TEACHING THE CHILD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 847, 26 October 1923, Page 5

TEACHING THE CHILD.

DEVELOPING THE EMOTIONS. PROFESSOR SHELLEY’S ADDRESS. Emotional education and its place in the teaching of young children was tho theme of an interesting address which was delivered by Professor Shelley, of Canterbury University College, to tho primary and secondary school teachers in Palmerston North yesterday afternoon. In addition to a large number of members of the teaching profession, there wdre also present: Ihe Mayor .(Mr F. J. Nathan), Cr. Oram, and Messrs T., E. Hodder arid W. F. Curward, An apology, for unavoidable absence through illness was received from Mr F, D. Opie, director of the Technical School. Mr L. F, do Berry, headmaster of Central School, presided and introduced the professor in a brief but appropriate speech, in the course of which ho extended to him a warm welcome to the town. Education, continued the chairman, had taken on a new and greater significance latterly than ever it had done before, and their work was such that they depended on the co-operation of everybody in tho community to assist in making it a thorough success. Professor Shelley, having returned thanks for the warm welcome extended to him, referred to the general system of education, stating that they had looked at the subject from the point of view of getting a certain amount of knowledge into, the heads of the class pupils and they had not given any thought to the emotional side of tho pupils they were teaching. They had "fought shy’’ of that piiase of the child’s tempera' ment, but it was, nevertheless, extremely important. One reason wily emotional development had been neglected was that it could not b'q examined, and that which could not be examined at school was neglected. When the speaker was training soldiers during tho war in such subjects as citizenship, hg had been asked what his teaching was all about, A general once asked him that question. What the latter wanted to see was a man taught to aim a rifio straight; he wanted to see something he could examine. If a soldier could aim a rifle straight and shoulder arms properly, tho general could examine the results of those actions, but, although tho man could aim straight, the general had no .system by which he could examine that man’s mentality in order to find out whether he would aim at the target or at him. It was the direction of the inind that mattered, Emotionalism, added the professor, was gradually being reduced to terras of measurement. When an individual was emotionally stirred, it was the whole of his being that was stimulated and engaged. . The professor went on to emphasise the advantages of developing the emotional side of pupils. A child should feel that whatever it did was worth doing well. They knew now by actual results frofn the physiological point of view that the only way to discipline tho emotions was to stimulate them. Think of the child of 13 years of age living an ordinary hum-drum life in any civilised town; he did not have to forage for his information which was all found for him, and when he went home his meals were ready. And yet children were actuated by the desire for adventure and activity. Children craved for worlds _to conquer and what chance had they of doing it ? It was the teacher’s place and the duty of educational bodies to provide that adventure. They must rediscover the world for the child,

In the latter connection the professor suggested that a novel and practical way of creating an atmosphere of adventure was by teaching geography along the lines of selecting a trade route, describing the different ports on that route, the history of .those ports and also by teaching the chil'dren to sing a sailor’s chanty which would inculcate in them the spirit cf the sailor and stimulate interest in the study. The speaker went on to deal with the various aspects of psychology, relating his experiences when examining women prison inmates by a series of tests. He stressed tho cultivation of the arts as a medium of emotional expression and development, and advocated intelligence tests of children before they sat for the study of any particular profession. Every headmaster and teacher should bo keen enough to detect the manifestation of any particular tendency in a child so that it could be corrected and the child put upon the right road when the time came for it to leave school. Mr J. Murray, rector of the Boys’ High School, proposed a vote of thanks to the professor for his address, this being carried by acclamation. Mr D. W. Low moved a vote of thanks to the Borough Council for its enterprise in inviting Professor Shelley to PalmerstcVi North, commending the council for its efforts to provide intellectual study for the residents. The motion was carried and C» Oram replied on behalf of the council.