238 FOERSTKR. AND NECLl-XTI-lI) FACTORS IN FIMHATION. 



rod for the back in the hands, of arbitrary and often vindictive 

 authority. 



As an instance in point, let ns take the question of lying. 

 Conventional lying is universal, aiid books of casuistry have been 

 written on the subject. Foerster does not consider it right to 

 take the lying of children too tragically at the outset. The com- 

 mand to speak the truth is not clear to the child's mind at once, 

 nor is it supported by his strong natural instincts. The real ques- 

 tion for the educationist ought to be : where is the weak point in 

 the child's character of which lying is the outcome? To punish 

 would be easy ; but punishment in the child's mind spells brutal 

 force — brut It in fuUnen — which has to be resisted, like a guerilla 

 war, in secret. Nothing has been gained ; we have suppressed a 

 symptom, but left the weakness of character of which it is the 

 outcome untouched. Most children's lies are lies of fancy, or 

 rather of phantasy ; but of course there are others. Hence the 

 motive in each case must be laid bare, and the counteracting 

 influence be applied. Stanley Hall has classified lies according to 

 their origin: Fancy lies (outcome of strong imagination), coura- 

 geous lies, selfish lies, pathological lies ; to which Foerster adds 

 nervous lies. 



Can punishment cure the child's nature? Herbert Spencer 

 may speak of unfolding our individualities to the full, and the 

 Montessori system may be defined as " steps in the direction of 

 .self-realization," or, in Dr. Montessori's own words, "the develop- 

 ment of energies latent in the depths of the human soul." But 

 more than this is needed. The true teacher cannot develop with- 

 out removing what hampers the child : self-realisation may yield 

 a stinuilus to exertion, but it must remove obstacles which retard 

 the proper exertion of all the faculties of the human mind. 

 Because this is not done or not properly done in the ordinary 

 school we hear the despairing cry of earnest men : " Is there any- 

 where in the world to be found a school where in the place of a 

 mere one-sided training of the understanding we might find an 

 education, a harmonious culture of the whole being?" 



There are other problems which Fcjerster handles with great 

 tact and delicacy, but Math a firm grasp of principles. The sex 

 problem claims attention. And first of all we have the question of 

 co-education. Foerster warns strongly against the camcradcric 

 occasioned by constant intercourse in class or lecture room, which 

 certainly does not improve the relations between the sexes. Prof. 

 Sachs, of Columbia, considers the difficulty of trainng a dozen 

 boys with such a variety of temperament, character, gifts, inclina- 

 tions as great enough without complicating the problem b\- 

 introducing a number of girls, with their physical and psychical 

 peculiarities, on the scene. Foerster is emphatic on this point : 



Young girls who for years have been sul:)ject to this camaraderie are 

 apt to take over the pleasures, the views, the manners, and even the jargon 

 of the other sex, thereby losing that fine sense of delicacy, of womanliness, 

 and consequently their best influence on the npposite sex. 



