710 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



Froebelian principles must liave full play in the primary school 

 if there is to be adequate motivation. Man has reached his present 

 stage of intelligence mainly through the use of his hands. This is a 

 consequence of natiiral selection, for mental action embodied in mus- 

 cular activity has had much more to do with the preservation of the 

 race than has purely mental action. Hand work must come to its 

 own ; not as a thing apart, but as an aid to all subjects. With primi- 

 tive man thought has no excuse for being, except as an aid to activity. 

 So, too, with the child. 



If studies have to demonstrate their worth to the child, will the 

 formal studies cease ? By no means. Take for examples the multi- 

 plication tables. These will be obtained by experiment. But let 

 cases arise sufficiently often which demand the knowledge of multipli- 

 cation facts for their adequate handling, and the child will soon consider 

 the teacher who helps him by a formal lesson to master the facts as a 

 benefactor, and not a taskmaster. The same is true of all formal 

 studies. 



The memorising of ex cathedra statements on the part of the 

 teacher must cease, and with it the dreary repetitions of the old-time 

 school. Eepetition is the main means of memorising meaningless 

 matter ; but such matter will have no place in the school which aims 

 at motivation of school work. 



Matter must neither be mastered by pure effort or swallowed in 

 sugar coating. If of the right kind, and presented at the proper time, 

 so as to demonstrate its worth, it will be mastered with joy, despite 

 the labor involved, because it is recognised as a means to a desired 

 end. Interest is always present when the object or idea is identified 

 by the learner with the self. 



School must become a part of real life, and cease to be a sort of 

 limbo. This will be effected if school life is a real personal experiencing 

 on the part of the pupil if the studies demonstrate their own worth 

 to him, if it provides an arena for the working out of purposes felt by 

 the pupil to be his own, and if it is connected at all points with the 

 pupil's life outside the school. 



The pupil who is habitually stimulated by the presence of oppor- 

 tunity, and not by the domination of a master, must achieve power 

 of initiative and civic worth. 



