EDUCATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 73

EDUCATION.

Being a brief ahstract or precis of the late Mr -Herbert Spencer's work entitl*! " Education : Intellectual, Moral, an<l Physical."

(For the Witness.)

n.— INTELLECTUAL^ EDUCATION

A close connection .and a striking likeness in aspect exist between successive systems of education and their co-existing social states. Side by side with a Ghurch which was secret and stern is a method of education strict and dogmatic ; but with the greater freedom of the Protestant Church there comes a more rational system of education. With politics harsh and despotic, education is equally harsh, gradually becoming more liberal as the methods of government become more humane. When asceticism was the order of the day, one leading principle in instructing the young was to thwart their natural desires. But now that happiness is recognised as a legitimate aim, it js seen that childish impulses and desires should be taken account of and generally gratified. In days when trade was controlled by restrictive and arbitrary legislation, it is not surprising to find that schoolmasters endeavoured to fashion a child's mind after an approved pattern ; while now that it is being eeen that commerce and politics can flourish with a minimum of interference, education recognises the existence of a mental process of evolution which cannot lightly be tampered with.

In ..addition to the parallelisms here indicated it as to be noted that two others are disclosed in the above sketched pro-< gress from uniformity to diversity. One, namely, between the processes by which the changes have been wrought, .the other between -the .several resulting states of greatly .subdivided heterogeneous opinions. In each case • the tendency to individaal assertion produces the change, in the working ojit of >wiiich is seen a leaning towards free action. 'JEbe £nal result js that, as in politics and religion, there .are many] sects- and parties, so in education we find ! a plexus .of ..systems and an accumulation of method.

It is -in the conflict of these opposing forces that the true method will at length appear. ;By rejecting what is proved to be wrong ; By accepting what is shown io ba right; by the collecting" of truths and the .elimination of error; by experiment and we must at' length lay the foundations of a system of rational education. In the meantime, in order to take stock of our progress, narrow the field of inquiry, -&nd- examine existing teu,dencies, let his compare the methods of the past with those af -the present time. After plrysical development came a reaction in iavour of book-learning, study, and mental accomplishments. It has now long been recognised that physical and mental development .must go hand-in-hand. Only in 3 .strong and vigorous body can there be a healthy, .active. mind.

Learning by rote is giving place to oral and experimental instruction, while instead of teaching by rules, the pupil now is instructed jLu principles and particulars first. These being implanted in the mind, the rules follow as .a -matter of course. Grammar, is taught much later than formerly, object lessons take the place of abstract learning as -much as possible, and there is a general «fffert to make education amusing and intecesting. The characteristic common to all these changes is an increasing coniormjtyy to the laws of .Nature, which objects. to .early forcing; which turns .with disgust from matter which the young mind cannot assimilate, and which clearly indicates her approval of our method by the pleasurable interest which is excited in the pupils.

The theory, stated long ago by Pestalozzi that in order and method education should conform to the natural process of mental evolution, the changes which w£ have above noted, the utterances of eminent exponents of scientific education, the teachings of .and our daily experience in other departments of social and political economy, alike point to this vital principle, that in -education the methods to be adopted fljtuet invariably be subservient to that .gradual and .spontaneous unfolding of the faculties -which proceeds from infancy to maturity.

It might bs urged that the logical outcome oi what ,istere set forth is to leave the .mental -development of the child entirely to Nature, .and that the principles enunciated involve the abandonment of teaching. This, however, is not so. For just ms a child is nursed at the breast, and afterwards £ed, clothed, and sheltered till he reaches maturity, so *must his mental appetites be ministered to by providing him with sounds, objects, toys, models, and instruction appropriate "to his growth. In both cases it is the functions of parents and teachers to maintain the conditions requisite to growth and development.

The failure of the Pestalozzian schools to achieve any -distinguished degree of success was due, not to any defect in the theory adverted to above, but to an unskilful practical application of it ; for before education can harmonise with the unfolding faculties, it is necessary to know how the faculties do unfold. And while only rational psychology will provide a true scientific basis of culture, certain guiding principles will help us to an approximate scheme. To pass from the general to the particular, we now grr« these principles in their logical order.

1. Education should proceed from the simple to the complex ; beginning with a few .subjects, gradually adding to these, uid finally -cany ing on all abreast. 2. As the brain develops from infancy *o maturity the perceptions sure necessarily

vague, in proportion as the meatal structure is wanting in completeness. It follows, then, that as the elements of precision are wanting we must be content at first with imparting only crude gradually supplying experiences which will correct, first the greatest errors, and afterwards those less marked. When conceptions are perfect scientific formulas may be given.

3. Lessons should start in the concrete and end in the abstract. General formulas which express groups of details should be postponed until the details themselves are mastered.

4. In accordance with the principles of evolution, and also by analogy, the education of the child must follow the same course as the education of mankind. We have, therefore, in the advance of knowledge and the methods of civilisation a trustworthy guide in framing the outlines of a scientific educational course.

5. One conclusion which these methods lead us to is that we should proceed from the empirical to the rational. That is to say, that knowledge should be acquired by practice and experience in order to understand the abstract jprineijites and reasoned deductions which organised knowledge supplies us with.

6. Another lesson which history and civilisation teaches is' that children should be taugbt to discover for themselves as much as possible, and be told as little as possible. The mind of a healthy child is active, inquiring and observant ; and while it will, readily a&similate knowledge of the light class, it will turn with impatience and disgust from facts and instruction too complex for its organism, to the delicate tissues of which violence is too often done by coercion, threats, and punishment.

7. The final test, when in doubt, for any kind of instruction -or -plan of education should be the question whether or not it produces pleasurable excitement in the pupils. Healthful action is pleasurable, action which) gives pain is not healthful, asd we may .safely assume that a child's intellectual instincts are a reliable guide. Experience daily shows that the method which produces interest, often delight, is always ,the right one.

We pass now from -the theory of education to a bri«f outline of its practice. «

The .earliest impressions are those undecomppsable sensations produced by resistance, light, sound, etc. Familiarity with light prGdmees an idea of visible form, .with resistance of tangible form, and with inarticulate sounds of articulate sound. Proceeding, therefore* from the simple to the complex, the ajni should be to provide the child with a sufficiency of objects presenting markedly contrasted degrees of resistance, colour, and light. The child wiU greedily assimilate ' the impressions thus supplied. By slow degrees the contrasts may be modified to produce impressions more nearly allied.

In object lessons the idea should be not to tell, or show, but to leave the child to discover the properties of the object with as little assistance as possible. Just as, in infancy, perceptions are formed spontaneously ; and in .adult life success depends largely on the faculty of observation ; so in youth -freedom of mental action combined ,with intellectual sympathy should be our method. The delight which an infani manifests in new toys or bright colours ; the eagerness with which a boy describes the incidents of a days excursion, if only he can get a sympathetic listener, or the details and properties of some new object ; the zest exhibited in a personal inquiry into the natures and structures oi things when conducted under the friendly guidance of a teacher or parent, all testify to this. The works of Nature, as well as .mechanically-con-structed objects, should fall within the .scope oi these lessons, and later on i£ will . be found that the .knowledge thus gained of the laws of Nature in their simple mani- ''\ f&tations will be applied to -the higher \ and more complex issues of life. H

The spontaneous efforts of children to represent familiar and striking objects : .show that Nature intended the faculty of drawing to be exercised ; efforts which, : when well directed, provide means for strengthening and developing the- natural power*, of observation. At the outset, chiefly with a view of economising the natural sensibilities, training should consist chiefly in lessons in colouring, with only a minimum of instruction jn ionn. The models to be copied should be the familiar objects of the child's daily life, and the aim at this early stage should be at once to develop the faculties, and to assist the pupil to gain same knowledge of form and outline, and. some skill in moving the brush, against the time when the age for forma] le,sson6 in drawing is i reached. Drawing from copies and a formal discipline in linear and angular ■ definitions are to be carefully avoided. The abstract truths which such definitions express are in due time yielded by practice and acquired without effort or weariness.

There may next follow an experiment which "leaches the leading facts of perspective and the true theory of a picture, made by tracing on a glass the outlines of an object placed the other side of it. Primary conceptions in geometry should be conveyed with the aid of cubes, marked off in divisions and divisible into parts, and globes divisible into planee and sections. First the solids elrould be taken, and afterwards, with the tKin plane divisions, it may be shown how surfaces are really generated, the figures first being traced on paper, then, drawn from sight, and aftei wards with the eye. Constructing figures in cardboard and drawing diagiams for colouiing should next be practised, and when the pupil is old enough to use a pair of compasses, he will appreciate the necessity of aiding his first crude efforts and verifying his ocular guesses by mechanical contrivances. When sufficiently far advanced methodical solutions in geometry may be introduced, a course both popular and beneficial, and one which may be kept for years, being accom-

panied throughout by concrete applica tione. After this long course in empirical geometry, rational geometry will present no difficulties. The following paragraph from Mr Spencer's work may here be quoted in full : —

"To continue these suggestions much further would be to write a detailed treatise on education, which we do not purpose. The foregoing outlines of plans for exercising the perceptions in early childhood, for conducting object lessons, for teaching drawing and geometry, must be considered simply as illustrations of the method dictated by the general principles previously specified. We believe that on examination they will be found not only to progress from the simple to the complex, from the indefinite to the definite, from the concrete to the abstract, from the empirical to the rational ; but to satisfy the further requirements, that education shall be a repetition of civilisation in little, that it shall be as much as possible a process of self-evolution, and that it shall be as pleasurable. The fulfilment of all these conditions by one type of method tends alike toe verify the conditions and to prove that type of method the right one. Mark, too, that this method is the logical outcome of the tendency characterising all modern improvements in tuition — that it is but an adoption in full of the natural system which they adopt partially — that it displays this complete adoption of the natural system, both by conforming to the above principles, and by following the suggestions which the unfolding mind itself gives, facilitating its spontaneous activities, and so aiding the developments which Nature is busy with. Thus there seems abundant reason to conclude that the mode of pi-ocedure above exemplified closely approximates to the true one."

The two complementary principles — that education should be a process of eelf-in-struction, and that the mental action induced should be throughout pleasurable — cannot be too consistently adhered to. If knowledge can be acquired without help, it is clear that the -process corresponds with the natural mental growth ; and if accomplishment is accompanied by gratification, plainly the mental action involved is not other than normal. Knowledge which is self-acquired leaves vivid and permanent impressions, while the necessary jaental .effort is healthful and invigorating, and is. both a moral and mental preparation for further and higher efforts. And there could be no more striking proof of the value of intellectual pleasure as resulting from a process or course of instruction "than the corresponding physical exaltation which such pleasure produces. An additional reason foT making educatior a process of self-instruction and pleasurable instruction is the strong probability that the pleasure and gratification associated with school days will provide a stimulus in after life for the continuance of habits of study and self-instruction.

(To be continued.)