How _unobservant_ and wholly _unreliant_ many pupils are may be seen
from the fact that notwithstanding my elaborate handling of the
processes of learning prose and poetry by heart, I often receive
requests to send some indication of how I would learn a particular
chapter or selection by heart! But a chapter consists of paragraphs and
paragraphs of sentences. Learning the desired passages by heart is done
by applying the methods here so profusely illustrated to the successive
sentences of the chapter or selection, until practice and training in
these methods will make their further application unnecessary.
In pursuance of my plan to keep the mind in an ASSIMILATING condition
when trying to learn and to further aid in making the intellect stay and
work with the senses, I proceed to furnish a Training Method for
committing prose and poetry to memory.
_Endless repetition or repeating a sentence to be memorised over and
over again_ is the usual process. After one perusal, however, the mind
in such a case has sated its curiosity in regard to the meaning of the
sentence and each subsequent repetition for the purpose of fixing it in
the memory merely makes an impression upon the eye or ear or both, and
the intellect, being unoccupied, naturally wanders away. Hence, learning
by _rote_ promotes _mind-wandering_: for the Attention always wanders
unless wooed to its work by all-engrossing interest in the subject which
in case of a weak power of Attention is rarely sufficient, or by =the
stimulating character of the process of acquirement= which is made use
of. In the Method about to be given, the intellect is agreeably
occupied, and thereby a Habit of Attention is promoted.
The justification for this Method is found in the Psychological maxim
that the intellect can assimilate a simple idea more easily than a
complex idea, and a few ideas at a time than many ideas.
The process of this New Method of Decomposition and Recomposition is as
follows:--Find the _shortest sentence or phrase that makes sense_ in the
sentence to be memorised. Add to this short sentence or phrase,
_modifiers_ found in the original sentence, always italicising each new
addition--one at a time--until the original sentence is finally
restored. Suppose we wish to memorise Bacon's definition of education:
"_Education is the cultivation of a just and legitimate familiarity
betwixt the mind and things._" Begin with the briefest sentence and then
go on: 1. Education is cultivation. 2. Education is _the_ cultivation
_of a familiarity_. 3. Education is the cultivation of a familiarity
_betwixt the mind and things_. 4. Education is the cultivation of a
_just_ familiarity betwixt the mind and things. 5. Education is the
cultivation of a just _and legitimate_ familiarity betwixt the mind and
things. In this process, the sentence is first taken to pieces, and then
reconstructed. Finding the lowest terms, "Education is cultivation," we
proceed step by step to add modifiers until the original sentence is
fully restored.
Each time we make an addition, we recite _so much_ of the original
sentence as has hitherto been used, in connection with the _new
modifiers_ laying _special emphasis_ on the new matter as represented by
the italic words. The intellect is thus kept compulsorily and
delightfully occupied from the start to the finish. It seeks the
shortest phrase or sentence and adds successively all the modifiers,
making no omissions. This analyzing and synthesizing process--_this
taking to pieces and then gradually building up_ the original sentence,
makes a deep and lasting First Impression.
Every time this method is used the Attention ought to be strengthened
and mind-wandering diminished and the natural Memory strengthened in
both its Stages.
This process admits usually of several applications in the case of a
long sentence. In the foregoing example, it might have proceeded thus:
1. Education is a familiarity. 2. Education is the familiarity _betwixt
the mind and things_. 3. Education is the _cultivation_ of a familiarity
betwixt the mind and things. 4. Education is the cultivation of _just_
familiarity betwixt the mind and things. 5. Education is the cultivation
of a just _and legitimate_ familiarity betwixt the mind and things. Or
we might have taken this course: 1. Education is a familiarity. 2.
Education is a familiarity _betwixt the mind and things_. 3. Education
is a _just_ familiarity betwixt the mind and things. 4. Education is a
just _and legitimate_ familiarity betwixt the mind and things. 5.
Education is _the cultivation_ of a just and legitimate familiarity
betwixt the mind and things.
1. To keep the mind in an assimilating condition, what method is
furnished?
2. What is the usual process of memorising prose and poetry?
3. After one perusal in such a process what takes place?
4. Does learning by rote promote mind-wandering?
5. Does not the attention always wander unless wooed to its work by
great interest in the subject dealt with, or by the method of
learning which is given?
6. How is the intellect occupied by using my method?
7. Is the habit of Attention also promoted?
8. Where is the justification of this method found?
9. Can the intellect assimilate a simple idea more easily than a
complex idea?
10. Describe the process of learning by the Analytic Synthetic
Method.