Science in National Education 



of scientific method in the study of the psychology 

 of childhood has already pushed into the limbo 

 of superstitions the old idea that abstract cate- 

 chisms can convey a vital sense of truth to tender 

 minds. The fancy that if only the catechism were 

 taught all would be well, has had more influence 

 upon the political fortunes of English elementary 

 education than we can now easily realise. The 

 new way of thinking of children's minds as things 

 that develop, and which therefore need different 

 methods of approach at different stages of their 

 development, has quietly made much of the 

 old controversy uninteresting and obsolete. The 

 question has taken a new form, and the old 

 mechanical solutions will steadily drop out of 

 debate. 



Add to these two changes a third, and the new- 

 ness of the situation is plain. Scientific methods 

 of inquiry have demonstrated the critical import- 

 ance of the early stages of education. The teaching 

 of little children was, not long ago, thought of as a 

 business that might well be left to any old woman 

 or crippled man. But steadily the fact becomes 

 plain that it is precisely for the beginners that 

 you need the most skilful and some of the most 

 cultivated teaching, not because erudition is to be 

 poured out upon them, but because they need to 

 be imperceptibly led to see relationships between 

 things, and because only those who have them- 

 selves a cultivated knowledge of many subjects 

 are qualified to answer their questions as they 

 should be answered, and to guide them without 



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