Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) 📕

With Greater Clearness, That There Is Always A Method To Be Found

Productive Of    Interest--Even Of    Delight; And It Ever Turns Out That This

Is The   Method Proved By All Other Tests To Be The   Right One.

With Most, These Guiding Principles Will Weigh But Little If Left In

This Abstract Form. Partly, Therefore, To Exemplify Their Application,

And Partly With A View Of    Making Sundry Specific Suggestions, We Propose

Now To Pass From The   Theory Of    Education To The   Practice Of    It.

It Was The   Opinion Of    Pestalozzi, And One Which Has Ever Since His Day

Been Gaining Ground, That Education Of    Some Kind Should Begin From The

Cradle. Whoever Has Watched, With Any Discernment, The   Wide-Eyed Gaze Of

The Infant At Surrounding Objects Knows Very Well That Education _Does_

Begin Thus Early, Whether We Intend It Or Not; And That These Fingerings

And Suckings Of    Everything It Can Lay Hold Of, These Open-Mouthed

Listenings To Every Sound, Are First Steps In The   Series Which Ends In

The Discovery Of    Unseen Planets, The   Invention Of    Calculating Engines,

The Production Of    Great Paintings, Or The   Composition Of    Symphonies And

Operas. This Activity Of    The   Faculties From The   Very First, Being

Spontaneous And Inevitable, The   Question Is Whether We Shall Supply In

Due Variety The   Materials On Which They May Exercise Themselves; And To

The Question So Put, None But An Affirmative Answer Can Be Given. As

Before Said, However, Agreement With Pestalozzi's Theory Does Not

Involve Agreement With His Practice; And Here Occurs A Case In Point.

Treating Of    Instruction In Spelling He Says:--

     "The Spelling-Book Ought, Therefore, To Contain All The   Sounds Of

     The   Language, And These Ought To Be Taught In Every Family From The

     Earliest Infancy. The   Child Who Learns His Spelling Book Ought To

     Repeat Them To The   Infant In The   Cradle, Before It Is Able To

     Pronounce Even One Of    Them, So That They May Be Deeply Impressed

     Upon Its Mind By Frequent Repetition."

Joining This With The   Suggestions For "A Nursery Method," Set Down In

His _Mother's Manual_, In Which He Makes The   Names, Positions,

Connections, Numbers, Properties, And Uses Of    The   Limbs And Body His

First Lessons, It Becomes Clear That Pestalozzi's Notions On Early

Mental Development Were Too Crude To Enable Him To Devise Judicious

Plans. Let Us Consider The   Course Which Psychology Dictates.

The Earliest Impressions Which The   Mind Can Assimilate Are The

Undecomposable Sensations Produced By Resistance, Light, Sound, Etc.

Manifestly, Decomposable States Of    Consciousness Cannot Exist Before The

States Of    Consciousness Out Of    Which They Are Composed. There Can Be No

Idea Of    Form Until Some Familiarity With Light In Its Gradations And

Qualities, Or Resistance In Its Different Intensities, Has Been

Acquired; For, As Has Been Long Known, We Recognise Visible Form By

Means Of    Varieties Of    Light, And Tangible Form By Means Of    Varieties Of

Resistance. Similarly, No Articulate Sound Is Cognisable Until The

Inarticulate Sounds Which Go To Make It Up Have Been Learned. And Thus

Must It Be In Every Other Case. Following, Therefore, The   Necessary Law

Of Progression From The   Simple To The   Complex, We Should Provide For The

Infant A Sufficiency Of    Objects Presenting Different Degrees And Kinds

Of Resistance, A Sufficiency Of    Objects Reflecting Different Amounts And

Qualities Of    Light, And A Sufficiency Of    Sounds Contrasted In Their

Loudness, Their Pitch And Their _Timbre_. How Fully This _À Priori_

Conclusion Is Confirmed By Infantile Instincts, All Will See On Being

Reminded Of    The   Delight Which Every Young Child Has In Biting Its Toys,

In Feeling Its Brother's Bright Jacket-Buttons, And Pulling Papa's

Whiskers--How Absorbed It Becomes In Gazing At Any Gaudily-Painted

Object, To Which It Applies The   Word "Pretty," When It Can Pronounce It,

Wholly Because Of    The   Bright Colours--And How Its Face Broadens Into A

Laugh At The   Tattlings Of    Its Nurse, The   Snapping Of    A Visitor's

Fingers, Or Any Sound Which It Has Not Before Heard. Fortunately, The

Ordinary Practices Of    The   Nursery Fulfil These Early Requirements Of

Education To A Considerable Degree. Much, However, Remains To Be Done;

And It Is Of    More Importance That It Should Be Done Than At First

Appears. Every Faculty During That Spontaneous Activity Which

Accompanies Its Evolution Is Capable Of    Receiving More Vivid Impressions

Than At Any Other Period. Moreover, As These Simplest Elements Have To

Be Mastered, And As The   Mastery Of    Them Whenever Achieved Must Take

Time, It Becomes An Economy Of    Time To Occupy This First Stage Of

Childhood, During Which No Other Intellectual Action Is Possible, In

Gaining A Complete Familiarity With Them In All Their Modifications. Nor

Let Us Omit The   Fact, That Both Temper And Health Will Be Improved By

The Continual Gratification Resulting From A Due Supply Of    These

Impressions Which Every Child So Greedily Assimilates. Space, Could It

Be Spared, Might Here Be Well Filled By Some Suggestions Towards A More

Systematic Ministration To These Simplest Of    The   Perceptions. But It

Must Suffice To Point Out That Any Such Ministration, Recognising The

General Law Of    Evolution From The   Indefinite To The   Definite, Should

Proceed Upon The   Corollary That In The   Development Of    Every Faculty,

Markedly Contrasted Impressions Are The   First To Be Distinguished; That

Hence Sounds Greatly Differing In Loudness And Pitch, Colours Very

Remote From Each Other, And Substances Widely Unlike In Hardness Or

Texture, Should Be The   First Supplied; And That In Each Case The

Progression Must Be By Slow Degrees To Impressions More Nearly Allied.

Passing On To Object-Lessons, Which Manifestly Form A Natural

Continuation Of    This Primary Culture Of    The   Senses, It Is To Be

Remarked, That The   System Commonly Pursued Is Wholly At Variance With

The Method Of    Nature, As Exhibited Alike In Infancy, In Adult Life, And

In The   Course Of    Civilisation. "The Child," Says M. Marcel, "Must Be

_Shown_ How All The   Parts Of    An Object Are Connected, Etc.;" And The

Various Manuals Of    These Object-Lessons Severally Contain Lists Of    The

Facts Which The   Child Is To Be _Told_ Respecting Each Of    The   Things Put

Before It. Now It Needs But A Glance At The   Daily Life Of    The   Infant To

See That All The   Knowledge Of    Things Which Is Gained Before The

Acquirement Of    Speech, Is Self-Gained--That The   Qualities Of    Hardness

And Weight Associated With Certain Appearances, The   Possession Of

Particular Forms And Colours By Particular Persons, The   Production Of

Special Sounds By Animals Of    Special Aspects, Are Phenomena Which It

Observes For Itself. In Manhood Too, When There Are No Longer Teachers

At Hand, The   Observations And Inferences Hourly Required For Guidance

Must Be Made Unhelped; And Success In Life Depends Upon The   Accuracy And

Completeness With Which They Are Made. Is It Probable, Then, That While

The Process Displayed In The   Evolution Of    Humanity At Large Is Repeated

Alike By The   Infant And The   Man, A Reverse Process Must Be Followed

During The   Period Between Infancy And Manhood? And That Too, Even In So

Simple A Thing As Learning The   Properties Of    Objects? Is It Not Obvious,

On The   Contrary, That One Method Must Be Pursued Throughout? And Is Not

Nature Perpetually Thrusting This Method Upon Us, If We Had But The   Wit

To See It, And The   Humility To Adopt It? What Can Be More Manifest Than

The Desire Of    Children For Intellectual Sympathy? Mark How The   Infant

Sitting On Your Knee Thrusts Into Your Face The   Toy It Holds, That You

Too May Look At It. See When It Makes A Creak With Its Wet Finger On The

Table, How It Turns And Looks At You; Does It Again, And Again Looks At

You; Thus Saying As Clearly As It Can--"Hear This New Sound." Watch The

Elder Children Coming Into The   Room Exclaiming--"Mamma, See What A

Curious Thing," "Mamma, Look At This," "Mamma, Look At That:" A Habit

Which They Would Continue, Did Not The   Silly Mamma Tell Them Not To

Tease Her. Observe That, When Out With The   Nurse-Maid, Each Little One

Runs Up To Her With The   New Flower It Has Gathered, To Show Her How

Pretty It Is, And To Get Her Also To Say It Is Pretty. Listen To The

Eager Volubility With Which Every Urchin Describes Any Novelty He Has

Been To See, If Only He Can Find Some One Who Will Attend With Any

Interest. Does Not The   Induction Lie On The   Surface? Is It Not Clear

That We Must Conform Our Course To These Intellectual Instincts--That We

Must Just Systematise The   Natural Process--That We Must Listen To All

The Child Has To Tell Us About Each Object; Must Induce It To Say

Everything It Can Think Of    About Such Object; Must Occasionally Draw Its

Attention To Facts It Has Not Yet Observed, With The   View Of    Leading It

To Notice Them Itself Whenever They Recur; And Must Go On By And By To

Indicate Or Supply New Series Of    Things For A Like Exhaustive

Examination? Note The   Way In Which, On This Method, The   Intelligent

Mother Conducts Her Lessons. Step By Step She Familiarises Her Little

Boy With The   Names Of    The   Simpler Attributes, Hardness, Softness,

Colour, Taste, Size: In Doing Which She Finds Him Eagerly Help By

Bringing This To Show Her That It Is Red, And The   Other To Make Her Feel

That It Is Hard, As Fast As She Gives Him Words For These Properties.

Each Additional Property, As She Draws His Attention To It In Some Fresh

Thing Which He Brings Her, She Takes Care To Mention In Connection With

Those He Already Knows; So That By The   Natural Tendency To Imitate, He

May Get Into The   Habit Of    Repeating Them One After Another. Gradually As

There Occur Cases In Which He Omits To Name One Or More Of    The

Properties He Has Become Acquainted With, She Introduces The   Practice

Of Asking Him Whether There Is Not Something More That He Can Tell Her

About The   Thing He Has Got. Probably He Does Not Understand. After

Letting Him Puzzle Awhile She Tells Him; Perhaps Laughing At Him A

Little For His Failure. A Few Recurrences Of    This And He Perceives What

Is To Be Done. When Next She Says She Knows Something More About The

Object Than He Has Told Her, His Pride Is Roused; He Looks At It

Intently; He Thinks Over All That He Has Heard; And The   Problem Being

Easy, Presently Finds It Out. He Is Full Of    Glee At His Success, And She

Sympathises With Him. In Common With Every Child, He Delights In The

Discovery Of    His Powers. He Wishes For More Victories, And Goes In Quest

Of More Things About Which To Tell Her. As His Faculties Unfold She Adds

Quality After Quality To His List: Progressing From Hardness And

Softness To Roughness And Smoothness, From Colour To Polish, From Simple

Bodies To Composite Ones--Thus Constantly Complicating The   Problem As He

Gains Competence, Constantly Taxing His Attention And Memory To A

Greater Extent, Constantly Maintaining His Interest By Supplying Him

With New Impressions Such As His Mind Can Assimilate, And Constantly

Gratifying Him By Conquests Over Such Small Difficulties As He Can

Master. In Doing This She Is Manifestly But Following Out That

Spontaneous Process Which Was Going On During A Still Earlier

Period--Simply Aiding Self-Evolution;