paris, 1914, pp. 142, 143, 430, 496.]

It would seem therefore natural to say: let the child find himself a

better lighted place; if the blackboard is at some distance from him,

let him come nearer to it; if the insufficient light retards his work,

let him go more slowly; if the questions at issue are such harmless

things as changing a place, advancing a step or two, taking a few

minutes longer over a task--what tyrant on earth would deny such a

small favor, and condemn the suppliant to blindness?

Such a tyrant is the teacher, who aspires to win the affection of his

victims by means of moral exhortations.

It would be so simple to allow children, when tired of sitting, to

rise, and when tired of writing, to desist, and then their bones would

not be twisted. Who can look on unmoved at the spectacle of children

whose vertebral column is being deformed by using desks, just as in

the Middle Ages the instep was deformed by the torture of the boot.

And on what grounds is this odious torture judged to be necessary?

Because a man has substituted himself for God, desiring to form the

minds of children in his own image and likeness; and this cannot be

done without subjecting a free creature to torture. This is the only

reason.

We will now quote the remedies by means of which a so-called science

proposes to counteract spinal curvature in school-children. It has

determined the exact position in which a child may remain seated and

at work for a long period of time without injury to the vertebrae.

"The child, seated at the table, should have his feet planted

flat upon the ground, or upon a foot-rest. The legs should be

at right-angles to the thighs, as should the thighs be to the

trunk, save for a slight inclination of the bench itself. The

trunk should be in such a position that there will be no

lateral inclination of the vertebral column, the arms should

be parallel with the sides of the body, the thorax should not

be interfered with by the front edge of the table, the pelvic

basin should be symmetrically supported, the head slightly

bent forward at a distance of thirty centimeters from the

level of the table; the axis of the eyes, remaining parallel

with the front edge of the table, should be horizontal; the

forearms, two-thirds of which should be laid on the table,

should rest on it, but without leaning upon it."

To realize all these conditions, it is necessary that the desk should

be _exactly fitted_ to the proportions of the child; its constituent

parts should agree with those of the body and limbs of the scholar.

The following are the measurements which Dufessel considered

indispensable in the fashioning of a desk suitable for children:

1. Height.

2. The length of the leg, taken from below the knee, when the child is

seated with the legs at right-angles to the thighs, and the feet flat

on the ground. This measurement gives the required height of the seat

from the foot-rest.

3. The diameter of the body from front to back, taken from the

sternum; this, with five centimeters added to it, gives the proper

distance from the reading-desk to the back of the seat.

4. The length of the femur, two-thirds of which represent the depth of

the seat.

5. Finally, the height of the epigastric cavity above the seat,

augmented by a few centimeters, indicates the height of the

reading-desk.

We may add that in view of the rapid growth of the child, these

measurements should be taken twice in the course of the school year,

and children should be made to change places in accordance with these

measurements.

There is a little crustacean which, coming naked into the world,

chooses an empty shell and adapts itself thereto; when it grows larger

and the shell becomes too tight, it sallies forth and takes up its

abode in a larger one. This the creature does of its own accord,

without a savant to measure it or a teacher to choose a new shell for

it. But to us and to scientists, a child is inferior to this lowly

invertebrate!

The difficulty of keeping forty or fifty children motionless for hours

in the prescribed hygienic attitude, and of finding desks exactly

adapted to these growing bodies, makes this remedy impracticable, so

hunchbacks continue among us. The problem remains unsolved.

Hence it has been deemed more practical to establish a kind of

orthopaedic institution within the building itself in certain model

schools in Rome. It consists of a costly and elaborate apparatus, to

which the pupils come in turn to be suspended by the head after the

method adopted in medicine to combat spinal curvature in Pott's

disease (tuberculosis of the vertebral column) and rickets.

Healthy children, as well as the unsound, suffer by these

applications; but on the other hand, the results afford encouraging

statistics. If this hanging treatment be initiated regularly at the

age of six years it strikes a perfect balance with the injury caused

by prolonged deterioration induced by school desks, and children are

delivered from spinal disease.

* * * * *

=Discoveries of experimental psychology: overwork; nervous

exhaustion=.--Hygiene, making its way into the school, discovered

scholar's spinal curvature and scholar's myopia; experimental

psychology discovered the exhaustion due to overwork, and studied the

_fatigue_ of the scholar. It followed in the beaten track of

medicine--that is to say, it sought to alleviate the ills it had

diagnosed, and instituted a branch of science the title of which is

not very clearly defined as yet, for some call it experimental

psychology applied to the school, others Scientific Pedagogy.

It is necessary to remember that experimental psychology was

established in 1860 by Fechner, who was a physicist accustomed to

experiment on _things_, not on living creatures, and who merely

adapted the methods employed in physics to psychical measurements,

thus founding psycho-physics. The instruments specially invented for

esthesiometric measurements were of extreme precision; but the results

obtained showed such variations that by mathematical law they could

not be attributed to "errors of measurement," but were obviously due

to "errors of method." Indeed, for the measurement of liquids it is

necessary to have an instrument different from that which we use in

measuring solids, although we are still in the domain of physics; we

cannot measure a stuff by the quart, nor wine by the yard; how much

more then must the methods of measuring physical substances and

spiritual energy differ?

After psycho-physics, psycho-physiology was introduced by Wundt.

Wundt, being a physiologist, applied the methods of study proper to

physiological functions to psychical study. He did not make the exact

metrical instrument his aim; but he measured nervous reactions exactly

in _time_. Fechner's primitive researches made it possible to produce

instruments so exact that they can measure the sound made by a drop of

water falling from the height of a meter, while Wundt's researches

have resulted in chronometers which can measure the thousandth part of

a second. But the spirit did not correspond to the exactness of

research--the results showed by their oscillations that nothing was

being measured--that the object to be measured escaped. It will

suffice to mention that in measuring the nervous currents in rate of

transmission of impulse along the nerves and also in the ganglion

cells of the spinal marrow, Exner arrived at a rapidity of eight

meters, and Bloch at a rapidity of 194 meters, in the same unit of

time.

In spite of this startling contrast between the precision of the means

of research and the huge variations in the results, which were shown

by mathematical law to be absurd, experimental psychology carried on

extensive studies, under the illusion that it rested upon a

mathematical basis.

It is from this science that a branch has been detached with which to

penetrate into the school, for the purpose of giving spiritual help to

the scholar, and fresh vigor to pedagogy.

Methods of research are no longer merely those antiquated

psycho-physical and psycho-physiological methods formerly in favor;

experimental psychology, henceforth emancipated from its origins, has

developed independently. It now relies on purely psychological tests

for its researches, and although it does not exclude the methods

adopted in the laboratory, and the use of such accurate and

trustworthy instruments as the esthesiometer and the ergograph, the

school itself has become the chief field of experiment.

For example: one of the most familiar tests of attention is to give a

printed page to be read over, with directions to strike out every _a_

on the page; the time taken to complete this task is measured by

chronometer.

Counting aloud from one to a hundred, and at the same time carrying on

arithmetical operations in writing, is a measure of the distribution

of the attention, provided the time taken be calculated by the

chronometer, and all errors be noted. To make several persons perform

similar exercises at the same time enables us to study comparative

individual activities. In schools, exercises in dictation which have

been previously determined, may be given to a group of scholars, care

being taken to note the time occupied in performing the exercise and

to compare the errors. This is also an easy and practical means of

obtaining collective results.

These experiments all psychologists agree should be carried out

without interrupting the usual routine of the school. They are to be

regarded as an addition, an _extra_, and may be summed up as a means

of scientific research, throwing light upon the regular psychical

conditions of school studies.

The principal results of such experiments have been: the multiplicity

of mistakes made, and the difficulty of fixing attention; that is to

say, they reveal the weariness, the degree of fatigue, in children.

This gave the alarm! Old-fashioned pedagogy was concerned solely with

what children ought to do. The idea that their nervous energies might

be impaired was first called into being by the warning note of

science.

Researches into the causes of fatigue became more and more frequent,

and coupled with such researches was the less immediate enquiry as to

how fatigue could be "combated" or "alleviated." All the factors

relating to the question were studied: age, sex, the degree of

intelligence, the type of individual, the influence of the seasons,

the influence of the various times of the day, of the various days of

the week, of habit, intervals of relaxation, interest, variety of

work, the position of the body, and, finally, position in reference to

the cardinal points.

* * * * *

=Science is confronted by a mass of unsolved problems=.--The outcome of

all these researches is a growing mass of unsolved problems. It has

not been established whether males are more easily fatigued than

females; whether the intelligent are more subject to fatigue than the

unintelligent. With regard to the individual type, Tissié's conclusion

seems to be the most noteworthy: "Each individual becomes fatigued or

not according to his degree of will." In connection with the seasons

it appears that fatigue increases from the first to the last day of

school, but it is uncertain whether this is due to the influence of

the seasons, or whether, as Schuyten affirms, the scholar's gradual

exhaustion is due to the scholastic system. With regard to the time of

day, "it is still a question whether the fatigue produced is less when

the pupil works spontaneously, but this problem is a difficult one to

solve." The days of the week when fatigue is least evident are Monday

and Friday, but researches made in this connection are not definitive;

as to habit, intervals of rest, interest: "in connection with these

factors which are antagonistic to fatigue, it has been questioned

whether they actually diminish fatigue, or merely cloak it, but no

decision has been reached." A great variety of interesting researches

have been made into the question of change of work with identical

results--namely, that frequent change of work causes greater fatigue

than continuous work of one kind, and that a sudden interruption is

more fatiguing than persistence. The following experiment (quoted by

Claparède) was made by Schultze: one day the girls were required to

add up figures for twenty-five minutes, and then to copy out passages

for another twenty-five minutes. Another day they performed the same

work, but it was differently divided; they had to add for fifty

minutes and to copy for another fifty minutes. Now these last tests

gave results infinitely superior to the first. And yet it is well

known that, in spite of such results, constant interruption and change

of work are commonly practised in schools, as part of a scientific

plan for combating fatigue.

One of the researches directly relating to schools is that of the

ponogenic co-efficient of the various subjects of instruction, that is

to say, of the degrees of fatigue induced by these. Wagner is of

opinion _a priori_ that one hundred, the maximum co-efficient, must be

assigned to mathematics; in this case, we should get the following

ponogenic co-efficients in schools, for each subject:

Mathematics 100

Latin 91

Greek 90

Gymnastics 90

History and Geography 85

French and German 82

Natural History 80

Drawing, Religion 77

We may note the arbitrary and surprising manner in which such results

are established; nevertheless, in the name of "experimental science"

it is possible to make such deductions as the following:

"It would be interesting to enquire if the order of the

ponogenic co-efficients varies with the age of the children,

which would enable us to know on the one hand when the brain

is best fitted for the study of any particular subject and

when therefore it would be most judicious to make it

predominate in the program; on the other hand, it would help

us in the arrangement of the daily time-table; we should

take, if possible, the most fatiguing subjects at the

beginning of the day" (Claparède, _op. cit._).

Another order of recent researches is that made into the toxines

produced by fatigue; Weichardt succeeded in isolating these toxines,

and in fabricating anti-toxines with which he experimented

successfully on rats. The experiments were also repeated in a clinic.

With regard to the appearance of the toxines, it was found that they

were abundantly produced during the performance of "wearisome" work,

whereas there were only traces of them to be found when the work was

"interesting."

Throughout this science so packed with researches which give as their

result unsolved problems, we perceive that not one of the factors

taken into consideration can alleviate fatigue; interruption and

change of work merely aggravate it. The one means by which _surménage_

(exhaustion due to overwork) can be eliminated is to make work

pleasant and interesting, to give joy in work rather than pain.

"The necessity of making education and instruction attractive

has been propounded by all pedagogists worthy of the name,

such as Fénelon, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Spencer,"

says Claparède, "but it is still unrecognized in the everyday

practise of the schools" (_op. cit._).

"By common consent, the first duty of the educator is that of

doing no harm: first do no harm, a precept also accepted in

the practise of medicine. To obey it to the letter is,

indeed, _impossible, because every method of scholastic

education is in some way prejudicial to the normal

development of the child_. But the educator will seek to

_alleviate the injury which instruction necessarily entails_"

(_op. cit._).

This is indeed cold comfort, after all these studies and researches! A

confession that problems have arisen at every step, and that not a

single one has been solved! Indeed, underlying all this is the

_problem of problems_: how to make that place attractive and joyous

where hitherto the body has been tortured and contorted, and the blood

poisoned by weariness! It is impossible to educate without doing harm;

but we must do harm that will give pleasure! This is truly an

embarrassing position! And this is why an interminable string of notes

of interrogation serves as the decorative motive of this new science,

which might be more appropriately styled: _ignorabimus_.

And it is for this reason that the considerations indicated by hygiene

and psychology now tend to do away altogether with the sum total of

irreparable evils, "commuting the sentence," that is to say,

abbreviating hours of study, cutting down the curriculum, avoiding

written exercises. Thus a new specter, that of ignorance, and

henceforth the abandonment of the child for the greater part of the

day, present themselves as a substitute for the specter of

destruction. Meanwhile our epoch demands an intensive care of the new

generation, and the preparation of a culture ever vaster and more

complex.

True, it would appear that to-day a way of escape may be offered by

the discovery of the anti-toxine for fatigue. "Just think!" exclaims

Claparède, "a serum against fatigue. How valuable this would be!" From

this point of view, I should say that the ponogenic co-efficients

might find a more practical and rational application than that of the

revelation of "programs"; indeed these co-efficients indicating the

production of toxines would appear destined to determine the dose of

anti-toxine necessary to nullify the evil effects resulting from each

different subject of instruction. In the not far distant future, when

these auxiliary sciences of the school and pedagogy shall have made

due progress, we shall perhaps see, side by side with the orthopaedic

ward, a physio-chemical clinic, where every evening the pupils, as

they leave the beneficent suspensory apparatus which counteracts

injury to their skeletons, may enter with a kind of ponogenic

prescription regulated by the teaching they have undergone, and

receive an injection which will deliver them from the poisonous

effects of fatigue!

This reads like an irony of the worst kind, perhaps; but this is not

the case. Where the orthopaedic institution is already an accomplished

fact, we may very soon see the chemical clinic established. If a

problem of liberty is to be solved with machines, and if a problem of

justice is to be regarded from the chemical point of view, similar

consequences will be the logical end of sciences developed upon such

errors.

It is obvious that a real experimental science, which shall guide

education and deliver the child from slavery, is not yet born; when it

appears, it will be to the so-called "sciences" that have sprung up in

connection with the diseases of martyred childhood as chemistry to

alchemy, and as positive medicine to the empirical medicine of bygone

centuries.

I think it will be of interest here to record the impressions of a

person who, leaving the field of mathematics, entered upon the study

of biology and experimental psychology.

It is an account of a young English engineer, who had evidently

mistaken his vocation, and who, after studying my method for two

years, returned to the universities of his own great country as a

student of biology.

This is his opinion of experimental psychology:

In psychology we are studying the most modern experimental

researches. At present we are engaged upon Thought and

Imagination. I must confess that I do not find this course

very illuminating, though I agree that it is necessary to

know something of these researches. In modern psychology

there is nothing at all adequate to the subject of our

method. These investigators seem to me like persons looking

at a tree, and noting the most obvious of its external forms:

the shape of a leaf, a stem, etc., doing all this with great

gravity and using very precise language (perhaps believing

that this constitutes science), but often confusing the

function of _definition_ with that of _description_.

In this manner descriptions of wonderful and fascinating

things are reduced to arid definitions, in order to be

clothed in their science, and thus are rendered powerless to

inspire thought. They never meditate; they read a great deal;

they think in mental images which no more represent facts

than a diagram on the blackboard represents a living organ;

and these images differ among different psychologists, but

their language is always the same. They do all this believing

they are making progress, and instead of training their

pupils to observe for themselves without prejudice, they

instil their own prejudices into the minds of the students,

cramming them with definitions and descriptions of the

strangest and most amorphous kind, which effectually prevent

them from thinking for themselves.

But within the tree there is the fundamental structure which

they have not begun to examine, though the revelation of this

would explain all the external data. The details would

diminish in importance; all these details issuing from a

single root might be classified in the simplest manner. This

"science" reminds me of that antiquated lore which dealt

with the constellations, when the laws of planetary motion

were not yet known, and the so-called science confined itself

to descriptions of the "Great Bear," the "Crab," the "Goat,"

etc.

I detest those dryasdusts who, unaware of their own

ignorance, write enormous arid tomes with an air of great

majesty, as if they were revealing absolute knowledge, books

that lie heavy on the minds of the students, making them dry

as their teachers. But the students seem to me to care only

about passing their examinations and to have no thought of

discovering new knowledge; and the professors "serve" them to

this end. Thus we are all in a state of servitude due to a

mistaken system of education, which calls loudly for reform.

III

MY CONTRIBUTION TO EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE

=The organization of psychical life begins with the characteristic

phenomenon of attention=.--My experimental work with little children

from three to six years old has been, in fact, a practical

contribution to research which has for its aim the discovery of the

treatment required by the soul of the child, a treatment analogous to

that which hygiene prescribes for its body.

I think, therefore, that it is essential to record the fundamental

fact which led me to define my method.

I was making my first essays in applying the principles and part of

the material I had used for many years previously in the education of

deficient children, to the normal children of the San Lorenzo quarter

in Rome, when I happened to notice a little girl of about three years

old deeply absorbed in a set of solid insets, removing the wooden

cylinders from their respective holes and replacing them. The

expression on the child's face was one of such concentrated attention

that it seemed to me an extraordinary manifestation; up to this time

none of the children had ever shown such fixity of interest in an

object; and my belief in the characteristic instability of attention

in young children, who flit incessantly from one thing to another,

made me peculiarly alive to the phenomenon.

I watched the child intently without disturbing her at first, and

began to count how many times she repeated the exercise; then, seeing

that she was continuing for a long time, I picked up the little

armchair in which she was seated, and placed chair and child upon the

table; the little creature hastily caught up her case of insets, laid

it across the arms of her chair, and gathering the cylinders into her

lap, set to work again. Then I called upon all the children to sing;

they sang, but the little girl continued undisturbed, repeating her

exercise even after the short song had come to an end. I counted

forty-four repetitions; when at last she ceased, it was quite

independently of any surrounding stimuli which might have distracted

her, and she looked round with a satisfied air, almost as if awaking

from a refreshing nap.

I think my never-to-be-forgotten impression was that experienced by

one who has made a discovery.

This phenomenon gradually became common among the children: it may

therefore be recorded as a constant reaction occurring in connection

with certain external conditions, which may be determined. And each

time that such a polarisation of attention took place, the child began

to be completely transformed, to become calmer, more intelligent, and

more expansive; it showed extraordinary spiritual qualities, recalling

the phenomena of a higher consciousness, such as those of conversion.

It was as if in a saturated solution, a point of crystallization had

formed, round which the whole chaotic and fluctuating mass united,

producing a crystal of wonderful forms. Thus, when the phenomenon of

the polarisation of attention had taken place, all that was disorderly

and fluctuating in the consciousness of the child seemed to be

organizing itself into a spiritual creation, the surprising

characteristics of which are reproduced in every individual.

It made one think of the _life of man_ which may remain diffused among

a multiplicity of things, in an inferior state of chaos, until some

special thing attracts it intensely and fixes it; and then man is

revealed unto himself, he feels that he has begun to live.

This spiritual phenomenon which may co-involve the entire

consciousness of the adult, is therefore only one of the constant

elements of the phenomena of "internal formation." It occurs as the

normal beginning of the inner life of children, and accompanies its

development in such a manner as to become accessible to research, as

an experimental fact.

It was thus that the soul of the child gave its revelations, and under

their guidance a method exemplifying spiritual liberty was evolved.

The story of this initiatory episode soon spread throughout the world,

and at first it seemed like the story of a miracle. Then by degrees,

as experiments were made among the most diverse races, the simple and

evident principles of this spiritual "treatment" were manifested.

* * * * *

=Psychical development is organized by the aid of external stimuli,

which may be determined experimentally=.--The contribution I have made

to the education of young children tends, in fact, to _specify_ by

means of the revelations due to experiment, the form of liberty in

internal development.

It would not be possible to conceive liberty of development, if by its

very nature the child were not capable of a spontaneous organic

development, if the tendency to develop his energies (expansion of

latent powers), the conquest of the means necessary to a harmonious

innate development, did not already exist. In order to expand, the

child, left at liberty to exercise his activities, ought to find in

his surroundings something _organized_ in direct relation to his

internal organization which is developing itself by natural laws, just

as the free insect finds in the form and qualities of flowers a direct

correspondence between form and sustenance. The insect is undoubtedly

free when, seeking the nectar which nourishes it, it is in reality

helping the reproduction of the plant. There is nothing more marvelous

in nature than the correspondence between the organs of these two

orders of beings destined to such a providential cooperation.

The secret of the free development of the child consists, therefore,

in organizing for him the means necessary for his internal

nourishment, means corresponding to a primitive impulse of the child,

comparable to that which makes the new-born infant capable of sucking

milk from the breast, which by its external form and elaborated

sustenance, corresponds perfectly to the requirements of the infant.

It is in the satisfaction of this primitive impulse, this internal

hunger, that the child's personality begins to organize itself and

reveal its characteristics; just as the new-born infant, in nourishing

itself, organizes its body and its natural movements.

We must not therefore set ourselves the educational problem of seeking

means whereby to organize the internal personality of the child and

develop his characteristics; the sole problem is that of offering the

child the necessary nourishment.

It is by this means that the child develops an organized and complex

activity which, while it responds to a primitive impulse, exercises

the intelligence and develops qualities we consider lofty, and which

we supposed were foreign to the nature of the young child, such as

patience and perseverance in work, and in the moral order, obedience,

gentleness, affection, politeness, serenity; qualities we are

accustomed to divide into different categories, and as to which,

hitherto, we have cherished the illusion that it was our task to

develop them gradually by our direct interposition, although in

practise we have never known by what means to do so successfully.

In order that the phenomenon should come to pass it is _necessary_

that the spontaneous development of the child should be accorded

_perfect liberty_; that is to say, that its calm and peaceful

expansion should not be disturbed by the intervention of an untimely

and disturbing influence; just as the body of the new-born infant

should be left in peace to assimilate its nourishment and grow

properly.

In such an attitude ought we to await the _miracles_ of the inner

life, its expansions and also its unforeseen and surprising

explosions; just as the intelligent mother, only giving her baby

nourishment and rest, contemplates it, seeing it _grow_, and awaits

the manifestations of nature: the first tooth, the first word, and

finally the action by which the baby will one day rise to his feet and

walk.

But to ensure the psychical phenomena of growth, we must prepare the

"environment" in a definite manner, and from this environment offer

the child the external means directly necessary for him.

This is the _positive_ fact which my experiment has rendered concrete.

Hitherto the liberty of the child has been vaguely discussed; no

clearly defined limit has been established between liberty and

abandonment. We were told: "Liberty has its limits," "Liberty must be

properly understood." But a special method indicating "how liberty

should be interpreted, and what is the intuitive _quid_ which ought

to co-exist with it," had not been determined.

The establishment of such a method should open up a new path to all

education.

* * * * *

It is therefore necessary that the environment should contain the

means of auto-education. These means cannot be "taken at random"; they

represent the result of an experimental study which cannot be

undertaken by all, because a scientific preparation is necessary for

such delicate work; besides, like all experimental study, it is

laborious, prolonged, and exact. Many years of research are required,

before the means really _necessary_ for _psychical development_ can be

set forth. Those educationalists who leave the great question of the

liberty of the pupil to the good sense or to the preparation of the

master are very far from solving the problem of liberty. The greatest

scientist, or the person most fitted by nature to teach, could never

of himself discover such, because, to preparation and natural gifts,

the further factor of _time_ must be added--the long period of

preparatory experiment. Therefore a _science_ which has already

_provided the means_ for self-education must exist beforehand. To-day,

he who speaks of liberty in the schools ought at the same time to

exhibit objects--approximating to a scientific apparatus--which will

make such liberty possible.

The scientific instrument must be constructed upon a basis of

_exactitude_. Just as the lenses of the physicist are constructed in

accordance with the laws of the refraction of light, so the pedagogic

instrument should be based on the _psychical manifestations_ of the

child.

Such an instrument may be compared to a systematized "mental test." It

is not, however, established upon a basis of external measurement, for

the purpose of estimating the amount of instantaneous psychical

reaction which it produces; it is, on the contrary, a stimulus which

is itself determined by the psychical reactions it is capable of

producing and maintaining permanently. It is the psychical reaction,

therefore, that in this case determines and establishes the systematic

"mental test." The psychical reaction which constitutes the sole basis

of comparison in the determination of the tests, is a _polarization of

the attention_, and _the repetition of the actions_ related to it.

When a stimulus corresponds in this manner to the "reflex

personality," it serves, not to _measure_ but to _maintain_ a lively

reaction; it is therefore a stimulus to the "internal formation."

Indeed, upon such activity, awakened and maintained, the accompanying

organism initiates its internal elaborations in relation to the

stimuli.

This does not penetrate into the ancient ambit of pedagogy as a

science that _measures_ the personality, as the experimental

psychology introduced in schools has hitherto done, but as a science

that _transforms_ the personality, and is therefore capable of taking

its stand as a true and real pedagogy. Whereas the ancient pedagogy in

all its various interpretations started from the conception of a

"receptive personality"--one, that is to say, which was to receive

instructions and to be passively formed, this scientific departure

starts from the conception of an _active_ personality--reflex and

associative--developing itself by a series of reactions induced by

systematic stimuli which have been determined by experiment. This new

pedagogy accordingly belongs to the series of modern sciences, and not

to antique speculations, although it is not directly based on the

purely metric studies of "positive psychology." But the "method,"

which informs it--namely, experiment, observation, evidence or proof,

the recognition of new phenomena, their reproduction and utilization,

undoubtedly place it among the experimental sciences.

* * * * *

=External stimuli may be determined in quality and quantity=.--Nothing

can be more interesting than such experiments. By their means external

stimuli may be determined with the greatest precision, both as regards

quality and quantity. For instance, very small objects of various

geometric forms will only attract the fugitive attention of a child of

three years old; but by increasing the dimensions gradually, we arrive

at the limit of size when these objects will fix the attention; then

such objects excite an activity which becomes permanent, and the

resulting exercise becomes a factor of development. The experiment is

repeated with a number of children, and thus the dimensions of a

series of objects are established.

It is the same with colors and with every kind of _quality_. In order

that a quality should be felt to such a degree as to fix the

attention, a certain extension and a certain intensity of the stimulus

are necessary, which may be _determined_ by the degree of psychical

reaction shown by the child; as, for instance, the minimum chromatic

extension sufficient to attract the attention to the colored tablets,

etc. Quality, therefore, is determined by a psychical experiment

demonstrating the activity it produces in a child, who will continue

the exercise with the same object for a long time, thus elaborating a

phenomenon of internal development, of self-formation.

Among the characteristics of the objects, one must be pointed out,

which demands the highest degree of activity in the intelligence: they

contain in themselves _control of error_.

To make the process one of self-education, it is not enough that the

stimulus should call forth activity, it must also direct it. The child

should not only persist for a long time in an exercise; he must

persist without making mistakes. All the physical or intrinsic

qualities of the objects should be determined, not only by the

immediate reaction of attention they provoke in the child, but also by

their possession of this fundamental characteristic, the control of

error, that is to say the power of evoking the effective collaboration

of the highest activities (comparison, judgment). For instance, one of

the first objects which attract the attention of the child of three

years old, the solid insets (a series of cylinders of various

dimensions to be placed in or taken out of a block with corresponding

holes) contains the most mechanical control, because if a single

mistake be made in placing the cylinders, one of these must be left

out at the end of the exercise. Hence a mistake is an obstacle only to

be overcome by correction, for without it the exercise cannot be

completed. On the other hand, the correction is so easy that the child

makes it himself. The little problem suddenly presenting itself to the

child, almost like the unexpected object of a jack-in-the-box, has

"interested" him.

It is, however, noteworthy that the "problem" thus presented is not in

itself the stimulus to interest; it is not that which incites to the

repetition of the act--to the progress of the child. What interests

the child is the sensation, not only of placing the objects but of

acquiring a new power of perception, enabling him to recognize the

difference of dimension in the cylinders, a difference which he did

not at first notice. The _problem_ presents itself solely in

connection with the _error_, it does not accompany the normal process

of development. An interest stimulated merely by _curiosity_, by a

"problem," would not be that formative interest which wells up from

the needs of life itself, and therefore directs the building up of the

spiritual personality. If it were only the problem which should lead

the soul to find itself, order might be dissipated by it, as by any

other external cause which tends to _seduce_ life into false paths. I

lay, perhaps, excessive stress upon this point, in answer to very

important objections and observations that have been made to me.

Indeed in the second series of objects designed to educate the eye to

appreciate dimensions, the control of error is not mechanical, but

psychological; the child himself, whose eye has been educated to

recognize differences of dimension, will see the error, provided the

objects be of a certain size and attractively colored. It is for this

reason that the next objects contain, so to say, the control of error

in their own size and in their bright colors. A control of error of a

totally different kind, and of a much higher order, is that offered by

the material of the arithmetical frame, in which the control will

consist in the comparison of the child's own work with that of a

model, a comparison which denotes a remarkably intelligent effort of

will on the part of the child, and places him thenceforth in the true

conditions of conscious auto-education. But, however slight the

control of error may be, and in spite of the fact that this diverges

more and more from an external mechanism, to rely upon the internal

activities which are gradually developing, it always depends, like all

the qualities of the objects, upon the fundamental reaction of the

child, who accords it prolonged attention, and repeats the exercises.

On the other hand, the experimental criterion is different, in

determining the _quantity of the objects_. When the instruments have

been constructed with great precision, they provoke a spontaneous

exercise so coordinated and so harmonious with the facts of internal

development, that at a certain point a new psychical picture, a

species of higher plane in the complex development, is revealed.

The child turns away spontaneously from the material, not with any

signs of fatigue, but rather as if impelled by fresh energies, and his

mind is capable of abstractions. At this stage of development, the

child turns his attention to the external world, and observes it with

an order which is the order formed in his mind during the period of

the preceding development; he begins spontaneously to make a series of

careful and logical comparisons which represent a veritable

spontaneous acquisition of "knowledge." This is the period henceforth

to be known as the period of "discoveries," discoveries which evoke

enthusiasm and joy in the child.

This more elevated level of development is extremely fruitful in its

last ascent It is essential that the child's attention should not be

directed to the objects when the delicate phenomenon of abstraction

begins. For instance, the teacher who invites the child to continue

his operations with the material at such a moment, will retard his

spontaneous development and place an obstacle in his way. If the

enthusiasm which leads the child to rise to greater heights and

experience so many intellectual emotions be extinguished, a path of

progress has been closed. Now the same error may be committed by an

_excessive quantity_ of the educative material; this may dissipate the

attention, render the exercises with the objects mechanical, and cause

the child to pass by his psychological moment of ascent without

perceiving it and seizing it. Moreover, such objects are then futile,

and, by their futility, "the child may lose his soul."

The thing to be exactly determined is: what is _necessary_ and

_sufficient_ as a response to the internal needs of a life in process

of development, that is, of upward progression, of _ascent_? Now in

determining the "quantity" we must be guided by the expression and at

the same time by the active manifestations of the child. Those

children who have long been occupied with these determined objects,

showing every sign of absorbed attention, will, all of a sudden, begin

to rise gradually and insensibly, like an aeroplane when it completes

its short journey upon the ground. Their apparent indifference to the

objects is revealed in its true essence by the intense and radiant

expression of the face, which is animated by the liveliest joy. The

child may seem to be doing nothing, but this will only be for a

moment; very soon he will speak, and so will reveal what is happening

within him, and then his ebullient activity will carry him along in a

series of explorations and discoveries. He is saved.

Now take the case of other children in whom the same primitive

phenomenon is taking place, but who are surrounded by too great a

profusion of objects. At the moment of maturity they are seen to be

caught, obstructed, almost palpably entangled in the toils that bind

them to earth. A diminution of the absorbed attention bestowed upon

the new objects, instability, and consequently fatigue, manifest

themselves in an obvious extinction of internal activity. The child's

bearing deteriorates, he indulges in loud, empty laughter, rude

actions, and indolence. He demands "other objects," and then again

other objects, because he has remained imprisoned "in the vicious

circle of vanities," and is no longer sensible to anything but the

desire to alleviate his weariness. Like the adult who during a chaotic

life commits kindred errors, he becomes undisciplined, feeble, and "in

peril of perdition." If some one does not help him by wresting from

him the futile objects, and pointing out his heaven to him, he will

hardly have the energy to save himself.

These two extreme types will give an idea of the criteria by which we

experimentally determine the quantity of the material necessary for

development.

Over-abundance debilitates and retards progress; this has been proved

again and again by my collaborators.

If, on the other hand, the material be insufficient, and the primary

auto-exercise incapable of leading the child on to that _maturity_

which causes him to ascend, there will be no explosion of that

spontaneous phenomenon of abstraction which is the second stage of an

auto-education advancing in infinite progression. The same fundamental

phenomenon of absorbed and prolonged attention which leads to

repetition of the acts, guides us in determining the stimuli suitable

to the _age_ of the child. A stimulus which will cause a child of

three years old to repeat an act forty times in succession, may only

be repeated ten times by a child of six; the object which arouses the

interest of a child of three no longer interests a child of six.

Nevertheless the child of six is capable of fixing his attention for a

much longer period than a child of three, when the stimulus is suited

to his activities; if, indeed, a little child of three may achieve as

his maximum the repetition of an act forty times in succession, the

child of six is capable of repeating two hundred times an act which

interests him. If the maximum period of continuous work on the same

object may be half an hour for the child of three, it may be over two

hours for the child of six.

Hence, to establish systematic tests for a certain purpose, such as

that of preparing children to write, without taking their ages into

account, is valueless. For example, my system of writing is based upon

the direct preparation of the movements which physiologically concur

to produce writing: _i.e._ manipulation of the instrument of writing

and the tracing of the letters of the alphabet. The children, filling

in the contours of the insets with innumerable parallel strokes in the

one case, and touching the sand-paper letters in the other, fix the

two muscular mechanisms so perfectly, that the final result is an

"explosion" of "spontaneous writing" extraordinarily uniform in all

the children--because, as if all molded to a common form, they have

fixed the necessary movements by touching the same alphabet, and

therefore reproduce its forms faithfully. To bring this about, to

establish a real motor-mechanism, it is essential that the exercise

should be repeated over and over again. Now the children who take most

interest in filling in the figures with parallel strokes, and, above

all, in touching the letters, are, at most, between four and five

years old. If we offer the same material to a child of six he will not

touch the letters often enough, and he will always write imperfectly,

in comparison with the child who has begun the exercise at a suitable

age. This applies also to all the other details of the system. It is

therefore possible to determine experimentally, with, I believe, a

precision not hitherto attained, what is the mental attitude of the

child at various ages, and hence, if the fitting material for

development be offered, what will be the average level of

intellectual development according to age.

Here we have an indication of the possibility of _determining_ the

means of development so exactly as to establish a true correspondence

between internal needs and external stimuli, just as actual as the

correspondence which exists between the insect and the flower.

He who has all this material ready to his hand has an easy task in

bringing about the natural development of the psychic life of the

child. With such objects at his disposal, every teacher may realize

the ideal of _liberty in the school_.

This long, occult experiment--suggested to me, as I have already said,

by Itard and Séguin--is, in fact, my initial contribution to

education.

All this preparatory work has served for the determination of the

method now well known, but it is also the key to its continuation.

* * * * *

=The material of development is necessary only as a starting point=.--In

the organization of the external means of development, there remains a

material impress of the internal development, and of that which the

soul needs in its progress, during its course, and in its flights. The

material part does not contain the impress of the whole soul, any more

than the impress of the foot is the impress of the whole body; the

aviation-ground is not the sphere of action proper to the aeroplane,

but it is the part of _terra-firma_ necessary for flight, and it is

also the resting-place, the refuge, the _hangar_ to which the

aeroplane must always return. Thus in psychical formation there is a

necessary material part from which the spirit rises, and where it

should find repose, refuge, and a point of support, Without this it

could not grow and rise "freely."

In order that it may be a true support it ought "to reproduce its

forms" and contain them in the part corresponding to the peculiar

functions of the material aid. Thus, for instance, in the first period

of the psychical life, the material corresponds to the primitive

exercises of the senses--it is in quality and quantity determined by

the sensory needs given by nature--and permits an exercise of the

activities sufficient to _mature_ a superior psychical state of

observation and abstraction. _Vice versa_, nothing corresponds in the

material to the subsequent career which the childish spirit

accomplishes with such delight and with so much acquisition of

knowledge. But we then see the spirit eager for higher kinds of

exercise--and now we witness the same primitive phenomenon of

attention, which will exercise itself henceforth upon the alphabet and

arithmetical material, repeating in a more complex form methodical

exercises of the intelligence by linking auditory images with the

visible and motor images of the spoken and written word; and in the

positive study of quantities, proportions, and number. The same

concomitant phenomena of "patience" and "perseverance" then manifest

themselves, together with those of vivacity, activity, and joy,

characteristic of the spirit when the internal energies have found

their _keyboard_, the gymnasium in which they exercise themselves

freely and tranquilly.

And the spirit, organized in this manner under the guidance of an

order which corresponds to its natural order, becomes _fortified_,

grows _vigorously_, and manifests itself in the _equilibrium_, the

_serenity_, the self-control which produce the wonderful _discipline_

characteristic of the behavior of our children.

The external material, then, should present itself to the psychical

requirements of the child as a staircase which helps him to ascend,

step by step, and on the steps of this staircase there will of

necessity be disposed the means of _culture_, and of the higher

_formation_. Therefore the psychical exercises require new material,

and this, if it is to fulfil its purpose, must contain new and more

complex forms of objects capable of fixing the attention, of making

the intelligence ripen in the continual exercise of its own energies,

and of producing those phenomena of persistence in application and of

patience to which will be added elasticity, psychical equilibrium, and

the capacity for abstraction and spontaneous creation. Thus, in the

subsequent development of the children, we see them applying

themselves to those exercises of the memory which seem to us most

arid, because a desire has been born in them, not only to retain the

images they encounter in the world, but also to "acquire knowledge

rapidly" by a determined effort. An example of this is seen in the

surprising yet common phenomenon of committing the multiplication

table to memory, whereas the memorizing of poems and prose extracts,

although this is sometimes a passion, causes us no surprise.

Very interesting again, is the _detachment_ the child shows at a

certain point from the aids to arithmetical calculation; at a certain

stage of maturity he desires to "reason in the abstract" and make

"abstract calculations with numbers," as if obeying an internal

impulse which seeks to liberate the soul from every material bond and

at the same time to effect an economy of time. Hereupon we see

children of eight years old become eager and precocious calculators.

Children thus launched upon the enterprises of self-education acquire

a remarkable "sensibility" as to their own internal needs. Just as the

new-born infant whose food is rationally regulated, is silent and

tranquil during the two hours of digestion and assimilation, and cries

out the moment the hour for a fresh meal has struck, so do these

children "ask for help," ask for "new materials," new "forms of work,"

as soon as they have accomplished their mysterious phenomena of

internal maturation, and ask for them _determinately_, indicating

_their most immediate need_, just as one in physical want would be

able to state distinctly whether he were hungry, thirsty, or sleepy. A

child, in like manner, asks for reading, or grammatical exercises, or

means for observing Nature. His sensibility manifests itself in a

lucid and intense desire, to which the teacher has only to respond.

It is evident that some _external_ basis is necessary in the

progressive development of such phenomena, and that the teacher, who

is to respond to the requests of the child in conscious evolution,

cannot do so adequately by haphazard means; he must be guided by

conditions previously determined by experience. In other words, those

external means already alluded to several times, that _staircase_, the

steps of which lead the soul upwards, must have been already

_established by experience_, just as all the preceding means of the

first development of the infant were established.

The construction of the ascending stairway, of the external means of

support for the soul in process of evolution, is gradually amplified,

like an inverted cone, the apex of which touches the very beginnings

of psychical life, resting upon that primitive impulse which attracts

the child of two and a half to the sensory stimuli, just as hunger

leads the new-born infant to perform the wonderful complex action of

sucking. And as these external means multiply, they are complicated

more and more by the growing psychical needs of the child, and

comprise within themselves the principles of culture.

The highest external organization is not based solely upon

psychological necessities, but also upon those factors which take into

account the cultural aspect itself. Each subject of study, as, for

instance, arithmetic, grammar, geometry, natural science, music,

literature, should be presented by means of external objects upon a

well-defined systematic plan. The essentially psychological character

of the preliminary work must now be supplemented by the collaboration

of specialists in each subject, in order to ensure the establishment

of that aggregate of means necessary and sufficient to incite to

auto-education.

This is the experimental preparatory work, which establishes those

means of development, those external _impressions_, necessary to

unfold the inner life, and an _exact_ correspondence to the psychical

needs of _formation_ is essential in their construction.

Up to a certain point, they might correspond with the so-called

didactic or objective material of the old methods. Their significance,

however, is profoundly different. The objective material of the old

schools was an aid to the teacher, in making his explanations

comprehensible to a collective class listening passively to him. The

objects were related solely _to the things to be explained_, and these

were chosen at random, that is to say, without any scientific

criterion of their relation to the psychical needs of the child.

Here, on the other hand, _the means of development_ are experimentally

determined with reference to the psychical evolution of the child; and

their aim is not to give mere instruction; they represent the means

which induce a spontaneous interpretation of the internal energies.

The external material is then offered, and _left freely_ to the

natural individual energies of the children. They choose the objects

they prefer; and such preference is dictated by the internal needs of

"psychical growth." Each child occupies himself with each object

chosen for as long as he wishes; and this desire corresponds to the

needs of the intimate maturation of the spirit, a process which

demands persevering and prolonged exercise. No guide, no teacher can

divine the intimate need of each pupil, and the time of maturation

necessary to each; but only leave the child _free_, and all this will

be revealed to us under the guidance of nature.

* * * * *

=Psychical truths=.--It is necessary to adopt a scientific point of view

in order to interpret the facts that reveal themselves in children

when they are developed upon this system, and to divest oneself

completely of the old scholastic conception according to which the

progress of the child is assessed according to his proficiency in the

various subjects of study. Here, almost like the naturalist, it is

essential to observe the development of certain phenomena of life. It

is true that we prepare special "external conditions"; but the

psychical effects are directly bound up with the spontaneous

development of the internal activity of the child.

Hence there is no direct correspondence between teacher and child;

instruction is certainly not a cause of the effects observed. It is

the objects of the method which, as "re-agents," provoke special

psychical reactions; these may be summed up as an awakening, as an

organization of the personality. Discipline, as the first result of an

order establishing itself within, is the principal phenomenon to be

looked for as the "external sign" of an internal process that has been

initiated.

During the first days when a new school is opened, we may consider a

certain initial disorder as characteristic, especially if the teacher

is making her first experiment, and consequently is handicapped by her

over-sanguine expectations. The immediate response of the child to the

material does not take place; the teacher is perhaps discomfited by

the fact that the children do not throw themselves, as she had hoped,

upon the objects, choosing them according to their individual taste.

If, indeed, the pupils are very poor children, this phenomenon does

nearly always happen at once; but if they are well-to-do children,

already sated by the variety of their possessions, and by the most

costly toys, they are very rarely attracted at first by the stimuli

presented to them. This naturally leads to disorder when the mistress

makes a kind of chain of that "liberty" she is to respect, and a dogma

of the correlation existing between the stimulus and the childish

soul. Experienced teachers, on the other hand, understand better that

_liberty_ begins when the _life_ that must be developed in the child

is initiated, and they possess a tact which greatly facilitates

orientation in the initial period.

However, an experience under the most difficult conditions, as between

a teacher making her first experiment, and a class of wealthy

children, is more instructive, and gives us a clearer picture of the

fundamental psychical phenomenon, which may be compared to the order

which springs up out of chaos.

I quote, in this connection, various descriptions, some of which

already have been published, among them that given by Miss George, of

her first school in the United States, and that of Mlle. Dufresne in

England.

The initial disorder is eloquently set forth by Miss George: "They

(the children) at first snatched the objects out of each other's

hands; if I tried to show an object to any particular pupil, the

others dropped what they themselves were holding and gathered

aimlessly and noisily round us. When I had finished explaining the

nature of an object, all the children snatched at it and quarreled for

its possession. The children showed no interest in the material: they

passed from one object to another without persevering in the use of

any.... One of the children was so incapable of keeping still that he

could not remain seated long enough to run his fingers round one of

the little circular objects we give the children. In many cases, the

movements of the children were quite aimless, they ran round the room

without any apparent object. During these movements, they made no

attempt to respect the objects about them; indeed, they stumbled

against the table, upset the chairs and stepped upon the material;

sometimes they began an occupation at one spot, and then ran off in

another direction; they took up the objects and cast them aside

capriciously."

Miss Dufresne describes the initial disorder of her first attempt as

follows: "I must confess that the first four weeks were disheartening;

the children could not settle to a task for more than a few moments;

they showed no perseverance, no initiative; at times they followed one

another like a flock of lambs; when one child took up an object, all

the others wanted to imitate him, sometimes they rolled on the floor

and overturned the chairs."

From an experiment with rich children here in Rome, we get the

following laconic description: "The greatest difficulty was the

question of discipline. The children showed a complete lack of

attraction to their work, and seemed disinclined to begin upon it."

These persons, who were all working independently, are all agreed

later in their accounts of the initiation of order: the phenomenon is

identical; at a given moment, a child begins to show an intense

interest in one of the exercises. It is by no means necessary that it

should be that exercise pertaining to the object determined as the

first series; it may be any other object that fixes the attention of

the child so deeply; the important factor is not the external object,

but the internal action of the soul, responding to a stimulus, and

arrested by it.

Now when a child once shows this deep interest in any one of the

objects we present to him as something answering to his psychical

needs, he goes on to show a like interest in all the objects, and

begins to develop activities as by a natural phenomenon. When once the

initiation has taken place, it leads to progression which goes on

steadily, and develops of its own accord. Moreover, the phenomenon is

not that of the slow and gradual progression that might be produced by

a measured and systematic external action; rather it has the

"explosive" character of unsuspected facts that establish themselves

suddenly, and make us think of the crises of physiological life, so

characteristic in the period of growth. Thus it is from one day to

another that the baby cuts a tooth, from one day to another that he

utters his first word, from one day to another that he takes his first

step; and when the first tooth has been cut, the whole set of teeth

will come; when the first word has been uttered, language will be

developed; when the first step has been taken, the power of walking

has been established once for all.

Similar crises occur in the first achievement of psychic order, which

is the beginning of progressive evolution in the inner life.

I quote the following sentences from Miss George's description of the

advent of discipline:

"In a few days that nebulous mass of whirling particles--the

disorderly children--began to take definite form. The

children seemed to begin to find their own way; in many of

the objects they had at first despised as silly playthings,

they began to discover a novel interest, and, as a result of

this new interest, they began to act as independent

individuals." Miss George's subsequent expression is: "They

became extremely individual." "Thus it came to pass that an

object of absorbing interest to one child had not the

slightest attraction for another; the children were strongly

differentiated in their manifestations of attention...." "The

battle is only definitively won, when the child discovers

some particular object which spontaneously excites great

interest in him. Sometimes this enthusiasm awakens

unexpectedly, or with curious rapidity."

"On one occasion I had tried a child with nearly all the

objects of the series without exciting the smallest spark of

interest; then I casually showed him the two tablets of red

and blue colors, and called his attention to the difference

of tint. He seized them at once with a kind of thirstiness,

and learned five different colors in a single lesson; during

the following days he took nearly all the objects of the

series which he had at first despised, and little by little

mastered them all.

"A child who at first had very little power of concentrating

his attention, found an outlet from this state of chaos by

means of one of the most complex objects of the material, the

so-called length-rods; he played with these continually for a

whole week and learned to count and make simple additions. He

then began to turn to the cylinders and the insets, the

simpler objects, and showed interest in every part of the

system.

"Directly the children find their objects interesting, their

disorderliness disappears at once; their mental restlessness

is at an end, and they amuse themselves with the blocks, the

colors, etc."

It is very interesting to follow Miss George again in her description

of the special qualities that develop after such a phenomenon. She

illustrates the birth of individuality by a pretty anecdote:

"There were two sisters, one of three years old, the other of

five. The child of three could hardly be said to exist as an

individual, so minutely did she imitate her elder sister; for

example, the elder child had a blue pencil and the little one

was not happy till she too had a blue pencil; when the elder

sister ate bread and butter, whatever the little one had of a

different kind, she would touch nothing but bread and butter,

and so on. This child took no interest in anything in the

school, but merely followed her sister, imitating everything

she did. One day the little one became interested in the pink

cubes, built up the tower with the liveliest interest,

repeated the exercise several times, and completely forgot

her sister. The older girl was so astonished at this, that

she called her little sister and said to her: 'How is it

that while I am filling in a circle you are building the

tower?' From that day the younger child became a personality;

she began to develop independently, and was no longer merely

the shadow or reflection of her sister."

These interesting facts concerning the spontaneous development of

qualities which hitherto were non-existent in the individual, and

which exploded _after_ the fundamental phenomenon--of intense and

prolonged interest in a task--had manifested itself, have been

confirmed by repeated experiments in a great variety of places made by

persons who had had no sort of communication one with another.

Thus, for instance, Miss Dufresne speaks of a little girl of four

years old, who seemed quite incapable of carrying a glass of water

even only half full, without spilling it; so much so that she turned

away from such a task, knowing she could not accomplish it. One day

she became absorbed in work with one or other of the objects, and

after this, she began to carry glasses of water with the greatest

ease; and as some of her companions were now painting with

water-colors, it became her great delight to carry water to them all

without spilling a single drop.

Another most significant fact is related by Miss Barton, an Australian

teacher. Among her pupils was a little girl who had not yet developed

articulate speech, and only gave utterance to inarticulate sounds; her

parents had had her examined by a doctor to find out if she were

normal; the doctor declared the child to be perfectly normal, and

considered that though she had not as yet developed speech, she would

do so in time. This child became interested in the solid insets, and

amused herself for a long time taking the cylinders out of the

cavities and putting them back in their places; and after repeating

the work with intense interest, she ran to the teacher, saying: "Come

and see!"

A phenomenon of constant occurrence when the children begin to be

interested in the work and to develop themselves is the lively joy

which seems to possess them. Certain psychologists would say, it is

the "sentimental note" corresponding to the intellectual acquisition;

a physiologist, making an exact comparison, might affirm that joy is

the indication of internal growth, just as an increase in weight is

the indication of bodily growth.

The children themselves seem to have the "sensation" of their

spiritual growth, a consciousness of the acquisitions they are making

by thus amplifying their own personalities; they demonstrate with

joyous effusion the higher process which is beginning within them.

"All the children," says Miss George, "show that pride we ourselves

experience when we have really produced something novel. They skip

round me, and throw their arms about my neck, when they have learned

to do some simple thing, saying: 'I did it all alone, you did not

think I could have done that; I did it better to-day than yesterday,'"

It is after these manifestations that a true discipline is

established, the most obvious results of which are closely related to

what we will call "respect for the work of others and consideration

for the rights of others." Henceforward a child no longer attempts to

take away another's work; even if he covet it, he waits patiently

until the object is free; and very often a child becomes interested in

watching a companion at work on some object he would like to use

himself. Afterwards, when discipline has been established by these

internal processes, it will happen all at once that a child will work

quite independently of the others, almost as if to develop his own

personality; but no "moral isolation" results from such work; on the

contrary, there is a mutual respect and affection between the

children, a sentiment which unites instead of separating; and hence is

born that complex discipline which, moreover, contains within itself

the sentiment that must accompany the order of a community.

Miss Dufresne says: "After the Christmas holidays, when school began

again, there was a great change in the class. It seemed that

discipline was establishing itself, without any effort on my part. The

children appeared to be too much absorbed in their work to indulge in

any of the disorderly actions which had marked their conduct in the

beginning. They went spontaneously to the cupboards to choose the

objects which had bored them formerly. They took the geometrical

insets, the graduated cylinders, and began to touch the outlines of

the wooden forms with their fingers; the younger children showed a

preference for the buttoning and lacing frames; they took one after

the other without any signs of fatigue, and seemed delighted with the

new objects. An atmosphere of industry pervaded the schoolroom. The

children who had hitherto chosen objects on the impulse of the moment,

henceforth manifested a desire for some sort of rule, a personal and

internal rule; they concentrated their efforts on their task, working

accurately and methodically, and showing real satisfaction in

surmounting difficulties. This precision in work produced an immediate

effect on their characters. They became capable of controlling their

nerves."

The instance which struck Miss Dufresne most was that of a little boy

of four and a half, who at first had seemed very nervous and excitable

and had disturbed the whole class: "The imagination of this child had

been developed in an extraordinary manner, so that when an object was

given to him, he took no notice of the actual form of the object, but

personified it, and further personified himself, talking perpetually,

pretending to be some one else, and seeming incapable of fixing his

attention upon the objects. While his mind was in this chaotic state

he was unable to perform any precise action; he could not, for

instance, button a single button.... All at once a miracle seemed to

take place within him. I noted the great change in him with

astonishment. He took one of the exercises as his favorite task, then

went on to choose all the others in succession, and thus calmed his

nerves."

I will choose from various individual studies made by two mistresses

of a Children's House at Rome for well-to-do children, those of two

children of very different characters. One of these children came to

the school too late, when he was too old, and had already developed in

another environment. The other is a little creature of the normal age

for entrance to the Children's Houses. The older child (a boy of five)

had already been to a Froebelian Kindergarten, where he was considered

very troublesome because of his restlessness. "For the first few days

he was a torment to us, because he wanted to work, but could not

settle to any occupation. He said of everything: 'This is a game,' and

ran about the class-room, or annoyed his companions. At last he began

to take an interest in drawing." Although normally drawing comes

_after_ the sensory exercises, he was left at liberty to do what he

wished; the teachers rightly thought that it would be useless to

insist that the child should apply himself to a different task.

Indeed, this child, having passed the age when the primary materials

answer to the psychical needs of childhood, was for the first time

attracted by an exercise of a higher order, that of drawing. "Whereas

at first the child had passed from one occupation to another, and had

even taken up the letters of the alphabet, but had never settled to

work with any one of the objects, now suddenly discipline was

established. We do not know exactly at what moment the change took

place, but discipline was maintained and perfected, and reached a

higher level in proportion to the growing interest of the child in

every kind of occupation. Interest having been primarily aroused by

drawing, the child spontaneously went on to the rods used in the

teaching of length, then to placing the plane geometric insets, and so

gradually worked through all the earlier sensory stimuli which the

teacher had passed over." Thus we see that the older child chooses the

objects in inverse order, proceeding almost methodically from the most

difficult to the elementary.

The other child of three was also quite undisciplined. The teachers

were beginning to despair of producing order in this case, when the

child began to take an interest in the solid insets and in one of the

frames. Thereupon he worked steadily and ceased to disturb his

companions.

* * * * *

In our "Children's Houses" for poor children in Rome, directed by

Signorina Maccheroni, it was possible to make more methodical

observations, and these were represented by diagrams, in order to

demonstrate the course of the phenomena more clearly.

The transverse line A B represents the quiescent state; the phenomena

of order (work) are represented above; those of disorder below. When a

child has become calm after the first strong attraction to a task, a

permanent state of order may be established in him. At this stage the

conditions most favorable to work may be studied.

PRIMITIVE CURVE OF ORDERED WORK

This is the manner in which it develops; individual type of a morning

of disciplined work.

[Illustration: Primitive Curve of Ordered Work]

The child keeps still for a while, and then chooses some task he finds

easy, such as arranging the colors in gradation; he continues working

at this for a time, but not for very long; he passes on to some more

complicated task, such as that of composing words with the movable

letters, and perseveres with this for a long time (about half an

hour). At this stage he ceases working, walks about the room, and

appears less calm; to a superficial observer he would seem to show

signs of fatigue. But after a few minutes he undertakes some much more

difficult work, and becomes so deeply absorbed in this, that he shows

us he has reached the acme of his activity (additions and writing down

the results). When this work is finished, his activity comes to an end

in all serenity; he contemplates his handiwork for a long time, then

approaches the teacher, and begins to confide in her.

The appearance of the child is that of a person who is rested,

satisfied, and uplifted.

The apparent fatigue of the child between the first and second period

of work is interesting; at that moment the aspect of the child is not

calm and happy as at the end of the curve; indeed, he shows signs of

agitation, moves about, and walks, but does not disturb the others. It

may be said that he is in search of the maximum satisfaction for his

interest, and is preparing for his "great work."

But, on the other hand, when _the cycle is completed_, the child

detaches himself from his internal concentration; refreshed and

satisfied, he experiences the higher social impulses, such as desiring

to make confidences and to hold intimate communion with other souls.

A similar process became in time the general process in a class of

disciplined children. Signorina Maccheroni sums up this complex

phenomenon as follows:

[Illustration: Whole Class at Work]

In the first period of the morning, up to about 10 a.m., the

occupation chosen is generally an easy and familiar task.

At 10 o'clock there is a great commotion; the children are restless,

they neither work nor go in quest of materials. The onlooker gets an

impression of a _tired_ class, about to become disorderly. After a few

minutes the most perfect order reigns once more; the children are

promptly absorbed in work again; they have chosen new and more

difficult occupations.

When this work ceases, the children are gentle, calm, and happy.

If in the period of "false fatigue" at 10 a.m. an inexperienced

teacher, interpreting the phenomenon of suspension or preparation for

the culminating work as disorder, intervenes, calling the children to

her, and making them rest, etc., their restlessness persists, and the

subsequent work is not undertaken. The children do not become calm:

they remain in an abnormal state. In other words, if they are

interrupted in their cycle, they lose all the characteristics

connected with _an internal process regularly and completely carried

out_.

* * * * *

The single curve of individual orderly work is not general, nor

strictly constant in the type described. But it may be considered as

the average type of work in the level of order achieved. It will be

interesting, first of all, to consider the curve of children in whom

_order has not yet been established_. Poor children hardly ever show

themselves to be in such a state of utter confusion as rich ones; they

are _always_ more or less attracted by the objects, and respond to

them with a certain interest from the very first moment. Such

interest, however, is at first superficial. They are attracted mainly

by curiosity, by a desire to handle "pretty things." They amuse

themselves for some time, it is true, with single objects, changing

and selecting them, but without developing any deep interest. The

characteristic of this period, which may be altogether lacking in a

class of well-to-do children, is that of _alternations of disorder_.

The following diagram represents this period.

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

STAGE PRECEDING THE EVOLUTION OF ORDER

[Illustration: _Individual curve of a poor child_]

The various curves of work are to be found below the line of

quiescence, in state of disorder. It was only when the children were

called to order collectively that this child was still, unless it was

rising towards work; in this case, however, it did not persevere, and

the curve drops suddenly below. It should be noted that in the

irregular course of this diagram we may trace a period of easy work

preceding a period of difficult work (frame, plane insets) and between

these two the maximum decline into disorder.

CURVE OF WORK

OF A VERY POOR CHILD, ALMOST ENTIRELY

NEGLECTED BY ITS PARENTS, AND VERY

TURBULENT

[Illustration: _Period of Disorder_]

The child in question (O) seemed to have a tendency to learn from

others; he ran away from work or was attracted by it only for a brief

moment; and seemed incapable of receiving direct teaching. If any

attempt was made to teach him something, he grimaced and ran away. He

wandered about, disturbing his companions, and seemed quite

intractable; but he listened attentively to the lessons the teacher

gave to the other children.

[Illustration: _Advance towards Order_]

When he began to work, after having learned how to do so, he

persevered, and the normal process is apparent in the diagram; that is

to say, preliminary work, a pause (during which the child relapsed

slightly and momentarily into his habit of disturbing his companions),

then the curve of great application, and of final repose (during

which, however, he again relapsed into his characteristic defect). The

summits of the diagram show not only interest in the work, but a

marked kindliness; the child was not only calm, but seemed full of

beatitude and gentleness; when at the height of his labors he

frequently looked round at his companions, and blew little kisses to

them on his fingers, but without relaxing his attention. It seemed as

if a fount of love were gushing up from the fulness of his internal

satisfaction, from the depths of a soul that had appeared at first so

rough and uncouth.

[Illustration: CURVE OF WORK OF A WEAKLY CHILD]

The diagram is made up of curves that fall upon the line of

quiescence; unity of curve is lacking, hence unity of effort. The

culminating point of work is reached after a preliminary task of an

easier kind; and the supreme task (color) is briefly resumed, after

the great impetus has been exhausted. The phase of rest is not clearly

defined; the child turns to a very easy task (solid insets). A certain

feebleness of character seems to manifest itself in the half-hearted

mental processes. The child makes many successive efforts to rise; but

he can neither make the decisive, vigorous effort, nor come to a

definite decision to cease working. The child is calm, but his state

of calm has no variations; he is neither lively, nor serene, nor does

he show strong affectionate impulses.

COURSE OF PROGRESS

When the whole class is disciplined, the course of development of the

internal activities may be observed.

It must be remembered that the material of development affords

graduated exercises passing from the most rudimentary sensory

exercises to exercises in writing, calculating, and reading. The

children are free to choose the exercises they prefer; but of course,

as the teacher initiates them in each exercise, they only choose the

objects they know how to use. The teacher, observing them, sees when

the child is sufficiently matured for more advanced exercises, and

introduces them to him, or perhaps the child begins them for himself,

after watching other children more advanced.

We must bear such conditions in mind in order to follow "progress" in

work.

[Illustration: Course of Progress]

The two curves represent stages of greatest development as compared

with the primary curve of orderly work. The stage of unrest between

the easy and the more difficult work tends to disappear; the child

seems more _sure of himself_; he goes more directly and readily to the

choice of his culminating exercise.

Consequently, two successive phases of uninterrupted work are left;

one may be called the _phase of preparation_, the other the _phase of

serious work_. The phase of preparation lasts a very short time, the

_serious work_ is of much longer duration; it is noteworthy that the

period of _rest_, with its characteristic air of _comfort_ and

_serenity_, sets in after the _maximum effort has spontaneously spent

itself_. On the other hand, it happens invariably that any external

interruption of the effort causes the child to show signs of fatigue

(restlessness), or to become inattentive.

In the first curve, the initial work consists of two easy tasks,

carried on for a short time, and from these the child passes directly

to the serious work. The finale is a spell of rest full of thought;

the child ceases to work, but contemplates his finished task for a

long time in silence; before preparing to put it away, or, after

having contemplated his own work, he goes quietly to watch that of the

others.

In the second curve there is a very noticeable parallelism with the

line of repose; the child pursues his labors almost uniformly, and the

sole difference between the initial work and the serious work is in

their different duration. The contemplative period becomes henceforth

an obvious "period of internal work," almost a period of

"assimilation" or "internal maturation." Observation of the work of

others becomes increasingly frequent, as if it were a spontaneous

"comparative" study between the child himself and his companions; or

as if an active interest in the contemplation of the external

surroundings were developing: the period of discovery. We may say that

_the child studies himself in his own productions and puts himself

into communion with his companions and his environment_.

At this stage the completion of an entire cycle will exercise an

influence more and more far-reaching on the personality of the child.

Not only is he spurred on to a work of intimate concentration

immediately after his culminating effort; he preserves a permanent

attitude of thought, of internal equilibrium, of sustained interest in

his environment. He becomes a personality who has reached a higher

degree of evolution. This is the period when the child begins to be

"master of himself" and enters upon that characteristic phenomenon I

have called the "phenomenon of obedience." He _can obey_, that is, he

can control his actions, and therefore can direct them in accordance

with the desires of another person. He can break off a piece of work

when interrupted, without becoming disorderly or showing symptoms of

fatigue. Moreover, work has become his habitual attitude, and the

child can no longer bear to be idle. When, for instance, we call some

of the children who are in this stage to the lessons for teachers, in

which they are to serve as the "subjects of study," they lend

themselves with ready docility to that which we ask of them, they

submit to the measurements of height, heads, etc., and they perform

the exercises we suggest, responding always with _interest_, and not

merely with resignation, as if they were conscious of collaborating

with us. But when they have to _wait_, seated on one side till they

are called forward, they cannot sit idle; they work at something.

Inactivity has become intolerable to them. Very often, while I am

giving the lesson, the children take the lacing or tying frames, or

cover the floor with words made with the movable letters; and where

this is feasible, some of the children will draw or paint in these

moments of waiting.

All these things have now become expressions of intelligent activity,

which form part of their psychical organism.

But to ensure the continuance of this attitude and of the development

of personality it is essential that _some real task_ should be

performed each day; for it is from the completed cycle of an activity,

from methodical concentration, that the child develops equilibrium,

elasticity, adaptability, and the resulting power to perform the

higher actions, such as those which are termed acts of obedience. This

makes one think of the method prescribed by the Catholic religion for

the preservation of the forces of spiritual life: that is, a period of

"spiritual concentration," which opens up the possibility of acquiring

"moral powers." It is from methodical "meditation" that moral

personality must draw its powers of solidification, without which the

"inner man," incoherent and unbalanced, fails to possess itself and

dispose of itself for noble ends.

Children have always need of the period of concentration, and serious

work from which they derive the capacity for final development.

The following diagram represents a very lofty stage of childish

development:

[Illustration: SUPERIOR STAGE _Average type_]

Even the preparatory work is now of a higher kind: as soon as the

child comes into school, he will choose, for instance, the letters of

the alphabet, or will write, then (his strenuous work) he will read.

For recreation he will choose an intelligent pastime, such as looking

at illustrated books.

All his intellectual occupations are of a higher order, as are also

his moral attributes (obedience, serenity, perseverance).

Taking the line of quiescence as a level of development, it follows

that the level has become higher.

[Illustration: _Line of work_]

In a superior stage, the line of work tends to become straight,

parallel to the line of quiescence.

Meanwhile it has been established that it is possible to determine

_degrees of development_, or _averages_ of internal development, by

means of which individual variations may be studied. In the primordial

type the characteristics are _disorderly conduct_, and _incapacity to

concentrate attention_; in such a case there is no real line of work,

and the main part of the diagram remains below the line of quiescence.

For the type in which the phenomenon of permanent concentration of

attention on a task has manifested itself, the average characteristic

diagram of normal orderly work of the first degree is now established:

_i. e. preliminary_ work followed by a period of restlessness, and

then _strenuous work_ followed by a state of repose.

Afterwards we distinguish a second degree, where the average is

characterized by the disappearance of the period of unrest, and the

strenuous work is brought to a close in contemplation; this is the

stage of discoveries, of generalized observation, of obedience; work

has become a habit.

This is followed by a general elevation, to be recognized by the

choice of higher preliminary work; disciplined behavior has become a

habit.

During this progression the diagram of work tends to become straight,

and parallel to the line of quiescence.

[Illustrations: A RECAPITULATORY TABLE OF DEVELOPMENT

_Diagrams of average developments_]

The rise in the level of the plane is related to the qualities of more

advanced intellectual work; and the straightening of the line is

related to qualities of internal _construction_ and of the

_organization of the personality_; qualities which would be considered

of a _moral order_, such as serenity, discipline, self-mastery as

manifested in obedience and in the various activities of the child.

When work has become a habit, the intellectual level rises rapidly,

and organized order causes good conduct to become a _habit_. Children

then work with order, perseverance, and discipline, persistently and

naturally; the permanent, calm, and vivifying work of the physical

organism resembles the respiratory rhythm.

The pivot, the medium of this construction of the personality, is

working in freedom, in accordance with the natural wants of the inner

life; thus _freedom in intellectual work_ is found to be the _basis of

internal discipline_. The great achievement of the "Children's

Houses" (_Case dei Bambini_) is to produce _disciplined children_.

It is this internal organization which gives them a special "type," or

character, the type or character _required_ to continue the free

exercise of activities for the _conquests of culture_ in successive

stages.

The elementary school period presents itself insensibly as a

continuation of the "Children's Houses." In these, _behavior is a

habit_ superposed on and fused with the earlier _habit of work_.

Henceforth it will be sufficient to present the material of further

culture, and the child, gradually exercising himself upon it, will

pass from one intellectual stage of culture to another.

The difference shown in the successive ages arises from an

intellectual interest which is no longer merely the impulse to

exercise oneself by repetition of the exercises, but is a higher

interest directed to the work itself, and tending to complete an

external work, or to complete a branch of knowledge as a whole. Thus

the child creates and seeks for things organized in themselves; for

instance, he desires to compose a design by means of combinations of

geometrical figures with the metal insets, and devotes himself to this

work with the greatest intensity until he has completed it. Again, we

see a child occupied for seven or eight consecutive days with the same

work. Another child becomes interested in the potentialities of

numbers or in the arithmetical frame, and perseveres with the same

work for days, until his knowledge of it has matured.

Upon a basis of interior order produced by internal organization, the

mind then builds up its castle with the same leisurely calm with which

a living organism grows spontaneously after birth.

We can give but a primary idea at present of the _practical

possibility_ of determining _average levels_ of interior development

according to age. We shall further require many perfect experiments,

in which homogeneous children, completely suitable environment, and

trained teachers will afford adequate material for observation. Then

students will be able to undertake a scientific work, which will

perhaps be characterized by a precision superior even to that with

which it is at present possible to measure the body, and give the

mathematical averages of growth.

We must consider, however, that the indications available to-day

represent a long, systematic toil, and that they rest upon the still

greater labor of finding external material means for natural

development.

This will give some idea of the difficulty of scientific researches,

which many still believe it possible to make by means of arbitrary and

superficial tests such as those of Binet and Simon!

* * * * *

The study of the child cannot be accomplished by an "instantaneous"

process; his characteristics can only be illustrated cinematographically.

"External means," organized in accordance with the needs of psychical

life, are of fundamental importance; for how is it possible to judge

of individual differences in the acquisition of internal order, in the

ascent to abstraction, in the progressive stages of intellectual

development, in the achievement of discipline, without the existence

of pre-determined and unvarying external means which, like so many

points of support, lead the child in process of formation towards his

goal?

In order to determine _individual differences_ logically, there must

be a _constant work or aim_; and this is the external means on which

each personality builds itself up. When the external support is the

same, and corresponds in general to the psychical needs of a given

age, a difference of internal construction is _due to the individual

himself_. On the other hand, if the means were different, the

variations in reaction might be attributed to differences in the

means.

Finally, it is obvious that in all scientific research, the

_instrument of measurement_ must be fixed. But each _thing to be

measured_ requires a special instrument, and the constant instrument

in psychical measurement should be "the method of education."

A series of formulae, such as the Binet-Simon tests, can neither

measure anything, nor give even an approximate idea of intellectual

levels of intelligence according to age; as to the children who

respond, whence is their response derived? How far is this due to the

intrinsic activity of the individual, and how far to the action of

environment? And if the portion due to environment be ignored, who can

determine what intrinsic psychical value should be given to the

response?

In each personality we must recognize two parts: one is the

individual, natural, spontaneous activity by means of which elements

may be taken from the environment wherewith the personality may be

elaborated internally, constructed and augmented, and hence

_characterized_; another part is the external instrument with which

all this may be done. For instance, a child who at the age of four can

recognize sixty-four colors, shows that he possesses remarkable

activity in the perception of colors, and in the arrangement of them

in gradation in his mind, etc.; but he also shows that he has had the

means to accomplish this achievement; he has had, for instance,

sixty-four color-tablets, with which he has been able to practise at

his leisure and undisturbed, as long as was necessary for such

assimilation.

The psychical factor P is the sum of two factors, one internal, the

other external:

P = I + E

of these the unknown, non-directly measurable factor I may be

indicated by X:

P = X + E

If we were to compare two children, one of whom has had at his

disposal the sixty-four colors in the conditions described above, and

another who has been left to himself in poor surroundings, where gray

and brown tints prevail, and who seems dull and unobservant, etc., we

should find a very remarkable psychical difference. Such a difference

is not, however, intrinsic; it might well be that, subjected to the

same conditions as the first child, the second would recognize the

sixty-four colors. The judgment we should give in such a case would be

based upon an external factor, not upon internal potentialities. We

should really be appraising two different environments, not two

different individuals.

To enable us to judge of individual differences, it would be necessary

for the two children to have had _the same means of development_. In

this case, if at the same age they were not equally capable of

distinguishing the sixty-four colors, but if, for instance, one of the

two could recognize only thirty of these, a true individual psychical

difference would be apparent. One of the tests proposed by one of the

greatest authorities on experimental psychology in Italy, to determine

the intellectual level of sub-normal (backward or deficient)

children, was to make a child pick out the largest and the smallest

cube in a series. This choice, in common with nearly all the tests

proposed for the same purpose, we considered quite independently of

the influence of _culture_ and _education_; and it was appreciated as

the expression of an intimate, personal activity of the intelligence

itself. But if one of the deficient children I had educated on my

method had been subjected to the test, he would, in virtue of a long

sensory training, have chosen the largest and the smallest cube very

much more easily than the children selected by the psychologist from

his special schools; and my deficient child might even have been not

only younger, but even more backward intellectually than the other.

The test would therefore have measured the different methods of

education, whereas the psychical differences between the two children,

really existent by reason of age or of intellectual attainment, would

have remained absolutely obscure.

Man is a fusion of personality and education, and education includes

the series of experiences he undergoes during his life. The two things

cannot be separated in the individual: intelligence without

acquirement is an abstraction. That which holds good of all living

beings: that the individual cannot be divorced from his environment,

is more profoundly true in its application to psychical life, because

the content of environment, constituting the means of auto-experience

which evolves man, is an essential part of him, and, indeed, is the

individual himself. Nevertheless, we all know that the psychical

individual is not his environment, but a life in himself.

Given the formula

P = X + E

in which X is the internal and intrinsic part peculiar to the

individual life, it may be said that every individual has his X. But

in order to _approach_ to direct knowledge of X, it is essential to

know P and E.