THE DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7726, 28 March 1904, Page 2

THE DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND.

We take the following froiii the Australasian Educational Number of the Signs of the Times, published in Melbourne: —

Education is defined to be not so much the communication of knowledge as the discipline of the intellect, the establishment of the principles, and the regulation of the heart.

It will be generally admitted that much of the teaching in the schools of to-day consists largely in the communication of knowledge rather than the discipline of the mind. Pupils in our primarwphools have hosts of facts crammed which make but little permanent impression on their minds, owing, perhaps, to the methods of teaching which are generally pursued. An accurate knowledge of facts is, of course, valuable in itself, but unless, in addition to this, care is taken to cultivate tbe detuctive faculties the pupil will be found always dependent on others for knowledge, always thinking only what others have reasoned out previously. It is a deplorable thiug that so few persons, comparatively, have any capacity for original thought. However, it is quite natural that such should be the case, for during that period, which ought to be the formative period of a life of usefulness, children are placed under the care of persons who hold the office of teachers, many of whom may have failed to cultivate the art of reasoning for themselves, preferring to pursue what appears to their superficial minds an easier method of imparting knowledge, viz., the committing to memory by their pupils of dry facts. The failure on the part of our educational system to train children to use their powers of observation and their deductive faculties is, doubtless, largely responsible for certain conditions which are met with in the world to-day.

Says one writer: " The greatest want of the world is the want of men."

The streets of ail great cities swarm with men who are idle because " no man hath hired them." Many of these individuals are unfortunate creatures of circumstances, men who by reason of a failure in their early training have not developed the talents with which a kind providence has endowed them. Others find themselves in the workless army through other causes, such as failure of crops, bad legislation ; others through a temporary slackness in trade; others through the indulgence of a bad habit, such as drinking to excess ; others from a multitude of causes. But while this great army of men are seeking work, and finding none, it is well known that large employers of labour are anxiously looking for men who have trained their reasoning powers.

It is difficult for employers to obtain the services of men and women who can be placed in positions of responsibility, who have executive ability, and when such a person is found and proved to be trustworthy their promotion soon follows as a matter of course.

Our schools should be not only places where children learn arithmetic, reading, writing, geography, grammar, etc., but they should be above all this, places where children should learn to discipline the intellect and to receive into their minds correct principles by which their whole future life may be guided.

Boys and girls should be stimulated to think, and when they ask a question, instead of being snubbed for their inquisitiveness, they should be encouraged and led to pursue their inquiries further. Later on in life these same children may make valuable discoveries if they have acquired the habit to personally investigate the various phenomena of nature.

Adele Marie Shaw, in an article published in a recent issue of tbe World's Work, writing on the subject of "Education in New York," says:—"ln one school in which I spent the better part of two days I did not once hear any child express a thought in his own words. Attention was perfect. No pupil could escape from any grade without knowing the questions and answers of that grade. Every child could add, subtract, multiply, and divide with accuracy ; every child could, and did pronounce his reading words with unusual distinctness ... It was the best and the worst school I ever saw. Tne best because no pains, no time, nothing had been spared to bring us up to the principal's ideal, and the effect had been crowned with success. The worst beause it ignored absolutely any individuality in the pupils, and fitted them for nothing more than a mechanical obedience to another's thinking."

The system of " cramming," so prevalent in our schools, unfits for a life of usefulness, and children who are unfortunate enough to be sent to a school where this system ism vogue certainly miss much of the brightness and happiness which would be theirs were they placed in a school where a more rational system was pursued.

The Victorian Department of Public Instruction is to be congratulated for having instituted a reform movement, which has for its object the development of latent power in the children, and by no means the least hopeful sign that this reformation will take a practical shape is the manifest desire on the part of school teachers to become thoroughly acquainted with better methods.