WORLD-BUILDING
=An outline.=--Education is the process of world-building. Every man
builds his own world and is confined, throughout life, to the world
which he himself builds. He cannot build for another, nor can another
build for him. Neither can there be an exchange of worlds. Moreover, the
process of building continues to the end of life. In building their
respective worlds all men have access to the same materials, and the
character of each man's world, then, is conditioned by his choice and
use of these materials. If one man elects to build a small world for
himself, he will find, at hand, an abundant supply of petty materials
that he is free to use in its construction. But, if he elects to build a
large world, the big things of life are his to use. If he chooses to
spend his life in an ugly world, he will find ample materials for his
purpose. If, however, he prefers a beautiful world, the materials will
not be lacking, and he will have the joy and inspiration that come from
spending a lifetime amid things that are fraught with beauty.
=Exemplifications.=--This conception of education is not a figment of
fancy but a reality whose verification can be attested by a thousand
examples. We have only to look about us to see people who are living
among things that are unbeautiful and who might be living in beautiful
worlds had they elected to do so. Others are spending their lives among
things that are trivial and inconsequential, apparently blind to the
great and significant things that lie all about them. Some build their
worlds with the minor materials, while others select the majors. Some
select the husks, while others choose the grain. Some build their worlds
from the materials that others disdain and seem not to realize the
inferiority of their worlds as compared with others. Their supreme
complacency in the midst of the ugliness or pettiness of their worlds
seems to accentuate the conclusion that they have not been able to see,
or else have not been able to use, the other materials that are
available.
=Flowers.=--To the man who would live in a beautiful world flowers will
be a necessity. To such a man life would be robbed of some of its charm
if his world should lack flowers. But unless he has subjective flowers
he cannot have objective ones. He must have a sensory foundation that
will react to flowers or there can be no flowers in his world. There may
be flowers upon his breakfast table, but unless he has a sensory
foundation that will react to them they will be nonexistent to him. He
can react to the bacon, eggs, and potatoes, but not to the flowers,
unless he has cultivated flowers in his spirit before coming to the
table.
=Lily-of-the-valley civilization.=--All the flowers that grow may adorn
his world if he so elects. He may be content with dandelions and
sunflowers if he so wills, or he may reach forth and gather about him
for his delight the entire gamut of roses from the Maryland to the
American Beauty, the violet and its college-bred descendant the pansy,
the heliotrope, the gladiolus, the carnation, the primrose, the
chrysanthemum, the sweet pea, the aster, and the orchid. But, if he can
reach the high plane of the lily-of-the-valley, in all its daintiness,
delicacy, chastity, and fragrance, he will have achieved distinction.
When society shall have attained to the lily-of-the-valley plane, life
will be fine, fragrant, and beautiful. Intemperance will be no more, and
profanity, vulgarity, and coarseness will disappear. Such things cannot
thrive in a lily-of-the-valley world, but shrink away from the presence
of beauty and purity.
=Music.=--Again, the man who is building such a world will elect to have
music as one of the elements. But here, again, we find that he must have
a sensory foundation or there will be no music for him. Moreover, the
nature of this sensory foundation will determine the character of the
music to be found in his world. He may be satisfied with "Tipperary" or
he may yearn for Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Melba, and
Schumann-Heink. He may not be able to rise above the plane of ragtime,
or he may attain to the sublime plane of "The Dead March in Saul." He
has access to all the music from the discordant hand organ to the
oratorio and grand opera. In his introduction of a concert company, the
chairman said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the artists who are to favor us
this evening will render nothing but high-grade selections. If any of
you are inclined to be critical and to say that their music is above
your heads, I beg to remind you that it will not be above the place
where your heads ought to be." In substance he was saying that the
nature of the music depended not so much upon the singers as upon the
sensory foundation of the auditors.
=Music and life.=--Having a sensory foundation capable of reacting to
the best music, this man opens wide the portals of his world for the
reception of the orchestra, the concert, the opera, and the choir, and
his spirit revels in the "concord of sweet sounds." Through the toil of
the day he anticipates the music of the evening, and the next day he
goes to his work buoyant and rejuvenated by reason of the musical
refreshment. He has music in anticipation and music in retrospect, and
thus his world is regaled with harmony. His world cannot be a dead level
or a desert, for it is diversified by the alluring undulations of music
and made fertile by the perennial fountains of inspiring harmony, and
his world
"shall be filled with music
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away."
=Children.=--Again, this man elects to have children in his world, for
he has come to know that there is no sweeter music on earth than the
laughter of a child. Were he sojourning five hundred miles away from the
abode of children he would soon be glad to walk the entire distance that
he might again hear the prattle, the laughter, or even the crying of a
child. Cowboys on the plains have been thrown into a frenzy of delight
at the sight of a little child. Full well the man knows that, if he
would have children in his world, he must find these children for
himself; for this task may not be delegated. If he would bring Paul and
Florence Dombey into his world, he must win them to himself by living
with them throughout all the pages of the book. In order to lure
Pollyanna into his world to imbue it with the spirit of gladness, he
must establish a community of interests with her by imbibing her spirit
as revealed in the book.
=Characterizations.=--He may not have Little Joe in his world unless his
spirit becomes attuned to the pathos of _Bleak House_. And he both wants
and needs Little Joe. Echoing and reëchoing through his soul each day
are the words of the little chap, "He wuz good to me, he wuz," and
acting vicariously for the little fellow he touches the lives of other
unfortunates as the hours go by and brings to them sunshine and hope and
courage. And he must needs have Tiny Tim, also, to banish the cobwebs
from his soul with his fervent "God bless us every one." The day cannot
go far wrong with this simple prayer clinging in his memory. It
permeates the perplexities of the day, gives resiliency to his spirit,
and encourages and reënforces all the noble impulses that come into his
consciousness. Wherever he goes and whatever he is doing he feels that
Tiny Tim is present to bestow his childish benediction.
=Lessons from childhood.=--In _Laddie_ he finds a whole family of
children to his liking and feels that his world is the better for their
presence. To _Old Curiosity Shop_ and _Silas Marner_ he goes and brings
thence Little Nell and Eppie, feeling that in their boon companionship
they will make his world more attractive to himself and others by their
gentle graces of kindness and helpfulness. In his quest for children of
the right sort he lingers long with Dickens, the apostle and benefactor
of childhood, but passes by the colored supplement. For all the children
in his world he would have the approval and blessing of the Master. He
would know, when he hears the words "Except ye become as little
children," that reference is made to such children as he has about him.
At the feet of these children he sits and learns the lessons of
sincerity, guilelessness, simplicity, and faith, and through their eyes
he sees life glorified.
=Stars=.--Nor must his world lack stars. He needs these to draw his
thoughts away from sordid things out into the far spaces. He would not
spend a lifetime thinking of nothing beyond the weather, the ball-score,
his clothes, and his ailments. He wants to think big thoughts, and he
would have stars to guide him. He knows that a man is as high, as broad,
and as deep as his thoughts, and that if he would grow big in his
thinking he must have big objects to engage his thoughts. He would
explore the infinite spaces, commune with the planets in their courses,
attain the sublime heights where the masters have wrought, and discover,
if possible, the sources of power, genius, and inspiration. He would
find delight in the colors of the rainbow, the glory of the morning, and
the iridescence of the dewdrop. He would train his thoughts to scan the
spaces behind the clouds, to transcend the snow-capped mountain, and to
penetrate the depths of the sea. He would visualize creation, evolution,
and the intricate processes of life. So he must have stars in his world.
=Books.=--In addition to all these he must have books in his world, and
he is cognizant of the fact that his neighbors judge both himself and
his world by the character of the books he selects. He may select _Mrs.
Wiggs_ or _Les Miserables_. If he elects to have about him books of the
cabbage patch variety, he condemns himself to that sort of reading for a
whole lifetime. Nor is any redemption possible from such standards save
by his own efforts. Neither men nor angels can draw him up to the plane
of Victor Hugo if he elects to abide in the cabbage patch. If he prefers
_Graustark_ to _Macbeth_, all people, including his dearest friends,
will go on their way and leave him to his choice. If he says he cannot
read Shakespeare, Massinger, Milton, or Wordsworth, he does no violence
to the reputation of these writers, but merely defines and classifies
himself.
=Authors as companions.=--Having learned or sensed these distinctions,
he elects to consort with Burns, Keats, Shelley, Southey, Homer, Dante,
Virgil, Hawthorne, Scott, Maupassant, Goethe, Schiller, and George
Eliot. In such society he never has occasion to explain or apologize for
his companions. He reads their books in the open and gains a feeling of
elation and exaltation. When he would see life in the large, he sits
before the picture of Jean Valjean. When he would see integrity and
fidelity in spite of suffering, he sits before the portrait of Job. When
he would see men of heroic size, he has the characters of Homer file by.
If he would see the panorama of the emotions of the human soul, he
selects Hugo as his guide. If he would laugh, he reads _Tam O'Shanter_;
if he would weep, he reads of the death of Little Nell. If he would see
real heroism, he follows Sidney Carton to the scaffold, or Esther into
the presence of the King. He goes to Shelley's _Skylark_ to find beauty,
Burns's _Highland Mary_ to find tenderness, Hawthorne's _Scarlet Letter_
to find tragedy, and the _Book of Job_ to find sublimity. Through his
books he comes to know Quasimodo and Sir Galahad; Becky Sharp and
Penelope; Aaron Burr and Enoch Arden; and Herodias and Florence
Nightingale.
=People.=--But his world would be incomplete without people, and here,
again, he is free to choose. And, since he wants people in his world who
will be constant reminders to him of qualities that he himself would
cultivate, he selects Ruth and Jephthah's daughter to represent
fidelity. When temptation assails him he finds them ready to lead him
back and up to the plane of high resolves. To remind him of indomitable
courage and perseverance he selects William the Silent, Christopher
Columbus, and Moses. When his courage is waning and he is becoming
flaccid and indolent, their very presence is a rebuke, and a survey of
their achievements restores him to himself. As examples of patriotic
thinking and action he invites into his world Samuel Adams, Thomas
Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. They remind him that he is a product
of the past and that it devolves upon him to pass on to posterity
without spot or blemish the heritage that has come to him through the
patriotic service and sacrifice of his progenitors.
=Influence of people.=--That he may never lose sight of the fact that it
is cowardly and degrading to recede from high ideals he opens the doors
of his world for Milton, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo. Their superb
achievements, considered in connection with their afflictions and
hardships, are a source of inspiration to him and keep him up to his
best. As a token of his appreciation of these exemplars he strives to
excel himself, thus proving himself a worthy disciple. They need not
chide him, for in their presence he cannot do otherwise than hold fast
to his ideals and struggle upward with a courage born of inspiration.
Living among such goodly people, he finds his world resplendent with the
virtues that prove a halo to life. With such people about him he can be
neither lonely nor despondent. If the cares of life fret him for the
moment, he takes counsel with them and his equilibrium is restored. In
their company he finds life a joyous experience, for their very presence
exhales the qualities that make life worth while.
As an inevitable result of all the influences that constitute his world
he finds himself yearning for meliorism as the crownpiece. Drinking from
the fount of inspiration that gushes forth at the behest of all these
wholesome influences, he longs for betterment. Good as he finds the
things about him, he feels that they are not yet good enough. So he
becomes the eloquent apostle of meliorism, proclaiming his gospel
without abatement. The roads are not good enough, and he would have
better ones. Our houses are not good enough, and he would have people
design and build better ones. Our music is not good enough as yet, and
he would encourage men and women to write better. Our books are not good
enough, and he would incite people to write better ones. Our conduct of
civic affairs is not good enough, and he would stimulate society to
strive for civic betterment. Our municipal government is not good
enough, and he proclaims the need to make improvement. Our national
government is not all that it might be, and he would have all people
join in a benevolent conspiracy to make it better.
=Influence of the school.=--Thus day by day this man continues the
building of a world for himself. And day by day he strives to make his
world better, not only as an abiding place for himself but also as an
example for others. In short, this man is a product of the vitalized
school, and is weaving into the pattern of his life the teachings of the
school. In exuberance of spirit and in fervent gratitude he looks back
to the school that taught him to know that education is the process of
world-building. And to the school he gives the credit for the large and
beautiful world in which he lives.
QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES
1. Show how the world that one builds depends upon one's own choosing.
2. Do people seem to realize this truth when they do not build their
world as they might? If pupils fail to realize it, what can the teacher
do to help them?
3. Suppose a pupil is interested in petty things; the school must
utilize his interests. How can this be done? How can he be led to larger
aims?
4. To what extent does the richness of our lives depend on the way we
react to stimuli?
5. Explain how each of the influences alluded to in this chapter helps
the teacher.
6. Why does the character of the books one reads most serve as an index
of one's own character?
7. What do you think of a person who prefers new books?
8. What do you think of one who prefers sensational books?
9. Why is it especially important for a teacher to be thoroughly
acquainted with the great characters of history?
10. Does acquaintance with the great in history tend to produce merely a
good static character, or does it do more?