NATURE STUDY AND THE PERSONAL 

 PROBLEMS OF LIFE 



Up to the time of adolescence or puberty the child lives in 

 but one world and that is an outer or objective one. The self 

 is forming, but it is not set off sharply in contrast with the 

 outer world and the interests of others. While there are 

 desires demanding gratification, these are not really problems. 

 The mind goes eagerly outward in search of experience, infor- 

 mation, and adventure. It is the time when the greatest 

 possible number of objects are got together in collections; 

 when curiosity is aroused and welcomes information about 

 the plants and animals; when the habits, behavior, and 

 devices by which plants and animals maintain and propagate 

 themselves are of enthralling interest. It is the time when 

 nature study means most. In these years the child should 

 become familiar with the way in which reproduction is accom- 

 plished in the plants and in the animals. This information 

 will be quickly assimilated if it is available, unless, indeed, the 

 curiosity about the ways of natural things is dulled by the 

 lack of interest on the part of parents and teacher. 



The Coming of Puberty 



The coming of puberty and the attendant adolescent changes 

 bring real problems to the life of the growing self. The mind 

 is no longer disinterestedly looking outward. There is the 

 coming, the birth, of a real person within. Nature is only 

 seen with half an eye now, so to speak; the other half being 

 occupied with the events and emotions going on within. 

 Interest no longer ranges freely, but is confined, in most 

 youth, to those objects which subserve some personal end, or 

 means thereto. Things begin to have meaning, not abstractly 

 and for themselves, but for the self. Sex in nature is no longer 

 merely one of the activities of life, but it is something that 

 has a personal bearing and meaning, something that may 

 illumine the dark passages within. It were well, perhaps, it 



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