it, is to supervise and guarantee, as it were, that this fundamental transition from the self-centered mind of childhood to the socialized mind of adulthood is properly effected. It is worth our while to consider some of the methods by which this realization by the individual of his place in a social system, this development of the sentiment of duty and responsibility, can be brought about. One of the signs or symptoms of the awakening social tendency is the greater tendency toward the formation of groups of all sorts of clubs, societies, unions, leagues, organizations, and what not. The adolescent takes kindly to the idea of banding together for some common purpose, whether it be recreative or athletic or philanthropic or merely social in the narrower sense. Of course boys and girls do things in groups when they are children, but most of the active and persistent group activities of children are made for them and largely run for them by their elders. In the prepubertal stage there is hardly a boy who doesn't belong to some sort of spontaneously organized "gang." This gang is usually a more or less well-organized, even though transient, organization for carrying on athletics or some other form of physical activity, rarely for the sort of literary, artistic, or philanthropic activity that grown-ups organize societies for. These spontaneously organized societies, especially the rudimentary ones organized by boys, have been rather carefully investigated, and numerous valuable ideas for the assistance of adults in superintending the development of social tendencies have been derived from the investigations. It has been shown, for instance, that boys and girls cannot be handled to the best advantage in the same organization, that boys drawn from different social. strata do not fuse well, that even skillful leaders cannot always maintain these organizations for indefinitely long periods, that societies formed for serious moral purposes ought not to have this aspect too prominent, but, rather, supplementary to a program appealing to physical activity, with a reasonable amount of mystery, ceremony, and secrecy. 20. Adolescence [HALL, G. Stanley, Adolescence, Vol. II, p. 37; Vol. I, p. 154, xv. New York. D. Appleton & Co., 1904.] Hall's monumental volumes on Adolescence were epochmaking. Up to this time (1904) very little had been done in Child Psychology, except by Preyer, in Europe, and a few scattered studies in this country by Hall and his pupils. Chrisman was busily engaged about the same time in developing his Paidology (the science of the child). Hall's volumes have been quoted time and again. While many of his the ories are no longer accepted, it may be said to his credit that few books have enjoyed as far-reaching results for good. If we accept Whipple and Judd's view of Adolescence, we do so because they are more in accord with the more recent studies. Adolescent years mark the golden age of sense, which is so prone to become sensual if uncontrolled. Then the soul exposes most surface, as it were, to the external world. The eye gate and ear gate especially are open their widest, and not only that, but the feeling tone and the general sense feeling, so largely independent of perception, are also at their best, so that the possibilities of knowing our world and acquiring experience on the one hand, and of lapsing into a life of indulgence, are now most developed. . . (Vol. II, p. 37). Adolescence marks a new relation to time and space. The temporal and spatial horizon is enlarged; greater wholes are more adequately judged; more complex members of each are grouped into unity; the relation of wholes and parts is better seen . . . (Vol. I, p. 154). The social instincts undergo sudden unfoldment and the new life of love awakens. It is the age of sentiment and of religion, of rapid fluctuation of mood, and the world seems strange and new. Interest in adult life and in vocations develops. Youth awakes to a new world and understands neither it nor himself (p. xv). 21. The Theory of Total Depravity [KEITH, J. A. H., Elementary Education, pp. 89-90. Chicago, Scott Foresman & Co., 1907.] There are and have been various theories of the moral nature of the child, and these theories have a great influence upon the discipline administered by those who believe in them. The Theory of Total Depravity.-There have been many people who, in the language of the New England Primer, believed that In Adam's fall We sinned all. The child, therefore, is born into the world depraved, and has tendencies toward the bad. The bad in the child is the work of the devil. Various methods of casting out devils were used, but the most successful method was the causing of physical pain. The rod was the great devil dethroner. The greater pain of the child was interpreted as greater devil pertinacity. The more innocent forms of fun and play were regarded as works of the devil, and were robbed of their attractiveness by having intense pain associated with them. In the absence of suitable switches, the human hand could slap or cull the child almost as effectively as a rod could be used. In schools where vast numbers of these incipient devils are collected, Yankee skill and ingenuity soon introduced the ferrule and the "rawhide" whip. If one holds to this theory of total depravity, severity is the only method by which the natural badness of the child can be eradicated. Hence, wherever one finds those who believe in this theory, he finds those who are severe in their treatment of children. Some even go so far as to maintain that the fact that one desires to do a certain thing is sufficient reason for not doing it. The only good, according to them, is that pleasureless, colorless kind that comes from doing disagreeable things. 22. Theory of Innate Goodness [KEITH, J. A. H., Elementary Education, pp. 90-91. Chicago, Scott Foresman & Co., 1907.] The inevitable revolt from the doctrine of total depravity meant its denial. By emphasis upon this denial the feelings of men swung round to the opposite view. Instead of total depravity we have innate goodness. Wordsworth says that Trailing clouds of glory do we come And coming so direct from heaven, the child is good. He is the image of celestial goodness. Therefore the dicta: "Leave the child alone!" "If you attempt to interfere, you will spoil what God made to be good." The defendants of this theory have always been mystics-men who thought they were in direct contact with the great palpitating heart of the universe. Through this contact they learned many things they could not explain. Their only proof waз iteration. With all adherents of this doctrine the argument is: "Let the child alone. You are already spoiled, but that is no reason for spoiling the child. Punishment is pain, and all pain is evil. Leave the child alone and he will come out all right." 23. Theory of Evolutionary Character [KEITH, J. A. H., Elementary Education, p. 91. Chicago, Scott Foresman & Co., 1907] With the rise of the scientific idea of evolution, there came from many quarters a re-interpretation of ethical theories. If recapitulation be true (and its truth is always assumed), then each child in his unfolding must pass through all the stages of human history. All the appearances of evil are but passing stages of development, necessary as is the backward creeping of some infants in their first efforts. Therefore, to punish the child for something which he cannot help is cruelty. The only thing to do is to "possess our souls with patience" until the higher stages appear. The theory of recapitulation seems valid if stated as tendency. The tendency becomes an overt act, however, only on condition that the environment offer a favorable stimulation. Therefore, the evolutionary account of character is valid only when the present environment is similar in character to the environment of the ancestors. As the conditions of life change there is, of necessity, a change from the evolutionary order of unfolding. Moreover, if the self takes up experience into itself and really becomes other than it was before by virtue of its reaction to a stimulation, the evolutionary tendencies are constantly being modified. The successive and integrated modifications thus brought about so greatly change the original tendencies that recapitulation is not an accurate description of a human being's mental growth. 24. Theory of Experience and Reflection [KEITH, J. A. H., Elementary Education, pp. 91-92. Chicago, Scott Foresman & Co., 1907.] Sympathetic observers of children and students of psychology are generally of the belief that children are neither good nor bad at birth; they are neutral because lacking in that experience without which good and bad are meaningless terms. Children are, at birth, at the zero point of morality. . . . In this environment of the child there are both the good and the bad. Therefore, by his imitation of the environment, or by his responses to it, the child becomes both good and bad. Good and bad elements are found in each person, and the above explanation shows why this is so. ... This theory of experience and reflection explains the genesis of moral notions (they arise primarily through experience), their development (depending upon the "copy" of the environment) and their elaboration into an ethical code (brought about by reflection). This theory makes the formation of moral character as definite a possibility as is the organization of intelligence through instruction. The teacher can so control and order the experience of the child, so stimulate him to reflection that the right attitude toward life results. 25. The Ideal School [HALL, G. Stanley, "The Ideal School as Based on Child Study," Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1901, pp. 475, 478, 483, 484.] The school that I shall describe exists nowhere, but its methods, unless I err, are valid everywhere. Although many of its features exist already, and could be pieced together in a mosaic from many lands and ages, it is essentially the school invisible, and not made with hands. But, as there is nothing so practical as the truly ideal, although my school to-day exists nowhere, it might be organized anywhere to-morrow; and I hope that the most and the least conservative will agree that it is the true goal of all endeavor, and will not differ except as to whether it may be realized at once or only at the end of a long period of labor. I confess that something like this has come. from the first animated of all my own feeble educational endeavors and that without it I should be without hope and without goal in the world of Pedagogy. 1. The kindergarten age is from two or three to six or seven. Here, before the ideal school can be inaugurated, we need some work of rescue from the symbolists. Now the body needs most attention, and the soul least. The child needs more mother, and less teacher; more of the educated nurse, and less of the metaphysician. We must largely eliminate, and partly reconstruct, the mother-plays, while transforming and vastly enlarge the repertory of the gifts and occupations. We must develop the ideal nursery, playgrounds, and rooms, where light, air, and water are at their |