demand of our swift-moving America that in order to receive
consideration a new idea should prove itself capable of yielding
immediate dividends. There seems to be a certain hesitancy today among
some in our educated classes about speaking of "ideals." Ideals
connote a long look ahead. They imply a sense that there is something
perfect even though the steps toward embodying or approximating it
will be many and arduous, perhaps discouragingly hard. They betoken
the likelihood of appearing before men as the victims of ultimately
unworkable dreams. In refreshing contrast is the seeming
practicability of encouraging present tendencies. Your tendency is no
far-off projection of mere thought; it is something solid and "real,"
here and now, respected at the bank, in the newspaper office, and
other meeting places of those whose heads are hard. Tendencies turn
elections; ideals carry no such palpable witness of their power.
"Hence let us study tendencies."
This characterization is perhaps extreme, but the danger to which it
refers is all too frequent. A strike, for instance, sets most of us to
discussing ways by which this particular disturbance can be ended
quickly. It is only the few who are willing to hold in mind both terms
of the problem, namely the procedure for tomorrow morning and the
positive ideal toward which all our vocational life should set its
face even if the distant tomorrow is still so far ahead. So of our
conceptions of political life. A given election may indeed involve an
immediate moral issue; but even the issue of next month can be faced
properly only when it is related to an ideal of public life which may
have to wait long years for appreciation by the majority. Nothing is
more necessary in a democracy than a leadership trained in the long
forward look, trained in distinguishing morally right and morally
wrong from expedient, and best from merely better, trained in the
courage to champion a distant ideal in the face of clamor to accept
some inferior but belligerently present substitute.
In short, the student should be offered every encouragement to
thinking out the ultimate obligations of his own life and of his
various groups and to reaching the conviction that there is such a
reality as a permanent human worth, a fundamentally right way for men
and women to seek, a rightness whose authority is undiminished by the
blunders of the human mind in trying to define it. An ever more
earnest attempt to find that way, and to find it by practice illumined
by all the knowledge that can be brought to bear, should be the
leading object. Not a series of definitions and quotations, nor yet a
little information about the social movements of our time, but a truer
understanding of life as the result of interpreting it in terms of the
obligation to create right human adjustments--such an aim saves
college ethics alike from dryness and from superficial attempts to
sprinkle interest over a subject of inherent and intense practical
importance.
It is not essential that an introductory course in ethics should enter
into the philosophy of religion. This may be left to other agencies,
like the church, or to later courses, with every confidence that the
outcome will be sound if mind and soul and will (to use the old
formula) are first enlisted in behalf of noble conduct. Whatever
thinking the student may do along these lines will be the better if
its nurture is drawn first from moral thinking and moral practice.[51]
=Course in ethics prescribed, and early in college course=
From the foregoing it follows that the ethics course should be taken
by all the students. The earlier it can be given the better, inasmuch
as its demands upon their conduct apply to all the years of their
life, and because the whole career at college is more likely to
benefit from beginning early such reflections as this study
particularly invites.
=Sequence determined by development of the student=
The sequence of courses will perhaps be best determined by remembering
the need of following the natural growth of the student. Experiences
come first and then the interpretations. Hence the insistence upon the
practical content of the introductory courses. Theory and history
should follow, not precede. Nobody is interested in the history or the
theory of a thing unless he is interested in the thing itself.
Furthermore, we must bear in mind the needs of those students who are
not likely to care enough for the more theoretical aspects to continue
the subject. If the introductory course is to be all that they take,
obviously the more practical we can make it the better.
=In teaching ethics follow the maxim from the concrete to the abstract=
As to method, a variety of profitable ways abounds if only the contact
with life is kept close and the principles studied are tested by their
outcome in the life which the student knows best. In general, the best
procedure is to work back from concrete instances to the principles
underlying the problem, formulate the principles and test them in
other fields. Our illustrative strike, for instance, can be used to
throw light upon the actual and the ideal principles involved in human
relationship in some such manner as the following:
=Method of procedure illustrated=
What do the employers want? What do they mean by liberty? What were
the circumstances under which Mill formulated his principle of
"liberty within the limits of non-infringement?" What have been the
consequences in America of reliance upon this formula? Why does it
break down in practice? Compare it with the theory of the balance of
power in international relations. What is likely to be the effect of
the possession of power upon the possessor himself?
Restate the ideal of liberty in terms of duty, not of privilege. What
are the obstacles to the fulfillment of such an ideal in industry? In
homes? What are the personal obstacles to clear understanding of the
meaning of right?
What do the workers want? Examine each of their demands--shorter
hours, more pay, recognition of the union, etc. What should the
granting of these demands contribute to their lives? Give instances to
show whether "better off" means better persons or not.
Compare the working man's use of the word "liberty" with that of the
employer. Why do workers often become oppressors when they themselves
become employers? What is the difference between demanding a redress
of your grievance and making a moral demand? What makes the cry of
fraternity as uttered by the workers repugnant to those who otherwise
would accept fraternity as an ideal?
How would you formulate the ideal for the vocational life of the
factory worker? Apply it to other vocations--journalism, law,
teaching. Sum up the ideal rewards of work.
Make tentative definitions of liberty, rights, duty, justice.
* * * * *
Each of the questions mentioned above--and many more will occur in the
course of the discussion--furnishes occasion for extended
considerations that call upon the student for scholarly gathering of
facts, for close thinking, and--not least--for reflection upon his own
experiences and volitions. Other problems will suggest themselves. It
is obvious how the interest of the student in prison reform, for
example, can be employed in like manner as a motive to searching
reflection upon questions of moral responsibility. The principle that
punishment should be a means of awaking in the offender the
consciousness of a self which can and should hold itself to account
despite the magnitude of its temptations is of special usefulness, in
the years when a broadening altruism (and we might add, a tendency to
self-pity) is likely to lead to loose notions of personal obligation.
=Place of the textbook in ethics teaching=
The use of a textbook is a minor matter. To prevent the courses from
running off into mere talk--and even ethics classes are not averse to
"spontaneous" recitation on their own part or to monologues by the
teacher--a textbook may be required, with, let us say, monthly reports
or examinations. So much depends, however, upon the enthusiasm of the
instructor that here particularly recommendations can be only of the
most general kind. Some of the most effective work in this subject is
being done by teachers who forget the textbook for weeks at a time in
order to push home a valuable inquiry suggested by an unforeseen
problem raised in the course of the discussion. Others use no
textbooks at all. Some outline the year's work in a series of cases or
problems with questions to be answered in writing after consulting
selected passages in the classics or in current literature or in
both.[52] This method has the advantage of laying out the whole year's
work beforehand and of guaranteeing that the student comes to the
classroom with something more than a facility in unpremeditated
utterance. It is generally found to be of greater interest because it
follows the lines of his own ordinary thinking--first the problem and
then the attempt to find the principles that will help to solve it.
=Moral concepts deepened by participation in social or philanthropic
endeavors=
More important than any of these details of technique is the need of
helping the student to clarify his thinking by engaging in some
practical moral endeavor. The broadening and deepening of the
altruistic interests is a familiar feature of adolescent life. The
instructor in ethics, in the very interest of his own subject, is the
one who should take the lead in encouraging these expressions, not
only because of the general obligation of the college to make the most
of aptitudes which, neglected in youth, may never again be so
vigorous, but also because of the truth in Aristotle's dictum that
insight is shaped by conduct. Hence the work in ethics should be
linked up wherever possible with student self-government and other
participation in the management of the college, and with
philanthropics like work in settlements or in social reform groups or
cosmopolitan societies. For the students of finer grain it is
eminently worth the trouble to form clubs to intensify the spirit of
the members by activities more pointedly directed to the refining of
human relationships. They might engage in activities in which the task
of elevating the personality is specially marked, that is, in problems
which have to do with mutual interpretation--e.g., black folk and
white, foreign and native stocks in America, delinquents and the
community, immigrant parents and unsympathetic children. They might
organize clubs for one or more of these purposes, for discussing
intimately the problems of personal life, for public meetings on the
ethics of the vocations and on the more distinctly ethical phases of
political and international progress. Such organizations can be made
to do vastly more good for their members then the average debating
society, with its usual premium on mere forensic skill, or the
fraternity, with its encouragement of snobbishness. The wholesome
thing about the spirit of fraternity should be set to work upon some
such creative activities as we have mentioned. Not only does the
comradeship strengthen faith in right doing, but these practical
endeavors offer a notable help to the deepening, extending, and
clarifying of that interest in moral progress without which there can
be none of the intelligent leadership for which our democracy looks to
its colleges.
=Peculiar difficulty of applying usual test to courses in ethics=
To test how far the subject has been of value to the student is
unusually difficult. His interest in the discussions is by no means an
unfailing index. There are those who may be both eager and skilled in
the intellectual combat incidental to the course but whose lives
remain untouched for the better. The worthier outcome is hard to
trace. It is quite possible for the teacher to take credit for the
instilling of an ideal whose generation was due to some agency wholly
unknown, perhaps even to the student himself. On the other hand, the
best results may take years for overt appearance. In the nature of the
case, their more intimate expressions can never be recorded.
Moreover, students vary in the force of character which they bring
with them to the study. A lad whose home training has been deficient
may take more time than the best teacher can give in order to reach
the degree of excellence to which others among his classmates ascend
more quickly. Or a lad whom the course has moved with a desire to take
up some philanthropic endeavor may hesitate to pursue it through lack
of the necessary gift or failure in self-confidence. The forces which
enter into the making of character are so complex, including as they
do not only acquisitions of new moral standards, but temperamental
qualities, early training, potent example, physical stamina, dozens of
accidental circumstances, that it is unfair to use the tests
applicable, let us say, to a course in engineering.
Hence we must be beware of testing the value of the work by immediate
results. Something may be gathered by having the students write
confidentially what they think the course has done for them and where
it could be improved. This they can do both at the end of the course
and years later when time has brought perspective. But tests are of
minor importance. The ethical shortcomings of our time, the constant
need of our students for ever finer standards, convey challenge
enough. Even though the obvious results fall short of our hopes, we
can make the most of our resources with every assurance that they are
amply needed. Are young men more likely to be the better for setting
time aside to obtain with the help of an earnest student of life a
clearer insight into the principles of the best living? If they are
the courses are justified, even though some who take them can show
little immediate profit.
HENRY NEUMANN, Ph.D.
_Ethical Culture School, New York_
Footnotes:
[49] See Adler: _The Present World-Crisis and Its Meaning_, chapter on
"An Ethical Program of Social Reform": also _An Ethical Philosophy of
Life_, Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
[50] From this point of view the ethical justification for the war on
the slum becomes: (_a_) to make possible for the slum-dweller the
better performance of his various duties as parent, worker, citizen;
(_b_) to drive home to all concerned the meaning of interdependence;
(_c_) to clarify for all of us the ideals to which better living
conditions should minister. There is every need today to further the
conviction that the highest service we can perform for another is not
to make him happier, but to help him make himself a better person
through the better performance of his duties.
[51] Note the emphasis placed by modern philosophy upon ethical value
as the point of approach to the problem of Godhead.
[52] Professor Sharp of Wisconsin has found this method so serviceable
that he has interested many teachers in his state and elsewhere in
using it with high school students for purposes of moral instruction.
See "A Course in Moral Instruction for High Schools," by F. C. Sharp;
_Bulletin, University of Wisconsin_.
XVI
THE TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY
=Place of psychology in the curriculum=
Historically, as an offshoot, and rather a recent offshoot, from
philosophy, psychology has been under the care of the department of
philosophy in colleges and universities, foreign as well as American,
and has been taught by professors concerned in part with the courses
in philosophy. Though this state of affairs still obtains to a
considerable extent, the tendency is undoubtedly towards allowing
psychology an independent position in the organization and curriculum
of the college. In recent appointments, indeed, the affiliation of
psychology with education has frequently been emphasized instead of
its affiliation with philosophy, for the professional applications of
psychology lie more in the field of education than elsewhere. As a
required study, our science is more likely to find a place in the
college for teachers than in the college of arts. But, on the other
hand, the applications to medicine, business, and industry are
increasing so rapidly in importance as to make it logical to maintain
an independent position for the science. Only in an independent
position can the psychologist be free to cultivate the central body of
his subject, the "pure" as distinguished from the applied science;
and, with the multiplication of practical applications, it is more
than ever important to center psychological teaching in the person of
some one who is simply and distinctively a psychologist.
=The introductory course to be general, not vocationally applied
psychology=
For a similar reason, psychologists are wont to insist that the
introductory course in their subject, no matter for what class of
students, with general or with professional aims, should be definitely
a course in _psychology_ as distinguished from educational or medical
or business psychology. Illustrative material may very well be chosen
with an eye to the special interests of a class of students, but the
general principles should be the same for all classes, and should not
be too superficially treated in the rush for practical applications.
Some years ago, a Committee of the American Psychological Association
was appointed to make a survey of the teaching of psychology in
universities, colleges, and normal schools, and the Report of this
Committee (1), still the most important contribution to the pedagogy
of the subject, emphasizes the concurrent view of psychologists to the
effect just stated, that the study of psychology should begin with a
course in the central body of doctrine. The psychological point of
view must be acquired before intelligent application can be made,
whether to practical pursuits or to other branches of study such as
philosophy and the social sciences, to which psychology stands in the
relation of an ancillary science.
During the war, the applications of psychology in the testing and
selection of men and training them for specified military and naval
work, in rating officers, in morale and intelligence work, and in
several other lines, became so important that it was decided to give
psychology a place as an "allied subject" in the curriculum of the
Students' Army Training Corps; and the report of the committee of
psychologists that prepared the outline of a course for this purpose
deserves attention as a contribution to the pedagogy of the subject.
They proposed a course on "Human Action," to be free from questions of
a speculative or theoretical nature and concentrated on matters
relevant to military practice and the military uses of psychology. The
aim was to enlist the student's practical concern at the very outset,
and to give him the psychological point of view as applied to his
problems as a member of the Army and a prospective officer. In method,
the course was to depend little on lectures, or even on extensive
readings, and much on the student's own solution of practical
psychological problems. Evidently the psychologists who prepared this
plan were driven by the emergency to abandon "academic" prepossessions
in favor of a course in pure psychology as the necessary prerequisite
to any study of applications; and it is quite possible that courses
in psychology for different groups of students could be prepared that
should follow this general plan and be intensely practical from the
start. It would still remain true that the thorough psychologist
should be the one to plan and conduct such courses.
=The psychological point of view must be emphasized in the introductory
course=
The psychological point of view means attentiveness to certain matters
that are neglected in the usual objective attitude toward things. It
is identified by many with introspection, but there is at present
considerable dissent from this doctrine, the dissenters holding that
an objective type of observation of human behavior is distinctively
psychological and probably more significant and fruitful than the
introspective attitude. However this may be, both introspection and
behavior study require attention to matters that are commonly
disregarded. Every one is of course interested in what people do, or
at least in the outcome of their activities; but psychology is
interested in the activities themselves, in how the outcome is reached
rather than in the outcome itself. Ordinarily, we are interested in
the fact that an inventor has solved a problem, but regard it as
rather irrelevant if he proceeds to tell us the mental process by
which he reached the solution. We are interested in the fact that a
child has learned to speak, but devote little thought to the question
as to how he has learned. It is to bring such psychological questions
to light and arouse intelligent interest in them, with some knowledge
of the answers that have been found, that the psychologist is chiefly
concerned when initiating beginners into his science. This primary aim
is accomplished in the case of those students who testify, as some do,
that the course in psychology has "opened their eyes" and made them
see life in a different light than hitherto.
=Values of the study of psychology--cultural rather than disciplinary=
Whether this primary value of psychology is to be counted among the
disciplinary or among the cultural values may be a matter of doubt.
Psychologists themselves have seldom made special claims in behalf of
their science as a means of formal discipline, many of them, in fact,
taking a very negative position with regard to the whole conception of
such discipline. What psychology can give of general value is a point
of view, and a habit of attentiveness to the mental factor. The need
of some systematic attention to these matters often comes to light in
the queer efforts at a psychology made by intelligent but uninstructed
persons in the presence of practical problems involving the mental
factor.
=The practical value=
Besides this "cultural" value, and besides the special uses of
psychology as a preparation for teaching and certain other
professions, there is a very real and practical value to be expected
from an understanding of the mental mechanism. Since every one works
with this mechanism, every one can make practical use of the science
of it. Most persons get on passably well, perhaps, without any expert
knowledge of the machinery which they are running; yet the machine is
not entirely "fool proof," by any means, but sometimes comes to grief
from what is in essence a lack of psychological wisdom either in the
person himself or in his close companions. Mental hygiene, in short,
depends on psychology. The college student, looking forward to a life
of mental activity, is specially in a position to utilize information
regarding the most economical working of the mental machine; and, as a
matter of experience, some students are considerably helped in their
methods of mental work by what they learn in the psychology class.
Among the results of recent investigation are many bearing on economy
and efficiency of mental work. This value of psychology, it will be
seen, is practical without being professional--except in so far as all
educated men can be said to adopt the profession of mental engineer.
Much more emphasis than has been customary might well be laid on this
side of the subject in elementary courses.
=Content of the introductory course in psychology=
The content of the first course in psychology is just now undergoing a
certain amount of revision. Traditionally the aim has been, not so
much, as in most other subjects, to initiate the student into a range
of facts lying outside his previous experience, as to bring definitely
to his attention facts lying within the experience of all, and to
cause him to classify these so as to refer any given mental process to
the class or classes where it belongs. This calls for definition, the
making of distinctions, the analysis of complex facts, the use of a
technical vocabulary, and in general for much more precision of
statement than the student has been used to employ in speaking of such
matters. Some laws of mental action, verifiable within ordinary
experience, are also brought to light in such a course, and some
account of the neural mechanisms of mental life is usually included;
but its chief accomplishment is in leading the student to attend to
mental processes and gain a point of view that may remain his future
possession.
With the great expansion of psychological knowledge in recent decades,
due to research by experimental and other empirical methods, it has
become possible to give a course more informational in character and
going quite beyond the range of the student's previous experience; and
this new material is finding its way into elementary texts and
courses. Many of the results of research are not at all beyond the
comprehension of the beginner; indeed, they are often more tangible
than the distinctions and analyses that give the stamp to the
traditional course. These empirical results also have the advantage,
in many cases, of throwing light on the practical problems of mental
health and efficiency; and some inclusion of such material is
desirable if only to fit the needs of the considerable number of
students who cannot become interested in a course of the traditional
sort. Practice in this matter is at present quite variable, some
teachers basing the introductory course as far as possible on the
results of experiment, and others adhering closely to the older plan.
=Methods of teaching psychology--Practical exercises=
There is certainly some advantage in keeping the first course
untechnical. The student can then be set to observing for himself,
instead of depending on books. Many of the facts of psychology are so
accessible, at least in a rough form, as to make the subject a good
one for appealing to the spirit of independence in the student. Some
teachers are, in fact, accustomed to introduce each part of the
subject by exercises, introspective or other, designed to bring the
salient facts home to the student in a direct way, before he has
become inoculated with the doctrine of the authorities. "The essential
point is that the student be led to observe his own experience, to
record his observation accurately--in a word, to psychologize; and to
make the observation before, not after, discovering from book or from
lecture what answers are expected to these questions. Individual
experiments should so far as possible be performed in like manner
before the class discussion of typical results. In all cases the
results of these introspections should be recorded in writing;
representative records should be read and commented on in class; and
the discussion based on them should form the starting point for
textbook study and for lecture." The plan thus highly recommended by
Professor Calkins[53] she found not to be widely used at the time of
her inquiry; a commoner practice was the assignment of reading for the
student's first introduction to a given topic. This alternative plan
is a line of less resistance; and it is also true that exercises in
original observation by beginners in psychology are likely to be
instructive mostly as evidence of the ineptness of the beginner in
psychological observation. Moreover, when the content of the course is
informational and based on the results of research, preliminary
exercises by the student are of rather limited value, though they
still could serve a useful purpose in bringing forcibly to his
attention the problems to be studied.
The use of "exercises," somewhat analogous to the examples of algebra
or the "originals" of geometry, is quite widespread in introductory
courses in psychology, and several much-used textbooks offer sets of
exercises with each chapter. Several types are in vogue: (1) some call
for introspections, as, for example, "Think of your breakfast table as
you sat down to it this morning--do you see it clearly as a scene
before your mind's eye?" (2) some call for a review and generalization
of facts presumably already known, as "Find instances of the
dependence of character upon habit;" (3) many consist of simple
experiments demanding no special apparatus and serving to give a
direct acquaintance with matters treated in the text, such as
after-images or fluctuations of attention; and (4) many call for the
application of the principles announced in the text to special cases,
the object being to "give the student some very definite thing to do"
(Thorndike), in doing which he will secure a firm hold of the
principles involved. In general, teachers of psychology aim to "keep
the student doing things, instead of merely listening, reading, or
seeing them done" (Seashore, 1, page 83). In a few colleges,
laboratory work of a simple character forms part of the introductory
course, and in one or two the laboratory part is developed to a degree
comparable with what is common in chemistry or biology. As a rule,
however, considerations of time and equipment have prevented the
introduction of real laboratory work into the first course in
psychology.
=Classroom methods--The lecture=
Of classroom methods, perhaps all that are employed in other subjects
find application also in psychology, some teachers preferring one and
some another. The lecture method is employed with great success by
some of the leaders, who devote much attention to the preparation of
discourse and demonstrations. One professor (anonymous) is quoted[54]
as follows:
"I must here interject my ideas on the lecture system. The lecture has
a twofold advantage over the recitation. (1) It is economical, since
one man handles a large number of students; the method of recitation
is extravagant. This fact alone will mean the retention of the lecture
system, wherever it can possibly be employed with success. (2) It is
educationally the better method, for the average student and the
average teacher. For the reconstruction of a lecture from notes means
an essay in original work, in original thinking; while the recitation
lapses all too readily into textbook rote and verbal repetition.
"It is, nevertheless, true that sophomore students are on the whole
inadequate to a lecture course. They cannot take notes; they cannot
tear the heart out of a lecture. (They are also, I may add, inadequate
to the reading of textbooks or general literature, in much the same
way.) Hence one has to supplement the lecture by syllabi, by lists of
questions (indexes, so to speak, to the lectures), and by personal
interviews....
"The sum and substance of my recommendations is that you provide a
competently trained instructor, and let him teach psychology as he
best can. What the student needs is the effect of an individuality, a
personality; and the lecture system provides admirably for such
effect."
=The recitation=
Though the lecture system is used with great success by a number of
professors, the general practice inclines more to the plan of oral
recitations on assigned readings in one or more texts, and large
classes are often handled in several divisions in order to make the
recitation method successful. Not infrequently a combination of
lectures by the professor and recitations conducted by his assistants
is the plan adopted, the lecturer to add impressiveness to the course,
and the recitations to hold the student up to his work. Written
exercises, such as those already mentioned, are often combined with
the oral recitation; and in some cases themes are to be written by the
students. Probably the seminar method, in which the subject is chiefly
presented in themes prepared by the students, is never attempted in
the introductory course.
=Class discussion=
On the other hand, a number of successful teachers reject both the
lecture and the recitation methods, and rely for the most part upon
class discussions, with outside readings in the textbooks, and
frequent written recitations as a check on the student's work. A
champion of the discussion method writes as follows:[55]
"A teacher has not the right to spend any considerable part of the
time of a class in finding out by oral questions ... whether or not
the student has done the work assigned to him. The good student does
not need the questions and is bored by the stumbling replies which he
hears; and even the poor student does not get what he needs, which is
either instruction _a deux_, or else a corrected written
recitation.... Not in this futile way should the instructor squander
the short hours spent with his students. The purpose of these hours is
twofold: first, to give to the students such necessary information as
they cannot gain, or cannot so expediently gain, in some other way;
second, and most important, to incite them to 'psychologize' for
themselves. The first of these purposes is best gained by the lecture,
the second by guided discussion. 'Guided discussion' does not mean a
reversal of the recitation process--an hour in which students ask
questions in any order, and of any degree of relevancy and
seriousness, which the instructor answers. On the contrary, the
instructor initiates and leads the discussion; he chooses its subject,
maps out its field, pulls it back when it threatens to transgress its
bonds, and, from time to time, summarizes its results. This he does,
however, with the least possible show of his hand. He puts his
question and leaves it to the student interested to answer him; he
restates the bungling answer and the confused question; he leaves one
student to answer the difficulties of another.... The advantage of the
discussion over the lecture is, thus, that it fosters in the student
the active attitude of the thinker in place of the passive attitude of
the listener.... Obviously it is simplest to teach large classes by
lecturing to them. Yet a spirited and relevant discussion may be
conducted in a class of a hundred or so. Of course no more than eight
or twelve, or, at most, twenty of these will take even a small part on
a given day; perhaps a half or two thirds will never take part; and
some will remain uninterested. But there will be many intelligent
listeners as well as active participants; and these gain more, I
believe, by the give and take of a good discussion than by constant
lectures however effective."
=Class experiments=
Brief mention should be made of a form of class exercise peculiar to
psychology, the "class experiment." This is in some respects like a
demonstration, but differs from that in calling for a more active
participation on the part of the student. Any psychological experiment
is performed _on_ a human (or animal) subject, and many experiments
can be performed on a group of subjects together, each of them being
called on to perform a certain task or to make a certain observation.
Each of the class having made his individual record, the instructor
may gather them together into an average or summary statement, and the
individual variations as well as the general tendency may thus be
brought to light. Very satisfactory and even scientific experiments
can thus be performed, with genuine results instructive to the class.
=Checking the work of the students=
Of methods of holding the student to his work, mention has already
been made of the much-used written recitation. The usual plan is to
have frequent, very brief written examinations. Sometimes the practice
is to correct and return all the papers; sometimes to place them all
on file and correct samples chosen at random for determining the
student's "term mark." A plan that has some psychological merit is to
follow the examination immediately by a statement of the correct
answers, with brief discussion of difficulties that may arise, and to
ask each student to estimate the value of his own paper in the
standard marking system. The papers are then collected and examined,
and returned with the instructor's estimate.
Since an examination is, in effect, a form of psychological test, it
is natural that psychologists should have attempted to introduce some
of the technique of psychological testing into the work of examining
students, in the interest of economy of the student's time as well as
that of the examiner. The teacher prepares blanks which the student
can quickly fill out if he knows the subject, not otherwise. To
discover how far the student has attained a psychological point of
view, written work or examination questions often demand some
independence in the application to new cases of what has been learned.
Far-reaching tests of the later value to the student of a course in
psychology have not as yet been attempted.
=Place of psychology in the college course=
No attempt has yet been made to obtain the consensus of opinion among
psychologists as to whether the introductory course should be required
of all arts students, and probably opinions would differ, without
anything definitive to be said on either side. In quite a number of
colleges psychology forms part of a required general course in
philosophy. Where a separation has occurred between philosophy and
psychology, the latter is seldom absolutely required. As a general
rule, however, the introductory course, even if not required, is taken
by a large share of the arts students. The traditional position for
the course in psychology is late in the college curriculum, originally
in the senior but more recently in the junior year. In many of the
larger colleges it is now open to sophomores or even to freshmen. One
motive for pushing the introductory course back into the earlier years
is naturally to provide for more advanced courses in the subject; and
another is the desire to make psychology prerequisite for courses in
philosophy, education, or sociology. Still another motive tending in
the same direction is the desire to make the practical benefits of
psychological study available for the student in the further conduct
of his work as a student in whatever field. If considerable attention
is devoted in the introductory course to questions of mental hygiene
and efficiency, the advantage of bringing these matters early to the
attention of the student outweighs the objection which is often raised
by teachers of psychology, as of other subjects, to admitting the
younger students, on the ground of immaturity. The teachers who get
the younger students may have to put up with immaturity in order that
the benefit of their teaching may be carried over by the students into
later parts of the curriculum.
=Length of the introductory course=
When the introductory course in psychology forms part of a course in
philosophy, it is usually restricted to one semester, with three hours
of class work per week. When psychology is an independent subject in
the curriculum, a two-semester course is usually provided, since it is
the feeling of psychologists that this amount of time is needed in
order to make the student really at home in the subject, and to
realize for him the values that are looked for from psychology. Often
there is a break between the two semesters of such a course, the
second being devoted to advanced or social or applied psychology.
Sometimes, on the other hand, the two-semester course is treated as a
unit, the various topics being distributed over the year; this latter
procedure is probably the one that finds most favor with
psychologists. Still, good results can be obtained with the semester
course supplemented by other courses.
=Content of advanced courses in psychology=
The most frequent advanced course is one in experimental psychology.
This is taken by only a small fraction of those who have taken the
introductory course, partly because the laboratory work attached to
the experimental course demands considerable time from the student,
partly because students are not encouraged to go into the laboratory
unless they have a pretty serious interest in the subject. For a
student who has it in him to become somewhat of an "insider" in
psychology, no course is the equal of the laboratory course,
supplemented by judicious readings in the original sources or in
advanced treatises. Next in frequency to the experimental course
stands that in applied psychology, since the recent applications of
psychology to business, industry, vocational guidance, law, and
medicine appeal to a considerable number of college students. Other
courses which appear not infrequently in college curricula are those
in social, abnormal, and animal psychology. No precise order is
necessary in the taking of these courses, and it is not customary to
make any beyond the introductory course prerequisite for the others.
ROBERT S. WOODWORTH
_Columbia University_
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Many of the textbooks contain, in their prefaces, important
suggestions toward the teaching of the subject. There are also
frequent articles in the psychological journals on apparatus for
demonstrations and class or laboratory experiments.
1. Report of the Committee of the American Psychological Association
on the Teaching of Psychology. _Psychological Monographs_, No. 51,
1910.
2. American Psychological Association, Report of the Committee on the
Academic Status of Psychology, 1915: "The Academic Status of
Psychology in the Normal Schools."
3. Same Committee, 1916: "A Survey of Psychological Investigations
with Reference to Differentiations between Psychological Experiments
and Mental Tests." Concerned with the availability of mental tests as
material for the experimental course.
4. Courses in Psychology for the Students' Army Training Corps.
_Psychological Bulletin_, 1918, 15, 129-136. See also the Outlines of
parts of the course in the same journal, pages 137-167, 177-206; and a
note on the success of the courses by Edgar S. Brightman, in the
_Bulletin_ for 1919, pages 24-26.
Footnotes:
[53] In Report, pages 50-51.
[54] By Sanford, 1, page 66.
[55] Calkins, 1, pages 47-48.
XVII
THE TEACHING OF EDUCATION
A. TEACHING THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN COLLEGE
=Kinds of educational values=
There are three main kinds of educational value; viz., practical,
cultural, and disciplinary. These three types of educational value
probably originated in the order in which they are here mentioned. In
early educational periods, all values are practical, or utilitarian.
With the growth of social classes, some values become cultural; viz.,
those pursued by the upper classes. The disciplinary values are
recognized when studies cease to have the practical and cultural
values.
=Meaning of educational values=
By the "educational value" of a subject we mean, of course, the
service which the pursuit of that subject renders. Any one subject
will naturally have all three values, but no two subjects will have
the same values mixed in the same proportion. The practical value of a
subject depends on the use in life to which it can be put, especially
its use in making a living. The cultural value of a subject depends
largely on the enjoyment it contributes to life. While culture does
not make a living, it makes it worth while that a living should be
made. The disciplinary value of a subject depends on the amount of
mental training that subject affords. Such mental training is
available in further pursuit of the same, or a similar, subject. It is
the fashion of educational thinking in our day to put greatest stress
on the practical values, less on the cultural, and least on the
disciplinary. There is no denying the reality of each type of value.
=Value of the history of education=
Now, what is the value of the history of education? There are no
experimental studies as yet, nor scientific measurements, upon which
to base an answer. The poor best we can do is to express an opinion.
This opinion is based on the views of others and on the writer's
experience in teaching the history of education ten years in a liberal
college (Dartmouth) and ten years in a professional graduate school
(New York University). On this basis I should say that the aim of the
history of education, at least as recorded in existing texts, is first
cultural, then practical, and last disciplinary. Texts yet to be
written for the use of teachers in training may shift the places of
the cultural and the practical. This new type of text will give the
history, not of educational epochs in chronological succession, but of
modern educational problems in their origin and development.[56]
=Its cultural value=
As cultural, the history of education is the record of the efforts of
society to project its own ideals into the future through shaping the
young and plastic generation. There comes into this purview the
successive social organizations, their ideals, and the methods
utilized in embodying these ideals in young lives. Interpretations of
the nature of social progress, the contribution of education to such
progress, and the goal of human progress, naturally arise for
discussion, and the history of education well taught as the effort of
man to improve himself is both informing and inspiring. This is the
cultural value of the history of education. The sense of the meaning
and value of human life is enhanced. As President Faunce says,[57] "A
college of arts and sciences which has no place for the study of
student life past and present, no serious consideration of the great
schools which have largely created civilization, is a curiously
one-sided and illiberal institution."
=Its practical value=
As practical, the history of education, even when taught from the
customary general texts, throws some light on such everyday school
matters as educational organization, the best methods of teaching, the
right principles of education for women, how to manage classes, and
the art of administering education. History cannot give the final
answer to such questions, but it makes a contribution to the final
answer in reporting the results of racial experience and in assisting
students to understand present problems in the light of their past.
The history of education has a practical value, but it is not alone
the source of guidance.
=Its disciplinary value=
As disciplinary, the history of education shows the value of all
historical study. The appeal is mainly to the memory and the judgment.
The teaching is inadequate, if the appeal is only to the memory. The
judgment must also be requisitioned in comparing, estimating,
generalizing, and applying. Memory is indispensable in retaining the
knowledge of the historical facts, and judgment is utilized in seeing
the meaning of these facts. With all studies in general, history
shares in training perceptive, associative, and effortful activities.
Training in history is commonly supposed also to make one
conservative, in contrast with training in science, which is supposed
to make one progressive. But this result is not necessary, being
dependent upon one's attitude toward the past. If past events are
viewed as a lapse from an ideal, the study of history makes one
conservative and skeptical about progress. If, on the other hand, the
past is viewed as progress toward an ideal, the study of history makes
one progressive, and expectant of the best that is yet to be. But,
even so, familiarity with the past breeds criticism of quick
expedients whereby humanity is at last to arrive. On the whole, the
disciplinary value of the history of education is attained as an
incident of its cultural and practical values. We are no longer trying
to discipline the mind by memorizing lists of names and dates, though
they be such euphonious names as those of the native American Indian
tribes, but we are striving to understand man's past and present
efforts at conscious self-improvement.
=The various aims of students=
College students will elect a course in the history of education with
many different motives. They may like the teacher, they may like
history in any form, they may like the hours at which the class is
scheduled, some person who had the course recommended it, or they have
an idea they may teach for a while after graduating. A few know they
are going into teaching as a vocation in life, and appreciate in a
measure the increasing exactitudes of professional training. Thus,
from the student standpoint, the aims are eclectic. The results with
them will be that as human beings they have a wider view of life; as
citizens, perhaps as members of school boards, they are more
intelligent in school matters; and as teachers they make a start in
their progressive equipment. The general course in the history of
education is pursued by a group of students with varying but
undifferentiated motives.
=A student's reaction=
Once I asked a group of college students to write a frank reaction on
a sixty-hour course they had just completed in the general history of
education. One wrote as follows: "The history of education makes me
feel that a number of what we call innovations today are a renaissance
of something as 'old as the hills.' We hear a lot about pupil
self-government, and we find it back in the seventeenth century. The
trade school also is not a modern tendency.
"I also feel that maybe we are not giving our boys and girls a liberal
education; maybe we are too utilitarian (I was very much inclined that
way myself before I took this course).
"That when we wish to try something new, let's go back and see if it
has not been tried before, study the circumstances, the mistakes made,
the results attained, and see whether we can't profit by the
experience given us by the past.
"I was also very much surprised to learn the close connection that
there is between civilization and education.
"I feel that we are laying too much stress on the thinking side of
training rather than on the volitional side: not doing in the sense
of utility alone, but as a means of expression."
It is easy to see the parts of the course that particularly gripped
him. Another wrote as follows:
=Another reaction=
"The history of education makes me feel as follows about teaching:
(1) It shows the knowledge of method to be obtained from the
experiences of others.
(2) It makes me feel the importance of the teacher.
(3) It shows a great field and encourages us to try to improve our own
methods.
(4) It shows us the great responsibility of the profession in
connection with the nation, for the school teacher to a marked degree
determines the destiny of a nation.
(5) It shows the importance of free-thinking. (Illustration omitted.)
(6) It shows us the great importance of individuality along the line
of teaching, for, as soon as we begin to adopt the methods of others
exactly without examining them carefully, progress stops, and we are
like the teachers of the Middle Ages.
(7) It shows that every teacher should have a heartfelt interest in
his pupil.
(8) It makes us feel that discipline is unnecessary, if we utilize the
right methods.
(9) It tells us and makes us feel above everything else that a good
education is worth as much as riches and that, since we are all
brothers, we ought to try to teach everybody."
An analysis of these two answers would show a combination of the
cultural and practical values and, by implication at least, since they
were able to say these things, a disciplinary value.
=History of education should be an elective course=
Should the history of education be a required or an elective course in
the college curriculum? In a school of education offering a bachelor's
degree, it might well be required, for both cultural and professional
reasons, but in the usual department of education in a college it
will be offered as an elective course. Its cultural and disciplinary
values are not such as to make its pursuit a requisite for a liberal
education, and its practical value for prospective teachers, as it has
been commonly taught, is not such as to warrant its prescription.
Besides, the prospective teacher is animated by the vocational motive
and will elect the history of education anyway, unless there are more
practical courses to be had. Students in all the college courses
should have the privilege of electing the history of education in view
of their future citizenship.
=A forty-five-hour course=
A three-hour-per-week elective course for a half year, about
forty-five classroom hours, will meet the needs of the average
undergraduate in this subject. This amount of time is adequate for a
bird's eye view of the general field, affording a unit of
accomplishment in itself preparing the way for more specialized study
later, though it is only about half the time requisite for presenting
the details of the subject.
=First term senior year=
In my judgment the study of the history of education would best fall
between principles and methods. The study of the principles of
education should come first, as it is closely related to preceding
work in the natural and mental sciences, especially biology,
physiology, sociology, and psychology; it also gives a point of view
from which to continue the study of education, some standard of
judgment. The study of educational methods, such as general method in
teaching, special method for different subjects, the technique of
instruction, class management, organization and administration of
schools, should come last in the course, because it will be soonest
used. These practical matters should be fresh in the mind of any young
college graduate beginning to teach. The history of education is a
good transition in study from the theory of the first principles to
the practice of school matters, affording a panorama of facts to be
judged by principles and racial experiments in educational practice.
This means that the choice time for the course in the history of
education is the first semester of the senior year in college. There
is something to be said for making this course the introductory one
in the study of education, connecting with preceding courses in
history and being objective in character. There is also something to
be said for giving only a practical course dealing with the history of
educational problems to college undergraduates and reserving the
general history of education as a complex social study for the
graduate school. There is no unanimity of opinion or practice
concerning the history of education.[58]
=Texts and contents=
What should be the content of the one-semester general course? Three
modern available texts are Monroe, _A Brief Course in the History of
Education_ (The Macmillan Company); Graves, _A Student's History of
Education_ (The Macmillan Company); and Duggan, _A Student's Textbook
in the History of Education_ (D. Appleton & Co.). Of these Monroe's
book is the first (1907), and it has greatly influenced every later
text in the field. There is a general agreement in these three texts
as to the content of such a course; viz., a general survey of
education in the successive periods of history, including primitive,
oriental, Greek, Roman, Early Christian and medieval, renaissance,
reformation, realism, Locke and the disciplinary tendency, Rousseau,
the psychologists, and the scientific, sociological, and eclectic
tendencies. All are written from the standpoint of the conflict
between the interests of society and the individual. The pages of the
three books number respectively 409, 453, and 397. Graves pays most
attention to the development of American education. Duggan omits the
treatment of primitive and oriental education (except Jewish), "which
did not contribute _directly_ to Western culture and education." All
are illustrated. All have good summaries, which Graves and Duggan,
following S. C. Parker, who derived the suggestion from Herbart, place
at the beginning of the chapter. All have bibliographical references,
and Duggan adds lists of questions also. Perhaps in order of ease for
students the books would be Duggan, Graves, and Monroe, though
teachers would not all agree in this. Users of Monroe have a valuable
aid in his epoch-making _Textbook in the History of Education_ (The
Macmillan Company), 772 pages, 1905, and users of Graves likewise have
his three volumes as supplementary material (The Macmillan Company).
The same general ground is covered by P. J. McCormick, _History of
Education_ (The Catholic Educational Press), 1915, 401 pages, with
especial attention given to the Middle Ages and the religious
organizations of the seventeenth century. This work contains
references and summaries also.
Duggan is right in omitting the treatment of primitive and oriental
education on the principle of strict historical continuity, but for
purposes of comparison the chapters on primitive and oriental
education in the other texts serve a useful purpose.
=Educational classics=
A more intensive elective course in the history of education intended
especially for those expecting to teach might well be offered in a
college with sufficient instructors. These courses might be in
educational classics, the history of modern elementary education, or
the history of the high school. Texts are now available in these
fields. Monroe's _Source Book for the History of Education_ (The
Macmillan Company), 1901, is a most useful book in studying the
ancient educational classics, in which, however, the Anacharsis of
Lucian does not appear, though it can be found in the Report of the
United States Commissioner of Education, 1897-1898, Vol. I, pages
571-589. The renaissance classics may be studied in the works of
Woodward and Laurie. The realists may be studied in the various
editions of Comenius, Locke, Spencer, and Huxley. Likewise the modern
naturalistic movement may be followed in the writings of Rousseau,
Pestalozzi, Herbart, and Froebel. These four courses are available in
educational classics: the ancient, the renaissance or humanistic, the
realistic and the naturalistic.
=History of elementary and high schools=
_The History of Modern Elementary Education_ (Ginn and Co.) by S. C.
Parker and _The High School_ (The Macmillan Company) by F. W. Smith
may be profitably used as texts in the courses on these topics.
Parker's has but little on the organization of the elementary school,
is weak on the philosophical side of the theorists treated, has
nothing on Montessori, draws no lessons from history, is very brief on
the present tendencies, and is somewhat heavy, prosaic, and
unimaginative in style; but it is painstaking, covers all the main
points well and has uncovered some valuable new material, and on the
whole is the best history in English on its problem. Dr. Smith's book
is really a history of education written around the origin and
tendencies of the high school as central. It is a scholarly work,
based on access to original Latin and other sources, though diffuse.
=American education=
An elective course in the history of American education is highly
desirable. Chancellor E. E. Brown's scholarly book on _The Making of
Our Middle Schools_, or E. G. Dexter's encyclopedic book on _History
of Education in the United States_, may profitably serve as texts.
This course should show the European influences on American schools,
the development of the American system, and the role of education in a
democratic society. There is great opportunity for research in this
field.
=History of educational problems=
There is room for yet another course for college undergraduates
expecting to teach,--a history of educational problems. The idea is to
trace the intimate history of a dozen or more of the present most
urgent educational questions, with a view to understanding them better
and solving them more wisely, thus enabling the study of the history
of education to function more in the practice of teachers. Such a text
has not yet been written. The point of view is expressed by Professor
Joseph K. Hart as follows: "The large problem of education is the
making of new educational history. The real reason for studying the
history of education is that one may learn how to become a maker of
history. For this purpose, history must awaken the mind of the student
to the problems, forces, and conditions of the present; and its
outlook must be toward the future."[59]
=Methods Of teaching=
What should be the method of teaching the history of education in
college? One of the texts will be used as a basis for assignments and
study. Not less than two hours of preparation on each assignment will
be expected. The general account in the text will be supplemented by
the reading of source and parallel material, concerning which very
definite directions will have to be given by the teacher. Each student
will keep a notebook as one of the requirements of the course, which
is examined by the instructor at the end. A profitable way to make a
notebook is for each student to select a different modern problem and
trace its origin and growth as he goes through the general history of
education and its source material. In this way each student becomes a
crude historian of a problem. The examination will test judgment and
reason as well as memory. In the classroom the instructor will at
times question the class, will at times be questioned by the class,
will lecture on supplementary material, will use some half-dozen
stereopticon lectures in close conjunction with the text, will have
debates between chosen students, seeking variety in method without
loss of unity in result. Some questions for debate might be, the
superiority of the Athenian to the modern school product, the
necessity of Latin and Greek for a liberal education, religious
instruction in the public schools, formal discipline, whether the aim
of education is cultural or vocational, whether private philanthropy
is a benefit to public education, etc. It is very important in
teaching so remote a subject as the history of education that the
teacher have imagination, be constantly pointing modern parallels,
communicate the sense that the past has made a difference in the
present, and be himself kindled and quickened by man's aspirations for
self-improvement. Unless our subject first inspires us, it cannot
inspire our pupils. Whoever teaches the history of education because
he has to instead of because he wants to must expect thin results.
=Testing results=
In addition to the formal indication of the results of the course in
the examination paper, teachers can test their results by asking for
frank unsigned statements as to what the course has meant to each
student, by securing suggestions from the class for the future conduct
of the course, by noting whether education as a means of social
evolution has been appreciated, by observing whether the attitude of
individual students toward education as a life-work or as a human
enterprise deserving adequate support from all intelligent citizens
has developed. As future citizens, has the motive to improve schools
been awakened? Particularly do more men want to teach, despite small
pay and slight male companionship? The history of education does not
really grip the class until its members want to rise up and do
something by educational means to help set the world right.
The limits of this paper exclude the treatment of the subject in the
professional training of teachers in normal schools, high schools, and
graduate schools, as well as in extension courses for teachers or in
their private reading.
HERMAN H. HORNE
_New York University_
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BUISSON, F. _Dictionnaire de la Pedagogie_, Histoire de l'Education.
BURNHAM, W. H. Education as a University Subject. _Educational
Review_, Vol. 26, pages 236-245.
BURNHAM and SUZZALO, _The History of Education as a Professional
Subject_, Teachers College, New York, 1908.
COOK, H. M. _History of the History of Education as a Professional
Study in the United States._ Unpublished thesis.
HINSDALE, B. A. The Study of Education in American Colleges and
Universities, _Educational Review_, Vol. 19, pages 105-120.
HORNE, H. H. A New Method in the History of Education. _The School
Review Monographs_, No. 3, Chicago, 1913; pages 31-35. Discussion of
same in _School Review_, May, 1913.
KIEHLE, D. L. The History of Education: What It Stands For. _School
Review_, Vol. 9, pages 310-315.
MONROE, P., and Others. History of Education; in Monroe's _Cyclopedia
of Education_, Vol. 3, New York, 1912.
MONROE, P. Opportunity and Need for Research Work in the History of
Education. _Pedagogical Seminary_, Vol. 17, pages 54-62.
MOORE, E. C. The History of Education. _School Review_, Vol. XI, pages
350-360.
NORTON, A. O. Scope and Aims of the History of Education. _Educational
Review_, Vol. 27.
PAYNE, W. H. Practical Value of the History of Education. _Proceedings
National Education Association_, 1889, pages 218-223.
REIN, W. Encyclopaedisches Handbuch der Paedagogik. _Historische
Paedagogik._
ROBBINS, C. L. History of Education in State Normal Schools.
_Pedagogical Seminary_, Vol. 22, No. 3, pages 377-390.
ROSS, D. _Education as a University Subject: Its History, Present
Position, and Prospects._ Glasgow, 1883.
SUTTON, W. L., and BOLTON, F. E. The Relation of the Department of
Education to other Departments in Colleges and Universities. _Journal
of Pedagogy_, Vol. 19, Nos. 2-3.
WILLIAMS, S. G. Value of the History of Education to Teachers.
_Proceedings National Education Association_, 1889, pages 223-231.
WILSON, G. M. Titles of College Courses in Education. _Educational
Monographs_, No. 8, 1919, pages 12-30.
B. TEACHING EDUCATIONAL THEORY IN COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS OF
EDUCATION
=Introductory=
Courses in education in a college or university department may be
roughly classified into (_a_) the theoretical phases of education,
(_b_) the historical phases, and (_c_) the applied phases. Under the
historical phases may properly be included courses in the general
history of education as well as those in the history of education in
special countries. The applied courses may include general and special
method, organization, administration, observation, and practice.
Educational theory is discussed below.
A couple of decades ago the terms "philosophy of education," "science
of education," and "general pedagogy," or just "pedagogy," were most
generally employed. At that time most of the work in education was
given in the departments of philosophy or psychology. Gradually
departments of education came to have an independent status. Among the
earliest were those at Michigan, under Dr. Joseph Payne, and the one
at Iowa, under Dr. Stephen Fellows. Previous to the vigorous
development of departments of education, the departments of psychology
and philosophy gave no special attention to the educational bearings
of psychology. But as soon as departments of education began to
introduce courses in educational psychology and child study, the
occupants of the departments of psychology rubbed their eyes, became
aware of unutilized opportunities, and then began to assert claims.
=Place of educational theory in the curriculum=
Ordinarily the courses in educational theory are given in the junior
year of college. In a few places, elementary or introductory courses
are open to freshmen. There is a distinct advantage in giving courses
to freshmen, if they can be made sufficiently concrete and grow out of
their previous experiences. The college of education in the University
of Washington, for example, is so organized that the student shall
begin to think of the profession of teaching immediately upon
entering the University. While the main work in education courses does
not come until the junior and senior years, the student receives
guidance and counsel from the outset in selecting his courses and is
helped to get in touch with the professional atmosphere that should
surround a teacher's college. The foundation work in zoology and
psychology is given as far as possible with the teaching profession in
mind. It is planned to give some work of a general nature in education
during the first two years, that will serve as vocational guidance and
will assist the student to arrange his work most advantageously and to
accomplish it most economically. By the more prolonged individual
acquaintance between students and faculty of the college of education,
it is hoped that the students will receive greater professional help
and the faculty will be better able to judge of the teaching abilities
of the students. The work in education and allied courses has been so
extended that adequate professional preparation may be secured. The
courses in zoology, psychology, and sociology are all directly
contributory to a knowledge of, and to an interpretation of, the
courses in education.
The great majority of undergraduate students taking education are
preparing to teach, and more and more they plan to teach in the high
schools. However, not a few students of medicine, law, engineering,
and other technical subjects take courses in education as a means of
general information. It would be exceedingly desirable if all citizens
would take general courses in education, and would come to understand
the meaning of educational processes and past and present practices in
educational procedure. If all parents and members of school boards
could have a few modern courses in educational theory and
organization, the work of school teachers would be very much
simplified.
So far as is known, no college or university makes education an
absolute requirement such as is made with respect to foreign
languages, science, mathematics, or philosophy. In a large majority of
states, some work in education is required for teacher's
certification. The number of states making such requirements is
rapidly increasing. Before long it will be impossible for persons to
engage in teaching without either attending a normal school or taking
professional courses in education in college.
=The scope of college courses in educational theory=
The theory of education as considered in this chapter will include all
those courses which have for their purpose the consideration of the
fundamental meaning of education and the underlying laws or principles
governing the education process. Educational theory is given in
different institutions under a great variety of titles. The following
are the most frequently offered: Principles of education, philosophy
of education, theory of education, educational psychology, genetic
psychology, experimental education, child study, adolescence, moral
education, educational sociology, social aspects of education.
Educational theory may be divided into courses which are elementary in
character, and those which are advanced. The purpose of the former is
to present to beginning students the fundamentals of reasonably
well-tested principles and laws, and to indicate to them something of
the various phases of education.
The purpose of advanced courses, especially in experimental education,
is to reach out into new fields and by study and experiment to test
and develop new theories. The experimental phases of education seek to
blaze new trails and to discover new methods of reaching more
economically and efficiently the goals which education seeks. Both of
these phases should be given in a college course in the theory of
education. Enough of the experimental work should be given in the
elementary course to enable students to distinguish between mere
opinion and well-established theory, to understand how the theories
have been derived, to know how to subject them to crucial tests, and
to give them some knowledge of methods of experimentation.
Education as a science is constantly confronted by the questions,
"What are the ends and aims of education?" and "What are the means of
accomplishing these ends?" These mean that there must be a study of
the ends of education as necessitated by the demands of society and
the needs of the individual himself. In determining the ends of
education, adult society, of which the individual is to be a part,
must be surveyed, as must also the social group of which the child is
now an integral part. In addition to these the laws of growth and
development must be studied, to understand what will contribute
effectively to the child's normal unfoldment.
The interpretation of the ends and means of education will determine
the field of the theory of education. This interpretation has been so
splendidly stated by Dewey that I venture to quote him at length. He
says (_My Pedagogic Creed_): "I believe that this educational process
has two sides--one psychological and one sociological: and that
neither can be subordinated to the other or neglected without evil
results following. Of these two sides, the psychological is the basis.
The child's own instincts and powers furnish the material and give the
starting point for all education. Save as the efforts of the educator
connect with some activity which the child is carrying on of his own
initiative independent of the educator, education becomes reduced to a
pressure from without. It may, indeed, give certain external results,
but cannot truly be called educative. Without insight into the
psychological structure and activities of the individual, the
educative processes will, therefore, be haphazard and arbitrary. If it
chances to coincide with the child's activity, it will get a leverage;
if it does not, it will result in friction, or disintegration, or
arrest of the child nature.
"I believe that knowledge of social conditions, of the present state
of civilization, is necessary in order properly to interpret the
child's powers. The child has his own instincts and tendencies, but we
do not know what these mean until we can translate them into their
social equivalents. We must be able to carry them back into a social
past and see them as the inheritance of previous race activities. We
must be able to project them into the future to see what their
outcome and end will be. In the illustration just used, it is the
ability to see in the child's babblings the promise and potency of the
future social intercourse and conversation which enables one to deal
in the proper way with that instinct.
"I believe that the psychological and social sides are organically
related, and that education cannot be regarded as a compromise between
the two, or a superimposition of one upon the other. We are told that
the psychological definition of education is barren and formal--that
it gives us only the idea of a development of all the mental powers
without giving us an idea of the use to which these powers are put. On
the other hand, it is urged that the social definition of education,
as getting adjusted to civilization, makes a forced and external
process, and results in subordinating the freedom of the individual to
a preconceived social and political status.
"I believe each of these objections is true when urged against one
side isolated from the other. In order to know what a power really is
we must know what its end, use, or function is; and this we cannot
know, save as we conceive of the individual as active in social
relationships. But, on the other hand, the only possible adjustment
which we can give to the child under existing conditions is that which
arises through putting him in complete possession of all of his
powers. With the advent of democracy and modern industrial conditions,
it is impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be
twenty years from now. Hence it is impossible to prepare the child for
any precise set of conditions. To prepare him for the future life
means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he
will have the full and ready use of all his capacities, that his eye
and ear and hand may be tools ready to command, that his judgment may
be capable of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and
the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently.
It is impossible to reach this sort of adjustment save as constant
regard is had to the individual's own powers, tastes, and interests;
say, that is, as education is continually converted into psychological
terms.
"In sum, I believe that the individual who is to be educated is a
social individual, and that society is an organic union of
individuals. If we eliminate the social factor from the child, we are
left only with an abstraction; if we eliminate the individual factor
from society, we are left only with an inert and lifeless mass.
Education, therefore, must begin with a psychological insight into the
child's capacities, interests, and habits. It must be controlled at
every point by reference to these same considerations. These powers,
interests, and habits must be continually interpreted--we must know
what they mean. They must be translated into terms of their social
equivalents--into terms of what they are capable of in the way of
social service."
Therefore, the fundamental course in educational theory must include
(1) the biological principles of education, (2) the psychological
principles of education, and (3) the social principles of education.
This does not mean that the sequence must be as enumerated here. In
some places that is the sequence followed, in some other places the
social principles are studied first. As a matter of fact, all three
phases must be studied together to a considerable extent. Probably a
purely logical arrangement would place the social phases first, but it
is almost futile to attempt to present them effectively until
something of the biological and psychological laws are first
established. Again, the student in beginning the formal study of
education is already in possession of a vast body of facts concerning
society and the relation of education to it, so that reference can be
advantageously made in connection with the study of biological and
psychological laws of education. Then the social principles and
applications can be more thoroughly and scientifically considered in
the light of the other phases.
In administering a college course in the theory of education the great
desideratum is to try to formulate a body of knowledge which will
give the undergraduate students an idea of the meaning of education
and its problems and processes. In so far as possible it is desirable
to present material which in a certain sense will be practical.
Inasmuch as the majority of undergraduates who study education in a
college department intend to go into the practical work of teaching,
it is important to fortify them, as well as possible in the brief time
which they devote to the subject, concerning the best means of
securing definite results in education. The majority are not so much
interested in the abstract science or the philosophy of education as
they are in its practical problems. All courses in education should
seek to deal with fundamental principles and not dole out dogmatic
statements of practical means and devices, but at the same time no
principles should be considered with which the student cannot see some
relation to the educative processes. They are not primarily concerned
with the place of education among the sciences or with ontological and
teleological meanings of education or of its laws.
=Academic recognition of the introductory course=
The course in elementary educational theory should be on a par with a
course in principles of physics, one in principles of biology,
principles of psychology, principles of political science, etc. A
course in the principles of any of these subjects attempts to set
forth the main problems with which the science deals. Elementary
courses attempt to select those principles which have frequent
application in everyday life. The course in the principles of physics
deals with the elementary notions of matter, motion, and force, and
everyday illustrations and problems are sought. It would seem that in
a similar manner the college course in the foundations of education
should seek elementary principles which will enable the student to
accomplish the purpose of education; namely, to produce modifications
in individuals and in society in harmony with the ideals and ends of
education. Education is a process of adjusting individuals to their
environment, natural and accidental, and the environment which is
created through ideals held by society and by individuals themselves.
All education has to do with the development of the individual in
accordance with his potentialities and the ideals of education which
are set up. It is a practical science, an applied science, in the same
way that engineering is an applied science. Engineering does not deal
with ultimate theories of matter, force, and motion, except as they
are important in considering practical ends to be secured through the
application of forces. An elementary course in educational theory
should seek to include the foundations rather than to encompass all
knowledge about education. It is rather an introduction than an
encyclopedia.
Although a complete and logical treatise on the theory of education
might include a consideration of the course of study and the methods
of instruction, the making of a course of study, the problem of the
arrangement of the course of study, the various studies as instruments
of experience, the organization and administration of education, etc.,
it is questionable from a practical point of view whether they should
be given consideration in the undergraduate course. Mere passing
notice would at any rate seem sufficient. Each topic of the scope of
the foregoing is sufficient to form a course in itself, and the
introductory course should do no more than define their relation to
the general problem. In the principles of psychology the fields of
abnormal psychology, comparative psychology, child psychology,
adolescent psychology, etc., are defined and drawn upon for
illustration, yet no separate chapters are devoted to them. In
departments of political economy there are usually elemental courses
designed as an introduction to the leading principles of economic
science, but there are special courses in currency and banking, public
finance, taxation, transportation, distribution of wealth, etc.
Similarly in the college course in the theory of education, the work
should be concentrated upon fundamentals designed to introduce the
student to the many special problems. For example, the course of study
and the organization and administration of education should be
regarded as accessory rather than as fundamental. The laws underlying
processes of development and modification are what should occupy the
attention of the student in this elemental survey. A study of the
special means and agencies of education and forms of social
organization should be given in other courses by special names.
Secondary education, the kindergarten, administration and supervision,
methods in special subjects, etc., each deserve attention as a
distinct and separate course.
As shown by two surveys made by the writer, one in 1909 and the last
in 1916, the theory of education is most frequently given under the
terms "Principles of Education," "Educational Psychology," "Social
Phases of Education," "Educational Sociology," and "Child Study."
Therefore, a brief special discussion of each of these fields may be
desirable.
=Principles of education=
Under various names courses in principles of education are given in
most departments of education. The term "Principles of Education" does
not appear in all, being replaced by "Principles of Teaching,"
"Philosophy of Education," "Fundamentals of Teaching," "Introduction
to Education," "Science of Education," "Principles of Method," "Theory
of Education," etc. In some institutions the terms "Educational
Psychology" and "Child Study" stand for essentially the same thing as
the foregoing. In most institutions it is recognized that the teacher
must understand (_a_) the meaning and aim of education, (_b_) the
nature of the child considered biologically, psychologically,
socially, and morally, (_c_) the foundations of society and the
industries, (_d_) how to adapt and utilize educational means so as to
develop the potentialities of the child's nature and cause him to
achieve the aims of education.
=Biological principles=
In this section there should be an attempt first to enlarge the notion
of education, aiming to have it regarded as practically coincident
with life and experience. Of course there is the ideal side to which
individuals will strive, but the student should be impressed with the
fact that every experience leaves its ineffaceable effect upon all
organisms. In order to convey this idea we may begin with a
discussion of the effects of experience upon simple animal and plant
life and the general modifications produced in the adjustment of such
life to surroundings. Some familiar, non-technical facts in the
evolution of plant and animal life may be considered in their relation
to the question of adaptation and adjustment. Due notice should be
taken of the facts of adjustment as manifested in such illustrations
as the change of the eyes of cave animals, gradual modifications of
plant and animal life, the change of animals from sea life to land
life, some of the retrogressions, etc. A general study of the gradual
evolution of sense organs and the nervous system should be made,
because these illustrate in an excellent way the gradual modifications
produced by experience in the race. After this general survey, the
subject of innate tendencies may be considered through the discussion
of such chapters as Drummond's "The ascent of the body," "The
scaffolding left in the body," "The arrest of the body," "The dawn of
mind," "The evolution of language," etc. These discussions naturally
lead to a consideration of the lengthening period of human infancy,
and the importance of infancy in education. This in turn leads to a
brief consideration of the periods of childhood, adolescence, and
maturity, largely from a biological point of view. These should be
followed by a discussion of such topics as instinct, heredity, from
fundamental to accessory, the brain as an organ of mind, some of the
facts of psycho-physical correlation, and the reciprocal influence of
mind and body upon each other. Before leaving this general field,
thorough and designedly practical discussions of the importance of
physical development and culture for education in general and for
mental development, fatigue, habit, physical and mental hygiene, and
play should be considered.
=Educational psychology=
The next section should include what some authors term educational
psychology, and others call the psychological aspects of education. In
this section the first topic naturally considered is that of memory.
It grows out of the biological discussion of instinct, heredity, etc.
Included in the subject of memory is that of association. Following
this come imagination, imitation, training of the senses,
apperception, formal discipline, feeling, volition, motor training,
induction, etc. Periods of mental development and the specific topics
of childhood and adolescence should receive definite consideration,
though more exhaustive treatment should be reserved for a distinct
course in child study. The genetic point of view should be emphasized
throughout.
While the number of students registered for educational psychology is
not large, the numbers that are in reality pursuing this branch are
increasing. Fortunately, the "psychology for teachers" and "applied
psychology" of a score of years ago are giving way to a kind of
educational psychology that is much more vital. Men like Judd and
Thorndike are formulating a psychology of the different branches of
study and of the teaching processes involved that will enable the
teacher to see the connection between the psychological laws and the
processes to be learned. This sort of work has been made possible by
the work of Hall and his followers in studying the child and the
adolescent from the standpoint of growth periods and the types of
activity suited to each period. Educational psychology is therefore
represented richly in principles of education, genetic psychology,
mental development, child study, and adolescence, as well as in the
courses labeled "Educational Psychology."
=Social aspects of education=
Twelve years ago courses on social phases of education were probably
not offered anywhere, as they are not listed in my tabulation at that
time. Today they appear in some form or other in almost every
department of education. In Columbia the work is given as "Educational
Sociology." The departments of sociology also emphasize various phases
of educational problems. Courses on vocational education, industrial
education, and vocational guidance all emphasize the same idea. The
introduction of these courses means that the merely disciplinary aim
of education is fast giving way to that of adjustment and utility.
Educational means are (1) to enable the child to live happily and to
develop normally, and (2) to furnish a kind of training which will
enable him to serve society to the utmost advantage. In the courses on
educational sociology, there should be an attempt to help the student
feel that the highest aim of education is not individualistic, but
social. The purpose is to fit the individual for cooperation,
developing agencies of life that shall be mutually advantageous, for
democratic society seeks the highest welfare of all its members
through the cooperation and contribution of each of its members. It
teaches us not only the rights and privileges of society but also its
duties and obligations.
The best individual development also comes only through the social
interaction of minds, and consequently various phases of social
psychology must receive consideration. Various forms of cooperative
effort which enlist the interest of children at various stages of
development should be studied. Inasmuch as educators should link
school and home, typical illustrations of the manifold means of
relating the school and society should be studied, so that the teacher
will not be without knowledge of their possibilities.
=The child the center=
Throughout the country there is evidence that the curricula in
education departments have for their central object a scientific
knowledge of the child, and the better adaptation of educational means
to the development of the potentialities possessed by the child. This
idea is evidenced by the fact that the foundation courses are
psychology, principles of education, child study, educational
psychology. The fact that the history of education is still so largely
given as a relatively beginning course shows that the new idea has not
gained complete acceptance. Many specialized courses in child study
are offered, among them being such courses as the "Psychology of
Childhood," "Childhood and Adolescence," "Psychopathic, Retarded, and
Mentally Deficient Children," "Genetic Psychology," "The
Anthropological Study of Children," "The Physical Nature of the
Child." At the University of Pittsburgh a school of childhood has been
established which will combine in theory and practice the best ideals
in the kindergarten, the modern primary school, and the Montessori
system. Clark University has had for some years its Children's
Institute, which attempts to assemble the best literature on childhood
and the best materials of instruction in childhood. Many of the
courses in educational tests and measurements center around the study
of the child.
=Methods of teaching the subject=
Naturally, methods of teaching the subject vary exceedingly in the
different institutions. Each instructor to a large extent follows his
own individual inclinations. Probably the great majority pursue the
lecture method to a considerable extent. The lectures are generally
accompanied by readings either from some textbook or from collateral
readings.
The writer has personally pursued the combination method. For years
before his own book on _Principles of Education_ was completed the
subject was presented in lecture form, and accompanied by library
readings. Even now, with a textbook at hand, each new topic is
outlined in an informal development lecture. Definite assignments are
made from the text, and from collateral readings, which include
additional texts, periodical literature, and selected chapters from
various educational books. After students have had an opportunity to
read copiously and to think out special problems, an attempt is made
to discuss the entire topic orally. That is possible and very fruitful
in classes of the right size,--not over thirty. In large classes
numbering from sixty to one hundred or more, the oral discussion is
not profitable unless the instructor is very skilled in conducting the
discussion. The questions should never be for the purpose of merely
securing answers perfectly obvious to all in the class. The questions
should seek to unfold new phases of the subject. Difficult points
should be considered, new contributions should be made by the students
and the instructor, and all should feel that it is really an
enlargement, a broadening, and a deepening of ideas gained through the
lectures and the assigned readings. Very frequently individual
students should be assigned special topics for report. A good deal of
care must be exercised in this connection, for unless the material is
a real contribution and is presented effectively, the rest of the
students become wearied. If possible, the instructor should know
exactly what points are to be brought out, and the approximate amount
of time to be occupied.
Throughout, an attempt is made to make the work as concrete as
possible, and to show its relation to matters pertaining to the
schoolroom, the home, and the everyday conduct of the students
themselves. Each topic is treated with considerable thoroughness and
detail. No endeavor is made to secure an absolutely systematic and
ultra-logical system. The charge of being logically unsystematic and
incomplete would not be resented. There is no desire for a system. As
in the elementary stages of any subject, the first requisite is a body
of fundamental facts. There is time enough later to evolve an
all-inclusive and all-exclusive system. I am not aware that even the
"doctors" have yet fully settled this question. The psychological
order is the one sought. What is intelligible, full of living
interest, and of largest probable importance in the life and work of
the student teacher are the criteria applied in the selection of
materials. The student verdict is given much weight in deciding.
A rather successful plan of providing an adequate number of duplicates
of books much used has been developed by the writer at the State
University of Iowa and at the University of Washington. In all courses
in which no single suitable text is found the students are asked to
contribute a small sum, from twenty-five to fifty cents, for the
purpose of purchasing duplicates. These books are placed on the
reserve shelf, and this makes it possible for large classes to be
accommodated with a relatively small number of books. Ordinarily there
should be one book for every four or five students, if all are
expected to read the same assignment. If options are allowed, the
proportion of books may be reduced. The books become the property of
the institution, and a fine library of duplicate sets rapidly
accumulates. In about five years about fifteen hundred volumes have
been secured in this way at the University of Washington. Valuable
pamphlet material and reprints of important articles also are
collected and kept in filing boxes.
FREDERICK E. BOLTON
_University of Washington_
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. ARTICLES ON TEACHING OF EDUCATIONAL THEORY
BOLTON, FREDERICK E. The Relation of the Department of Education to
Other Departments in Colleges and Universities. _Journal of Pedagogy_,
Vol. XIX, Nos. 2, 3, December, 1906, March, 1907.
---- Curricula in University Departments of Education. _School and
Society_, December 11, 1915, pages 829-841.
JUDD, CHARLES H. The Department of Education in American Universities.
_School Review_, Vol. 17, November, 1909.
HOLLISTER, HORACE A. Courses in Education Best Adapted to the Needs of
High School Teachers and High School Principals. _School and Home
Education_, April, 1917.
2. BOOKS ON THE GENERAL, BIOLOGICAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PHASES OF
EDUCATION
BAGLEY, WILLIAM C. _The Educative Process._ The Macmillan Company,
1907. 358 pages.
---- _Educational Values._ The Macmillan Company, 1911. 267 pages.
BOLTON, FREDERICK E. _Principles of Education._ Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1910. 790 pages.
BUTLER, NICHOLAS MURRAY. _The Meaning of Education, and Other Essays._
The Macmillan Company, 1915. 386 pages. Revised Edition.
CUBBERLEY, ELLWOOD P. _Changing Conceptions of Education._ Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1909. 70 pages.
DAVENPORT, EUGENE. _Education for Efficiency._ D. C. Heath & Company,
1909. 184 pages.
DEWEY, JOHN. _Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the
Philosophy of Education._ Macmillan, 1916. 434 pages.
FREEMAN, FRANK N. _Experimental Education._ Houghton Mifflin Company,
1916. 220 pages.
---- _Psychology of the Common Branches._ Houghton Mifflin Company,
1916. 275 pages.
---- _How Children Learn._ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917. 322 pages.
GORDON, KATE. _Educational Psychology._ Henry Holt & Co., 1917. 294
pages.
GROSZMANN, M. P. E. _Some Fundamental Verities in Education._ Richard
Badger, 1916. 118 pages.
GUYER, MICHAEL. _Being Well-Born._ Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1916. 374
pages.
HALL, G. S. _Educational Problems._ D. Appleton & Co., 1911. 2
volumes, 710 pages and 714 pages.
HECK, W. H. _Mental Discipline and Educational Values._ John Lane &
Co., 1911. 208 pages.
HENDERSON, CHARLES H. _Education and the Larger Life._ Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1912. 386 pages.
---- _What Is It to be Educated?_ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1914. 462
pages.
HENDERSON, ERNEST N. _A Textbook on the Principles of Education._ The
Macmillan Company, 1910. 593 pages.
HORNE, HERMAN H. _The Philosophy of Education._ The Macmillan Company,
1904. 295 pages.
---- _The Psychological Principles of Education._ The Macmillan
Company, 1906. 435 pages.
KLAPPER, PAUL. _Principles of Educational Practice._ D. Appleton &
Co., 1912. 485 pages.
MOORE, ERNEST C. _What is Education?_ Ginn and Co., 1915. 357 pages.
O'SHEA, M. VINCENT. _Dynamic Factors in Education._ The Macmillan
Company, 1906. 321 pages.
---- _Education as Adjustment._ Longmans, Green & Co., 1903. 348
pages.
---- _Linguistic Development and Education._ The Macmillan Company,
1907. 247 pages.
PYLE, WILLIAM H. _The Science of Human Nature._ Silver, Burdett & Co.,
1917. 229 pages.
---- _The Outlines of Educational Psychology._ Warwick & York, 1911.
276 pages.
RUEDIGER, WILLIAM C. _Principles of Education._ Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1910. 305 pages.
SPENCER, HERBERT. _Education, Intellectual, Moral, and Physical._ D.
Appleton & Co., 1900. 301 pages.
THORNDIKE, EDWARD L. _Principles of Teaching._ A. G. Seiler, 1906. 293
pages.
---- _Education: A First Book._ The Macmillan Company, 1912. 292
pages.
---- _Individuality._ Houghton Mifflin Company, 1911. 56 pages.
---- _Educational Psychology._ Teachers College, 1913. Vol. 1. The
Original Nature of Man. 327 pages.
3. BOOKS ON THE SOCIAL PHASES OF EDUCATION
BETTS, GEORGE H. _Social Principles of Education._ Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1912. 313 pages.
CABOT, ELLA L. _Volunteer Help to the Schools._ Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1914. 141 pages.
DEWEY, JOHN. _The School and Society._ University of Chicago Press,
1907. 129 pages.
---- _The Schools of Tomorrow._ E. P. Dutton & Co., 1915. 316 pages.
---- _Democracy and Education._ The Macmillan Company, 1916. 434
pages.
DEWEY, JOHN, and SMALL, ALBION W. _My Educational Creed._ E. L.
Kellogg & Co., 1897. 36 pages.
DUTTON, SAMUEL T. _Social Phases of Education in the School and the
Home._ The Macmillan Company, 1900. 259 pages.
GILLETTE, JOHN M. _Constructive Rural Sociology._ Sturgis & Walton,
1913. 301 pages.
KING, IRVING. _Education for Social Efficiency._ D. Appleton & Co.,
1913. 371 pages.
---- _Social Aspects of Education. A Book of Sources and Original
Discussions, with Annotated Bibliographies._ The Macmillan Company,
1912.
MCDOUGALL, WILLIAM. _An Introduction to Social Psychology._ John W.
Luce, 1914. 355 pages.
O'SHEA, M. VINCENT. _Social Development and Education._ Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1909. 561 pages.
SCOTT, COLIN A. _Social Education._ Ginn and Co., 1908. 300 pages.
SMITH, WALTER R. _An Introduction to Educational Sociology._ Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1917. 412 pages.
4. BOOKS ON CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
DRUMMOND, WILLIAM B. _An Introduction to Child Study._ Longmans, Green
& Co., 1907. 347 pages.
GESELL, BEATRICE C. and ARNOLD. _The Normal Child and Primary
Education._ Ginn and Co., 1912. 342 pages.
GROSZMANN, M. P. E. _The Career of the Child._ Richard Badger, 1911.
335 pages.
HALL, G. STANLEY. _Youth, Its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene._ D.
Appleton & Co., 1907. 379 pages.
---- _Aspects of Child Life and Education._ Ginn and Co., 1907. 326
pages.
---- _Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology,
Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and Education._ D.
Appleton & Co., 1904. 2 vols., 589 and 784 pages.
KING, IRVING. _The High School Age._ Robbs-Merrill Company, 1914. 288
pages.
KIRKPATRICK, EDWIN A. _Fundamentals of Child Study._ The Macmillan
Company, 1903. 384 pages.
---- _Genetic Psychology: An Introduction to an objective and genetic
view of intelligence._ The Macmillan Company, 1909. 373 pages.
OPPENHEIM, NATHAN. _The Development of the Child._ The Macmillan
Company, 1898. 296 pages.
SULLY, JAMES. _Studies of Childhood._ D. Appleton & Co., 1910. 527
pages.
SWIFT, EDGAR J. _Youth and the Race._ Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912.
342 pages.
TANNER, AMY E. _The Child: His Thinking, Feeling, and Doing._ 1904.
430 pages.
TERMAN, LEWIS M. _The Hygiene of the School Child._ Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1914. 417 pages.
TRACY, FREDERICK, and STIMPEL, JAMES. _The Psychology of Childhood._
D. C. Heath & Co., 1909. 231 pages.
TYLER, JOHN MASON. _Growth and Education._ Houghton Mifflin Company,
1907. 294 pages.
WADDLE, CHARLES W. _Introduction to Child Psychology._ Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1918. 307 pages.
Footnotes:
[56] "A New Method in the History of Education," _School Review
Monographs_, No. 3. H. H. Horne.
[57] Quoted in _School and Society_, Vol. 5, page 23, from President
Faunce's annual report. Recent articles on the cultural value of
courses in education are:
J. M. Mecklin, "The Problem of the Training of the Secondary Teacher,"
_School and Society_, Vol. 4, pages 64-67.
H. E. Townsend, "The Cultural Value of Courses in Education," _School
and Society_, Vol. 4, pages 175-176.
[58] Cf. Thomas M. Balliet, "Normal School Curricula," _School and
Society_, Vol. IV, page 340.
[59] "Can a College Department of Education Become Scientific?" _The
Scientific Monthly_, Vol. 3, No. 4, page 381.
PART FOUR
THE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES
CHAPTER
XVIII THE TEACHING OF English LITERATURE
_Caleb T. Winchester_
XIX THE TEACHING OF English COMPOSITION
_Henry Seidel Canby_
XX THE TEACHING OF THE CLASSICS
_William K. Prentice_
XXI THE TEACHING OF THE ROMANCE LANGUAGES
_William A. Nitze_
XXII THE TEACHING OF GERMAN
_E. Prokosch_
XVIII
THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH LITERATURE
=Scope of study of English literature in college=
It should be understood at the outset that this paper is concerned
with the study of literature, not in the university or graduate
school, but in the college, by the undergraduate candidate for the
bachelor's degree; and, furthermore, that the object of study is not
the history, biography, bibliography, or criticism of literature, but
the literature itself. Perhaps also the term "literature" may need
definition. As commonly--and correctly--used, the word "literature"
denotes all writing which has sufficient emotional interest, whether
primary or incidental, to give it permanence. As thus defined,
literature would include, for example, history and much philosophical
writing, and would exclude only writing of purely scientific or
technical character. But in the following pages the word will be used
in a narrower sense, as indicating those books that are read for their
own sake, not solely or primarily for their intellectual content. This
definition is elastic enough to comprise not only poetry, drama, and
fiction, but the essay, oratory, and much political and satirical
prose. It should be further understood that for the purpose of this
paper, English literature may be considered to begin about the middle
of the fourteenth century. Earlier and Anglo-Saxon writings are by no
means without great literary value, and it may at once be granted that
no college teacher of English literature is thoroughly equipped for
his work who is ignorant of them; but they can be read appreciatively
only after considerable study of the language, the method and motives
of which are linguistic rather than literary.
=Aims governing the teaching of English literature=
Perhaps it may be asked just here whether English literature, as thus
defined, need be studied in college at all. Until quite recently that
question seems generally to have been answered in the negative. Fifty
years ago, few if any of our American colleges gave any study to texts
of English classics. There were, indeed, in most colleges professors
of rhetoric and _belles-lettres_, whose lectures upon the history and
criticism of our literature were often of great value as an
inspiration to literary study; but it was only in the decade from 1865
to 1875 that in most of our colleges the literature itself, with
hesitating caution, began to be read and studied in the classroom.
=Can literary appreciation be developed?=
Nor was this hesitation without some reasons, at least plausible. The
chief object of college training, it was said, is to discipline and
strengthen the intellect, to give the student that grasp and power of
thought which he may apply to all the work of later life. The college
should not be expected to pay much attention to the cultivation of the
imagination and the emotions. These faculties, to which literature
makes appeal, are not, it was said, under the control of the will, and
you cannot cultivate or strengthen them by sheer resolve or strenuous
exertion. The first condition of any real appreciation of literature,
so ran the argument, is spontaneous enjoyment of it; and you cannot
command a right feeling for literature or for anything else. But a
normal development of the imagination and the emotions does usually
accompany the vigorous development of the intellect, so that the
advancing student will be found to turn spontaneously to art and
literature. And his appreciation of all the highest and deepest
meanings in literature will be quickened because he brings to his
reading a mind trained to accurate and vigorous thinking. Moreover,
all substantial advantages from the study of modern vernacular
literature can be better obtained from the Greek and Latin classics.
They afford the same richness of thought and charm of form as our
modern writing; but they demand for their appreciation that careful
attention and study which modern literature too often discourages. The
survivors of a former generation sometimes ask us today, with a touch
of sarcasm, "Do you think the average New England college student of
fifty to seventy-five years ago, when the Emersons and Longfellows and
Lowells were young men, the days of the old _North American Review_
and the new _Atlantic Monthly_, had any less appreciation and
enjoyment of whatever is good in literature, or any less power to
produce it, than the young fellows who are coming out of college today
after more than a quarter century of literary instruction?" And they
occasionally suggest that, at all events, it is difficult to find any
evidences of the result of such instruction in the quality of the
literature produced or demanded today.
=Conflict of utilitarian and cultural standards=
On the other hand, the study of English literature often fares little
better with the advocates of the modern practical tendency in
education. They have but scanty allowance for a study assumed to be of
so little use in the actual work of life. An acquaintance with
well-known English books, especially if they be modern books, is, they
admit, a desirable accomplishment if it can be gained without too much
cost, but not to be allowed the place of more valuable knowledge. A
typical modern father, writing not long ago to a modern educator,
after giving with equal positiveness the subjects that his boy must
have and must not have included in his course of study, added by way
of concession, "The boy might, if he has time, take English
literature."
=Cultural and utilitarian standards harmonized=